eChurch Blog

Just an advanced notice that there will be no blogging from me for a few days.

I’m off to the first official meeting of the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, an association of Catholics using social media.

Fr Tim Finigan – Hermeneutics of Continuity – is kindly hosting the event in Blackfen. Although the meeting is scheduled for Saturday, as all my family live in the area, I’m using the opportunity to pop in and catch up.

If you’re attending the meeting, then I look forward to meeting up; if you’re not, then have a blessed and peaceful weekend anyway.

The article in the Mail says it all.

UPDATE: Courtesy of ThirstyGargoyle here is a link to the data in PDF format.

UPDATE II: British Religion in Numbers have now posted on this.

Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces imminent execution after refusing to recant his Christian faith in court today for the fourth time this week. Nadarkhani is the first person to be found guilty of apostasy in Iran since 1990. Religious freedom groups are lobbying hard for his sentence to be dropped.

Nadarkhani, who was arrested in October 2009 related to his advocacy for greater freedoms in the religious instruction of children, was found guilty of apostasy and evangelizing Muslims in September 2010 by a court in Rasht. CT has noted that an appeal to the Iranian Supreme Court resulted in a partial retraction of the sentence, upholding the death sentence but allowing an annulment if Nadarkhani recanted. The Supreme Court also ordered the Rasht court to re-examine Nadarkhani’s faith practices before his conversion to Christianity.

After an investigation, the Rasht court determined this week that Nadarkhani had not been a practicing Muslim adult before his conversion. However, it upheld the apostasy sentence because of Nadarkhani’s Muslim ancestry.

SOURCE

Cranmer has written about this.

Details over on the British Religion in Numbers website.

Scientific knowledge is accumulating at lightning speed and we are in need of Christians who understand it and put it into the light of Christian ethics, morality, and a clearly articulated view of the God who loves us and cares for us more than we can imagine. This is the community we are trying to build here at BioLogos. Unfortunately, instead of being the much-needed salt and light in the scientific world and broader culture, too many Christians have removed themselves from the discussion. Too many have hunkered down, hiding their wonderful light under a bushel, when our culture needs them to help put the rapidly accumulating information into a Christ-centered context.

SOURCE

I found the article in the Independent reporting that the Jehovah Witness Watchtower magazine has described those that depart from their organisation as “mentally diseased”, utterly unsurprising.

As a former Jehovah Witness (yes God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line) they would view me as their enemy. Coupled with the fact that I’m converting to the Catholic Church – which to them is the very epitome of perverse satanic religion on earth, often described as the Whore of Babylon – in their eyes, it could not be worse for me.

I began my journey toward God through the Jehovah Witnesses and I have one enduring and disturbing memory seared forever in my mind. I went along to a major gathering in Godstone (Surrey) at the central assembly hall, and during the proceedings a young girl and her parents were wheeled out.

We were informed that the girl was seriously ill with a life-threatening condition (I think it may have been leukemia, but I may be wrong) and told how the parents were holding to the principles of the ‘faith’ by denying her the blood transfusion she so desperately needed.

This was met with applause.

That girl is probably dead now.

I pity Jehovah Witnesses to be honest. They are spiritually enslaved with fear. To them, only within “God’s visible’ organisation can you attain to salvation. It’s almost as if God did nothing from the time of the apostles, until their organisation was formed in the 1870′s. Those outside of their group are seen as worldly dogs, whether they openly admit this or not. But the harshest of all condemnation is reserved for those in all the Christian denominations; who they view as not only deceived by Satan, but deceivers also.

It’s sad to see them deny the Trinity and merge Jesus with the Archangel Michael. It’s sadder still to observe their annual memorial day, in which they pass around the bread and wine, from person to person, and nobody dares partake unless they are officially one of the 144,000 spoken of in the book of Revelation.

I have so many stories I could tell and so much information, as they impacted on me greatly, and it took many years to pick out the erroneous teaching from my mind..

By and large they are lovely people.

The article: Covering the Pope: a guide for journalists, over on the Catholic Herald website, written by Milo Yiannopoulos, is an incisive ‘must read’ and would be hilarious if it weren’t so true.

Hop over and you’ll see what I mean.

How many times have you seen a website say “We’re not responsible for the content of our comments.”? I know that when you webmasters put that up on your sites, you’re trying to address your legal obligation. Well, let me tell you about your moral obligation: Hell yes, you are responsible. You absolutely are. When people are saying ruinously cruel things about each other, and you’re the person who made it possible, it’s 100% your fault. If you aren’t willing to be a grown-up about that, then that’s okay, but you’re not ready to have a web business. Businesses that run cruise ships have to buy life preservers. Companies that sell alcohol have to keep it away from kids. And people who make communities on the web have to moderate them.

SOURCE

As I live in Gloucestershire I asked Philip to write a few words for me on the first ever Russian Orthodox service held in Gloucestershire:

Babushkas (grannies), young mums with babes in arms, youngsters and families made up the list of worshippers to Gloucestershire’s newest Christian community – a county due west of London, famous for horse racing and Royals has welcomed ancient Orthodoxy to its green and pleasant land.

When it comes to ritual it is hard to beat the Orthodox Church! Boy, do they know how to put on a show, and to provide that spine tingling atmosphere which invites worship.

To top that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) – sometimes known as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad – seems to have that extra special mix of mysticism, splendour, ritual and yet an informal and laid back approach with young and old free to come and go during the long services.

This heady mix of religion and ritual came to rural Gloucestershire in the form of a full sacred liturgy in the ancient Church Slavonic language celebrated by the archpriest of the London Cathedral of the Russian Church Abroad Father Vladimir Vilgerts. Father Vladimir and professional choir director Anna Kobrina had driven up to the hamlet of Bentham, near Cheltenham from the magnificent Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Holy Royal Martyrs, now a proud icon of Orthodoxy with splendid blue cupola on the Chiswick drag of the main route into London from Heathrow. The two hour journey led them to the quintessential Cotswolds countryside replete with early morning riding out teams cantering an array of horses in readiness for the jump season at nearby Cheltenham Racecourse.

The service – held on a Saturday (24th Sept) rather than conflict with the host congregation’s liturgy on Sunday – which started with the hours and then the exquisite voice of Anna who was assisted by local volunteers to provide a very moving choral background to the liturgy (of course, a capella as is the tradition in the eastern Orthodox Church). Blessings of the icons and profuse censing produced a heady aroma of incense, beeswax candles and the trappings of a truly holy ritual. All the more impressive because this was set in the Church of St John Chrysostom, which falls within the Churchyard of St Peter’s at Bentham (a redundant Anglican Parish Church a Grade I listed building dating back to 1889.).

One of the parishioners Lora Goldaeva, who has lived in Cheltenham for seven years explained: “There are many Orthodox in the Cotswolds and some have made the long journey to the Cathedral in Chiswick just for a service. Now we have the opportunity to build our own Parish here in Gloucestershire.” The service attracted worshippers from Broadway, Cheltenham, Evesham, Gloucester, London, Pershore, Swindon and Worcester.

“It is estimated that the community in the Cotswolds runs to at least several hundreds of Orthodox Believers,” said Father Peter Baulk, who together with Father Vladimir, is based at the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God and Holy Royal Martyrs. Father Peter stressed that the Church was not exclusively for Russian speakers. “We embrace many native English-speakers, such as myself, and are keen to relay the message of the Church as it was here in Britain in the early centuries,” said Father Peter.

The county is home to numerous Orthodox Christians, some of whom are British converts from churches such as the Anglican and Roman Catholic communions, whilst many have come to the county over the years from countries including the Ukraine, the Baltic states, Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria and Romania and some from Poland – although a predominantly Catholic country Poland has a rich history of Orthodoxy.

The historic first Russian Orthodox liturgy to be held in the county in the ancient tongue is witness to cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Greek Orthodox Church and its local committee represented by Father Anthimnos Papandreou who has welcomed not just Greeks but Romanians and a few Russians into his congregation. Now the population of churchgoers has swelled to a combined 60. The Russians say they will aim for an ambitious 100 regular worshippers by the new year. The ROCOR Diocese (previously the old emigre and fiercely anti-Bolshevik wing of the Church) is  now a sister of the larger Moscow Diocese of Sourozh boasts a combined 41 parishes.

Precedent has been set with cooperation on a similar basis between the Greeks and Russians in Cardiff and this could provide a template elsewhere despite the different jurisdictions and the fact that the Greeks follow the ‘new’ Gregorian calendar whilst the Russians adhere to the ‘old’ Julian calendar.  Despite these differences Blessings to go ahead were received from His Grace The Most Reverend Mark Archbishop of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain, Russian Church Abroad and His Eminence Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira & Great Britain.

The intention, according to one ROCOR insider, is to create a home for Slavs and others in the County and beyond, rather than having to go farther afield to Oxford, Bristol or the London Cathedral parish. How the joint initiative with the Greeks will pan out is anyone’s guess, but already rumblings have been heard from the Gloucester City-based Ukrainian Catholics who have by default or design garnered many erstwhile Orthodox believers to their community. Now a Slavic Orthodox presence is on their doorstep, it is only time before what is thought to be a trickle could turn into something more meaningful and ‘return many to Orthodoxy from their temporary Uniate home’.

Orthodoxy is the second largest Christian communion in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents.

The next Russian Orthodox liturgy will take place at the Church of St John Chrysostom, Benhall Lane, Benhall, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire at 10am on Saturday 5th November.

More information from:

Facebook Page: Russian Orthodox Community in Gloucestershire & Cotswolds 

Twitter: @RussiansInGlos

mobile: 07957345188

email: russianchurchglos@gmail.com

Here’s the press report.

I read with interest this snippet from the Pope’s recent speech to the German Catholics:

For some decades now we have been experiencing a decline in religious practice and we have been seeing substantial numbers of the baptized drifting away from church life. This prompts the question: should the Church not change? Must she not adapt her offices and structures to the present day, in order to reach the searching and doubting people of today?

Blessed Mother Teresa was once asked what in her opinion was the first thing that would have to change in the Church. Her answer was: you and I.

I feel exactly the same.

I oft read of how the church must change, but not much on personal individual change. The church is not just about everybody else, or simply an institution, but is also about me as a member. I liken this attitude to the one that moans of being in a traffic jam, without acknowledging that we ourselves are the traffic.

I met a lovely old chap the other day whilst walking in the woods and he stopped to lament with me on the deterioration of society, morality, values and so forth. And there’s no doubt of course that he’s dead right. But whilst I was musing on this and studying Catholic teaching, I became convicted of my own sin, behaviour, and thought life, in this regard.

Although I may imagine that I make no difference to the church as a whole, or to society in general, this is not true. When I choose good over evil the cosmic balance shifts ever so slightly, and the same is true if I should choose evil over good.

Despite my strange tendency to slip in to determinist and fatalistic thinking, the Catholic church reminds me that I do indeed have the God given gift of free-will, and am the father of my decisions; for good or for evil. As a Christian, with God enabling, my will should control my lower functions through reason, and I am now fully responsible for my conduct.

I recently found myself seeking for an ever elusive happiness, in all the wrong temporal directions. True happiness is in walking in friendship and obedience with God. This is not burdensome, as I started to imagine. Every thrill and sensation of this world is fleeting and ultimately unfulfilling. Only in God can we find real fulfillment and happiness.

It is for me to change and purify myself, and in cooperation with God, He will work with me through sanctifying grace. I should expect and deserve no assistance in this regard, if I refuse to cooperate with Him as a Christian.

Fr Z had this to say recently:

If you die in the state of grace, that is, in God’s friendship, you will either immediately or after a time in the state of purification be admitted to the bliss of the Beatific Vision in heaven.

Your happiness in heaven cannot be surpassed. You will be in God’s presence for eternity with all the angels and saints and God will be all in all.  There will no sorrow or sense of loss or inadequacy.  There will be no remorse or lack of peace. None of us can imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him.

It can be done.  It isn’t so hard as all that. God gives all the graces we need and forgiveness when we ask.  God gave us Holy Church and the sacraments to help us get there.

Be good to people.  Say your prayers.  Go to confession.  Receive Communion well.  Believe what Holy Church teaches. Trust in Christ’s promises.  Try to be virtuous.

This life is short.  But the next life is forever.

You can do this.

Fr Z is right in saying this, and I here link to the Beatific Vision, by way of a reminder of what we strive towards in this life, and for encouragement.

It’s not about firstly changing the church, or society, or others; this is about changing me, which will knock on positively, for the good of all, and indeed for the very purposes of God.