Yesterday was the feast day of St Paisios (on the New Calendar). Boy, do we need his prayers more than ever now.
Truth be told, I’ve been asked to write about his prophecies, the reason of course is because of what is happening on the geopolitical scene. Particularly, the previous day’s ruling by the Turkish high court which nullified the earlier 1934 law that turned the mosque that was Hagia Sophia into a museum.
To be honest, I am very fascinated by these prophecies, as well as those of Elder Joseph the Hesychast. In fact, some of these prophecies seem to align with those from other faith traditions, some of them going back to the Middle Ages.
I’m not a theologian, nor do I possess the necessary spiritual discernment to unwrap all this. I will say this, however; prophecies are not so much the prediction of future events (as I see it) but admonitions from God Himself to His people. The prophet is not a fortune-teller but an oracle. His message is one of repentance, not winning lottery tickets or hot stock tips.
It is in this light therefore that I think we should listen to the prophecies of these blessed Elders. In any event, I do believe that men such as Paisios are interceding for us and for this we should be thankful.
The following story came from our good friends at Ortho Christianity: http://orthochristian.com/88169.html
SOME GREEKS TURN TO ELDER PAISIOS’ PROPHECIES ON RUSSIA-TURKEY CONFLICT
Saint Paisios the Athonite was born Arsenios Eznepidis in July 1924, in Farasa Cappadocia. His father was called Prodromos and his mother Evlampia. He had eight siblings. On August 7, 1924, a week before the Greeks of Farasa returned to the homeland, he was baptized by the parish priest, Arsenios, whom the Orthodox Church recognized as a saint. Arsenios insisted and gave him his name “to leave a monk in his place,” as he said.
Five weeks after the boy’s christening, on September 14, 1924, the Eznepidis family, along with other refugees, arrived at Piraeus and then went to Corfu, where they stayed for eighteen months. The family then moved to Igoumenitsa and then to Konitsa where Arsenios finished elementary school and got his diploma with “excellent conduct.” Ever since he was a child, he was writing down the miracles of Saint Arsenios. He had an inclination towards monasticism and wanted to become a monk.
Arsenios went to Mount Athos to become a monk in 1949, right after his discharge from the army. He stayed for one night at the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Karyes and then slept in the hermitage of Saint Panteleimon, in the cell of the Virgin Mary, where he met father Cyril, abbot of the monastery, and followed him faithfully. After spending time in various retreats of Mount Athos and Sinai, he moved to Koutloumousio monastery until he became seriously ill and passed away in the summer of 1994.
He was buried in the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti, Thessaloniki. Since then, every year on July 11 to July 12, the anniversary of his death, there is a vigil in the Sanctuary Retreat, with thousands of believers attending.
Elder Paisios wrote four books, published by the Holy Monastery Saint John the Theologian: Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian (1991), Elder Hadji-Georgis the Athonite, 1809-1886 (1986), Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters (1993) and Letters (1994).
Elder Paisios became known for a number of controversial political statements and prophecies. These include the prediction that a war with Turkey will lead to a restoration of a Greater Greece that includes Albania, Macedonia and Byzantium (Istanbul), and the mass conversion of Turks from Islam to Orthodox Christianity. Many Greeks compare Paisios to Nostradamus.
Recompense can’t come soon enough for the Turks and NATO.
AXIOS! ??SAINT PAISIOS!??AXIOS!
Yes the great ascetic Monk who left for Heaven July 12th, 1994 is watching over all this madness — the Beloved Paisios is still a warrior + fighting for us the faithful. Never forget it –
when I wrote my “homage” for his canonization years back in The National Herald, I studied every book about him + even had a dream of him instructing me what to say in my ear… In one book one thing that stood out before his death: while in hospital he decided to take on the terminal illness of a young person there so they could live + he could go, saying, something to effect: “ how would it look if we ascetic monks didn’t take on sufferings of others on ourselves, when we know we’ve mastered our freedom from this body yet must die of something?”
May It Be Blessed ??
https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/Moscow-says-Turkey-s-Hagia-Sophia-move-an–internal-affair-/1840386-5592518-sim047z/index.html
Hate to admit this, but Russia may end up being just as much of a disappointment as Greece.
It was always a pipe dream to think that Russia would intervene (even military, for some!) in the affairs of what is, at least for the time being, a NATO country.
Turkey’s time is coming, though.
Part of me would just love to see Russia go full on Orthodox Mujahidi.
I can see it now: a flash mob of a few hundred incognito Orthodox going into Hagia Sophia next Holy Friday during the Jumaat prayers and at their commencement start chanting the Royal Hours before the imam has a chance to go any further than Allahu Akbar.
https://youtu.be/sfe-KxmuxJw
St. Paisios pray for us
We shall see, but, if war starts between Russia/Turkey/Greece then I think it may be safe to really believe it. As for the prophecies of Elder Paisios, he says that “The end of Turkey will occurs when Hagia Sophia is turned back into a mosque.” If this is true then we may be seeing that playing out.
Also, have to give credit to the amazing Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus who is able to see the spiritual reasons for what is going on and not just the temporal. God seems to be humbling Constantinople yet again as in centuries past when this See has been the epicenter for some of the worst heresies in the Church. My own take, because the obvious pride that the current EP suffers from, what better way to be humbled than have Hagia Sophia turned back into a mosque:
https://orthochristian.com/132590.html
Petros?
Spot on! Patriarch Bartholomew did indeed cause split in Orthodoxy, among other SINS … the Hand of God⚡️is striking down on Orthodoxy, especially secular Greeks betraying the Faith.
Look at last year’s scandalized Met. Emanuel of France ?? had gay sex orgies with his homosexual clergy partner right inside Phanar!
And this pathetic disaster was slated to be next Archbishop of America?!
The fact that Bartholomew did NOTHING to defrock Emanuel is telling of how low the collective Greek Orthodox have sunk — good grief, there’s defrocked priests I’ve heard about who’ve done less!
TALK ABOUT BEING HUMBLED??
Petros, Sage-Girl, Misha, Joseph et al:
– Is the attitude of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Orthodox?
YouTube channel: Saint Paraskevi St. Albans
In an exclusive interview – river, the well-known fighter Theologian – philologist Nikolaos Sotiropoulos (one year before his death) speaks on topics such as:
– Is the attitude of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Orthodox?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26ChPCVd-Co
(English sub-titles)
Also, the whole interview in Greek only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoZ4qX4r4D8
Ioannis
https://orthochristian.com/102025.html
This was long before the latest controversy regarding Ukraine.
Correct: prophesies are calls to repentance. The more details and projections, the less they should be trusted. Remember Acts 16:17.
Even in holy people one can never be entirely sure where they come from and what they mean.
We must also soberly consider the commands in Matthew 24 & 25 that we do not know the hour. We are to watch and pray.
I have seen too many people of good heart led astray by itching ears. A temptation to which we are particularly subject in our culture.
In such matters I also remember Hamlet: “If it be now,’tis not to come, if it is not to come, it will be now, if it be not now, yet it will come, the readiness is all.
The readiness is all. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Watch and pray. Give alms and be kind. .
St. Paisios has already predicted correctly many things —
please MB, you “protesteth too much” – you hang with the too secular + don’t read up on enough Saints
you “protests too much”
Good for him. I have a great deal more faith in his intercessions than interpretations of prophecies. Repentance and the mercy of Christ.
If that makes me secular so be it.
I wholeheartedly agree that the core reason we have prophecies is to guide us to repentance, which even our Saints teach.
Discretion is required when reading prophecies, as there are many false ones floating around, even regarding Saint Paisios. The passage in which you referred to is to have discretion.
But on one point I don’t agree with you is if a prophecy is given to a certain acceptable amount of detail then it shouldn’t be trusted. General detailed reasons of how Turkey for instance will fall are not just stated by Saint Paisios, but many other Saints and from different regions. In those instances there is truth, but again discretion is required in every instance regardless.
Metropolitans Neofytos and Athanasios of Cyprus knew personally of Saint Paisios, and Saints Porphyrios and Iakovos and likewise heard many prophecies. Met. Neofytos was revealed detailed future events that would transpire in his own personal life as well from Saint Paisios. How at the young age of 18-19, starting a law degree he was reluctant to finish, but was encouraged to complete it as a necessity for he would become a leader in the Church (ordained much later, some issues in the Church arose in Cyprus and the Archbishop at the time required a trustworthy cleric that knew law, and was the only one at the time), that he would return to his homeland in Northern Cyprus, how to be ready to embrace remaining Turks and baptise them, how to build monasteries, etc.
Even Saint Iakovos gave precise prophetic details of Met. Neofytos’ life and even understanding events of his past to help heal certain spiritual wounds since he only knew pain from a young child. The Saint even revealed details that his baptismal name was not the same as the one he thought he was given due to a mistake of his relatives, but stated it didn’t matter as he would change his name later. Even as a funny detail, when reading the ending confession prayers the Saint would say the name “Neofytos” on various occasions, and believing the Saint was making a mistake, stated “No, it’s Omyros!”
I could continue to give examples, but my point is that I don’t think there is only a certain measure of acceptable detail for prophecy to be true.
I also want to say is that rather recently Met. Neofytos stated from certain sources of events around Greece and Cyprus that came to his attention that Saint Paisios appeared to some individuals with a smile of happiness and when asked why he was so joyous the Saint responded, “The difficult and tremendous and terrible events that we were aware of to occur globally will be reduced greatly. The Holy Panagia found repentant people in the world!”
This message doesn’t mean we should relax spiritually, but in fact encourages us more to repent.
On the feast of the venerable ascetic and spirit-filled receptacle of the Holy Spirit, Paisios the New, multi-spoon abominations continue!
Holy Father Paisios, intercede for us!
https://youtu.be/2RiBuzMnJ8A
The prophecy about the “Return of the King” to Constantinople goes back at least to an ancient prophecy inscribed on St. Constantine’s grave and discovered by Saint Gennadios in the year 1440. It foretold of the conquering of Constantinople by “the kingdom of Ishmael called Mohammed,” and it also foretold of it’s later reconquering:
“the Blond race, along with it’s agents, will defeat the whole of Ishmael and will conquer the City of the Seven Hills with her privileges; then they will provoke a savage civil war until the fifth hour; and a voice will shout thrice; ‘ Stand fast, stand fast, and with fear earnestly hasten to the area on the right, and find there a brave, wondrous, and robust man; you shall have this one as your ruler because he is my beloved. So take him with you and fulfill my resolution.”
http://www.eschatologia.com/2015/08/the-prophecy-engraved-on-cover-of-st.html
Joseph, thank you for directing us to this link.
Rome was built on seven hills,
as was Edinburgh (allegedly).
As is Istanbul and I believe also Moscow.
The Hagia Sophia: Moscow’s Struggle For Power And The Decline Of Constantinople
http://shoebat.com/2020/07/11/the-hagia-sophia-moscows-struggle-for-power-and-the-decline-of-constantinople/
I have to caution you about Shobat. He had reported that they were ferreting Christians out of war torn countries where there was substantial persecution; frequent, graphic beheadings. I looked at their non-profit statements and realize that they would not have had the money to be able to do what they claimed they did. Instead, their money was primarily used for travel expenses to and from book tours. – That was then. It was a long time ago. But I would be very careful about taking them too seriously.
Right. There is a lot of information that you can easily find online debunking his claims over the years, to put it mildly. You can easily find it for yourself. It’s unfortunate because there actually are good criticisms of Islam and Islamic fundamentalists that should be made.
I know. 🙁
Gail, Hal, Petro, re: Shoebat. I can’t say I know much about him so I’ll take your words for it; for myself however, I thought that some of the writing was sloppy (e.g. misspellings, etc.) and he had only a cursory understanding of history.
Having said that, his narrative was mostly correct, specifically his penultimate paragraph when he said that with the loss of Hagia Sophia to mosque status, the EP can no longer make the claim to being the center of Orthodoxy and that Moscow, whatever its faults, has more claim to being the actual “vibrant” center of Orthodoxy.
In this sense, I completely agree with his overall analysis (even if the particulars leave something to be desired).
I wasn’t commenting on this particular piece which I have not yet read, BTW, but on him, specifically.
Thanks for the heads up! I’m not familiar with them but just saw this article on Reddit
This isn’t something you could know unless you had a lot of time to look it up. It’s a shame because he has a great story and some good stuff. It’s just exaggerated which doesn’t help anyone. It is SO HARD to just get the truth these days, isn’t it?
You can just do a Google search for articles debunking his story or his claims. I don’t have a personal axe to grind with him. I don’t remember if he criticized Orthodoxy, but IIRC he did polemicize against the land’s native Christian population that tends to be Orthodox.
One theory about what happened could be that he decided to work for the Israelis, make a speaking campaign against Islamicists and terrorists, and as part of this he made up a big part of his personal story as well as the anti-Muslim information that he puts out, in order to make the Muslim world look worse than it is. It’s unfortunate, because making up stories so strongly to fit an “anti-” anything agenda makes you lose credibility.
In effect, after 2001 there was an anti-Muslim hysteria among some quarters comparable to the anti-COVID hysteria today. It’s not that Islam doesn’t have problems or that COVID never hurt anyone. But society experienced a fearful overreaction.
And Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well. (Photini)
John 4:20-24
New King James Version
“20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.””
Doesn’t sound to me that Jesus is concerned where we worship Him but how we worship Him.
Well said, Lina.
It is very sad to see a beautiful church temple turned into a mosque, yet it is no more heartbreaking than seeing one turned into a museum. Moreover, I recall no command of Christ to conquer, defend, or retake ‘territory.’ On the contrary, He said, “If they persecute you in one city, flee to another.”
I fully understand sentiment and nostalgia, but the unwillingness to accept what God allows (for whatever reason) is thoroughly unhealthy and a major distraction. Why is it that when our enemies are punished or their territories taken we are quick to say that it is God’s judgment upon them, while when the same happens to us we insist upon its injustice?
If our lands or places of worship are indeed truly “holy,” which is to say truly set apart for the glory of God (and not our own), then God can be counted upon to defend what has been set apart for Him, as He has done many times in many places, including Constantinople. When we abandon Him and/or seek our own glory, He has shown time and again throughout the history of His people that He will not hesitate to destroy the things that we make idols of in our hearts – even what we think of (and were indeed once) holy things.
“By the waters of Babylon…”
We have yet to see what God “allows” in this story. Putin has been talking with Erdogan. There was a time when many thought God would allow all the icons to be destroyed. That wasn’t what God had in mind.
“If our lands or places of worship are indeed truly ‘holy,’ which is to say truly set apart for the glory of God (and not our own), then God can be counted upon to defend what has been set apart for Him, as He has done many times in many places, including Constantinople.”
God has His own plans, and won’t be held to this type of mechanical thinking. Best to forget about “truly set apart” which amounts to “deserves,” because God is more likely to intervene in situations where people open their prayers with recognition of not being worthy, but please help us anyway.
I can’t remember what happened exactly, but just before the City fell to the Turks in 1453, there was a sign in the heavens that led many to believe that God had abandoned them, which squares with what you wrote. Same reason that Jerusalem was flattened by the Romans after the Jews turned their backs on Him.
Btw Basil, this is documented in the Netflix series Ottoman, probably in a fanciful way.
There was some kind of visual phenomenon which happened at the pinnacle of the Hagia Sophia. It was visible to both armies; the Byzantines were terrified by it while the Turks saw it as a favorable sign.
There were other signs as well—in a procession through the city, icon of the Theotokos fell from its frame into the mud. There was a freak hailstorm, followed by heavy fog on the last day.
Byzantium fell in communion with Rome, as on the eve of the invasion the Ecumenical Patriarch performed some kind of weird hybrid Divine Liturgy/Latin Mass in which he commemorated the Pope. (And in the end the Pope’s army never came anyway.) Thus the Great Church was desecrated before it fell into Turkish hands.
From St. Paisios the Athonite Spiritual Counsels Vol. 1:
“Well, maybe a few Marxists will come to the Church at first. But then, they will form a Party and start giving orders: “At this time you will go to church; at that time you will not go to church. Now do this, now do that.” They will make rules for everything. And in the end, they will say, “Who told you that there is a God? There is no God! The priests want to fool you.” This is what will happen. The Marxists will use these well-intentioned Christians to achieve their own goal. ”
Sound a bit familiar?
??MOT:
all I can say is OMG!
But, knowing beloved St. Paisios Knows what’s happening down here in terra firma earth from up in Paradise should make us feel better… I believe as it was for Greek ascetic, the nun Mother Gavrilia: “It’s ALL Destiny”⚡️
The prophesies of Fr. Paisios dovetail with the end time prophecies. It just doesn’t seem clear in the West because we have the characters wrongly identified. Two things that seem obvious to me are that the antichrist who comes from the “tribe of Dan” could be from anywhere in Asia Minor. Many Turks probably have Dannite blood, and Palestinians, etc.
The other is that Russia will likely play a good guy “saving” role in the proceedings. How else could it go with a reinvigorated Church.
The real stopwatch is a major 7 year treaty between Jerusalem and its enemies. Then you’re cooking with gas.
In exchange for something to do with Syria, Putin has gotten Erdogan to protect the Christian relics and “shrines” associated with Hagia Sophia, which suggests Erdogan has agreed to forbid the mosque from desecrating them and covering up the mosaics with plaster. Why? Because Putin knows one day we will be taking it back. Or so *I* predict.
Gail,
Little things mean a lot. I have no accurate crystal ball, however, this thing has the potential to turn Patriarch Bartholomew.
Erdogan is NATO. NATO is now telling the Greeks in a loud clear voice that Aya Sofia is Turkish property and they can do what they want with it. None of these people in the Western IC understand history or the potential for conflict here. They’re all quite weak on Asia Minor.
It all hangs on Putin. He is a patient one. He certainly sees the pieces on the chess board, probably having had a hand in arranging them. But hey, we staged a coup in his front friggin yard. He’s messed with us since to an extent no one but he and FSB are fully aware. He likes Americans, likes Trump. But I think he sees as clearly as we do that the liberals have to go. They cause way too much agita.
If he wanted to save the day I’m sure he would be openly gracious regarding Bartholomew. I dare say though that he is the only one who could intervene in Turkey’s plans. The Turks fear him, with good reason.
Exactly. It all hangs on Putin. And also the United States, in so far as we keep backing away from NATO and quit footing the bill. The rest of our NATO allies have no interest in contributing their fair share and without funding, NATO is not going to be the one to stop anyone.
One of well known sayings of St. Paisios is to always keep a positive thought, about our neighbors, and especially about our fellow Orthodox Christians. If we can do this, then we have probably achieved even much more than attending a vigil service in Church.
Here’s a video of the Prophecy of Elder Joseph of Vatopedi in his own voice:
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/09/prophecy-of-elder-joseph-of-vatopaidi_19.html
“In summary, Elder Joseph talks about the times before the coming of Antichrist. He speaks of political upheavals and an economic crisis. Greece will be impoverished and in hunger. Turkey will take advantage of Greece’s weakness and attack. Russia will in turn attack Turkey and gain control of Constantinople and the surrounding area. Though Russia will want to keep Constantinople for themselves, they will not be able to and instead will give it over to Greece after two or three months. He mentions that the Americans and Israelis will make their move to attack Russia and push them back. The Japanese are also mentioned. Then a miracle will happen: An angel will appear in the heavens and the armies will temporarily lose their minds, turning against each other. A slaughter of three days will result in 700 million dead. These will be 700 million men/soldiers, not women and children. This will take place near Constantinople and will leave Constantinople in ruins, save for Hagia Sophia. After three days an angel will appear to stop this fighting, then all will return to their homeland. At this time this angel will arouse a Roman/Byzantine emperor of old who was pious and godly to rule from Constantinople and he will usher in a period of peace for three or four decades. When the Church becomes strengthened and is better organized, then the events spoken of by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation will take place.”
Thanks, Joseph. This is interesting. Along the same vein, I’m reading a book that’s part of a series about Revelations. It’s called Revelation the Seven Trumpets & the Antichrist (Volume III). It’s by Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios and translated by Constantine Zalalas. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve skimmed it and it looks pretty good. Someone told me it talked about some of the things going on today. Have you heard of it?
Gail — yes it’s good book ?, haven’t finished it yet but confident it’s pithy… Constantine Zalalas gave me one as gift. CZ has Orthodox videos online + Arch. Mitilianaios was his Elder from Greece
Thanks!
No, I haven’t.
The entire series is superb!
Oh, good!
I have heard this before and was wondering does it match what any other Saints have said as far as prophecies about the end times?
I have a hard time understanding the “three or four decades of peace.” Do you think it only means political peace? Unless America does a 180 degree turn on its moral decay, I don’t see how there could be actual peace, especially for a Christian family trying to raise their children in a holy, spiritual environment. Peace tends to be inversely proportionate to technological progress (at least that’s my opinion) so I find it hard to imagine this peace. (i.e. There is already a creepy trend in Japan for certain types of “robots.” What else will advanced technology bring us?) Are there any prophecies about the moral decay in America turning around to promote a peaceful environment? I’m not saying I don’t agree with this prophecy, and others like it, I just have a really hard time comprehending it. Right now, good is called bad, and bad is called good. Do we assume that this will reverse by then…?
It seems to match or confirm the old prophecy on St. Constantine’s tomb. St. Kosmas, St. Paisios, Elder Ephraim of Arizona, and Elder Joseph of Vatopedi all seem to confirm this old prophecy.
Yes, given the world’s current weapons, it’s easy to surmise that the next world war may send it’s survivors back to the “Stone Age”, at least technologically speaking. Yet the old prophecy on St. Constantine’s tomb foretells of a “brave, wondrous, and robust man” who will then arise and fulfill St. Constantine’s resolution as the Emperor of Constantinople. Elder Joseph of Vatopedi forsees three or four decades of peace afterwards, as God builds up His Church in preparation for the time of the Antichrist.
FWIW, this accords with a Catholic prophecy about a “Great King” who will restore Christendom one last time before the coming of the Antichrist. (The Russians have a similar prophecy about a “God-pleasing Tsar whom even the Antichrist will fear”.)
RE: “After three days an angel will appear to stop this fighting, then all will return to their homeland. At this time this angel will arouse a Roman/Byzantine emperor of old who was pious and godly to rule from Constantinople and he will usher in a period of peace for three or four decades. When the Church becomes strengthened and is better organized, then the events spoken of by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation will take place.”
Yes, Joseph, this was indeed predicted.
A few years ago, I accidentally (the author brought a few copies into a bookstore I was in at the time) read a small self-published pamphlet. It was roughly cobbled together and privately published by this older, pious Greek man. It elucidated some of these details. It seemed a strange story on the surface. A few items mentioned in the pamphlet (forgive me as my recollections these days can be sketchy – now, what was I talking about…?) included a six-fingered Emperor, entombed near or around Hagia Sophia. This ancient, venerable, foolish (a somewhat gentle fool for Christ) Byzantine Emperor will rise from the dead. He will rule, justly, the city of Constantinople for 20-30 years, perhaps more, and then a great war will affect the whole world.
Frankly, I thought the pamphlet was someone’s childish dream. But as the years have moved on… well, almost anything seems possible now.
Here’s also an interesting interview with Elder Joseph from 2001:
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/07/prophecies-of-elder-joseph-of-vatopaidi.html
“Here’s also an interesting interview with Elder Joseph from 2001:”
Ok, 2001…
“As concerns Putin, that time will not last long, and there will be an immediate war, and he will not be around for long”
Good thing then the Elder doesn’t appear to state that any of this is from the Lord, and not just his personal conjecture upon prophecy and current events, because it has been another 19 years. Putin took power in 1999 (or 2000 at latest), and is still going strong, and under the current constitution could, in theory, last until 2036.
I say that Putin is potentially the “last Tsar” himself, and we could be going into the third decade of his 30 to 40 something rule, and not even know it.
He seems to say that Putin won’t survive or survive long after the coming war. However, after that war there will be a great rebirth of Orthodoxy, and not just in Russia, but all over the world. That great rebirth of Orthodoxy hasn’t happened yet.
That will happen after Bartholomew and Elp. and syncretists leave their posts or change their minds.
Let us indeed hope for “a rebirth of Orthodoxy” at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Putin will likely be with us for the foreseeable future inasmuch as he and Trump seem anointed by God to these times. A rebirth is already underway in Putin’s Russia with his full support. He is eligible now for another 16 years in office and, given the Lord tarries, he will probably serve that out. Even after his controversial pension reform and retirement age hike, as of March, 2020, his approval rate was at 63 percent. That’s down from his all time high of 85 percent. Still, any American president would kill for such numbers.
It seems this is personal conjecture from the Elder on a subject about which he is ill informed. I’m skeptical of latter day prophets in any case unless and until the things they “prophesy” actually come to pass. Too much room there for ethno-political projection.
Ethno-political projections can be highly under-rated.
“However, after that war there will be a great rebirth of Orthodoxy, and not just in Russia, but all over the world.”
There has been a great rebirth of Orthodoxy.
https://ocl.org/an-important-challenge-for-greek-orthodox-christianity/
“In a startling find, statistics disclose over 60% of Greek Orthodox families of the last generation and 90% of Americans with Greek roots are no longer in communion with the Church”
If some churches seem to be treading water; it isn’t because they’re stagnant, there’s been historic levels of out with the tares, in with the wheat, going on.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-non-greek-greek-orthodox-priest-20170624-story.html
“More than 70 percent of the roughly 75,000 Antiochian Orthodox Christians in the United States are converts. The Orthodox Church in America, with roots in Moscow and about 85,000 adherents, reports a 50 percent figure. In Greek Orthodox Christianity, by far the largest branch in the United States with almost 480,000 members, it’s about 25 percent.”
Just when I think that Occasional-Cortex and the other anti-American/BLM/SJWs go lower, they never cease to surprise me:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/31/aoc-refers-to-canonized-saint-fr-damien-who-served-lepers-as-part-of-white-supremacist-culture/
How long, O Lord? How long?
Of course because Christianity is wholly white supremacist and sexist, and all of the -phobics put together. Marxism hates God and His people.
Geo – this is truly satanic talk of crazy AOC to trash a holy man who put his life in line to be of service, a true Christ figure . The anti White narrative goes on and its hatred of Whitey and its transparent, seething jealousy of Whitey will prove to wreck democrat party .
Wait + see
Hi Sage-Girl, dropping in the conversation to let you know that Fr Peter Heers’ first Orthodox Survival Course lecture is available online at his Patreon site. Just google Patreon and Orthodox Ethos and there it is. One must sign up (for a minimum of $3 per month) as a subscriber. Somehow one then has to sign into the Crowd page too by disabling (enabling?) cookies or some such.
The links are on the Patreon page and in this case to the right you will see PDF OSC #1 and within are the linkS to the power point presentation and to the actual video of the lecture and the first Q & A.
Think you would also LOVE Fr Seraphim Rose’s original Orthodox Survival Course from the 1970’s which has been keeping me sane through his analysis of history actually which then places all sorts of movements/thinking in their rightful place, thus leaving us free to leave behind Jung, tarot, etc. I ~ like you and Fr Seraphim ~ looked at “everything” on my way to Orthodoxy and am so grateful to hear his analysis though wish I was your age when I first heard it rather than late in life! Hoping you decide to check it out, Sage-Girl!
Last night’s first session was a joy, to feel such strength from an excellent teacher echoing what I learned about the Orthodox fronema from my catechizing priest and Bishop and my Spiritual Father and my readings ever since…And joy of joy, I have just been to Divine Liturgy at a wonderful ROCOR parish with no mask, got to kiss icons happily and naturally, receive Holy Communion as usual with kissing the Chalice, not to mention a GREAT homily on St. Seraphim of Sarov. SUBLIME!!! Glory to God!
With love and prayers in Christ to thee and thine,
Nicole
You lucky Nicole — to have such a parish! Indeed, I found some YouTube videos of Fr. Seraphim Rose ? so thanks muchly will check out Patreon.
All these many greats … what plethora of blessings they left behind for us — God and Destiny made certain they got born !
Thanks for this info Nicole. I subscribed, but I guess I’m just stupid. I can’t make much sense of the Patreon Platform. I follow another person on it, but that person’s posts are super easy. Just click and read. For Fr. Peter, I can’t for the life of me find the actual OSC Video. Any thoughts on what I’m missing?
No it was little awkward for me too Daniel F because of needing to sign into the crowd service to see things. So you subscribed and verified your email address? Not sure what you are seeing when you sign on? I will go see if there is a way to write fr Peter directly since I barely understand tech to help you!
Daniel I took a screenshot of what I see when I sign on but can’t attach here. Fr Peters pic then below the number of patrons/ subscribers then Below POSTS in a box to the left OSC videos of which three (the course week 1 and 2 Q and As, for US and Australia. Respectively. Really worth figuring out with help from someone tech savvy!
I am subscribed to this Patreon group. The video is described as a ‘livestream’. It works for me if I go to https://www.patreon.com/frpeterheers/posts and scroll quite a ways down the page looking for ‘Watch the livestream powered by Crowdcast’. It’s inside a dark colored rectangle that also contains a picture of FR Peter. The livestream isn’t really live but you’ll be taken to the recording.
Thank you Cyprian! Your link is now on my homescreen — much easier than my convoluted way of getting there.
You have to sign up on the Patreon and then link your Patreon account to Crowdcast. It was a bit awkward for me to figure it out, but eventually I did. Are you still having trouble? I just kept clicking on everything and signing up for everything until eventually I got the video to play! It was worth it for sure, but a little confusing.
For those who don’t know about Fr. Damien he cared for the Hawaiian natives who had contracted leprosy and were being dumped by white and native authorities on Moloka’i which he called “a sour tounge of land”. They were dumped without any care for them. Fr. Damian was considered a marginal priest so when he volunteered to go, he was blessed to do so. From there on he became a thorn in the side to the authorities secular and ecclesiastical. So persistent in his demands for material, food and medical supplies that his superior called him a defective priest. He organized the community so that people were not preyed upon and could live as best they could. He had to offer his confessions from a dingy distanced from the supply boat so that everyone on the supply could hear.
He was not always pleasant. But he counted as his greatest joy the day he contracted leprosy. He died in the colony. Later, against his wishes when they exhumed his body to take it back to his native Belgium he was found to be both incorrupt and showing no signs of leprosy.
The native Hawaiians wanted nothing to do with the place or the people there for the most part.
Yup, clearly a prime example of white supremacy. I guess he should have social distanced and let them all die in squalor, fear and agony or be shot by the native hunters if they tried to escape or let them roam free until the disease killed off all the natives huh?
Were the doctors who found a cure for Hansen’s Disease also white supremacists? Because it largely impacted poor minorities. Malignant ignorance and racist hatred is AOC. The new Grand Dragon of the Anti-Occidental Club.
BTW I first learned about him through that bastion of white supremacy PBS when they broadcast a one man play about him.
The world according to Demoncrats: Racism cures racism.
But really…
Real racism only pretends to cure fake racism.
In reality, real racism is an individual sin, allowed in by a hateful, fearful , and jealous heart.
The sin of racism has no man made cure.
Even so, no country in the world has done more to attempt to cure racism, than the United States, nor will it ever end accusing, nor “fixing” the United States of racism, as long as there is money to be made from it.
It was disappointing to read about the OCA’s Archbishop of Alaska defending a statue in Sitka of Alexander Baranov, the first Russian governor of Alaska. Baranov was incredibly cruel to the Native Alaskans, and St. Herman was often the only one defending the natives against his cruelty. The Archbishop’s argument that America’s Sheldon Jackson was a much worse villain to the natives than Baranov doesn’t really cut it. The comparison is not helpful. After all it appears the Native Alaskans didn’t even want to destroy the statue of Baranov, but instead they only wanted to move it to a different and less prominent location where a fuller story of Baranov could be told.
https://www.adn.com/opinions/letters/2020/07/15/letter-dont-blame-baranov/
https://orthochristian.com/132783.html
I must disagree. Yes, we all know that Baranov wasn’t a saint. But other than Fr Junipero Serra, none of the other men whose statues have been taken down were saints either. This is madness. The demons who are taking down these statues and monuments are not doing it because of some high-minded civic principle or because of an offense to morality but only because they are cruel people of no accomplishment who delight in destruction. Period. Full stop.
These are not demons or bolsheviks though. These are Native Americans in Alaska. They just wanted the statue of Baranov moved:
https://www.ktoo.org/2020/06/25/sitkans-gather-to-demand-the-relocation-of-controversial-baranov-statue/
“These are not demons or bolsheviks though. These are Native Americans in Alaska. They just wanted the statue of Baranov moved”
Not a reasonable request. The natives who fought Baranov, rather than sided with him like the Aleut, were the genocidal Marxists of the day. The whole “nobody can own land” (it all belongs collectively to MY tribe) concept is why the natives couldn’t get out of the stone age throughout North America, it wasn’t then, and isn’t now, some peaceful living in harmony with nature idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Andreyevich_Baranov
“While the Russians maintained that he bought a portion of land from the Tlingit and built a fort and settlement on Sitka Island overlooking Sitka Sound, the Tlingit believed that land could not be owned, therefore meaning that the land occupied by the Russians was never purchased. He believed it was important in order to push back British efforts to take over southeastern Alaska and annex it to Canada.
“In 1802, after Baranov had returned to Kodiak to tend to matters there, the Tlingit tribe on Sitka Island decided to expel the Russians. The latter disregarded the Tlingit warnings to evacuate. Led by war chief Katlian (spelled Kot-le-an in Michener’s Alaska), the Tlingit attacked and massacred nearly everyone at the Sitka settlement. Baranov responded by gathering naval forces and an army of about 700 Aleut warriors to attack Katlian’s formidable new fort on Sitka at Indian River.
[…]
“In 1805, Tlingit warriors attacked and massacred the Russian settlement at Yakutat, which Baranov decided to abandon.”
And the same revionism is being demanded of museums, so asking for these types of statues to be “moved” is, in effect, asking for them to ultimately be destroyed.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/museum-curator-forced-to-resign-for-saying-the-museum-should-accept-art-from-white-male-artists
https://www.patrioticalternative.org.uk/madeline_odent_is_not_alone
Myst,
Baranov was a cruel tyrant who worked against the evangelizing efforts of the Orthodox mission in Alaska. During the Baranov years, adult male Native Alaskans were typically conscripted into slavery. They were forced at gunpoint to leave their villages for years on end and hunt for the Russians. These male Natives slaves were also typically overworked and exhausted by the Russian fur traders, with many of them dying prematurely. Because of this, the Native villages were often left without hunters, causing many in the villages to suffer and die from hunger. Baranov also encouraged the Russian fur traders under his authority to take even up to several concubines from the Native Alaskan women. This was the normal practice.
Captain Vasili Golovnin, who visited with St. Herman, wrote about all this in 1818:
“Besides the yearly program of hunting parties, they were sent on remote hunting expeditions, lasting several years, where they died of hunger and privations, while in the villages their families, left without a hunter, were underfed and died prematurely; in that respect, I wanted to know in what proportion the native population increased or decreased under the company’s administration. Company agents were also accused of taking away wives and daughters to make concubines of them. I asked the Elder Herman if the company watched over the piety and morals of its employee, if the feast days were celebrated, the services attended, if the newly baptized were brought to take the oath of allegiance to the tsar [and become citizens], etc. Lastly I asked the same Father Herman how justice was administered, how punishments were inflicted. In response the superior of the mission, the monk Herman replied that the company has never given the necessary material to keep registers of births and deaths; that women are indeed suffering greatly from the unrestricted domination of local managers over the Natives and no measure has been taken to protect piety and ethics, and that there has never been any justice; the will of one man [Baranov] decides everything and inflicts punishments.”
Fr. Joasaph, one of the monks who came to Alaska with St. Herman, had written earlier in 1795:
“My own pleasure is that so many Americans [Native Alaskans] are coming from everywhere to be baptized, but the Russians not only make no efforts to encourage them, but use every means to discourage them. The reason for this is that their depraved lives become evident if compared to the good conduct of the Americans [Native Alaskans]. Only with difficulty did I persuade a few Russian hunters to get married. The rest of them do not even want to listen to me. Everyone keeps one or several girls, which greatly offends the Americans [Native Alaskans]…”
“…Several men have told me that Baranov and his mutineers frequently say, ‘It would be good to kill the Archimandrite and [Hieromonk] Iuvenalii. The rest we can crush like flies.’ I should not believe all the rumors I hear, but from such a brute I can expect anything. He has already sent many people to the next world, so he would not be scrupulous about killing me.”
[quotes from Orthodox Alaska, a Theology of Mission by Fr. Michael Oleksa]
“Company agents were also accused”
“Lastly I asked the same Father Herman how justice was administered, how punishments were inflicted. In response the superior of the mission, the monk Herman replied that the company has never given the necessary material to keep registers of births and deaths”
Why would they?
“I should not believe all the rumors I hear”
“Several men have told me that Baranov and his mutineers frequently say”
So, no evidence, just rumors and third hand gossip? If Baranov wanted the good priests dead, I doubt he’d be talking openly of it, but would have just arranged it quietly, and Fr. Joasaph wouldn’t have lived to become a bishop and die in shipwreck in 1799. All that Baranov seems guilty of is keeping a mistress, who he married when his wife back in Russia died. And Russian hunters annoyed the natives by sleeping with their women, which the priests thought very naughty.
I just love church history. It brings out the best in everybody. Those who did the stuff, what stuff was done… along with those who want to explain how & why it was all done. Even though they weren’t even there. There’s a reason it’s called history… so it can be left in the past. It’s a “story”, an *interpretation* of what things were and how they went. Who today knows exactly precisely how & what things were way back then? No one does. It’s that simple. If there are some who struggle with and perhaps over-identify with it at times, “Well…” is sometimes a deep topic. https://tinyurl.com/y5vzhmvk
Elias but our stories: what they say and how they are told define us. Do not forget that the Old Testament was originally stories told around campfires. Today’s history is impoverished precisely because we no long know what our story is or how to tell it. We have gone all Dragnet on ourselves: “Just the facts, Ma’am.”
Facts are only worthwhile in context. Part of what you object to is that we know too many facts and not enough context. We also do not know how to maintain the essentials of the story in a different context, so we have difficulty communicating the truth to our neighbors who have an entirely different context.
The Archbishop’s response should have been, “We are not going to engage with Bolsheviks about statues. If you want to have a sober conversation about it, let’s meet in five years.”