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The vision of restoration of Christianity in Russia and Ukraine
Post date: 2016-10-06Autor: BCP
It is necessary for the Orthodox priests to resolve to devote at least one and a half days a week to God and their souls in prayer and reflection on God’s Word. This would lead to the spiritual resurrection of all Russia and Ukraine.
He must increase in me, but I must decrease
Post date: 2016-10-01Autor: BCP
Jesus is my King, but unless my soul dies like a grain of wheat, Jesus cannot be my King, for my sin, my ego, my old self is my king then. John the Baptist calls: “He must increase in me, but I must decrease.” This is a process, the way of following Christ, seeking the kingdom of God in myself and in my brother. Then I will be able to remove the speck from my brother’s eye without hurting him. And he likewise will be able to see Christ not only in himself but in me too, and when the hour of death comes, we shall see Him not only in the light of faith but also in the light of God’s glory.
Lord, let me see!
Post date: 2016-09-27Autor: BCP
We should see Christ in our neighbour. In the parable of the Last Judgment, Jesus says the same to those who will be saved and to those who will be condemned with only a slight difference: “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine” or “whatever you did not do”. And then He says: “you did for Me” or “you did not do for Me”. Jesus is in my neighbour, especially in my brother – he is baptized, has received Christ, wants to follow Him with a sincere heart, and even wants to sacrifice his life for His sake, and yet there is a barrier – spiritual prison. My brother does not see Christ in himself and neither do I, and what is more, I do not see Christ in me either, so there is double blindness – the two of us do not see.
God’s requirement: true fellowship
Post date: 2016-09-11Autor: BCP
A living communion with Jesus – this is the mystery of a living Church. What is necessary is fellowship, the condition of which is a living faith and willingness to repent genuinely time and again. God can give a great blessing even through our weakness, through our faith and our unity in the following of Christ. We are called to make unity (although we have completely different characters), and this true unity in Christ presupposes spiritual dying, spiritual cross and spiritual death of all members of community. This mission will then be of great benefit. A Latin proverb says: tres faciunt collegium. Three makes company. That is also why Jesus says: if two or three agree… If two agree, it is a great success, and if three agree, it is the height of success in that all the three, in order to come to an agreement, have to renounce their own visions even if these were given by God many times, just as Isaac was given to Abraham by God.
Reflection on Mt 7:24-25
Post date: 2016-09-10Autor: BCP
If we seek first the will of God in our life and if we also try to do it, it is true about us that we are like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Sooner or later the winds blow, the rain descends and the floods come, but if our house is founded on the rock, it will not fall. The problem why we try to build a house on the sand many times is that we easily believe in what seems good to us, evokes our interest, offers advantage and makes the impression that right this attractive option is the ideal solution in our decision-making. Once we cling to this vision and try to achieve our dream, we are no longer willing to seek the will of God because we avoid the thought that we should abandon our house on the sand.
Bear one another’s burdens
Post date: 2016-09-09Autor: BCP
Our mission is to seek Jesus together, to carry our own cross and, as the Apostle Paul says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” If we bear one another’s burdens, people will feel divine love which is founded on a living faith, self-denial, carrying one’s cross and the following of Christ. We must allow Christ to reign in our life, that it may be true: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Jesus is with us – and where are we?
Post date: 2016-09-03Autor: BCP
We must see Christ both in ourselves and in our neighbour. However, this is not possible without denying ourselves, especially our opinion of ourselves, various philosophies we were acquainted with or various views which must be put aside, because seeing Jesus in ourselves is a question of faith. But beware – this is no autosuggestion. This is reality. We can recall in a flash several times a day: “Where is Jesus in this situation?”
The problem of our character
Post date: 2016-09-01Autor: BCP
It is programmed in the nature of each of us that it is natural for us to do good things, but at the same time there is a kind of spiritual poison in our nature, a specific form of pride, blindness and negative manners which practically destroy that which is positive in us. And this is the same in all people, only the tint is slightly different in each. Behind certain natural gifts there is the poison of sin which we have inherited from Adam. It only takes different forms. It is the old self in disguise which has only one aim: It refuses to repent and to call the poison in us, that which is negative, by its proper name, and if anyone touches it, the fat is in the fire.
Reflection on Mt 7:15-16
Post date: 2016-08-27Autor: BCP
By these words the Lord Jesus teaches and warns us that in order to persevere on the narrow way leading to eternal life, we should first beware of false teachings, heresies and those who preach them (heretics and apostates). So this is the most essential thing – to keep the true faith and a true inner relationship with Christ. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says that if an apostle, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a different (i.e. false) gospel, let him be accursed (cf. Gal 1:8-9).
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them
Post date: 2016-08-26Autor: BCP
It is said: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” And then Jesus says that if two agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them. This really is the key not only to building a living Church as the basic cell but also to true unity where Jesus is in the midst and where it is necessary for both of the believers to become powerless, i.e. to deny themselves and take up their cross, and then Jesus can show His power. If we do not obey the principle of self-denial and if we refuse to carry our cross, Jesus is paralyzed.
Take up your cross – your nature and character
Post date: 2016-08-24Autor: BCP
We must take up our daily cross. This cross is in the first place our own nature and character. If someone tells us his attitude towards us, it hurts us. The problem with many beginners is that although they have received Christ, their nature, the old self, is so strong that it cannot stand criticism and use it as an incentive for true repentance. They fail to use this inner pain to look at Christ scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified or to unite their pain to His pain. The old self, on the contrary, either turns this painful wound into hatred towards the brother – this works automatically without any effort – or indulges in self-pity, which also is a false path. So we really have reason to know ourselves more and more deeply and motivation to fight against the spiritual poison in us.
The process of evangelization
Post date: 2016-08-22Autor: BCP
On the one hand, there is a need for evangelization, but on the other hand, there is a need to pray to the Lord for evangelizations to be organized in a certain rhythm, because although they bring zeal and dedication, and one can say a spiritual harvest in their climax, they are just like the exodus from Egypt. Then follows the Red Sea and the desert, i.e. a series of trials. And then the people of God came to the land of Canaan, but we see that they very quickly turned away to pagan practices again, as described in the Book of Judges, and actually in the entire history of Israel. The tendency to go back to the old way of life – paganism and the cult of the old self connected with it – continues.
Jesus obtained heaven for us with His own Blood
Post date: 2016-08-18Autor: BCP
The Divine Saviour obtained heaven for us with His own Blood. He did not need to purchase heaven for Himself but He sacrificed His life and His Blood for our sake to open the path for us to eternal happiness in heaven. He left all His rights and claims to us, His least brethren. In view of the merits of Jesus Christ, His passion and death, I may say: Heaven belongs to me.
What makes heaven heaven?
Post date: 2016-08-17Autor: BCP
The most important thing which makes heaven heaven is that we are in communion with God which will never end, or in other words, we participate in the life of God. Angels are close to God and live a perfect life. Unlike them, we share in the very life of God because Jesus became man. Becoming man, He grafted the divine life onto our nature. We who have received Christ have eternal life already on this earth. The essence of eternal life consists in receiving the divine nature, becoming joint heirs of the kingdom of God. We have been literally grafted onto Christ.
Reflection on Mt 7:13-14
Post date: 2016-08-13Autor: BCP
Ask yourself: Which way am I on? The broad way of sin or the narrow way of following Christ? True wisdom is mindful of the end, death and eternity. A fool is spiritually blind and forgets about death and eternity.
US and the Vatican’s plans with Ukraine
Post date: 2016-07-09Autor: BCP
US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said that during the three years of his work in Kiev he was impressed most by the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the RISU agency reported.The US Ambassador is committed to the programme of US foreign policy which has set the promotion of homosexuality as a priority in every country. And this man says in relation to S. Shevchuk that it was right him who impressed him most in the span of three years. What does it mean? It means that he has the same spirit and unity of interests. Shevchuk will be a willing tool of the USA in the implementation of US technologies that promote homosexualism. Regarding Card. Husar and Gudziak, US citizens, they have already conducted a “revolution of dignity” in this line (promotion of homosexualism). They have fulfilled their task. Pseudo Pope Francis, who kisses the feet of Muslims and transsexuals, is in ideological unity with these three Church hierarchs and, moreover, he is their highest superior.
Reaction to an open letter addressed to pseudo Pope Francis
Post date: 2016-07-08Autor: BCP
Dear ex-Patriarch Bartholomew, on 29 June 2016, You sent an open letter to pseudo Pope Francis; therefore, we openly respond to Your hypocritical “message”.You asked pseudo Pope to pray for the fruitful yield of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. The fruit of Francis’ prayer is the Council’s adoption of a heretical document which actually promotes homosexualism in the Church. However, it uses a lofty term “elimination of discrimination”. This manipulation is a crime against God and a mockery of the Gospel and of the whole Christian tradition! The document likewise officially introduces so-called “interreligious dialogue”, which means subordination of Christianity to pagan cults, and thus its virtual elimination. Furthermore, it contains a heresy that one religion (Christianity) must not predominate over the other ones (pagan cults). These are sins against the Holy Spirit for which God’s anathema fell on You and ex-Patriarch Kirill who are responsible for this heretical document and its promotion!
Is Patriarch Kirill a spiritual schizophrenic or does he consciously deceive the public?
Post date: 2016-07-07Autor: BCP
On 26 June 2016, Pope Francis said that the Church had to ask the LGBT community for forgiveness for the way it had treated them. The Russian Orthodox Church responded to this statement of Pope Francis.The statement of the press service of the Patriarchate is fully Orthodox and Catholic. This is how every Christian must respond if he has received Christ and respects God’s commandments. However, the problem is that on Monday 20 June 2016, the Council in Crete adopted a document in which the Orthodox Church de facto approved homosexualism under the guise of removal of discrimination. This document of the “Holy Great Council” will be taken more seriously than the Holy Scripture or the Holy Tradition and even more seriously than the statement of the press service of the Patriarchate.
The Pope’s “mercy” is responsible for the most ruthless tyranny over humanity
Post date: 2016-07-01Autor: BCP
On the occasion of his visit to Armenia on Sunday, 26 June 2016, pseudo Pope Francis said: “The Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them.”Response: The Roman Catholic Church should apologise to God in the first place and repent of not calling a sin a sin, proclaiming heresies, which deny the essence of the Church, and syncretism, which preaches reverence for pagan religions and their demons instead of reverence for the true God (Nostra Aetate, 1965). The Church’s betrayal of faith has brought down a curse on the Christian nations, resulting in the invasion of homosexuality (see Rom 1:18f).
Reflection on Mt 7:1-2
Post date: 2016-06-04Autor: BCP
The question of judging others: Jesus says: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” One must be clear about what this requirement means – judge not. It does not mean to abolish the courts and to let criminals rob and kill, appealing to this verse from Scripture. We are obliged to judge ourselves with righteous judgment too. Being superiors or parents, we are obliged to judge our subordinates or children with like judgment. If we neglect to judge with righteous judgment, we are careless and we will be responsible for crimes and rude behaviour. Thus, “judge not” refers to unjust condemnation or hasty judgment at an inappropriate place or time.