My Ancient Faith Today Interview now available as a podcast

On Tuesday, August 4 at 9pm ET I joined Fr Tom Soroka on Ancient Faith Today for a Live Interview and Call-In Discussion on Reaching Muslims with the Gospel.

The hour flew by, and we enjoyed a wide ranging conversation with some very thoughtful questions from listeners which helped lead us into further deep reflections on this important topic.

LISTEN:
Ancient Faith Today Live - Reaching Muslims with the Gospel

Fr Tom and I have been friends for over thirty years, and it was a joy and an honor to join him on one AFR's flagship internet radio shows to discuss our hope "that none would perish, but that all might be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth" which is in Christ Jesus.

This was the third of a three-part series on Islam-related topics on Ancient Faith Today Live. Listen to the other two podcasts here:

• Hagia Sophia - An Uncertain Future

• Islam: Historical Encounters and Contemporary Realities

After 1 Million Views, What's Next?

This landmark on the Facing Islam Blog calls for a little reflection, and looking towards what lies ahead.

First of all, my sincere thanks to all my readers and visitors, who have helped put this blog over 1,000,000 views, and to be ranked #35 in the 2019 list of Islam blogs.

That number includes at least one DOS attack, when malicious bots tried to overwhelm the servers and shut down my blog, but that merely resulted in a spike in my numbers, and no loss of service. I am proud to have been attacked on the internet. It is a badge of honor and a sign of the integrity of this site, which speaks Truth to the Enemy, and warns about the threats from Islam.

What now?

Having passed 1 Million page views, and having been posting only sporadically over the past year or so (while working on an unrelated project), I am striving to ramp things back up here, emphasizing more consistent output and focus.

Here are my goals, which I hope to diligently work towards, if the Lord doesn't return first, and if He grants me time, health and energy:

William Kilpatrick - 'A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?'

"The current situation of the Church vis-à-vis Islam is due in part to a dual assault—one aimed at heightening Islam’s traditional aggressiveness, and the other aimed at weakening the Church’s traditional defenses. The result is a kind of dance of death: a ramping up of Islamic militancy matched by an exaggerated emphasis on tolerance, openness, and welcoming on the part of Catholics."

William Kilpatrick's analysis is specifically directed towards the Roman Catholic response to Islam, but his insights may be profitably applied by Orthodox Christians inclined to "think of Muslim migration as no different from other migrations... simply a question of being welcoming or unwelcoming, of being charitable or uncharitable."

As Kilpatrick notes, "Many Muslim leaders view migrations in a different light. For them it is not a question of loving one’s neighbor, it is a question of who is to be master."

A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?

William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, October 2, 2017:

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers … against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12)

It’s not easy to discern the role played by the spiritual hosts of wickedness in world affairs. No one knows with any certainty what is going on in that realm, or what part the principalities and powers play in shaping events. But these are exceedingly strange times—so strange that it is difficult to make sense of some of what is happening from a this-worldly perspective. So it seems worthwhile to try to understand some phenomena from an other-worldly viewpoint.

One of the strangest developments of our times is the Church’s response to Islam and Islamic migration. Since the response runs entirely counter to the Church’s historical response, it seems legitimate to wonder if other-worldly forces are at play. If that’s the case, it should not be unexpected. Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church, but the implication of his words is that hell would surely try.

Nurtured by the Holy Fathers: Lessons from the life and works of Fr. Seraphim Rose

Two new collections of talks on the life and significance of Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina by hierarchs, clergy, and some of his spiritual children provide a wealth of insights into this revered and beloved Orthodox struggler and spiritual father.

Nurtured by the Holy Fathers: Lessons from the life and works of Fr. Seraphim Rose,
Pravoslavie, September 2, 2016:

For the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the repose of Fr. Seraphim Rose on Sept. 2, 2012, hundreds of faithful pilgrims convened upon St. Herman's Monastery in Platina, CA to remember Fr. Seraphim and offer prayers both for him and to him.

His Grace Bp. Daniil (Nikolov), Vicar of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia spoke after the Saturday morning Liturgy on the eve of the anniversary of Fr. Seraphim's repose:

"In these days of the feast of the Dormition of the holy Mother of God, we come here to this holy place to venerate and give honor to another dormition, of the ever-memorable hieromonk Seraphim Rose. The holy Mother of God bore for all of us her Son and God our Savior, and is blessed by all generations. Fr. Seraphim also contributed to my life and to all of ours here, and to those of many more people, and we come here to give due love and to receive his blessing..."

The following day a number of personal reminiscences of Fr. Seraphim were offered, before which Fr. Damascene (Christensen), who is now the abbot of St. Herman's Monastery, offered a reflection on Fr. Seraphim's recently-discovered spiritual journal, highlighting his relentlessness in combating sin, and his emphasis on nourishing himself with the writings of the Holy Fathers. Fr. Damascene was introduced by then-abbot Fr. Hilarion.

St John the Baptist - Forerunner of those 'beheaded for their witness to Jesus Christ'

The prophetic significance of Muslim beheadings of Christians.

The Beheading of St John the Forerunner, commemorated August 29 in the Orthodox Church.

[Originally posted August 31, 2014]

John the Baptist’s rich and descriptive title in the Orthodox Church is, “The Holy, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John.” He is much more than “John the Baptist.”  He is a sign, a mystery. 

As “The Forerunner” he is a clear sign of the First Coming of Christ, but also of the Second Coming; he is a mystery of the fulfillment of this age, and of its trials and woes.

Jesus Himself called John “the greatest born of woman” and “more than a prophet.” The Church considers him to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets, just as the Virgin Mary  — the Mother of God — is the fulfillment of righteousness through the Old Testament lineage in preparation for the Messiah. 

As the Messiah Himself spoke to the crowds after John’s disciples came and saw the signs He was doing:

Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John… “What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ [Malachi 3:1]

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”  (Matthew 11:7-12)

John is the Forerunner of Christ, fulfilling the prophecy of Elijah coming to restore all things:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord…”(Malachi 4:5-6)

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.”  (Matthew 11:13-15)

John the Forerunner was beheaded “for righteousness sake,” for warning and calling the corrupt and dissipated King Herod to repentance. Yet this is not some dark and dire event, but a radiant, joyous, shining witness (Greek: martyria) for us to emulate.

St. Justin Popovich teaches that St. John "had become the first of all the Holy Martyrs of the New Testament":

See how he suffered for God's truth in this world! He suffered joyously! In today's principal hymn and prayer to him it is said that he went to his death rejoicing, and that he suffered rejoicing. [See John 3:29.]  Thus he became the first example and inspiration to all the Holy Martyrs in the New Testament, beginning with St. Stephen the Protomartyr and through today. 

All of the Holy Martyrs go to their death rejoicing...

As the first one beheaded for righteousness sake — that is, for his witness to Christ, for Christ is our righteousness — John is shown to be the Forerunner of the last great wave of martyrs for Jesus:

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God…” (Apocalypse 20:4)

The 'Same God' Belief: a Fatal Heresy and a Theological Trojan Horse

Time again for an extended refutation of the "Same God" position.

The “Same God” belief is a "Theological Trojan Horse" for Christians, as it contains within it the seeds of apostasy, and predisposes its adherents to deny Jesus Christ.

I recently enjoyed a correspondence with a fellow who goes by the name of Giorgio, and who is quite a thoughtful theological writer. He asks:

Dear Zosimas, I was reading your blog and noticed in your featured post, you refer to the “Same God Heresy” – I assume by this you mean “Muslims and Christians worship the same God” is heretical. I was surprised to see this, since this seems contrary to what our saints have taught and also to reason (not that there is a difference, since the saints were very reasonable people). 

I argue this here, if you care to look... I would be interested in hearing your opinion about it. Sincerely, Giorgio

A couple of excerpts from Giorgio's article (do read the entire piece for his closely reasoned argument):

...whoever does not know God’s essence cannot love God, and it is clear that whoever does not love God cannot worship Him. But whoever does know God’s essence can, to at least a certain extent, love God and in this way be said to worship Him. 

By essence we mean that which makes God, God. But God is not God in virtue of being triune, or in virtue of being omnipotent, but by the fact that there is no distinction between His existence and His essence. For this reason, when Moses asks God who He is, God responds by saying: I am The One Who Is (Exodus 3:14, LXX). 

This is not to say that God being triune, His omnipotence, or His holiness are mere accidents, but rather properties which flow from His essence without being included in it, as St. John Damascene says in the fourth chapter of his exposition on the Orthodox faith: 

"All that we can affirm concerning God does not show forth God’s nature, but only the qualities of His nature. For when you speak of Him as good, and just, and wise, and so forth, you do not tell God’s nature but only the qualities of His nature. "

Now since Muslims generally acknowledge that God is He Who Is, they therefore grasp His essence and so can be said to know Him and worship Him. 

Like Muslims, the pagans were unaware of the Trinity, yet St. Paul did not say [in Acts 17:22-23] they worshipped a different God, but rather applauded them for worshipping God to the best of their abilities. The Apostle writes elsewhere: 

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made "(Romans 1:20). 

Here he clearly states that one may attain knowledge of God without revelation – therefore Muslims can be said to have some knowledge of God and worship Him. This is also clear from what St. John Damascene writes about knowledge of God’s existence and essence in the beginning of his exposition on the Orthodox faith, especially when he says in the eighth chapter that: We believe, then, in One God … believed in and ministered to by all rational creation.

First of all, it is not clear that in Islam there is any sense of "loving" God, hence some of the terminology used is wholly inappropriate to an honest discussion of Islam and Allah. In Islam, Allah is classically presented as being so "other", so utterly transcendent and beyond, that he is ultimately beyond the grasp of humans to know him, let alone love him. Islam calls man to be slaves of Allah, not to love him.

Secondly, there is no consistent, universal teaching of the saints in the Orthodox Church on the god of Islam being the same as the True God who sent His Only Begotten Son into the world for our salvation. In fact, a few quick quotes makes clear that several great Fathers of the Church seem to repudiate the "Same God" position:

"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." ~ St. Gregory Palamas (14th c.)

"...the vengeful and God-hating Saracens, the abomination of desolation clearly foretold to us by the prophets, overrun the places which are not allowed to them, plunder cities, devastate fields, burn down villages, set on fire the holy churches, overturn the sacred monasteries... Moreover, they are raised up more and more against us and increase their blasphemy of Christ and the church, and utter wicked blasphemies against God." ~ St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

St John of Damascus writes very strongly against Islam and Muhammad at the start of his section on the new religion in his Fount of Knowledge, which leaves it open to debate as to whether or not he would agree with my description of the Same God position as a heresy. Indeed, in our time, it may need to be defined in Council as a heresy, due to the danger it poses to the faithful who carelessly adhere to it.:

MONOTHEISM, PART 3: ISLAM, by Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)

The religion of the Law, which for 15 centuries prepared the chosen people for the coming into the world of the its Savior, the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, preceded New Testament religion. According to the Holy Apostle Paul, "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. 3:24)... When the Savior came into the world, Old Testament religion had fulfilled its purpose. 

Islam, having arisen in Arabia in the seventh century, appeared as the religion of the law six centuries after the God of the chosen people of the religion of the Law fulfilled its purpose. 

The difference between the Old Testament religion of the Law and Islam is not only that the latter emerged more than two thousand years after God gave on Mount Sinai the Ten Commandments and other precepts that governed life for the chosen people. The most important difference is that the Law of Moses has a Divine source... The founder of Islam, however, did not have a Divine revelation.

This theological study by Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) is a very helpful discussion of several fundamental problems with Islam's claim to be the true religion, correcting the supposed errors of Judaism and Christianity.


MONOTHEISM, PART 3: ISLAM
by Hieromonk Job (Gumerov), Pravoslavie — July 23, 2014

Part 1: Christianity

Part 2: Judaism

Jibril (the angel Gabriel) appears before Muhammad, drawing.

Islam: Origins

The religion of the Law, which for 15 centuries prepared the chosen people for the coming into the world of the its Savior, the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, preceded New Testament religion. According to the Holy Apostle Paul, "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. 3:24). It was all in all only "a shadow of good things to come" (Heb. 10:1). When the Savior came into the world, Old Testament religion had fulfilled its purpose. Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us the mystery of the Heavenly Kingdom and established the New Covenant, which was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:31-33).

Man was redeemed from original sin and its consequences by the voluntary death on the Cross of Jesus Christ as Savior of the World. He entered into an entirely new period in terms of his relationship with God in comparison with the Old Testament: instead of the law, there was a free condition of sonship and grace. Man received new means for achieving the ideal set for him of moral perfection as a necessary condition for salvation.

Islam, having arisen in Arabia in the seventh century, appeared as the religion of the law six centuries after the God of the chosen people of the religion of the Law fulfilled its purpose.

The difference between the Old Testament religion of the Law and Islam is not only that the latter emerged more than two thousand years after God gave on Mount Sinai the Ten Commandments and other precepts that governed life for the chosen people. The most important difference is that the Law of Moses has a Divine source. The book of Exodus gives a narrative of the majestic Epiphany. "And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up" (Exod. 19:17-20).

The founder of Islam, however, did not have a Divine revelation.

St Paisios of Mount Athos: 'There's a war on today, a holy war. I must be on the front lines.'

"Today's situation can be resisted only spiritually, not by worldly means..."

St. Paisios of Mt Athos (commemorated July 12)

From an Orthodox Church Bulletin comes this 'word' (scroll to bottom) from the newly glorified St. Paisios the Athonite, which is directly applicable not only to the assault on the Faith, the Family and the Church by secularism, but also to the challenge and threat of Islam.

How many Orthodox Christians are so poorly grounded in their faith as to believe Islam is wholly compatible with Christianity? One of the reasons I wrote my book was to warn those like the young woman in my former parish (whom I write about in my Epilogue), who sincerely believed that because Muslims venerate Jesus, therefore they are virtually one with us. When she began dating a Muslim man, she was scandalized by our priest warning her that if she married a Muslim, she would be denying Jesus Christ and committing apostasy. She could not be dissuaded, and soon turned away from Christ and became a Muslim.

I recall another case of an Orthodox woman of Lebanese descent (whom I have known for many years) with whom I had a shocking discussion following the Divine Liturgy one Sunday. She was relating her views on the historical procession of the monotheistic religions, from Judaism to Christianity to Islam, and asserted that this sequential ordering reflected progressively higher forms of knowledge, with Islam representing the highest and most sublime form of knowledge! This due to Muhammad receiving supposedly divine revelations of the literal words of God.

Apparently this woman failed to be touched by the great mystery of the ultimate revelation: the very Word and Logos of God becoming incarnate, or by our divine calling to be children of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, acquiring the Mind of Christ, the Mind of God Himself. This poor woman, through listening to ideas "in the air" and assenting with her fallen reasoning had given herself over to an anti-Christ false "gnosis" which leads straight to apostasy.

The bizarre cognitive dissonance alone of an Orthodox Christian putting forth such a view was bad enough, but to hear someone say such a brazen and blasphemous heresy immediately after receiving Holy Communion — the very Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ — was one of the most disturbing moments of my Christian life.

Truly the enemy of souls is hard at work, striving however he can to lead people into spiritual delusion. As the Lord teaches us, Satan is the "father of lies" (JN 8:44) and the multifaceted heresy of Islam and our modern world's affirmation of it and all other religions as equally valid paths to God are among his most successful deceptions.

Satan seeks to increase his harvest of souls, drawing as many into perdition as he can. He uses governments, culture, comfort, affluence, political correctness, the desire to be "nice", to get along, and to be liked, to make us timid and ashamed to proclaim and live our faith. He is quite happy and content with Christians who remain silent and do nothing, for, as St Gregory the Theologian warned, "By your silence you can betray God."

On the Sunday of All Saints of North America

The Second Sunday after Pentecost (which is the Sunday after All Saints) each local Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of All Saints of their particular land. This humble sermon presents a compelling case for a uniquely American saint, the beloved struggler, writer and ascetic, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose.

by Jesse Dominick, St Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Pravoslavie — June 14, 2015

Synaxis of All Saints of North America

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

Last week the Church celebrated the great feast of All Saints—in which every Saint, known and unknown is commemorated—and this Sunday we commemorate specifically all the Saints of Russia, while especially in America are celebrated the Feast of All Saints of North America.

We have been blessed with several great Saints in our land—St. Herman who first brought Holy Orthodoxy to this continent from Russia in the 1700's, St. Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow who founded our St. Tikhon's Monastery, St. Nikolai Velimirovich, who taught and reposed at our Seminary, and St. John Maximovitch, the wonderworking bishop of San Francisco, among several others. But there is one person in particular that I would like to talk about today—the monk and priest Fr. Seraphim Rose.

Christians in the Middle East: Martyred by Muslims in their Homeland, Disdained by Christians in America

In an early 2014 article by Michael Brendan Dougherty titled, 'The World’s Most Ancient Christian Communities are being Destroyed — and No One Cares', I was struck in particular by this brief quote, which sums up the problem in a memorable manner:

“The victims are ‘too Christian’ to excite the Left, and ‘too foreign’ to excite the Right.” —French philosopher Regis Debray

Quite so. I might amend Debray's observation to read that the Christian victims are "too Eastern" to excite American Protestant/Evangelical Christians to action. Though, as an Orthodox Christian myself, I am tempted to charge that the Christian victims of Islamic jihad are actually "too Christian" altogether.

Rod Dreher recently offered some reflections on this phenomenon following an encounter he had with a Bible-believer, which I hope American Baptists, Evangelicals and assorted others of the 33,000-or-so Protestant denominations (World Christian Encyclopedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson; Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001) will ponder:

Over the weekend, I got into a brief Twitter exchange with a pastor of a nondenominational “Bible church” (as if all churches aren’t Bible churches) in Texas who said that I am not a Christian, because Orthodox and Catholics are not Christian. I pointed out to him that Christianity did not begin with the Reformation, but then decided to block the guy on Twitter, because the last thing I wanted to do was get into an exchange with a guy like that. 

An hour later, I was standing in our Orthodox vespers service, thinking about that guy and smiling. There we were, praying in a church that can trace itself in an unbroken line back to the apostles. We chanted Psalms and read passages aloud from the Old Testament. We sang hymns commemorating the Council of Nicaea (325), and its victory over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Jesus. As in every vespers service, we sang the hymn “O Joyful Light,” which is the oldest surviving hymn from antiquity, having been composed in the late third or early fourth century; tradition says it was written by a bishop on his way to martyrdom. He didn’t write it for a praise band. 

And I thought about all the Christians of the Middle East being exiled and martyred today for their faith in Jesus Christ. These Christians are almost entirely Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, or members of one of the Nestorian churches. Whatever their communion, their ancestors were worshiping Jesus Christ as God when the ancestors of nearly all of us northern Europeans were praying to pagan gods. 

And yet, to this fundamentalist Protestant in Texas, these people are not Christian.

Rod's musings on the Orthodox Vespers service hit some of the myriad highlights as to why Orthodoxy deserves to recognized as authentic Christianity. While there are some Nestorian groups to be sure, it is illuminating to consider two recent articles by Dr. Anton Vrame of the Greek Archdiocese on the Assyrians and the Armenians, as well as an affirming "Amen" to the canonization by the Coptic Orthodox Church of the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of Libya, written by Fr. Lawrence Farley, as hopeful signs. Out of the darkness of Islamic persecution of Christians is shining the light of true Christian faith, showing there is far more uniting many of the Eastern Christian communions than the often circumstantial historical anomalies which have separated us for centuries.

Gone is the Glory of Constantinople…

"... but the glory of the Christians shall not end so long as they hold fast to faith in Jesus Christ and carry Him with them wherever they wander, wherever they are taken, wherever they settle. Jesus alone is their glory."

by Fr Georges Massouh, Notes on Arab Orthodoxy – May 2015

OCP Media — May 19, 2015

Jesus announced that the worship of God is not tied to a specific place as God is not contained by space and He cannot be bound in an exclusive place toward which those who want to be in His presence must pray or make pilgrimage. Thus when the Samaritan woman asked Him, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain (Gerezim in Samaria), and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship,” Jesus answered her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father… the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:20-23).

God is present in every place and there is no place on the face of this earth from which God is absent. God is present where His people gathers in His name. The Apostle Paul affirms this when he says, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them. I shall be their God and they shall be My people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). God is a wanderer who does not settle in one place. He does not require people to come to Him in a specific place. He comes to them whenever they call upon Him and seek Him.

In this context, Saint Basil the Great (d. 379) comments on Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman and says that worship is no longer tied to a specific geographical location since the Holy Spirit has become the “place of worship”. Christ also is the place of worship and the Gospel of Saint John clearly speaks of the end of worship in the temple of Jerusalem since Jesus Himself is the new “temple” and there is no need for a temple built in a city or on a mountain.

Freedom, Provocation and Targets

The Muslim predisposition towards jihad means “no cartoons required.”

by Ralph H. Sidway

The ultimate provocation:

A Coptic Orthodox monk makes the Sign of the Cross.

The recent Muslim jihad attack at a Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland Texas has generated strong reactions across the political spectrum. Four of us in my church recently had a fairly rigorous discussion of some of the issues involved, with two believing the cartoon contest needlessly provoked Muslim anger, and myself and one other siding with a strong commitment to freedom of speech/expression. You can’t escape this debate. It is literally everywhere, and will likely grow in significance in the days ahead.

Although there are many expected responses along partisan lines, there have been some surprises on both the conservative and liberal ends of the teeter-totter. For example, some Fox News personalities have openly blamed Pamela Geller, the “Draw Muhammad” event coordinator, for provoking the jihad attack. (Ms. Geller has written an articulate defense, which has been published as an op-ed by TIME, Inc.)

On the flip side, MSNBC’s “All In” host Chris Hayes, in a somewhat torturous apologetic, advocated for being provocative when it flushes out extremist would-be murderers:

My feeling, though, in the wake of this, is that there’s some part of me that feels that if the thing you’re worried about is doing an event that will provoke two people rolling up in body armor and automatic weapons trying to murder people, then it actually weirdly is important that you do that… I don’t care if it was a provocation, if what it’s provoking is attempted murder, because I want to live in a society that that is essentially not okay and not tolerated.

Ryan Mauro of The Clarion Project ably cuts through the fog of words surrounding the Garland Texas jihad attack:

The media's focus on the Mohammed drawings contest misses the mark. Whether or not one agrees with holding the event is irrelevant as to why this attack happened. It happened because of the desire to find a target; not because of the target itself.

Mauro is absolutely correct: when you’re a Muslim striving to follow as perfectly as possible the Koran and the example of Muhammad, the dar-al-Harb is filled with targets. With ISIS commanding Muslims in America to wage jihad against non-Muslims, there will be some takers who will do just that.

May Christians Kill?

Questions on War and Defense from an Orthodox Christian Perspective

A significant study for our dark age of global Islamic jihad and mass martyrdom of Christians, abridged from Fr. LeMaster's book, The Goodness of God’s Creation.

by Priest Philip LeMasters, Pravmir — May 5, 2015

 In light of the human vocation for growth in holiness and communion with God, how should Christians respond to the prospect of warfare?

Eastern Christianity does not view morality in fundamentally legal terms or within the context of abstract philosophy, but as part of the holistic vocation of humanity for theosis: participation by grace in the eternal life of the Holy Trinity. Hence, the Orthodox vision must be considered on its own terms, and not distorted by the imposition of Western categories. The question for the Orthodox is not, “What approach to warfare is most persuasive rationally or incumbent upon all Christians as a matter of moral law?” Instead, the East asks, “In light of the human vocation for growth in holiness and communion with God, how should Christians respond to the prospect of warfare?”

Thirst for the Holy Spirit: On the Feast of Mid-Pentecost

"Even while feasting on the good things of this earth that are permitted to us in this joyful season, we should yet thirst for what lies above the earth, for the Holy Spirit..."

Lay Sermon by Eugene Rose, May 1965

Pravmir — May 6, 2015

For too many of us, perhaps, the weeks following the radiant Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ are a time of relaxation and even of indulgence; the rigors of the Fast being ended, the body revels while the spirit grows weak.  But if this is unfortunately so, it is our own fault and not the fault of the Holy Church; for she never ceases to draw our minds upward and instruct us as to what thoughts and actions are appropriate for Orthodox Christians in this holy season.

Each Sunday after Easter has a special name drawn from the appointed Gospel reading; between Easter and the Ascension there are the Sundays of St. Thomas, of the Myrrh bearers, of the Paralytic, of the Samaritan Woman, of the Blind Man. 

Another special feast, to which too little attention is usually paid, occurs on the Wednesday of the fourth week after Easter and is called “Mid-Pentecost.”  This feast commemorates the event in the life of the Savior when, in the middle of the Old Testament Feast of Tabernacles, He taught in the Temple concerning His being sent from God and concerning the living water of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which all those who thirst may receive from Him (St. John 7:14-39).

In Memoriam: Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, 1939-2015

Beloved pastor, galvanizing speaker, trusted educator, author and mentor, and faithful Christian struggler, Fr. Thomas Hopko, quietly reposed in the Lord yesterday, March 18, on the commemoration of the repose of St. Nikolai of Zhicha.

I have wanted for some time to prepare an "annotated" text of his excellent talk, 'The Word of the Cross', expanding on certain points which apply especially to the intersection of Orthodox Christianity and Islam. God willing, I may be able to do so soon.

Just last weekend, for the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, I did key on a powerful dogmatic truth which Fr. Thomas expressed in 'The Word of the Cross' as follows (emphasis added):

Beyond the Cross there is nothing more God can do. Beyond the Cross there is nothing more God can say. Beyond the Cross there is nothing more to be revealed.

Today I am compelled to simply give thanks to God for the instruction and inspiration I have received from Fr. Thomas over my nearly thirty years as an Orthodox Christian. Although I only met him briefly at a couple of talks and retreats, his recorded presentations, available through SVS Press, Ancient Faith Radio, and YouTube, have made a deep impact on my life and my modest efforts at serving the Church. 

Last September, Fr. Thomas accompanied me on a grand pilgrimage out west, figuratively speaking, of course. I had the expansive blessing of driving from central Alabama to Dallas, then north-west to Santa Fe and Canones NM, where I stayed a couple of days at Archangel Michael Monastery (OCA), then up to Denver to visit a beloved monastic mentor of mine, and then back east-south-east. For my journey of over 3000 miles across the vast American landscape I decided it was the perfect opportunity to revisit Fr Hopko's multi-CD talk on The Lord's Prayer. I thank God for having such a 'companion' for my pilgrimage!

With this as with all his talks and writings, it has always seemed to me that Fr. Thomas was never merely theoretical or even theological, but was always pastoral. He always made the teachings real to his listeners. And this is because he clearly was applying it to his own life, his own circumstances (as could be readily discerned from his asides and self-deprecatory wit). The living and practice of our Christian life has to be real, otherwise it is worse than fake, it is unto condemnation.

Thank God for Fr. Thomas!

May his memory be eternal!

The distilled fruit of Fr. Thomas Hopko's lifetime of Christian life and service may be seen in the below text, '55 Maxims'. 

Additional key links are as follows:

New Martyr Fr. Daniel Sysoev's writings being made available in English!

Many of Fr Daniel Sysoev's writings are now available to order in physical book form in English and Russian (with more English editions to follow, I am informed) from the Orthodox Internet Store of Rev. Daniel Sysoev.

In addition, a new online 'shop' has been opened on the ISSUU digital platform, with books and booklets by Fr Daniel Sysoev, including many titles in English.

One of if not THE most significant of the New Martyrs of the 21st Century under the Sword of Islam, the righteous Fr. Daniel Sysoev of Moscow was shot and killed by a Muslim in front of the altar at the church he founded.

Fr Daniel was not any ordinary casualty of Islam's renewed war on Christians. He was a towering figure in the Russian Orthodox Church, a theologian, writer, evangelist and missionary, who engaged in open debate with Muslims, and converted some eighty or more of them from Islam to the Orthodox Faith, including a number of Wahhabi extremists.

Russia has experienced a Spiritual Resurrection

"In Russia during the last 26 years, 26,000 churches have either been restored or opened, as well as 800 monasteries, filled with young monks and nuns... All this has taken place in the very same era which in the West some call post-Christian."

by Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald
via Pravoslavie — October 24, 2014

I have been reading a book about Russia: Dying Unneeded by Michelle Parsons. It is about the wartime and post-war generation of former Soviet citizens whose lives came to a halt when the USSR collapsed in 1991. The meaning and purpose of their lives had come from the state, from work, from surviving with stoical humour and resignation the problems that arose in daily life from the command economy. The author examines the dramatic mortality rate during the years 1990-1994, when state socialism suddenly ended, to be followed by, as Parsons puts it, “upheaval, disorder, decay, wildness and thievery”.

Overnight, a whole generation of Russians lost their jobs, their pensions and their security. Too old to retrain for new careers they started to experience the poverty and scarcity that they had known during the war and which they had thought was over for good. Men particularly, who had defined themselves through their work, started to drink heaving (not helped by often being paid in vodka rather than in money) and to suffer stress-related heart attacks. Suicides also increased. Women survived better because they simply continued to struggle, as they always, had, with providing for their family’s needs.

Parsons paints a grim picture of a society that had been led along by their secular faith in the Communist ideology, which then failed them spectacularly. Without inner spiritual resources and living for years under the official atheism of the Soviet system, their lives became meaningless. Although she briefly mentions the notion of the “Russian soul” she defines it in a patriotic and community sense – a people held together by suffering and sacrifice, especially in the wartime years when Russia lost 27 million people.

The Scandal of the Cross for Islam

The Leavetaking of the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross is tomorrow, Sunday September 21. On this solemn occasion it is essential to revisit Islam's vehement and violent stance against Christianity.

The Universal Exaltation of the Cross, and its Scandal for the World

by Fr. Steven C. Kostoff — Orthodox Christian Meditations

September 13, 2014

As we behold the Wood of the Cross exalted on high, let us magnify God who in His goodness was crucified upon it in the flesh.  (Small Vespers of the Feast)

We are approaching the Feast Day of The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross - to give the Feast its full title – this coming Sunday, September 14. This is the day that we liturgically commemorate and venerate the Cross that will be placed in the middle of the church toward the end of Great Vespers on Saturday evening.   The Feast will then have a full "octave" for its celebration – thus making it an eight-day Feast which serves to stress the importance of the Cross in the life of the Church and in our personal  lives.  To further turn our attention toward the Cross, we recall the Third Sunday of Great Lent - the Adoration of the Cross; and the less well-observed Feast of the Procession of the Cross on August 1.  And, importantly, every Wednesday and Friday is a day of commemorating the Cross, one of the reasons that we fast on those two days on a weekly basis.

Prominent though that the Cross may be for Christians, it is the Apostle Paul who very succinctly and profoundly captured the unbelieving world's attitude toward the Cross in his well-known text:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (I COR. 1:23-24)

This leads the Apostle to one of his most astonishing and paradoxical insights:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  (I COR. 1:26)

The "scandal" for the unbelieving Jew would be the claim that the Messiah was crucified.  The "folly" for the Greek/Gentile would be the claim that the divine would even enter the realm of flesh and blood and "become" human, let alone suffer death on a cross.  Yet God, in and through Christ, transformed what is shameful, weak, lowly and despised - a crucified man - into "our righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (I COR. 1:30)  The entire passage of I COR. 1:18-31 deserves careful, close and constant study. 

It remains fascinating, and highly instructive, that even non-Christians who profess to have a great respect for Jesus Christ, struggle terribly with the scandal of the Cross.   This is clearly the case with Islam.  Jesus is treated with great respect in many passages in the Qur'an:  even to the point of acknowledging His virginal conception in a passage that clearly resembles the Annunciation form the Gospel According to St. Luke! (Qur'an, 3:45-47)  However, the Crucifixion is treated in a way that bears no resemblance to the Gospel accounts:

"yet they did not slay him, neither crucify him, only a likeness of that was shown to them." (Qur'an 4:156-159)

The Muslims believe that someone else - a figure unidentified by the Qur'an - was crucified in the place of Christ, but not Jesus Himself.  The Muslim scholar Dr. Maneh Al-Johani wrote:  "The Qur'an does not elaborate on this point, nor does it give any answer to this question." 

Clearly, the "scandal" of the Cross is too much for Muslim sensibilities, since Jesus is for them a great prophet sent by God.  Muslims further believe that Jesus was raised to Heaven, yet before He died, clearly an odd teaching that again is meant to completely distance Jesus from His crucifixion.  If there is anything that is agreed upon today among New Testament scholars - believers and skeptics alike - it is that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death by crucifixion by orders of Pontius Pilate in the early 30's of the Christian era.  This lends a certain fantastic quality to these claims of the Qur'an.

Raymond Ibrahim — Beheading Infidels: How Allah ‘Heals the Hearts of Believers’

Essential article on the Muslim jihadi mind. As gruesome as the below pictures are, this article is ultimately about Islamic and Koranic spirituality. It reveals starkly how Muslim jihadis are avidly following pure Islam. Read and share widely.

"When young Muslims express their anger and frustration at the state of affairs of the Islamic world, their clerics council them to go to the jihad in Iraq and Syria and decapitate themselves an infidel—which, according to the Koran, should “heal their hearts.” [...] 

"Such Muslims join the jihad, and not only do they decapitate, but they mutilate, humiliate, and laugh at the disgraced enemies of Allah—in perfect emulation of the Islamic glory/gory stories they grew up on. 

"This is the true cult of jihad which few non-Muslims can begin to comprehend..."

by Raymond Ibrahim — September 11, 2014

What will “heal” and “remove the rage” from “the hearts of the believers”? Infidel carnage, says the Koran.

To understand why the Islamic State not only decapitates its “infidel” captives, but also mutilates and mocks their corpses—and all to sadistic laughter—one need only turn to the Koran and deeds of Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The Koran exhorts believers to “Fight them [those who oppose Islam], Allah will torment them with your hands, humiliate them, empower you over them, and heal the hearts of the believers, removing the rage from their hearts” (Koran 9:14-15).

As usual, to understand the significance of any Koran verse, one must turn to the sira and hadith—the biography and anecdotes of Muhammad, respectively—for context.

Thus we come to the following account concerning the slaughter of ‘Amr bin Hisham, a pagan Arab chieftain originally  known as “Abu Hakim” (Father of Wisdom) until Muhammad dubbed him “Abu Jahl” (Father of Stupidity) for his staunch opposition to Islam.

After ‘Amr was mortally wounded by a new convert to Islam during the Battle of Badr, Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, a close companion of Muhammad, saw the “infidel” chieftain collapsed on the ground.  So he went to him and started abusing him.  Among other things, Abdullah grabbed and pulled ‘Amr’s beard and stood in triumph on the dying man’s chest.

According to Al-Bidaya wa Al-Nihaya (“The Beginning and the End”), Ibn Kathir’s authoritiative history of Islam, “After that, he [Abdullah] slit his [‘Amr’s] head off and bore it till he placed it between the hands of the Prophet. Thus did Allah heal the hearts of the believers with it.”

This, then, is the true significance of Koran 9:14-15: “Fight them, Allah will torment them with your hands [mortally wounding and eventually decapitating ‘Amr], humiliate them [pulling his beard], empower you over them [standing atop him], and heal the hearts of the believers, removing the rage from their hearts [at the sight of his decapitated head].”

The logic here is that, pious Muslims are so full of zeal for Allah’s cause that the only way their inflamed hearts can be at rest is to see those who oppose Allah and his prophet utterly crushed—humiliated, mutilated, decapitated.  Then the hearts of the believers can be at ease and “healed.”

This is surely one of the reasons behind the Islamic State’s dissemination of gory videos and pictures of its victims: the new “caliphate” is trying to heal the hearts of every believer inflamed for the cause of Allah.

If this sounds too farfetched, consider the following picture of a decapitated “infidel” from the Islamic State’s websites.  The Arabic caption to the left says “healing for hearts”—a clear reference to the aforementioned Koran verse:

An Orthodox Christian Response to Beheading by Muslims

"Will we bear witness to the truth in both our way of life and our way of death?"

by Fr. John Parker, Orthodox Christian Network — September 1, 2014

I am an unworthy man, unworthy to be called an Orthodox Christian, not to speak of the priesthood, and I write, admittedly, from the comfort of my Mount Pleasant, SC, home.  There is no Mount nearby, but it is, indeed, a pleasant seaside community on the East Coast of the United States.

As such, I ask myself: how to deal with ruthless, pitiless, pitiful souls who are so darkened that their life is spent taking the life of others—and worse, thinking that they are doing this at the direction of and with the blessing of God himself, with eternal reward?

Perhaps I will be criticized for my suggestion, sitting in my pleasant, mountless town, but we read recently that we must receive the Gospel as a child; and even a child will ask how could murder be returned by murder.  Is violence—individual or large-scale—a possible Orthodox response?

What were the apostolic and post-apostolic, and later saint’s reactions to such vicious, vile, demonic actions?

How did the disciples respond to the beheading of John the Baptist, which we commemorated on August 29?

On the precipice of martyrdom, St Stephen, the Proto-martyr begged God to forgive his killers. Was there an apostolic uprising following that?

Hieromartyr Eutychius, disciple of St John the Theologian, was beheaded after starvation in prison, an attempt to burn him alive, and cruel beatings with iron rods…which were made to cease by his prayers.  There is no account of retribution.

St Ignatius of Antioch instructed his loyal sons-and-daughters in Christ not to impede his march to martyrdom.  “Do not hold me back from life!” was his essential command.

St Lawrence, the Hieromartyr, whose memory we kept in early August, commanded his captors, who had lit him on fire while encaged, to turn him over, since he was “done on that side”.  There is not a record of retaliation.

The Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage, whom we remembered in the Church on August 31 was martyred by the sword as well—he, by pagans.  Among his greatest contributions to the Christian faith was the acceptance of repentance of those who had apostatized, abandoned their one true love, Jesus Christ.  He himself, though defending the true repentance of those who did commit apostasy under threat of death, did not betray Christ.