Holy Thursday in the Orthodox Church of Uganda

Orthodoxia Post

 

Το Μυστικό Δείπνο! #αγιαπεμπτη

Bearing Shame With Christ

 

 

The mockery of Christ, fresco in the holy monastery of Metamorfosis, Meteora (from here)

 

Ancient faith / Glory 2 God for all things // Fr. Stephen Freeman

Public shaming is a commonplace in our culture. Public stocks and tar-and-feathering have disappeared, but shaming itself is as up-to-date as the internet itself. I well imagine that some view the use of ridicule and derision as an inherent part of public life. Those who enjoy the accolades of crowds must be prepared to endure their opprobrium. Of course, for those who live anonymous lives, such public shaming is about other people.  The quiet sense (and sometimes not so quiet) that “they had it coming to them” is the strange pleasure of envy, a subset of shame. These are among the darkest parts of our public life.

Of course, there is nothing new about shame and envy. That our digital world is infected with them is nothing more than a manifestation of an ancient social contagion. It was envy that drove Cain to kill his brother. It continues to drive murders to this day.

It is deeply significant that the gospel account of Christ’s Passion includes ample descriptions of the shame and envy that permeated that event. Indeed, St. Mark’s gospel tells us that Christ perceived that it was “out of envy that the chief priests had delivered Him up” (Mark 15:10). I have noticed, across the years, that the texts for the services of Holy Week make far more mention of shame and envy (the “mocking and the spitting”) than they do of the specific suffering of the crucifixion itself. Crucifixion is not about the pain (the Romans had far more painful options at their employ). Crucifixion is specifically about the shame – it was considered the lowest form of execution – particularly suited for slaves.

St. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live…” Our attention is drawn to the Cross and its nails. However, if crucifixion is primarily an act of public shaming, then we have far more literal opportunities to be crucified with Christ. The mocking and the spitting, if only in their lesser forms, are likely common to us all.

Of course, there’s a very quiet crucifixion of shame endured by many: the torturous voices that haunt our lives, whispering in the dark. The insidious power of such shame makes us want to hide (hiding is in the very nature of shame). It attacks more than our actions – it goes for our very self.

We hear this in the mocking words hurled at Christ: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross…” A similar taunt was spoken by the devil in the temptations in the wilderness. “If you…”

The taunts within us take on their own form – but are almost always aimed at “who we are,” or “what kind” of person we imagine ourselves to be. They are likely the deepest source of pain in our lives.

If it is true that we are “crucified with Christ,” then it is also true that Christ is crucified “with us.” The mocking and the spitting that we undergo in our own minds and lives is something that Christ has made His own. We are not alone. This is at the very heart of God’s love. In my pastoral experience through the years, I see that we doubt the love of God. We are unworthy (of course). We fail to love Him in return (of course). There is something within us, I think, that makes us give greater weight to the words and thoughts of shame than we do to the assurance of God’s love.

Our brains are wired for protection (for which we give thanks). However, that same wiring tends to give greater emphasis to dangers and warnings than to joy and celebration. Christ knows this very aspect of our being:

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb. 2:14–15)

I am aware of this, particularly, in the sacrament of confession, when the epitrahelion (stole) of the priest is placed over my head and I hear the soothing words that assure me of God’s forgiveness:

…May that same God forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this present world, and in that which is to come, and set you uncondemned before His dread Judgment Seat. And now, having no further care for the sins which you have declared, depart in peace.

I think of that space beneath the epitrahelion as the “secret place of the Most High.”

St. Paul wrote:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom. 8:17)

I suspect we often externalize this verse and presume that it refers only to those who endure physical torture. However, its focus is found in the phrase, “with Him.” We unite our sufferings (even our self-inflicted mental tortures) with Him with as small a phrase as, “Lord, have mercy!” I have also been taught to pray, “O God, comfort me!”

In these things, with Christ, we are “more than conquerors.”

Let us die with Christ in the Jerusalem of our minds, that we may reign with Him in the New Jerusalem of His Kingdom!

 Photos from the Orthodox Church of Congo, 2026 (Bishop of Goma Timotheοs)

Post-Liberalism: The West in Search of Romeosyne

 

Democratic Patriotic Popular Movement NIKI 

Photos: The historic Orthodox Church of Saint George in Old Cairo (Patriarchate of Alexandria)

In the contemporary West, an interesting and revealing phenomenon is unfolding.
After decades of radical liberalism, individualism, and the dismantling of every tradition, a new current of thought is beginning to emerge — one described as “post-liberalism.” Among its principal exponents are Patrick Deneen, John Milbank, and Alasdair MacIntyre.

Western thinkers themselves now openly acknowledge that a society without moral bonds, without community, without a sacred center, collapses. When man deifies the individual, he loses all meaning. Freedom cannot survive in a society that has dissolved every moral tie, every tradition, and every sacred cell — such as the family. Liberalism, in attempting to liberate man from his roots, has left him defenseless, stranded in a life devoid of substantive meaning.

What the West (Europe and the broader Euro-descended world) today baptizes as “post-liberalism” is not a new wisdom. It is the awkward admission of its failure. Having dismantled community, family, and faith, it now seeks — even unconsciously — the very Romeike roots it lost through the centuries, primarily under the weight first of Frankish domination and subsequently of Papalism. It seeks the roots that we have known for centuries as Romeosyne.

Romeosyne is neither an ideology nor a political current. It is the living mode of existence of our Genos (sic) — our historic peoplehood.

For Romeosyne, freedom is not license but virtue and purification of the heart. It is liberation from the passions. It is the fruit of ascetic life and divine Grace. It is not the removal of every limit, but the voluntary self-binding of man to the good. What Western thinkers today rediscover as the need for a “moral framework” and self-restraint, our tradition has lived for centuries as philotimo — the inner impulse to do what is right not out of fear of the law, but out of love for God, for one’s neighbor, and for the Genos.

Romeosyne has never known the isolated individual, the autonomous self of modernity. It knows only the Person — and the Person exists only in relationship: in the family, the parish, the ecclesial community, the Genos. There, man does not merely “connect” sociologically; he communes existentially. What the West now calls “the search for community” is simply a belated discovery of a truth we have lived for centuries. The freedom of the Romeos is a freedom of love, service, and sacrifice — not of selfish isolation.

The economy must serve the needs of the community, not the reverse. What some Western thinkers today formulate as a “new principle,” the Romeike tradition always regarded as self-evident. Production and wealth exist to sustain the family, the parish, and the Genos — not to subjugate them. A contemporary, realistic patriotism must translate this principle into action. Thus, for example, the complete tax exemption of large families and the stable support of households with many children are not mere social policy; they are elementary justice. The Romeike tradition understands the family as the foundation of society, and the economy must protect it, not crush it. The economy exists to safeguard the hearth, not to liquidate it.

Our homeland [and the whole world] today needs a true return to its roots. It needs a Romeike rebirth — a spiritual and ecclesial awakening that will first free us ourselves from the dead ends of modernity’s ideology and, at the same time, illuminate the path for the West, which increasingly finds itself searching.

Romeosyne does not propose theories. It generates a way of life. From this way of life, the necessary political orientations naturally emerge, structured around four main axes:

a) Economy as service to need, grounded in the Gospel and in the example of our Saints — men and women who lived love and communion in practice. Not accumulation, but sharing. Not treasures on earth, but treasure in heaven.
“He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none…” and “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth…”

b) Education with roots — not mere transmission of information, but initiation into truth, the cultivation of ethos, faith, and living historical memory.

c) Productive self-sufficiency — for a people is free only when it can feed itself, shelter itself, and create by its own labor, without dependence on foreign powers. The economy serves man and community, not the reverse.

d) Sovereignty and dignity — the protection of the homeland, of borders, and of strategic structures is not a technical administrative matter but a sacred trust and a duty toward both our ancestors and our children.

The West, exhausted by its spiritual and social decay, gropes awkwardly for a way out. Yet we have no new ideology to offer it. What we offer is the witness of our way of life — our Romeosyne: our faith, our philotimo, the love and the freedom born of communion with God, which unites the Genos.

This inheritance must once again become the ground upon which not only tomorrow’s Greece, but all those — personally or collectively — who seek truth already lived and embodied in practice, may stand.

Christodoulos Molyvas
Head of the Development and Investment Policy Department of NIKI
Ioannis Kon. Neonakis
Head of the Romeosyne Policy Department of NIKI

Articles on the tag Romeosyne 

Notes: (a) The term “Romeosyne” was preferred over “Romanitas”, as it better expresses the culture of the Roman Empire after the prevalence of Christianity.
(b) For reasons of more accurate phonological rendering and simplification, the term “Romeos” was preferred over “Rhomaios” and “Romeoi” over “Rhomaioi”
(c) romeike (adjective): of the Romeos/Romeoi

The Mother’s Example & The Lesson of Love — A Shocking Encounter with Two Disabled Men in Kenya

 

The Two Disabled Children

By Bishop Makarios of Nairobi 25 July 2025  

Orthodox Missionary Fraternity 

My pastoral visits to different regions always reveal particular cases that, while they move me deeply, ultimately teach me profound lessons.

Every week I visit various parishes in remote areas to witness firsthand the efforts of our priests and to help accordingly—not only with advice and planning but also practically in building churches, clinics, schools, orphanages, and so on, as well as with feeding programs that provide a meal to the poor and forgotten orphaned children we encounter everywhere.

Although the journey was tiring, it didn’t discourage me. I always prioritize this mission. After conveying the message to both the priest and the parishioners about close cooperation and their contribution to development among the villagers, especially regarding charity work, the priest invited me to pray for two sick people.

A Shocking Encounter

Within minutes we reached our destination. We walked through the lush vegetation along a path. We arrived and were welcomed by a middle-aged woman.

She was happy to see us, especially that we would see her two sick sons. What a surprise and what pain, however, when we realized the condition of both patients… These were two boys who had been paralyzed since birth—and not only that. They couldn’t understand, couldn’t speak, couldn’t feel their legs or arms.

I made the sign of the cross and began with “Blessed is our God.” After reading the appropriate prayers with holy oil that I always carry for special cases, I anointed all parts of their bodies with their mother’s help. “For the healing of soul and body!” It wasn’t easy.

The Mother’s Example

I was amazed, however, by the mother. One was forty, the other twenty-five. Without a father, of course! What a cross! I thought. Such love, such sacrifice, such selflessness, I thought. I wondered again and again how this woman could single-handedly provide day and night care for these creatures of God all these years, without complaint, without weariness, silently and with such devotion.

Once again I remembered how we so-called faithful Christians complain and don’t think about how many people like us carry a permanent and unbearable burden in their lives—that of the cross.

How instructive this situation is, offering us an invitation rather than imposing it upon us, so we have this choice to freely decide whether we want to carry this cross that will become for us a revelation that we didn’t do what we thought we were doing, but what God Himself wanted. Our submission to God’s will was so positive and fruitful that in the end we have this great honor and blessing to enjoy the goods of His heavenly Kingdom.

Through all this we will better recognize and understand the value of life and our existence through the gospel virtues of purity, humility, selflessness, and gentleness.

The Lesson of Love

This mother with her two disabled children sits there and quietly offers her humble service without complaint, with selflessness and without seeking attention, inspired by the same love that Christ Himself offered to every person regardless of color, race, language, or origin.

This act of hers, therefore, builds unreservedly all the riches of her soul with the heavenly transfusions of God’s grace. Through her spiritual goodness and sincere humility without any self-promotion unfolds that virtue of love and mercy for which God of ultimate humility and compassion will reward her, since she has lived and practically applied the gospel teaching: “Let all that you do be done in love.”

More articles in 

Diocese of Nairobi | Kenya | Stories

Orthodox Kenya

Sierra Leone: Ban FGM Now!

 

avaaz.org

Kadijatu Allieu was tied up, beaten, blindfolded, and gagged. Then the women who had taken her mutilated her genitals with a razor and left her lying in a pool of blood for three days before she escaped.

In a historic act, she brought her case to West Africa’s highest court, and the judges JUST ruled that female genital mutilation (FGM) is a form of torture and Sierra Leone must ban it.

Sierra Leone’s President Bio is sympathetic, but Parliament is blocking. Now it’s up to his leadership to push the ban through. Let’s show him the world is with him! We did it in The Gambia, backing survivors and activists. Let’s do it again – and if enough of us sign, we’ll take our call directly to his office with Sierra Leone’s youth and a hard-hitting ad campaign. Sign now on this page.  

To President Julius Maada Bio and all Members of Parliament, Sierra Leone:

As citizens from around the world, we are appalled that Sierra Leone’s law allows the cutting of girls’ genitals. We urge you to immediately implement the ruling of the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), revise the Child Rights Act of 2025, and ban FGM. Protect the girls who haven’t yet been cut!

Image: Credited to Ivan Lieman, the photo depicts a razor blade being used to cut a girl’s genitals.
----

This campaign is run in partnership with A Girl At A Time -- an organisation empowering young girls in Sierra Leone to live free from violence, fear, and exploitation through advocacy, therapy, and education.

Tags:

 

The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 1 - 15), a celebration of the life and victory over death!

 

Click: 

 The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 1 - 15), a celebration of the life and victory over death!

On the Mother of God

Icon from the page of the Orthodox Metropolis of Zambia

Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

The Vindication of the Mother of God

Every Generation!

August: the holy month of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox Church !

Orthodox icons of Theotokos from all the World   

 

Mother of God (Virgin Mary), Orthodox Church and African peoples (& Why the Orthodox Honor Mary)
 

Bikira Maria, Mama wa Mungu
 

Maria in die Ortodoksie

"Thousands Join Canonical Orthodox Church in Côte d’Ivoire in Significant Spiritual Shift"

orthodoxmission.org.gr and OCP News Service – 18/06/2025
In the Orthodox Vineyard of Africa

Accra – Ghana: A substantial group of approximately 5,000 Christians, including 24 self-proclaimed “Orthodox clergymen” and their 12 “parishes” in Côte d’Ivoire, have formally joined the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa (Bishop Daniel of Accra, June 16, 2025, orthodoxmission.org.gr). This significant spiritual development follows a year-long catechism process and marks a major expansion for the canonical Orthodox Church in West Africa.

According to Bishop Daniel, the group actively sought to unite with the Body of the Orthodox Canonical Church of Africa, having explicitly refused a proposal from a deposed former clergyman to join the Russian pseudo-Exarchate. This mirrors a historical precedent set in 1982, when Ghanaian Orthodox brothers, previously Protestants, similarly acceded to the Patriarchate’s jurisdiction.

“The reality that we experience here in long-suffering Africa is completely different from what most people in the ‘developed’ countries of our planet understand. Here in Africa… we experience the miracles of Christ, small and great, every minute of our lives,” Bishop Daniel stated, reflecting on the journey.

With the blessing of His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, the extensive catechism program was led by Congolese Archimandrite Fr. Chrysostomos Kamuanga. Bishop Daniel praised the “zeal of our Ivorian brothers for the knowledge of the Orthodox faith and life,” describing it as living “unique early Christian experiences.”

During a recent missionary tour to Côte d’Ivoire (February 22 – March 20, 2025), following confirmation of their adherence to Orthodox faith and tradition, the first clergy ordinations took place. The Sacrament of Holy Chrism formally received the new converts, including their family members, after confessions and canonical confirmation. Subsequently, 12 Priests, 10 Deacons, and 23 new Readers were ordained by the laying on of hands to serve the burgeoning new Parish Communities. The missionary Diocese of Accra, encompassing Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, now numbers 43 clergymen.

The Bishop also presided over the inauguration of the new Parish Church of the Assumption of the Theotokos in the Brofodoume Region and placed Holy Antimensia in 14 new parishes and chapels across various regions, including those dedicated to Saint Basil the Great in Angre, Saint Maximus the Confessor in Bingerville, and Saint George the Trophy-Bearer in Djorobite. Foundation stones were also laid for three new parishes slated for construction.

Bishop Daniel affirmed that the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s missionary work continues with “respect for traditions, understanding of spiritual needs, and of course, charity,” throughout the Continent. He concluded with a message of unwavering faith: “Every opposing, anti-evangelical and anti-canonical force that fights this work, using human worldly wisdom and wealth, sowing lies, division and discord, will fall. The glory of Orthodoxy will shine in the hearts of all Africans!” He also extended gratitude to the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity of Thessaloniki for their continuous support (Bishop Daniel of Accra, June 16, 2025, orthodoxmission.org.gr).

Source: orthodoxmission.org.gr 

The Miracle of the Holy Spirit in Côte d’Ivoire

By Bishop Daniel of Accra 16 June 2025

 

In this present life, where selfishness, weaknesses, and passions afflict and imprison people, the finite mind is unable to think and the tongue to express what our Lord Jesus Christ is working for the salvation of our souls.

The Holy Spirit, whom the Risen Christ assured that He would send to His fearful and hidden disciples (John 15:26), from the day of Pentecost until today and forever, will enlighten human beings to understand the unattainable magnitude of the Lord’s love for us.

The reality that we experience here in long-suffering Africa is completely different from what most people in the “developed” countries of our planet understand. Here in Africa, in Ghana and in the Ivory Coast, we experience the miracles of Christ, small and great, every minute of our lives. We witness His benefits and glorify His Name, because “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending”, saith the Lord, “which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8)

During our very regular pastoral visits to the Republic of Ivory Coast, we were approached by a large group of schismatic Christians, consisting of twenty-four self-proclaimed “Orthodox clergymen”, with their twelve “parishes” and approximately five thousand faithful, who – as they assured us and we saw with our own eyes, had refused a proposal by a deposed former clergyman to join the Russian pseudo-Exarchate. In their written request, they expressed their desire to join the Body of the Orthodox Canonical Church of Africa, which is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. Let us recall the similar historical event of the accession to the Orthodox Church of our Ghanaian Orthodox brothers (until then Protestants), who found us on their own, and since 1982 they have been under the canonical jurisdiction of our Patriarchate.

With the blessing and approval of His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, His Holiness Theodore II, and following the canonical procedures, we began the catechisms that lasted an entire year. The arduous work of catechism was undertaken and continues to this day by order of our Patriarch, the Congolese Archimandrite Fr. Chrysostomos Kamuanga, from the Holy Metropolis of Kinshasa. We admired the zeal of our Ivorian brothers for the knowledge of the Orthodox faith and life, of its doctrines and traditions, living unique early Christian experiences.

During our last missionary tour to Ivory Coast (from 22/2 to 20/3/2025), after we ascertained and confirmed their Orthodox faith, knowledge of the doctrines and tradition of the Church, we proceeded to the first clergy ordinations. After everyone had confessed and received the Canonical Confirmation from a Spiritual Director we had appointed, they then signed a libel and we received them through the Sacrament of Holy Chrism together with their family members.

Subsequently, during our stay in Ivory Coast, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit and the approval of our Patriarch, we ordained 12 Priests, 10 Deacons as well as  23 new Readers through the laying on of hands process, for the liturgical needs of the new Parish Communities. Currently, in the missionary Diocese of Accra (Ghana and Ivory Coast), there are 43 clergymen in total serving and preaching the Gospel of Christ to the indigenous people.

We celebrated the Inauguration Service of the new Parish Church of the Assumption of the Theotokos in the Brofodoume Region (24/2), as well as the Thyranoixia Service, placing Holy Antimensia in the 14 new Parishes and chapels in honor of : St. Basil the Great in Angre, Saint Maximus the Confessor in  Bingerville, Saint John the Theologian in Plateaux, Saint Mary of Egypt in Yopougone, Saint George the Trophy -Bearer in Djorobite, Saint Seraphim of Sarov in Abatta, Saint Nicholas of Myrrh in Bassam, the Holy Epiphany in Bouafle, Saint John Chrysostom in Sinfra, Saint Mary Magdalene in Quasi, and the Transfiguration of Christ in Dabou, which were incorporated into the Holy Metropolis of Accra. We also laid the foundation stone for 3 new Parishes that are scheduled to be erected.

 

The missionary work of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa continues with respect for traditions, understanding of spiritual needs, and of course, charity, throughout the Continent. The Lord Jesus Christ, “the enlightener and sanctifier of all men coming into the world,” is the One who governs His Church. Every opposing, anti-evangelical and anti-canonical force that fights this work, using human worldly wisdom and wealth, sowing lies, division and discord, will fall. The glory of Orthodoxy will shine in the hearts of all Africans!

Dear friends of the Missions,, “these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11). Expressing “again and again” the gratitude of our Local Church residing in West Africa, the Holy Metropolis of Accra, Ivory Coast and Mali, to the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity of Thessaloniki, our “fellow workers of joy” (2 Cor. 1:14) for the continuous promotion and support of our pastoral, charitable and missionary work in general, we ask you to continue to help our effort to spread the Gospel of Christ on the African Continent.

† Daniel of Accra

Sts Spyridon & Eleftherios the Wonder Workers & the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

 

 The Life of Saint Spyridon the Wonder Worker and Bishop of Tremithus (December 12)

Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker: a Marvellous Advocate (Kerkyra, Corfu), December 12 (icon)

Holy Father Spyridon, Keep Us Just As You Kept Your Sheep - On Miracles from the Relics of St. Spyridon of Tremithus

See also

THE FIVE HOLY MARTYRS: EUSTRATIOS, AUXENTIOS, MARDARIOS, EUGENIOS AND ORESTES (December 13)

Saint Eleftherios (= the "Man of Freedom"), the Great Martyr, and his mother Anthia - December 15

 

The Orthodox Church in Angola, st. Eleftherios (the "Man of Freedom") & st. Paisios of Holy Mount 

The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, the Parable of the Great Supper & the blasphemy of Racism (second Sunday before the Nativity)

 

Metropolitan Jeronymos of Uganda on Water and Environment for Climate-Resilient Development

 

Clear Air, Clear Water. Credit: Michael Foley/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / Flickr

Uganda Orthodox Church

His Eminence Metropolitan Jeronymos Muzeeyi of Kampala delivered his remarks on Water and Environment for Climate Resilient Development during the commemoration Week held in March 2023 amidst dignitaries from different divides of the country.

Reflecting on World Environment Day which was celebrated yesterday 5th June, we share his presentation which focuses on the teachings of the Ekklesia on ecological theology and humanity.

Presentation on water and environment for Climate-Resilient Development

I sincerely believe that an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to water and environmental issues can help our country Uganda, not only to be “the pearl of Africa”, but also to be truly the “Garden of Eden” of the holy scriptures. My remarks here below are a reflection of theological thoughts on the matter. Man is at the center since he was created in the image and likeness of the creator, God. And he was entrusted with the vocation “to cultivate it and to keep it” (Gen: 2:15).

1. God’s creation was very good.

When faced with the ecological crisis of our times, obviously, there are many questions that raised. One temptation can be, among the questions raised to put the blame on God, the creator. But the scriptures’ narrations have no room for such a blame. For they say: on completion of His six-day creation “God saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Very important was God’s care for water in the garden of Eden: “A stream flowed in Eden, it divided into four rivers” (Gen. 2:10). In this creation, man who was created in God’s image, had a vocation. “to … cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

There must be a reason why. The very reason could be summarized by saying: This world was given to man as a gift, – “a gift from God the Creator, a healing gift, a gift of wonder and beauty. Therefore, man’s proper response upon receiving such a gift, is to accept and embrace it with gratitude and thanksgiving”. In otherwards using it well for the glory of God.

Metropolitan Jeronymos blessing water water during the Theophany of our Lord

• Man’s sin is the root cause of ecological crisis.

Man sinned. In his sin, everything changed. One could ask, what is sin? Sin is man’s rebellion against God the creator. His refusal to live by God’s will. It is the perversion of God’s purpose and order put in nature: (A good example in this case is homosexuality!). It is man’s deliberate refusal to have communion of love with God, fellow man and creation. As a result, man actually failed in his vocation. Instead, man was “passed under the domination of sin and of the evil”. Certainly, as a result of man’s sin, the human mind became so darkened, and the human will was impaired”. He could live by “exploitative control of resources”.

All times, he could be a being of “selfness and greed”. In this case, there was a need for an ontological transformation. This is what we call man’s repentance. You and I must repent to save human nature, to save the creation. In our fallen nature, St. Paul, could reveal the truth: “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pays” (Rom 8:22).

• Christ’s mission of re-creation.

Le me make it very clear from the outset that, true Christians are and must be environments. This is because, the incarnation of the Word of God was to liberate man from his rebellion and in the process, the whole creation. Man in Christ is a new creature, something we referred to above as ontological transformation. To accept Christ, he must repent. A new creature is a son of God. He lives by the will of God St. Paul had noted it that “Creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19). Since “It will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21). “The loving re-creation of the world by the divine word at the incarnation of God’s Son is very crucial in our understanding of our mission as followers of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Christians have to be models and have to play a decisive role in solving the environment crisis.

• Man’s communion of love is the Key.

Earlier, we made it clear that man’s communion of love with God, his fellow man and creation was weakened as result of man’s rebellion. In Christ, man is reconciled to God. He is as well asked to live in communion of love, with fellow man and creation. Man’s vocation to receive creation as a gift from God is restored. His preparedness to us it well for the glory of God is manifested. Christ’s Church, which is an extension of the redeeming of mission, ever accept and embrace God’s gift with gratitude and thanksgiving in all its service. 

As a matter of fact, our generation has to understand that we are called upon as Christians to live fully in the communion of love for the salvation of creation. Important to note, this planet is “our home … it is also the home of everyone, as it is the home of every animal creature, as well as every form of life created by God”. Our generation should consider the same for the generation to come. The air we breathe, the water we drink and is the source of life, if it is defiled, the element and essence of our existence are threatened. This is true for us and for the generations to come.

• Efforts to protect god’s creation.

Metropolitan Jeronymos planting a tree during the feast day of the presentation of Theotokos in Magoma

God’s people are called up to protect God’s creation. Who are God’s People? These are redeemed by Christ. Living by the will of God. These are sons of God by God. These are the people prepared to fight the evils of individualism and consumerism propelling the spirit of egoism. At the center of egoism is self-interest. Very often, man puffed up by egoism in our world of technological advancement leaves no room for God. It only brings about the spirit of secularism. Here man moves away from God’s creation. He creates his own world without God. In the Garden of Eden, we saw the rivers flowing. 

In man’s megacities, we see filth liquids flowing. Man must change. Man must change. The prophetic voice of the church is about the change. And this change means addressing poverty, inequality, discrimination, marginalization, domination, exploitation, etc. in all their forms. We must become “children of God by grace” to become Children of God to be fully committed to the will of God. This means to do away with egoistic tendencies. To be children of God also means to be faithful to God’s purpose and intent for creation. Environment degradation and destruction are torment to suicide.

SUNDAY OF THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE FIRST ECUMENICAL COUNCIL: AFTERFEAST OF ASCENSION

Uganda Orthodox Church - Holy Diocese of Jinja and Eastern Uganda

 

Troparion of the Afterfeast (Tone 4)
You ascended in glory, O Christ our God, after You filled the Disciples with joy, by promising to send them the Holy Spirit, and You blessed them and established their faith, that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

Resurrectional Troparion (Tone 6)

When the angelic powers appeared at Your grave, the soldiers guarding it feared and became as dead. And standing by the sepulcher was Mary who was seeking Your immaculate body. You devastated Hades, not afflicted by it. You went to meet the virgin, and granted eternal life. You resurrected from the dead. O Lord, glory to You.

Troparion of the Holy Fathers (Tone 8) 

Supremely blessed are You, O Christ our God. You established the holy Fathers upon the earth as beacons, and through them You have guided us all to the true Faith, O greatly merciful One, glory be to You.

📖Matins Gospel John 21:1-14
📖Epistle Reading - Acts 20:16-18, 28-36
📖Gospel Reading - John 17:1-13

See also please

Two voices from Africa about the Sunday of the Holy God-bearing Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (seventh Sunday of Pascha) Zambia & Zimbabwe

*****

Uganda Orthodox Church - Holy Diocese of Jinja and Eastern Uganda
In the Orthodox Vineyard of Africa

When the God became a human

 

Pity us, O God, and spare Your inheritance by overlooking now all of our iniquities, for this accepting the fervent prayers of her who without seed gave birth to You on earth, O Christ our God, who in Your great mercy willed to take on flesh, thus assuming the form that was not Your own.

 

The Akathist Hymn of the Most Holy Theotokos at St. Anargroy valley road. Kenya.

Yieronda Makarios Tillyrides Kenyas

Here

 

Passionately Drunk

 

Fr. Stephen Freeman

Glory to God For All Things

The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect. Little wonder it is known popularly as the Philokalia. That word, Philokalia, means “the love of beautiful things.” It is not a reference to expensive, decorative items, but to the things which are made beautiful by their union with God. All things are beautiful inasmuch as they are united to God, Who is Beauty itself.

Another important word in the title is the adjective, “Neptic” (νηπτικός). It has a variety of translations: sober, watchful, vigilant. It refers to those who, having their earthly senses purified, have become truly aware of God and dwell in Him. This title is especially used to describe the fathers of the Hesychast tradition in Orthodoxy, the tradition of ceaseless prayer and inner stillness associated with the monastic life.

To describe these fathers as “sober,” is very insightful. For our experience with the passions, the disordered desires of our body and soul, is often an experience of drunkenness.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:7-10).

The man who is drunk is famously unaware of his surroundings. He stumbles physically, mentally and spiritually, barely aware of his own imbalance. The passions have the same ability to blind us. In anger we are aware primarily of our own anger. What we see, we see through the haze of the energy that pulses through our mind and body.

All of the passions have this property. They consume us and become the primary lens through which we see the world and with which we react. Thus we are described as in “delusion.” Those who see the world through their passions do not see the truth of things. They see their own passions.

There is a social aspect to the passions – they are not restricted to an individual’s experience. Whole societies, or significant segments within it, can be drunk with the same passions. Thus a whole society can be drunk with the passion of fear or hatred.  Such a passion is reinforced by being repeatedly affirmed by those around us. Many aspects of culture are simply a communion of the passions.

We live in an age where the passions are carefully studied and used as the objects of marketing. Those things that are sold to us (even those that supposedly appeal to our intellect) are marketed to our passions. Apple computer famously researches the “feel” of its packaging, presenting a sensual experience that is associated with quality, precision and value. It is a successful strategy across the whole of our culture.

However, those who are “drunk” with the passions also yield themselves as victims to their intoxication. Political parties pour massive amounts of money into their campaigns simply to create and nurture the passions by which people vote. We are not governed by reason or informed decisions. Most of what you or I think about political subjects is a description of the passions to which we are enslaved. The political cynicism of many is, to a degree, a recognition of our disgust with the politics of passion.

By the same token, most of the opinions we nurture are equally the product of our passions. We think, we believe, we decide, we act largely in accord with the passions to which we are enthralled. Theological debates are generally arguments between one person’s passions and another’s. It is a conversation between drunks.

And so the Church values the holy, sober fathers. These are the men and women who have walked the narrow way of salvation, “putting to death the deeds of the body.” Inner stillness is the state of freedom from disordered passions. The neptic fathers do not cease to desire (they are not Buddhists). But their desires have been purified and healed – restored to proper order. Sobriety means desiring the right thing in the right way at the right time. Traditionally, this purification and healing come as a result of a life of repentance, fasting and prayer. It slays demons and heals the wounds of the soul. All things are brought into obedience to Christ.

It is the life that Scripture enjoins:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he my devour. Rsist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world (1 Peter 5:8-9).

There is a story in the Desert Fathers that illustrates such vigilance. A community of monks once heard a rumor that one of their number was harboring a woman in his cell. They went to the elder and complained. While they became yet more agitated, the elder slipped away to the cell of the erring monk. Finding the woman there, he hid her in a large earthen vessel. He placed the lid on the vessel and sat on it. Soon the angry monks arrived at the cell and began to search for the woman. Out of respect for the elder they overlooked the vessel on which he was sitting. Finding nothing, they apologized to the erring monk and left. The elder, rose from his seat and said to the monk, “Pay attention to yourself.”

It is a call to sobriety. The angry monks were drunk with their own self-righteousness. Their sin was at least as great as the erring monk. The elder alone was sober. His sobriety hid the sin of a man from those who would have harmed him, and revealed the sin to the one who needed to be healed. The word of healing was kind and without judgment. “Pay attention to yourself.” It is the simple word of St. Peter, “Be sober.”

For all of us, in every moment of the day with regard to all things and all people, it is good to pay proper attention to ourselves.

This prayer of St. Isaac of Syria, great among the neptic fathers, is one of my favorites:

I knock at the door of Thy compassion, Lord: send aid to my scattered impulses which are drunk with the multitude of the passions and the power of darkness.

Thou canst see my sores hidden within me: stir up contrition – though not corresponding to the weight of my sins, for if I receive full awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul would be consumed by the bitter pain from them.

Assist my feeble stirrings on the path to true repentance, and may I find relief from the vehemence of sins through the contrition that comes of Thy gift, for without the power of Thy grace I am quite unable to enter within myself, become aware of my stains, and so, at the sight of them, be able to be still from great distraction.