Science

Aesthetics on Christian Image, Stanford - Saratoga

Saturday, March 5^th was a very special day at Stanford University and the entire San Francisco Bay Area.  With great organization of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at Stanford, our Diocese, and with great help from His Grace Bishop Maxim and local Serbian Orthodox communities, we welcomed three well-known professors from different parts of the world – Very Rev. Archimandrite Dr. John Pantelimon Manoussakis, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Holy Cross Theological School, Dr. Cornelia Tsakiridou, professor of Philosophy at LaSalle University, and Dr. George Kordis, professor Emeritus of Iconography at University of Athens.  All three came to give us varying lectures on Christian Orthodox Icons, their beauty, meaning, and further future in the twenty first century.

Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, March 20, 2016

First Sunday of Lent (Orthodoxy):
Holy Seven Bishops, Hieromartyrs of Cherson

RESURRECTIONAL TROPARION - TONE ONE: When the stone had been sealed by the Jews; while the soldiers were guarding Thy most pure Body; Thou didst arise on the third day, O Savior, granting life to the world. The powers of heaven therefore cried to Thee, O Giver of Life: Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Thy Kingdom! Glory to Thy dispensation, O Thou who lovest mankind.

THE TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY TROPARION - TONE TWO: We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One, and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ God. Of Your own will, You were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh to deliver Your creatures from bondage to the enemy. Therefore with thanksgiving we cry aloud to You: ‘You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world.’

RESURRECTIONAL KONTAKION - TONE ONE:  As God, Thou didst arise from the tomb in glory, raising the world with Thyself. Human nature praises Thee as God, for death has vanished. Adam exults, O Master! Eve rejoices, for she is freed from bondage, and cries to Thee: Thou art the giver of resurrection to all, O Christ!

An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Ecological Justice and Change

By Fr. Alexis Vinogradov

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1)

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (Luke 21:33)

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away." (Revelation 21:1)

How can Christians who have been separated for so long historically and culturally, articulate a coherent vision on ecology? It is admitted by most that the Bible can provide a starting point for that effort. Yet the Bible is not a neat manual for figuring out Christian principles of operating in this world. It is filled with the kinds of paradoxes quoted above. The writers of the first book extol the wonders of creation. The writer of the last book paints in maddening detail the destruction of this world and the establishment of a new Creation. If one stops at Genesis it seems clear that man's stewardship of nature, his work at restoring Eden, is the prime directive. Yet if one focuses on the eschatological accounts (the "final" things) in the New Testament, one might conclude, after all the intervening stories and events of human strife and failure, that it's all doomed for destruction, anyway, and noted paleontologists lend sobering scientific precision to that theological conclusion.

The Beginning of Great Lent

The doors of repentance are opening, Great Lent is beginning. Every year Great Lent is repeated, and each time it brings us great benefit if we spend it as we should. It is a preparation for the life to come and, more immediately, a preparation for the Bright Resurrection.

Just as a stairway is built into a tall building in order to enable one, by climbing the steps, to easily reach the top, so too, the various days in the year serve as steps for our spiritual ascent.

This is especially true of the days of Great Lent and Holy Pascha.

Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, March 13, 2016

Sunday of Forgiveness (Cheesefare):
Venerable John Cassian

RESURRECTIONAL TROPARION - TONE EIGHT: Thou didst descend from on high, O Merciful One! Thou didst accept the three day burial to free us from our sufferings! O Lord, our Life and Resurrection: Glory to Thee!

Two-day Conference on Monastery Products & Small Producers in the Orthodox Area : Joint Effort and Prospects

The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) (www.eiao.org) is a political organization established in 1993 and seated in the Hellenic Parliament in Athens. This initiative emerged from the Parliaments of Russia and Greece, and currently the I.A.O. members are official Parliamentary delegations of twenty five countries, as well as five groups of deputies from other parliaments. The objective of the Organization is to develop multi-level political and cultural activity to the direction of encouraging contacts and broadening relations of trust, understanding the contemporary political phenomena and social currents and highlighting those elements of Orthodoxy that have a positive impact on mutual understanding among cultures.