VIDEO: Preparing for Martyrdom in our Apocalyptic Times, by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

"The work of the Church is not exclusively to battle with heretics [and heresies - like Islam, and those who say Muslims worship the same True God as we do], but also to train the faithful so that at the appropriate moment they might become confessors of Christ and martyrs out of their love for Him..."

See also: Perfected by the Sword - The Way of Martyrdom in Our Times, by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos





Posted to YouTube by Nicodemos Hagiorite

Samia the Confessor of Egypt

"We very well know our path, we know our place very well is in faithful hands. Our God is a strong God. He is a God of love. He gave us to love and not to hate."

Samia the Confessor

Translated by M.G., Coptic Orthodox Scientist, May 29, 2017 (Thanks to Fr Steven):

English transcript of an interview with one of the survivors of the shooting that occurred on May 26, 2017 in Minya, Egypt against the Coptic Christians. Samia lost most of her family and she continues to reflect the light of Christ, confessing her faith and love.

(0 minutes to 10:03 minutes):

Interviewer: I want you to tell me your name.

Samia: Samia Adly Ibrahim

Interviewer: Madam Samia, this isn’t easy, right?

Samia: Thank God. Believe me, we are comforted. I am not upset about those who went to heaven, believe me. I placed them in safe hands, better than the world and the problems of the world, all the bad things in the world. They left on the feast of the Ascension. And their dad came from America to have them around him.

Interviewer: Tell me first, where are you from?

Samia: I am from Nazlet Hanna in Fashn.

Interviewer: Fahn is in Bani Suef?

Samia: Yes

Interviewer: So that day, tell me from the beginning what happened?

Samia: what happened is that we were going to the monastery of Anba Samuel. We headed out in the faithfulness of God, singing with joy. And we were about to arrive and they attacked us. The blessing came to us.

Interviewer: “the blessing”?

Samia: Mm, blessing.

Interviewer: These criminals, these terrorists, you call them “the blessing”?

Samia: Yes, may God bless them and protect them.

Interviewer: bless who?

Samia: Bless the demons, to show them His way. Of course, God will reveal Himself for these people and He will show them His way one day. Because they are absent-minded. They do not know the strong faith. If they know the strong faith, they would not have seen the people who are faithful, the ones who know God, and hurt them. We were going to a holy place, we were going to pray in a holy place, to become comforted and joyous by it. So, they don’t want us to be joyful in the world. We don’t have a place in the world, believe me. We have a place in heaven. This world has no use. Plants, and at the end we will go to Paradise. We very well know our path, we know our place very well is in faithful hands. Our God is a strong God. He is a God of love. He gave us to love and not to hate.

Pop Quiz for Lent: What great Orthodox saint condemned Muhammad's actions as 'instigated by the devil'?

If you're a regular reader of this blog, or have my book, Facing Islam, you'll recall this was the bold statement of St Gregory Palamas, whom we commemorated last week on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.

Here is the full quote:

"It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil."  

(The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, Holy Apostles Convent & Dormition Skete, Buena Vista CO, 1990, p. 352.)

It is not really a secret, yet I would suppose that most Orthodox Christians have no idea that St Gregory, during his later years as Archbishop of Thessalonica, was abducted by the Muslim Turks and held for ransom (an income generating crime still used by Muslims to this day, which observers of the Middle East will have to admit).

Suffering cruel hardships, deprivations, and beatings, and so weakened by the ordeal that he died a short time after being ransomed by the Serbs, the holy Gregory nonetheless boldly proclaimed the Orthodox Christian Gospel to his Muslim captors, even though he was putting his life at risk.

Nativity Message of Bishop Paul, OCA Diocese of the Midwest

"Whenever the Church is in danger of being extinguished, it is always the faithful martyrs who guarantee its ongoing life."

His Grace, Bishop Paul, has delivered us a prophetic message of hope and encouragement, just at this time when the global persecution of Christians is worsening, when Islam seems to be poised to eradicate Christianity from the Middle East, and darkness is settling across the United States and all around the world (except in Russia, where the Orthodox Church continues its miraculous renewal).  Bishop Paul asks,

"Is Christianity in trouble?  Is it in danger of becoming extinct?  I don’t believe so..."

His reasons are challenging, for he bases his answer on The Apocalypse, and on what it means to be a faithful Witness — a Martyr — for Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel, being proclaimed by a Faithful Shepherd of the Church... Let us heed his call!

2015 NATIVITY MESSAGE OF HIS GRACE, BISHOP PAUL

Beloved Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Diocese of the Midwest:

Christ is Born — Glorify Him!

Recently, I have been thinking about how there is so much happening in the Middle East that has impacted the lives of the region’s Orthodox Christians.  We have heard reports of bishops kidnapped (and maybe slain), Coptic Christians martyred in Egypt, and Christians fleeing Iraq and, most recently, Syria.  Various Orthodox Churches and other groups have made efforts to contact governments to call attention to the fact that a form of genocide against Christians is occurring in the Middle East.  This is a difficult time for Christians there.  Many of our churches are offering regular and necessary prayers for those who are suffering and being persecuted for their faith.

The current situation could be interpreted as very discouraging.  The public media does not consider such things to be newsworthy enough to report.  One might question whether Christianity is in trouble (and whether it will survive) in the region.  Something needs to be done to end this genocide by government intervention to protect those being persecuted merely because of their faith in Christ.  There is much about the above thought I share.  But I do ask the question, is Christianity in trouble?  Is it in danger of becoming extinct?  I don’t believe so.

As I reflect upon this in light of our approaching celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, I offer the following thoughts.

Russian New Martyr's Prophecies offer Warnings, Consolations, for our Darkening Times

The saints always call us to repentance, call us to a deeper, more authentic life in Christ, without guile. They may rebuke us for our sins, our laziness, our erratic and inconsistent following of the Lord, but at the same time, they offer great consolations and comfort for those who do struggle, who do labor in repentance, who do persevere to the end.

The persecutions facing us today are subtle (for the most part), cultural pressures, but with increased legalized marginalization of traditional Christian life and morality. Now Christians are being prosecuted for saying no to sin, and for not saying yes to the demands of the lost, who want the entire world to affirm their sins and lifestyle. This will likely metastasize into open persecution in the months and years ahead.

Our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, and around the world are suffering horrific open persecution from Muslims energized by their excitement over Islam's global resurgence. A new, "great cloud of witnesses" for Christ, New Martyrs of the 21st Century under the Sword of Islam, is being raised up. You can learn about some of them through the links on the left-hand column of this blog.

Truly, we live in a new age of martyrdom, in which we must be prepared to be faithful to Jesus Christ and confess Him to the end. The martyrs who lived through earlier persecutions can help us, by their examples, by their words, and by their intercessions.

Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) of Petrograd warned of the trials to come upon the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian people as early as 1910, and before he was killed by the Soviets in 1937, sought to encourage his scattered flock with these words:

“The Orthodox Church is undergoing serious trials. Whoever remains faithful will be saved. Because of the persecutions many are leaving the Church, others are even betraying it. There have been other periods of persecution in history, but they all ended in the triumph of Christianity. That is how it will be with these persecutions. They will end, and Orthodoxy will triumph once again. Now many are suffering for the faith, but they are the gold that is purified in the furnace of persecution. There will be more new martyrs suffering for the Christian Faith than there ever has been throughout the history of Christianity.”

Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov has presented us here with a powerful icon of a prophetic witness for Christ, and urges us to seek the intercessions of Hieromartyr Seraphim and all the new martyrs:

"We need to pray [to the holy new martyrs, and] especially to Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) that he would enlighten our minds; that we would see life as it really is before God and not before people; that we would understand the signs of the times, and be able to make sense of the complicated, contradictory world in which we live, in which God has judged that we must live."

A Prophetic New Martyr: St. Seraphim (Chichagov)

by Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Egorievsk, Pravoslavie, December 11, 2015

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Today we commemorate a nearly unknown yet great saint, Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) of Petrograd. This was a man born in the second half of the nineteenth century, to an aristocratic family. He received a brilliant education, graduated from the Page Corps, became a well-known scholar, received a humanitarian as well as a natural sciences education, and was part of the upper echelons of society. He had a brilliant military career, having fought in several wars, but he left all this and became a priest. He did more than anyone else for the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov. (1)  This was his particular service.

Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim was not only a priest (later a bishop)—he was a true prophet. 

If we turn to the new martyrs with prayers for help—prayers to those who live in the kingdom of heaven for those who live here on earth—they can provide that help, because they once lived as we do, here on earth. Thus, Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim possessed a remarkable gift—the ability to recognize the signs of the times.

St John of Damascus (Dec 4)

St John of Damascus was born less than fifty years following the traditional date of the death of Muhammad. As the Muslims had conquered Syria and the Middle East, John grew up in a Christian household under Islamic rule, and so had a first-hand and intimate acquaintance with Islam.

St John of Damascus was a theologian and a zealous defender of Orthodoxy. Since he was known as a hymnographer, we pray to St John for help in the study of church singing. His most important book is the Fount of Knowledge. The third section of this work, “On the Orthodox Faith,” is a summary of Orthodox doctrine and a refutation of heresy.

Read St John's Critique of Islam, from his section 'Heresies', contained in The Fount of Knowledge.

Life of St John of Damascus 

(Commemorated December 4)

Saint John of Damascus was born about the year 680 at Damascus, Syria into a Christian family. His father, Sergius Mansur, was a treasurer at the court of the Caliph. John had also a foster brother, the orphaned child Cosmas (October 14), whom Sergius had taken into his own home. When the children were growing up, Sergius saw that they received a good education. At the Damascus slave market he ransomed the learned monk Cosmas of Calabria from captivity and entrusted to him the teaching of his children. The boys displayed uncommon ability and readily mastered their courses of the secular and spiritual sciences. After the death of his father, John occupied ministerial posts at court and became the city prefect.

In Constantinople at that time, the heresy of Iconoclasm had arisen and quickly spread, supported by the emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741). Rising up in defense of the Orthodox veneration of icons [Iconodoulia], St John wrote three treatises entitled, “Against Those who Revile the Holy Icons.” The wise and God-inspired writings of St John enraged the emperor. But since the author was not a Byzantine subject, the emperor was unable to lock him up in prison, or to execute him. 

Holy New Hieromartyrs Youhanna and Boulos: May we have their blessing!

This seems to be the most reliable information released since the abduction of Metropolitan of Aleppo Paul (Boulos) and Syriac Metropolitan of Aleppo John (Yohanna ) Ibrahim in 2013. If true, then we lament and cry "Lord have mercy!", and "May their memory be eternal!"

But we also believe and proclaim that these two shepherds are True Confessors and Faithful Witnesses, and have received their crowns as Holy Hieromartyrs for Christ!

Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi)

Indirect info suggests two metropolitans kidnapped in Syria executed

Moscow, Interfax, December 2, 2015 (Many Thanks to Emanuel): 

According to some reports, two Syrian hierarchs, namely Orthodox Church of Antioch Metropolitan of Aleppo Paul and Syro-Jacobite Metropolitan of Aleppo John-Ibrahim, kidnapped in 2013, were executed.

"Leader of the only Middle Eastern Orthodox Party Mashriq Roderick Khoury spoke of this at a meeting with coordinator of the inter-faction State Duma deputy group for the protection of Christian values Sergey Gavrilov on Wednesday," executive secretary of the deputy group Oleg Yefimov told Interfax-Religion.

The leader of the Mashriq party told Gavrilov with reference to sources in Turkey that representatives of radical North Caucasian groupings jointly with Al-Qaeda participated in the kidnapping of Syrian hierarchs, he said.

The inter-faction deputy group intended to urgently turn to the Turkish authorities for confirmation of the detention of Abdurakhmanov and the information he produced about the assassination of the Christian leaders kidnapped in 2013.

Metropolitan John (Ibrahim)

"The source said that Abdurakhmanov showed a video in which the kidnapped metropolitans were filmed and also reaffirmed that they were executed," the source said.

Meanwhile, a source referred to a statement made by Dagestani native and participant of the terrorist grouping Magomed Abdurakhmanov, who personally confirmed his participation in the kidnapping of the hierarchs.

OCF Winter Conferences, 'Modern Martyrs: Witnesses of the Word', to address Persecution of Christians

Simultaneous East and West Coast conferences for Orthodox college students will focus on the numerous opportunities to witness to Christ in the campus setting and the persecution of Christians today. December 28-31; links for registration and scholarship applications below.

I have very high hopes for this year's conferences, and will be watching Ancient Faith Radio to post the keynote addresses. 

Registration now open for OCF’s annual college conferences

OCA, September 28, 2015

Each year during Christmas Break, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship [OCF], the official campus ministry of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, hosts college conferences for hundreds of college students from across North America.

Simultaneous conferences will be held on the east coast at Antiochian Village, Ligonier, PA and on the west coast at Saint Nicholas Ranch, Dunlap, CA December 28-31, 2015.  The theme for both conferences, “Modern Martyrs: Witnesses of the Word,” will focus on the numerous opportunities to witness to Christ in the campus setting and the persecution of Christians today.

Nun Vassa [Larin] will deliver the keynote address at the east coast conference.  Among those from the OCA slated to lead worships are Archpriest Timothy Hojnicki, Rector of Holy Apostles Mission, Mechanicsburg, PA and Mother Melania of Holy Assumption Monastery, Calistoga, CA.  Priest Apostolos Hill will offer the keynote address at the west coast conference.

“These annual conferences provide an unparalleled opportunity to build up our youth and young adults in our faith and traditions so that they, in turn, can be empowered towards stronger witness in their respective campuses,” said Andrew Boyd, OCA Youth Director.  “It is my hope that, as in previous years, we will be able to offer scholarships to all OCA registrants.  Scholarships are also available through OCF.”

Early registration is recommended due to space limitations.

• For information and to register for the east coast conference visit http://www.ocf.net/college-conference/cc-east.
• For information and to register for the west coast conference visit http://www.ocf.net/college-conference/cc-west/.
• To apply for an OCF-sponsored scholarship visit https://docs.google.com/forms.

Saying "NO!" to Islam on OXI Day and Every Day

Icon of St Maria Skobtsova of Paris

Last Wednesday, October 28, is commemorated by Greek Orthodox Christians as OXI! Day, when, in 1940, small and vulnerable Greece had the courage to stand against and say a fearless and forceful "NO!" (Greek: Oxi) to Nazism and Fascism when they threatened Greece with war if Greece did not open strategic positions to the Italian and German forces.

I wrote about OXI Day a few years ago here, and this year my eye was caught by this excellent post (below) by the Greek American Girl Blog, who presents one of the great examples of Christian bravery and witness of the twentieth century, Mother Maria of Paris, who also said "NO!" to Nazism, in daring and creative ways, which eventually led to her death in a Nazi concentration camp.

The purpose of Christians who warn against jihad is precisely the same, to say an emphatic and clear "NO!" to Islamic supremacism, jihad, murder and subjugation of non-Muslims, to Islam's misogynist culture, female genital mutilation, honor killings and the death penalty for apostasy.

Going further, we Orthodox Christians must be firm in our faith, and realize that simply by confessing Jesus Christ — by striving to be a faithful, devout disciple of the Son of God, by acquiring the Holy Spirit so as to have the Holy Trinity abiding in us, by partnering with the Lord to work towards the goal of theosis, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27) — we are saying the most powerful YES! to the True God, and the most powerful NO! to the false god Allah, the false prophet Muhammad, the false religion of Islam.

Islam, under commands in the Koran and taken from the example of Muhammad, has been waging theological and murderous jihad against Christians for 1400 years, and continues to do so. Islam denies Jesus Christ, offering a false Jesus named Isa. It denies that Jesus was crucified, thereby denying the resurrection. Islam denies the sublime creation and destiny of Mankind, fashioned by God's Word in God's own image. Islam is anti-Christian, anti-Spirit, anti-Human.

So, let us make the Sign of the Cross, say "YES!" to Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and by the witness of our lives lived in Christ through the Holy Spirit, let us say "NO!" — OXI! — to the way of perdition, the lie, the death of Islam. Jesus is Light, "We have seen the True Light", there is nothing but darkness in Islam.

Mother Maria of Paris says “OXI!” to the Nazi Mass Murder Machine

Greek American Girl (via Pravoslavie), November 2, 2015

On the occasion of OXI Day, when we commemorate the occasion when a tiny, run down nation had the guts to stand up against the bullying of the Nazi/fascist juggernaut, I want to bring up another underdog who deserves some recognition. No, she isn’t Greek, although she is Orthodox Christian. She isn’t American either. She probably never even stepped foot in Greece. But she is a heroine. She displays the ideal of “philotimo” (or doing the honorable thing for the honorable thing’s sake). She too had the courage to say “NO” to the Nazi murder machine. For her sacrifices to her immigrant community and the poor and the stranger, and ultimately in her ultimate sacrifice of her life, she is recognized as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church. Her name is Maria Skobtsova or more simply Mother Maria of Paris.

I can’t summarize her entire life story in one short article as this would not do justice to the complexities of her thought and her being. (But you can get a more detailed account by reading Jim Forest’s bio of her at In Communion). Suffice it to say that she was a character; she, like Dorothy Day, her Catholic counterpart, believed that Christ took the guise of the poor, the wretched, the ill, and that instead of glorious towering temples, the Church could be found “in the streets.”

Here are some life notes:

Fr. Stephen Freeman: 'Church Scandals Must Come'

As I saw this title in my feed for Pravmir this morning, I had a sense about it, and knew I had to read it right away. Please bear with my introductory remarks.

As I absorbed Fr Stephen's thoughts on scandal, it took me back to one of the most scandalous things I had ever encountered in my life in the Orthodox Church. It was the day in the summer of 2008 that I opened up a thin booklet by an Orthodox priest and professor, written to be "a guide for Orthodox Christians encountering Muslims," and read this:

"Muslims and Christians worship the same God."

The shock of reading such a statement, written by an Orthodox Christian priest, one who celebrates the Divine Liturgy, the Eucharist, and who is charged with defending the Church and the Holies with his very life, left me reeling. It was a scandalon — σκάνδαλα — as devastating and unbelievable as any I had encountered. And it started me on the path which would lead to me writing the book, Facing Islam, and then launching this blog.

That scandal set me on this path to refute the lie that says the God of Islam is the True God, for that is what one is saying, when one makes the above assertion.

That scandal compelled me to bear witness to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, Second Person of the Holy Triune Godhead, who became man for our sake, to restore us to the Father, to our divine calling as children of God.

The irony of that initial scandal is that while I recall vividly the reaction it provoked within me, and the torrent of righteous fervor it unleashed, over the years since, I have come to see my inner reaction to the many scandals caused by Islam and those who defend it — especially those Orthodox Christians who are so confused in their theology, ecclesiology and their notion of love as to affirm Islam itself — to become progressively more pensive, pained, sorrowful, and less angry, defensive, polemical.

Christ calls us to love our enemies, to forgive seventy times seven. This means, in the most stark and challenging context, to love and forgive the Muslim jihadist who is sawing our head off with a serrated knife. We have examples of Holy New Martyrs in our very day (and of their grieving families in the aftermath) doing exactly that.

But when one knows and is filled with the Truth, one cannot forgive the lie, only the liar. One cannot forgive the deception, only the deceived, the lost, precisely because "they know not what they do."

I have often quoted the words of Yuri Maximov (now Priest George) regarding the towering, prophetic example of New Priest-Martyr Daniil Sysoev of Moscow (†2009), and will do so again and again, for his words are perhaps the best summation of what my book, blog and mission are all about:

Among those who call themselves Orthodox, I have met such strange people who say that Fr. Daniel should not preach to Muslims, that one must respect their religion, and that there is no benefit from his preaching. But Fr. Daniel thought, as did the Lord, the Apostles, and all the saints, that one must respect mistaken people but not their mistakes. Truth is one, that which contradicts and negates truth is a lie, and respect for a lie is contempt for the truth. (Source)

Scandals must come, but it is often scandals which prove and test us, and most sharply delineate Truth from falsehood, Light from darkness, the True Way from the way to perdition.

Brothers and sisters, let us confess Jesus Christ and labor to be found in Him, that we may rejoice at His Coming, and not be ashamed. This is the True Faith. Amen.

Church Scandals Must Come

by Fr. Stephen Freeman, Glory to God for All Things, October 20, 2012

Scandals must come (Matt. 18:7).

Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.

These are the words of Christ. He tells us that scandals are not only likely to happen – but that they will happen. They are necessary (ἀνάγκη).

Most readers will marvel that this is a quote from Jesus. The reason is simple: the Greek (ἀνάγκη γάρ ἐστιν ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα) is rarely translated in such a manner. “Stumbling blocks,” or “offenses,” is the more common way to render the word skandala (σκάνδαλα). But the Greek has a very simple cognate in English: scandal.

Why would Christ tell his disciples that scandals must come? It is a description of the nature of things in this world. The entrance of the Kingdom of God and its dwelling among men is not such that men will cease to be broken or evil. Christ warned His disciples that he himself would be betrayed – not by strangers – but by one of them!

U.S.-Iranian Pastor Abedini’s Ordeal in Iran Tests, Builds Faith of Wife, Children

Both Pastor Saeed Abedini and his wife Naghmeh are modern-day confessors for Christ. Keep them in your prayers.

U.S.-Iranian Pastor Abedini’s Ordeal in Iran Tests, Builds Faith of Wife, Children

Morning Star News — September 29, 2015

Addressing president of Iran or her kids, Naghmeh Abedini chooses words carefully.

Naghmeh Abedini,

wife of U.S.-Iranian pastor

Saeed Abedini. (Facebook photo)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday declined to meet with the wife of imprisoned U.S.-Iranian- pastor Saeed Abedini during his trip to the United Nations, days after the Christian’s wife learned he had recently been tortured.

Rouhani instead said in a television interview that releasing Iranian criminals held in U.S. prisons would change the “atmosphere and environment,” hinting that such a change would be necessary for possibly freeing prisoners such as Abedini. The Iranians in question were sentenced to prison for violating the international trade embargo placed on Iran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, Rouhani said.

“There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison as a result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran. Once these sanctions have been lifted, why keep those folks in American prisons? So they must be freed,” he said Sunday (Sept. 27) on CNN through an interpreter. “If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian citizens who are being imprisoned here, then the right atmosphere and environment will be created for reciprocal action perhaps.”

Rouhani left New York Monday afternoon (Sept. 28) without responding to a request by Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, for a meeting. She and lawyer Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), will remain in New York in hopes of meeting with Gholam Ali Khoshroo, the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Naghmeh Abedini reaffirmed her husband’s innocence and said the Iranian government is treating him “like a pawn in a game of chess.”

“President Rouhani’s demand that America release 19 criminals in exchange for his consideration of releasing individuals like my husband, imprisoned solely for his faith, demonstrates that the Iran of today is no different than the Iran who took Americans hostages during the Iranian revolution,” she said in a press statement. “The environment is ripe for Iran to demonstrate it is ready to re-enter the global market and international scene of diplomats; it is time to show its good will, to change its image from one of a pariah to a member of the global society who will protect fundamental rights.”

Naghmeh Abedini commemorated the three-year mark (Sept. 26) of her husband’s wrongful imprisonment with fasting and candlelight prayer vigils as she prepared for the possibility of meeting with the president of Iran. On Sunday (Sept. 27), she attended a prayer vigil in Boise, Idaho, where she lives with the couple’s son and daughter.

The vigil, one of more than 810 held last week around the world, according to the ACLJ, was held a week after she addressed more than 100 parliamentarians from almost 50 countries at the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief. After her presentation, 67 parliamentarians signed a letter to the speaker of the Iranian Parliament calling for Abedini’s release.

Torture

A few days after the parliamentary meeting, Naghmeh Abedini received word from her in-laws that her husband had been tortured once again by prison officials.

Christians Debate: Is it OK to 'Act Muslim' to Save Their Lives

The very asking of this question serves to underscore the fact that we are living in a new Age of Martyrdom. 

The Martyrdom of Bishop Teodor of Vrsac, Serbia.

Before exploring the contemporary debate, we might be wise to take a look back at a previous age of martyrdom to see how the Church survived a very similar trial.

The question of Christians committing apostasy in order to save their lives, and how to deal with those who did so, was experienced on a widespread scale in the middle of the 3rd century when, under Roman Emperor Decius (249-251), a fierce new outbreak of persecution against the Church was launched.

From Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy:

One of the primary reasons for the decline in Christian intensity had undoubtedly been the lull in the persecutions. From the death of Marcus Aurelius (185) until the middle of the third century, the Church lived in relative security... 

The persecution that suddenly burst upon the Church in the year 249 seemed a terrible and unexpected trial and exposed in full clarity how far many, many Christians had departed from the original intensity of faith and way of life... 

[Emperor Decius] gave first priority to the restoration of state worship, and this inevitably led to conflict with Christianity. Except for Nero, Decius was the first representative of Roman power to take the initiative in these persecutions as opposed to the system of private accusation followed by test. In a special edict he ordered all his subjects to prove their loyalty to the national gods by making the sacrifice. 

The Church again responded with the blood of martyrs, including not only Origen... but Bishop Flavian of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem. But what startled the Church was the mass apostasy. 

“Fear struck them,” wrote Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, “and many of the more influential Christians gave in immediately, some giving way to fear, others, as civil servants, to the requirements of their positions, still others drawn along with the crowd. Some were pale and trembling, as if it were not they who were making sacrifices to the idols but they themselves who were being brought to sacrifice; and therefore the crowd mocked them.” 

 The same picture appears in the letters of Cyprian of Carthage: “There were some who did not even wait to be summoned to climb onto the Capitol, or to be questioned to renounce their faith. They ran to the Forum themselves, they hastened to their [spiritual] deaths, as if they had wished it for a long time. And — O ultimate crime! — parents brought their children with them, so that they might lose in their childhood what they had received on the threshold of their lives.” 

The persecution passed liked a whirlwind and quickly abated, but it left the Church in ruins. The question arose as to how to deal with those who had lapsed, who now rushed back for forgiveness and reconciliation. While the Church had recognized a “second repentance” at the beginning of the century, now the question was posed anew and more acutely.

Iraqi priest: “There’s no such thing as moderate Islam…ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent”

“Wake up! The cancer is at your door. They will destroy you. We, the Christians of the Middle East are the only group that has seen the face of evil: Islam... 

“Please, if there’s anyone who still thinks ISIS doesn’t represent Islam, know that they are wrong. ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent.”

— Fr. Douglas al-Bazi, Iraqi Catholic Priest and Confessor for Christ,

captured and tortured by Muslim jihadists in 2006.

Let us all try to do something — whatever we can — in the face of the tsunami of evil wiping away our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia, throughout the entire Islamic world. Let us pray for them, even as we start to heed the warnings and cries of the new confessors and martyrs like Fr Douglas al-Bazi, who daily follow Christ to their Golgotha, bearing their unimaginable cross!

Speaking in 1980, Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of Platina had this to say about Golgotha:

It is a law of the spiritual life that where there is Golgotha—if it is genuine suffering for Christ—there will be resurrection. This resurrection first of all occurs in human hearts, and we do not need to be too concerned what outward form it might take by God’s will... 

Our inward, spiritual resurrection is what we should be striving for, and the events in Russia give us hope that there will yet be a resurrection of true, suffering Christianity, not only in Russia, but wherever hearts have not become entirely frozen. But we must be ready for the suffering that must precede this...

Are we in the West ready for this? Golgotha does not mean the incidental sufferings we all go through in this life. It is something immense and deep, which cannot be relieved by taking an aspirin or going to a movie. It is what Russia has gone through and is now trying to communicate to us. Let us not be deaf to this message. By the prayers of all the New Martyrs, may God give us the strength to endure the trials coming upon us and to find in them the resurrection of our souls.

— Fr. Seraphim Rose, The Orthodox Revival in Russia as an Inspiration for American Orthodoxy, The Orthodox Word #138, 1988, p. 51. (From a talk given in 1980.)

  

Obviously, what Fr Seraphim was speaking of regarding the New Martyrs of Russia in the 20th century under Communism is equally true about the New Martyrs of the 21st century under Islam. Let us heed his prophetic voice and rouse ourselves to zeal and perseverance in following our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ!

“‘There’s No Such Thing as Moderate Islam’: An Iraqi Priest Describes the Christian Genocide,” by Matteo Matzuzzi, Il Foglio, August 26, 2015 (translated by Francesca Romana, Rorate Caeli), courtesy of Jihad Watch:

Rome. “Please, if there’s anyone who still thinks ISIS doesn’t represent Islam, know that they are wrong. ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent.” Father Douglas al Bazi, an Iraqi Catholic parish priest in Erbil, raised his voice during an intervention at the Meeting in Rimini, with a choice of words – in a provocative way and in hard tones – that few had ventured use so far.

He carries on his own body the scars of the torture he underwent nine years ago, when a band of Jihadists kidnapped him for nine days, keeping him in chains and blindfolds along with a broken nose from being kneed: “For the first four days they didn’t even give me anything to drink. They would walk past me saying ‘Father, do you want some water?’ All day long they would listen to the reading of the Koran to let the neighbours hear what good believers they were.”…

The Importance of St Herman for Orthodox Christians in America Today

Saint Herman of Alaska (commemorated August 9), America’s first canonized saint, was an Orthodox Christian monk of holy life who lived in Valaam Monastery in Russia.

In 1794, along with nine other monastics he was sent to Alaska to evangelize the natives there. In time St. Herman would become the sole survivor of the original missionaries.

Throughout his long life he cared for the natives of the Kodiak area, nursing them in their illnesses, educating them, and defending them from the abuse of the Russian fur-traders. By his meekness and firm faith he won the love and respect of all who came to know him, and inspired many to follow Christ.

Eventually settling on nearby Spruce Island, he lived a mostly eremitic life, while also establishing an orphanage for the children of parents who had died during epidemics.

By the power of God, St. Herman was able to see into the hearts of others, as well as into the future. He worked miracles during his life, such as stopping a forest fire and a tsunami by his prayers. To this day he remains a wonderworker, healing the souls and bodies of those who ask for his intercessions before the throne of God.

Bridegroom Matins of Great and Holy Tuesday: 'Work diligently with the talent given to you...'

May all who have received a talent from God,  now, with the help of Christ, increase according to the grace given by Him and sing: “Bless the Lord, O works of the Lord!” (from Ode 8 of the Canon)

Behold the Bridegroom...

The first half of Holy Week in the Orthodox Church directs us to repentance, fruitfulness and vigilance, in anticipation of the Lord's Second Coming.

As the enemy of our salvation stirs up persecutions against us and our brothers and sisters throughout the world, together with "wars and rumors of wars," and as he "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8), trying to lull us into laziness and love for the pleasures of this life, therefore we must rouse ourselves and contend for "the Faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

May these excerpts from the Bridegroom Matins of Holy Tuesday help inspire us to "Work diligently, therefore, with the talent given to us..." 
____

Tone 8 Troparion

Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight,

and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching;

and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighted down with sleep,

lest you be given up to death 

and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom!

But rouse yourself, crying: “Holy, holy, holy, are You, O our God!”

Through the Theotokos have mercy on us!

Tone 4* Kathisma Hymn (following Kathisma 9)

Let us love the Bridegroom, O brothers!

Let us keep our lamps aflame with virtues and true faith,

so that we, like the wise virgins of the Lord,

may be ready to enter with Him into the marriage feast!//

For the Bridegroom, as God, grants unto all an incorruptible crown.

Tone 2 Kontakion

You know that this is the last hour, O wretched soul,

and fear the cutting of the fig tree.

Work diligently, therefore, with the talent given to you.

Keep watch and cry://

“Let us not remain outside the bridal chamber of Christ!”

'Islam can be a violent faith', says Queen’s chaplain

Rev. Canon Ashenden expresses concerns about 100 passages in the Koran that "invite people to violence," and says, "If you’re going to invite people to be dedicated followers of their scriptures, Christians will go around forgiving people and Islamists will do something else."

AXIOS!  This is all that we wish to see, Christian clergy, educators and leaders simply speaking the truth about Islam without varnish, without acrimony, and especially without offering the false platitude that ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other Islamic jihadist groups "have nothing to do with Islam."

by Jack Doyle, Daily Mail, March 12, 2015:

h/t Jihad Watch

The honest and forthright Rev. Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to H.R.H. Elizabeth II

There are passages in the Koran which ‘invite people to violence’, one of the Queen’s chaplains said last night.

Reverend Canon Gavin Ashenden, the former chaplain of Sussex University and one of 35 who serve Her Majesty, expressed concern about more than 100 passages in the Muslim holy book.

But the Church of England priest declined to say whether parts of the Koran are ‘evil’, instead advising people to make up their own minds.

St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (March 11)

"Toward the end of his life, St Sophronius and his flock lived through a two year siege of Jerusalem by the Moslems. Worn down by hunger, the Christians finally agreed to open the city gates, on the condition that the enemy spare the holy places. But this condition was not fulfilled, and St Sophronius died in grief over the desecration of the Christian holy places." (OCA.org)

Sophronius made numerous references to Islam and Muslim atrocities against Christians in his writings and sermons. You can explore these and more in my earlier post, St Sophronius, Confessor and Defender of Orthodoxy during the First Islamic Jihad.  In my introductory comments, I note the following:

The importance of Sophronius' testimony cannot be overstated, as his references to Islam demonstrate the unbroken continuity between the ferocity and cruelty of Muhammad's first followers, and the bloodthirsty jihadists of today, who are striving to eradicate Christianity from the Middle East, and impose Islam upon the whole world, as commanded by their false prophet and their satanic Quran.

SAINT SOPHRONIUS, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM Commemorated March 11 from The Prologue of Ochrid Online Sophronius was born in Damascus of distinguished parents. Having acquired worldly wisdom, he was, nevertheless, not satisfied but went to seek and acquire spiritual wisdom.  In the monastery [Lavra] of St. Theodosius, he found himself in the company of a monk, John Moschus, whom he choose for his teacher, and together with him traveled about and visited monasteries and those ascetics in Egypt who were practicing the life of asceticism. His watch word was, "Each day learn more about spiritual wisdom." All that they had learned they wrote down and later published two books under the title, "Spiritual Meadow."

'This little girl puts us to shame!' (VIDEO)

A Christian girl in Iraq, displaced from her home and village by ISIS, praises God and shares her faith, love and forgiveness in this deeply moving interview.

#PrayForMyriam

Many thanks to Fr Steven and Presvytera for sharing this uplifting video. His comments below... I would only detract with my words if I tried to add anything.

Here is another quite remarkable video forwarded by Presvytera featuring an extraordinary young girl named Miriam. Virtually impossible not to be deeply moved by this interview.  Miriam is not only articulate for her age, but she is a powerful Christian witness!  What Miriam says is not merely "cute" and her words spoken to her interviewer went well beyond any sentimental appeal.

"This little girl puts us to shame!"

There is something else at work here.  In fact, though it is not fair of me to speak for others, one of my first impressions was:  this little girl puts us to shame!  Her pure faith, her assurance of God's providential care for everyone, her openness in speaking of Christ, her maturity in articulating difficult feelings, and especially her attitude toward the ISIS forces that stripped her of her native town, might just eclipse our own Christian witness - by far!  I do not think that we need to necessarily consider her capacity to forgive as merely an indication of her young age and naïve outlook on life.  There is something experiential in her words.

Egypt: Christian arrested for using home as church

This brave soul is a Confessor of Jesus Christ. He is willing to place his life in jeopardy, applying principles of non-violent resistance against the seventh-century 'Conditions of Omar' under which Christians in Egypt are subjugated as dhimmis, second-class non-Muslims, prevented by law from openly practicing their faith.  ICXC + NIKA

by Raymond Ibrahim, JihadWatch — May 14, 2014

A Coptic Christian man in Egypt has been arrested on complaints from local Muslims that, without a permit, he has converted his home into a church and is supposedly even holding religious rituals.

The 55-year-old man, known only by his initial, “BH,” is a laborer in the al-Minya district in Upper Egypt, where Christians are especially targeted.  It was back in 2011 that the Copt first turned his home into a church, prompting angry, local Muslims to report him.   He was arrested by police but later released after agreeing that he would never again try to use his home as a church.

Apparently not one to be deterred, “after a while, Muslims in the village were shocked to see the Christian worker do it again [use his home as a church]—only openly this time.”

So police have arrested him once again, pending investigation.

In Egypt, as well as most other Muslim countries, Christians need special permits, often from the presidency itself, to build churches—permits which are next to impossible to acquire—shedding some light on this Copt’s actions.

The Martyrdom of Holy Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri

A dear friend brought to church today an icon for the Sunday of Orthodoxy icon procession which arrested my eye, and as I examined it, I felt it must be of the martyrdom of St Ephraim of Nea Makri. My friend confirmed that it was, and I was later able to find the image online, together with an icon of St Ephraim with scenes from his life. I am posting these two icons below, and adding them to my special post on St Ephraim, and invite you to learn about this newly-revealed holy one who suffered and was martyred under the Muslim Turks during the Ottoman tyranny.

The Holy Neo-Martyrs give us warm and vivid examples as to how to live our lives during difficult times of extreme persecution. May we have their blessing!