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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Message to Youth for the Great Fast from Bishop John of Parma
Self-mastery is a goal of Great Lent: mastery not only of self, but also of those things not worthy of God.
Young people are often counseled to strive for “self-mastery.” This concept is appropriate to our Great Fast consideration.
Especially in this country, this may be understood from the viewpoint of a master who has control over another (slave).
This form of relationship denies one person the right to make decisions; it actually removes the one’s personhood. Even the Greek word for master, “despota” gives us the word “despot,” meaning a leader who exercises authority with no restrictions.
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+BARTHOLOMEW
BY THE MERCY OF GOD
ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
NEW ROME, AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH,
TO THE PLENTITUDE OF THE CHURCH,
GRACE AND PEACE
FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,
TOGETHER WITH OUR PRAYER,
BLESSING AND FORGIVENESS
"The time has come which is the beginning of spiritual struggles."
(Hymn of the Ainoi of the Cheese Fare Sunday)
Beloved brothers and children in the Lord,
It is with these words that the Sacred Hymnographer reminds us of our obligation to intensify our spiritual struggles for the benefit of our spiritual training and progress during this period of Holy and Great Lent which is about to begin.
Humanity realized from ancient times that good things can only be acquired through hard work. Likewise did the Holy Fathers realize that in order to savor divine love, within which everything good, both eternal and temporal coexists, the contempt of repose is considered necessary, as Abba Isaac the Syrian says characteristically. And on the one hand, the material goods and commodities are what we humans pursue and acquire through great trouble, which we are usually ready for and willing to undergo.
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February 25, 2007
The Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy
The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference
of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
To all the Clergy and the Laity of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On this the first Sunday of Great Lent, we the Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas greet you in the peace and love of our Lord. Together, we have begun our Lenten journey with a week of prayer, fasting, and worship, seeking to strengthen our faith and renew our commitment to God and His will. Today, the inaugural week of Great Lent culminates in the celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, a commemoration of the triumph of the true Faith with the final restoration of the Holy Icons to the churches in the year 843.
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Archpastoral Letter at the Beginning of Great Lent 2007
Prot. N. 181
To the Venerable Priesthood and Diaconate in Christ, Clergy and Seminarians of this God-Saved Diocese, and especially to our Beloved Faithful, our Devoted Children in Grace,
Christ is among us! He is and always shall be!
Dear Clergy and Faithful:
I write to you on the threshold of the Great Fast, our annual forty-day journey to the great and happy Day of the Paschal Victory of Jesus Christ.
I write to you out of my profound desire that you and I, in the Paschal Celebration, may enter into the joy of the Angels on that day.
And so I take this opportunity to meditate on the way of joy, and the path to the Paschal sunshine. I offer you my dearest invitation to walk with me in the only narrow way through the wilderness and the mountains, through the valley of shadows, and finally to the Rising of the Sun.
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The Vatican press office issued a communiqué today with the conclusions of the meeting of the Special Council for Africa of the Synod of Bishops' General Secretariat, held in Rome on Feb. 15-16.
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The musical composition, "The Passion According to Matthew," will be presented in Rome on March 29 in an auditorium next to the Vatican.
It was composed by Bishop Hilarion Alfeev of Vienna and Austria, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow to the European Community.