Conception of the Theotokos

According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God’s promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Against all hope, the bonds of barrenness are loosed today. For, God has hearkened unto Joachim and Anna clearly promising that they would bear a godly maiden. He who commanded the angel to cry out to her, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you,” will be born of her, the infinite One Himself, becoming man.

Webcast

Fr. Greg and I will be participating in a live webcast call in show on Sunday from 4-6pm. This is being sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Network and is being used as a fundraiser but also will give folks a chance to call in a speak about Christmas. There will be several special guests including Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Archdiocese. We are also going to stream us being on the Webcast, while podcasting. It should be a hoot and we are going to try and have a live audience here as well so tune in. I will post the address on Sunday.
This week on OCN the interview we did with Archbishop Nicolae will be running on The Ark on a segment called Special Moments in Orthodoxy. The segment will air Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3pm and 11pm. Tune in if you can.

Mormons & Mitt Romney

Tonight former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is going to give a speech on his Mormon faith. I believe that one aspect of this blog is to inform it’s readers about topics in the news. I have been looking for a straight forward “small” survey of the Mormon faith. I have a little book called “Pocket Dictionary of North American Denominations” It is published by InterVarsity Press so I am not sure what bent it has. I have been looking for something that is not twisted or bent in any direction but that is very difficult. I will reproduce a few pages from the book below.

Mormon beliefs and practices. Utah Mormonism is an indigenous religious movement that incorporates American values of self-reliance, pragmatism, progress and democracy. It fits into the religious context of early nineteenth-century New England, which produced the Oneida Community and a host of other communal experiments based on a theology of human perfectibility and an implicit belief in the essential divinity of humankind.
The Book of Mormon is fundamentally an early-American romance based on the Bible. LDS missionaries stress the importance the Bible and the Book of Mormon as sources for their beliefs, down playing the role of continuing revelation characteristic
of their church. Yet in reality they read both the Bible and the Book of Mormon in light of later revelations given to Joseph Smith and successive prophets. These include Doctrine and Covenants and The Perls of Great Price as well as other revelations given to church leaders since Smith’s death.
Structurally, Latter-day Saints theology is held together by an evolutionary framework known as the doctrine of eternal progression. This belief is summed up by the phrase “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.” Thus human destiny is to evolve to Godhood through obedience to the laws and ordinances revealed to the LDS church. Spiritual progress is, however, conditional on choices made by the individual, making LDS theology an extreme form of Arminianism at best. The doctrine of eternal progression claims by Brigham Young and other early leaders that Adam was the God of this earth also opens the door to criticism of incipient polytheism. Some Mormon scholars, however, point out that these are not part of official LDS doctrine.
Belief in preexistent souls and the existence of various heavenly realms endow Utah Mormonism with a system of rewards that motivate individuals to participate in elaborate temple ceremonies. In many respects these practices reflect the influences of popular religious (both orthodox and unorthodox) and scientific beliefs of the early nineteenth century. However, contrary to sensational claims by some evangelical writers, there seems to be no evidence that Mormon temple rites involve explicit Satanism.
Recently, the Latter-day Saints have made a concerted effort to become part of mainstream America, and it appears that they are succeeding. In spite of their unconventional past and the doctrinal and scientific problems that continue to dog them, they are known as a socially and politically conservative, morally respectable, clean-living, industrious and family-oriented people.
Mormons and their church have had difficulty living down a couple of questionable social teachings from their past (although these seem to have had little effect on the church’s growth). First is the issue of polygamy. It is historically established that Joseph Smith practiced and taught polygamy. It is also clear that this doctrine was central to his entire theological system and is an “everlasting covenant” (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 132). In 1890 under the leadership of their president, Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898), the Utah Mormons officially declared, “We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice.” This was done in order to reach a political accommodation with the U.S. government. And in 1904 the LDS leadership forbade their mem­bers to enter into new polygamous relationships. A few small splin­ter groups, however, continue to be polygamous, and occasional media reports to this effect plague the Latter-day Saints.
Second, reflecting the predominant attitudes of the nineteenth century, Joseph Smith clearly taught that African Americans could not enter the Mormon priesthood – an office held by most male church members. This racial segregationism, however, was coun­tered in 1978, when President Spencer W. Kimball reported that he had received a revelation from God extending the priesthood to all male members. Yet another example of continuing revelation cor­recting past infelicities can be seen in changes made to 2 Nephi 30:6 of the Book of Mormon, where God is said to promise to make cer­tain Native Americans “a white and delightsome people.” Since 1978 the wording has read pure instead of white.
From the beginning Christians have rejected Mormon claims to be a Christian church. Major differences remain in the doctrines of God, salvation, Scripture and eternal destinies, to name but a few. Although most Mormons sincerely believe that they are Christians, the differences between the teachings of the Latter-day Saints and traditional Christianity are so great that most, if not all, other North American denominations do not officially recognize the LDS as a Christian church.

If a Mormon presents him/herself for entry into the Orthodox Church the must be baptized because we, as Orthodox, do not recognize Mormon Baptism.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – From Wikipedia

I hope this information helps!

Wish List

If you look on the right you will see a button from Amazon.com this is my shameless wish list of books that I have put together. If you would like to support a struggling priest you can select a book from this list. You will have my eternal gratitude. Check back often for more books.

Yesterdays Storm

Although the storm was not that bad around here, last night I learned of the death of a 17yo in an accident on his way to school. It is unclear at this time what caused the accident but the story in this mornings paper said that he was going between 25 and 30 mph. While that may not seem fast the road he was traveling on is very twisty and turny. He was not wearing his seat belt and the police chief feels that is what caused his injuries. There was another person in the vehicle with him and thankfully he was not seriously injured.
I hearken back to one of my earlier posts about teen death rates while driving. We need to keep our kids alive and teach them to wear seat belts. I would imagine one of the ways we can do this is by doing it ourselves. If the children see the parents doing it then they will do it, or be more likely to do it. We are loosing way to many kids to this kind of accident.
On another note, yesterday was at the sink in the kitchen here in the rectory and I notice some kids outside throwing snowballs. Not a big deal but then I started to listen to what they were saying. They were using the “F” word like it is a regular word! And they were at a church! Where are the parents? What are they teaching these kids? No respect for anything! Not that I mind them using the church grounds, but would they use someones yard like this if it was not a church? These kids have been using the grounds since I have been here but this is the first time I actually listened to what they were saying, I guess I wont to that again. What is this world coming too?

Snow on the way YES

Well we are getting ready for the first big snow storm of the year. There is a big storm working it’s way across the US. I understand it did some damage in the Midwest and three people died. Let us remember them in our prayers today.
So today is kind of a weird day. Our little church will be closed today as we all go across the street to St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church to celebrate their feast day with them. So I get the day off. I will concelebrate with Fr. John and I believe His Grace Bishop Nikon will be there as well. It is always nice to just be able to celebrate the Liturgy and now worry about anything. It really allows you to get into the moment and really pray. Wish we did it more.
After Liturgy they will have a banquet and then it is home to stay warm and hope the fire department does not get busy or I will have to go out in the nasty weather. So keep those prayers coming.
Have a blessed Sunday and try and stay dry and warm!

Feast of St. Andrew

UPDATE: This is a recycled post from last year. St. Andrew pray for us!
Saint Andrew, born at Bethsaida, was a disciple of John the Baptist before he became a follower of Christ, to whom he also brought his brother Peter. With Philip he presented the Gentiles to Christ and, before the miracle in the desert, he pointed out to Christ the boy carrying the loaves and fishes. After Pentecost he preached the Gospel in many lands and was put to death by Crucifixion at Achaia.

Andrew, first-called of the Apostles and brother pf Peter their leader, intercede with the Master of All that He may grant peace to the world and great mercy to our souls.
Troparion of St. Andrew, Tone 4

Fasting

Fr. Joseph Huneycutt of the Orthodixie blog and podcast has a podcast about fasting. In this episode Fr. Joseph answers question is his own… unique way. I have not listened to Fr. Joseph before but I am now a convert to his podcast he has a great way! Give it a listen.

Days of the Week

Father Stephen over at the Glory to God for All Things Blog is writing a commentary on the days of the week in Orthodox Spirituality. Today he takes on Wednesday. Take a moment and give it a read.
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