The Aggressive Secularization of America
As an American I have watched with sadness, the eroding of our Christian values and standards of living. When I was in grade school, each day was begun with the reading of the Bible, broadcast over the intercom system (yes, we had the technology when I was little). At my graduation from high school, there were two public gatherings in the gym, the first being the baccalaureate service, where the minister chosen by the seniors gave an inspirational address, and religious hymns and patriotic songs were sung. The second public gathering was the actual graduation ceremony. The baccalaureate service is long gone from the American scene, found, as it were, to be an unconstitutional infringement on the separation of Church and State.
Gone, also, are the student Christian organizations, banned as they were, from the use of public school facilities, again on the basis of the separation of Church and State. Many of these same schools have given over classroom use to Muslim students, for their required prayer services.
Our courts have aggressively moved to push the Christian faith further from the public forum. Attacks toward public displays of religious themes, such as the Ten Commandments, Nativity Creches, and even crosses from the graves of soldiers, have increasingly become the norm. There is even a movement to force police and fire department chaplains to remove the cross from their badges, something we’ve all vowed to resist.
This aggressive move towards secularism has increasingly become a part of American foreign policy, with the move to pressure other countries to follow our lead. Just as the Russian Revolution was supported, in the very beginning, by the anti-monarchist sentiments of the American government, so too, are we seeing an increase in the negative attitudes of the American government towards the rise in power and influence, of the Russian Orthodox Church. At a time when our governmental leaders are pushing Christianity from the public forum, we criticize the Russian government because of it’s close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. We even question the sincerity of Russian leaders Orthodox faith, perhaps because we know that many of our own leaders have put on the veneer of being Christian, for political survival.
Russians know the dangers of aggressive secularism, having suffered seventy years of state sponsored atheism, and many Russians look with amazement at what they see as American capitulation to a secularism that has promoted a sort of state atheism of it’s own.
That the Moscow Patriarchate would seek the prosecution of the group Pussy Riot, for the desecration of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, with their “punk-at-prayer,” invasion of this sacred temple of God, has been greeted by so many Americans as a simple act of childishness that should be “forgiven”, is further indication of just how far we have fallen as a Christian nation. We no longer see anything as a sacrilege, because we hold nothing to be sacred.
The Moscow Patriarchate has announced a “War on Aggressive Liberalism”, and called upon believers to fight the “anti-clerical forces” and “false values of aggressive liberalism.” The Patriarchate will not sit back complacently, and watch a replay of the rise of anti-Church forces that hurled the Russian people into the dark days of the Communist aggression against the Church, and against believers.
The same forces that are aggressively seeking to discredit the clergy, divide Russian society, and turn Russians away from their temples, is at work in the United States. The time has come for all Christians to stand firm, and resist the forces of aggressive secularism. Whether we be Russian, Canadians, British, Greeks, or Americans, we need to stand united, and work to return Western civilization to her Christian roots.
As Americans, we need to make sure our governmental leaders know that we will not allow our nation to make war, either in reality, or in theory, against a land that is attempting to return Christ to the centrality of their national identity. Russia is not our enemy, and to treat her as such, is certain to further erode the American way of life. We can not continue, as a nation, to place profit, worldly influence, military power, and oil, over and above our Christian values, for to do so will lead to our certain doom.
An American Catholic Bishop stated recently: “I shall die in my bed, my successor shall die in prison, his successor will die as a martyr in the public square”. God will protect his Orthodox Church from the Gates of Hell…but the blood of the Martyrs waters the seed of the Church.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday April 12, 2012
Passion Week: Great Thursday.Great Lent. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil
Venerable John (Climacus) of Sinai, author of The Ladder (649).
St. Sophronius, bishop of Irkutsk (1771).
Prophet Joad (I Kings 13:11 -10th c. BC ) who dwelt in Bethel.
Holy Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Caesar, and Epaphroditus, of the Seventy (1st c.).
St. Eubula, mother of St. Panteleimon (304).
Venerable John the Silent of St. Sabbas monastery (558).
Venerable Zosimas, bishop of Syracuse (662).
St. John II, patriarch of Jerusalem (5th c.).
Hieromartyr Zacharias, bishop of Corinth (1684).
St. Osburga of Coventry, virgin (1015) (Celtic & British).
Translation of the relicts of the Martyr-King Edmund of East Anglia (Celtic & British).
Venerable John the Hermit of Cilicia (4th c.).
You can read the life of the saint in green, by click on the name.
We are hoping to retire the mortgage debt of $250,000.00. Having this hanging over our heads, and knowing the bank owns the monastery, is not a good thing. Your prayers are most appreciated, as we need a miracle.
Luke 22:1-39
The Plot to Kill Jesus
22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. 2And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.3Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. 4So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. 5And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.
Jesus and His Disciples Prepare the Passover
7Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”9So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”10And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”13So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.
Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper
14When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”17Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”19And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”20Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. 21But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”23Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.
The Disciples Argue About Greatness
24Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.28“But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
31And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”33But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”34Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
Supplies for the Road
35And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?”So they said, “Nothing.”36Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”38So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”And He said to them, “It is enough.”
The Prayer in the Garden
39Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.
1 Corinthians 11:23-32
Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken[b] for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Examine Yourself
27Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
Matthew 26:2-20
2“You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”3Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. 5But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
The Anointing at Bethany
6And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. 8But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”10But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 11For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 12For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 13Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Jesus Celebrates Passover with His Disciples
17Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”18And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.20When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.
John 13:3-17
3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”7Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”8Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”9Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”10Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”12So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Matthew 26:21-39
21Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”22And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?”23He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. 24The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”25Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?”He said to him, “You have said it.”
Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper
26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”27Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”30And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
31Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:‘I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
32But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”33Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”34Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”35Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”And so said all the disciples.
The Prayer in the Garden
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”39He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”