Mount Athos on 60 Minutes, 4/24/2011

Part 1:


Part 2:

Jerusalem on Holy Saturday 2011

BBC's "History of Christianity"

Here is a fascinating and well-made* documentary on Orthodox Christianity produced by the BBC. Enjoy.

*but not perfect. At around the 18:08 mark, the narrator refers to something he calls "Iconoclast Orthodoxy," which, of course, is a contradiction in terms. Then the map shown at 30:40 identifies Carthage as one of the ancient patriarchates. They apparently confused it with Alexandria.

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 26

I must admit, I have always enjoyed listening to Rage Against the Machine, even if I cannot completely agree with their message. Below is a video of a band performing a Rage song called "Bulls on Parade," which was written to denounce the American military-industrial complex. To tell the truth, It's actually a pretty decent performance (although the guitarist is no Tom Morello). The problem is that the performance takes place in what claims to be a church (a place where the pastor likes to deliver sermons like one entitled "You Don't Suck Anymore" and where is the music is so loud that they "offer earplugs to anyone who wants them."). I have said before that I have no problem with the use of contemporary music in church, as long as it's appropriate, decent music (not a re-worded version of a secular pop song, like this one where the F-word has to be removed) and as long as it's not on Sunday. That's the Lord's Day, not yours!!!

As you watch this, keep in mind that this performance is taking place at a Sunday morning worship service; compare it to the dignified, holy, Christ-centered worship of the Orthodox Church and see if you can guess which is more pleasing to God.

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 25

Every year, the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City hosts what it calls their Halloween Extravaganza when performers dressed as ghouls and goblins parade right down the center aisle. That's right: a "church" hosts an annual Halloween parade in the church building!

And to which Christian tradition does St John the Divine Cathedral belong?

You guessed it: Episcopal.

This is a church that claims to live "in the spirit of Christ" but doesn't seem to have a problem ignoring St Paul's warning not to have "fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph 5.11).

Here is the promotional webpage for this year's event.

And here is a video from two years ago.



Note: At around the seven-minute mark you'll hear a familiar tune that in this context is sinister and chilling.

Read more about the event here, and here.
See photos here, here, and here.

Palestinian Christians

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 23

What is the purpose of these Things You'll Never See posts? Is it to poke fun at Christians who don't do things the way we do them in the Orthodox Church? Sure, that's part of it. But there is more to it than that.
Sometimes, a thing is best described by identifying what it is not. With these posts, I am demonstrating that theOrthodox Church is not irreverent, flippant, disgraceful, unseemly, tactless, tacky, or driven by what is cool, relevant, sexy or politically correct. It is not interested in celebrating human achievement or in tailoring its understanding of God to match its wordlview. It is not casual, comfortable, or laid back. It is not interested in entertaining you or bolstering your self esteem. It is not interested simply in drawing a crowd (hell, Lady Gaga can do that!) or winning converts, but in making disciples and teaching them to observe everything Christ commanded (Mt 2819-20).
In short, the Orthodox Church is the opposite of what you find in these videos.


This clip comes from Heartland Christian Center in Valparaiso, IN. At the end of his performance, the pastor tells the audience "you never thought you'd come to church and see that."
Truth be told: you won't.

Church as Corporation; Pastor as CEO

Is this guy making disciples? This sort of thing is the exact opposite of what you find when you read the lives of the saints, which of course is something from which we all could benefit greatly.

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 22

(Newser) – A Dutch priest is in hot water for praying—in vain—that the Netherlands would defeat Spain at a Mass celebrated the day of the World Cup final, reports the BBC. Paul Vlaar decorated his church in the team color, orange; wore orange and white vestments; and played along as a churchgoer kicked a soccer ball down the aisle. He's been suspended so he can observe "a period of reflection," says his bishop. "Everybody supports Pastor Paul and we don't see what was so bad," a parishioner tells the AP.

source

Church removes cross

This is not as outrageous as the reporter seems to think it is. (But then, Fox News does tend to sensationalize a bit..."Is it diversity or perversity?")
In fact I agree with the second interviewee and applaud this "inclusive spiritual community" for their integrity. They are clearly not a church, and they no longer believe in or profess the Gospel, so why pretend? Why claim to be something they are not by displaying a cross?

I wish more "churches" would show the integrity that this one has and not only take down their crosses, but quit calling themselves churches and drop the whole "christian" charade altogether.





Here is their website.

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 21

From a Roman Catholic source:

Agia Sophia

This is a fascinating documentary that I recommend to anyone who--like me--is at all interested in history and architecture, especially the churchy kinds.

A couple things to pay attention to as you watch this: First of all, you will see several beautiful aerial shots of the cathedral as is today; remember that the minarets surrounding it and the huge gold crescent at the peak of its dome were not there when it was built. The dome, of course was topped by a cross.

Also, you may notice the images of seraphim on the pendentives in the interior of the church, just below the dome. These are mosaics that were very recently--like last year!--discovered and exposed. They had, like all the sacred imagery in the church, been plastered over when the Turks took over in 1453. You can read more about them here.

And one last thing. The cathedral is not named in honor of St Sophia.  The word "άγία," although it can be translated as "saint" (which comes from the Latin word "sanctus," meaning "holy"), in this case refers to the Holy Wisdom--or Aγία Σοφία--of God. (see 1Co 1.20, 2.7; James 3.17)

Enjoy.

Contemporvant

I just wanted to remind you of the sorts of cool, relevant things that you will me missing out on when you decide to start attending Orthodox Liturgy.
(from Byzantine, TX)

Mother and Child

Liturgy at Holy Virgin Cathedral, San Francisco

Easter in Syria

I knew that Middle Easterners just love to celebrate by firing their guns into the air, but for some reason I assumed it was just the Muslims that did that. I guess I was wrong.

(You know you've been to too many military firing ranges when you watch this and think "gosh, that's going to leave a lot of shell casings for someone to pick up.")

Bells Stolen

Courtesy of Byzantine, TX

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 19

I don't know what's more painful: watching an Elvis impersonator perform in church, or listening to the audience clap on the "1" and the "3"...

Soccer fans

Here is another item for the "Types of Things You will Never See in the United States" file.

This gives me chills. It is a video that was taken recently at a soccer stadium in Russia. One group of fans is shouting and another is responding. What are they saying?
"Tastes great!" "Less filling!" ???
"Let's go Red Wings!" ???

No, they're shouting "Christ is Risen?" "Truly, He is Risen!"

"Christos voskrese!" "Voistinu voskrese!"

Botafumeiro

Some of us were talking about this last weekend, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it. It's the famous incense pot called the "Botafumeiro," which, incidentally, is Spanish for "attractor of curious tourists." It is located in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain (which, by the way, also houses the relics of some guy named St James.)