On the Beginning of the Nativity Fast

Russian: На начало Рождественского поста

Italiano: Sull’inizio del Digiuno della Natività

We have begun the joyous and holy Nativity Fast.  The fast begins on November 28, or forty days before the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and ends on the feast itself or January 7, according to the secular calendar.  Just as the Jews wandered in the wilderness for forty years before entering the Promised Land, the Holy Church leads us for forty days into the wilderness of the Fast before entering into God’s promise revealed on the Nativity.  For the Jews, it was in order to shake off the bonds of slavery—physical, mental, and spiritual.  An entire generation of people born and raised in Egyptian slavery was to die before those who no longer remembered being slaves and those who were born free were allowed to enter the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3:8).  And so it is with us: we must shake off the bonds of slavery to sins and passions—physical, mental, and spiritual.  We must cease being slaves of sin and become friends of Christ by keeping His commandments (John 15:14).

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On the Murder of Father Daniil Sysoev

Português: http://cetroreal.blogspot.com/2009/11/perseguicao-igreja-o-assassinato-do.html

Deutsch: http://vatopaidi.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/uber-den-mord-an-vater-daniil-sysoev/

Today, the holy Church celebrates the memory of its martyrs who lived a long time ago.  But it is time for us to also remember those who have suffered for Christ very recently.

Only a few days after a religious extremist shot 13 people on an American Army base, another extremist shot and killed a priest at his church in Moscow.  This was not the first priest who has been killed in Russia in recent years.  In fact, in the last two decades, at least 26 Russian clergy have been killed and many others wounded in failed murder attempts.  Of course, not all of these murders were motivated by religious beliefs; some were committed by criminals who did not believe in much of anything at all.  Yet, many murderers claimed to have been acting in the name of Satan, Krishna, or Allah.  The latest victim in a string of murders motivated by religion appears to have become Priest Daniil Sysoev, the rector of the Apostle Thomas church in Moscow.

Reflections on Female Spirituality

Every man, at least every married man, is faced with the task of deciphering female psychology.  Popular wisdom provides plenty of evidence to the many differences between men and women, but more scholarly works are equally plentiful.  Additionally, a large body of feminist thought has now provided insight not only into the unique psycho-emotional makeup of men and women, but also into differences in male and female worldview and spirituality. 

The following are very unscientific reflections and observations of one man on just a few ways that expressions of female spirituality may be seen through a male prism, or, as they like to say nowadays, window of understanding…

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There Is No Sex in the Church!: On the Problematics of Sexuality and Gender In Orthodoxy

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On the Role of Women in the Church

The issue of women in the Church has been raised many times during the history of Christianity, beginning with the very first decades of the Church’s existence.  That is why, when in the twenty-first century one asks about the role of women in the Church, one does not speak of this role—Christ Himself spoke about it and the Apostle Paul wrote about it in his letters—but the continuing problem of the relationship between genders in the family, society, and the Church.

In Church consciousness, this problem is usually expressed in terms of bearded men in black possessing administrative authority which they withhold from women, even if the latter choose to glue on a mustache and don a black robe.  From the point of view of modern Western culture—to which not only immigrants making their lives in the United States belong, but also in a significant way Orthodox people living in the European part of Russia—there is clear evidence of the discrimination of the Church against women only because they were born women.  This is why it seems somewhat strange to me that I, a bearded man in a black robe who possess some limited administrative authority in my parish—a small part of the Church, have been invited to tell women about their place in the Church…

NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK!

A new book by Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov

There Is No Sex in the Church!: On the Problematics of Sexuality and Gender In Orthodoxy

+

Other Books by Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov

+

Support our church! Make a small donation today!

To donate through PayPal, click here

Or mail a check to Russian Church, PO Box 913, Mulino, OR 97042

Click this link for the donation page