www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The Diabolic Disorientation of Ostpolitik and Ecumenism

Dear RichC,

Yes, and I will eventually get around to working on some new material.

Until then,

Alex

Bless me a sinner, Father Silouan!

It was Blessed Pope John XXIII who once asked a gentleman who came to see him, "Are you a theologian?"

When he replied in the negative, the Pope smiled and said, "Deo gratias! Neither am I . . ."

Holy Padre Pio is one of those amazing saints of history.

As you know, he prayed 20, 30 or even 40 full 15 decade rosaries daily.

His rosary that he used in his lifetime exudes a very aromatic fragrance.

And his miracles are boundless. I've come into contact with so many people whose lives have been touched by St Padre Pio it is quite amazing.

In December of last year, I met a woman at an office Christmas party.

We got onto a religious topic and I mentioned Padre Pio.

She said, "Oh, that was the monk who cured my father of stomach cancer!"

For me, Padre Pio's greatest witness is to prayer in our lives. He said that those who pray "hard" will be saved, those who pray little are in danger and those who do not pray will be damned!

Robert Lentz's Bridge Building Icons site has a Byzantine Icon of Padre Pio that is most beautiful.

Alex

Bless me a sinner, Reverend Father Joseph!

It does sound like that priest is reacting against Rome out of a sense of being hurt, as was noted earlier.

I've also noticed that there are some prominent Latinisms among the Romanian Byzantine Catholics of various kinds.

Such Latinisms are unfortunate, but they seem to persist in countries where there is more antipathy toward Eastern Catholics than elsewhere.

If the Orthodox are perceived as the "enemy," then the idea of becoming like them in terms of Rite etc. can be a problem for some Eastern Catholic clerics and even hierarchs who may go out of their way to maintain their Latinist ways.

I've come across one Priest who maintained the Stations of the Cross is a true "Eastern tradition!"

Part of the problem with Fatima in this respect is not so much in its message, but some of the people who adhere to it. Traditional RC's who won't accept the ecclesial and apostolic reality of Orthodoxy wouldn't dream of associating Our Lady's "Russia will be converted" with a return to Orthodox practice! Why would Our Lady, they would think, approve of schismatics?

This also reminds one of the appearances of Our Lady of Zeitoun in Egypt in the late sixties.

Our Lady not only appeared above the cupola of an Eastern Church, but of a Coptic Orthodox Church at that!

Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox joined in singing her praises during these times.

Even Egyptian Evangelical Protestants, notably their leadership, came to see what all the ruckus was about and ended up praising the Mother of God!

And the Muslims were so thrilled about this apparition, that they not only praised the Virgin Mary, they rolled out expensive carpets into the streets of the city as a sign of welcome to Her!

It must be mentioned that there are Eastern Catholic devotees to Our Lady of Fatima of the Byzantine Rite who are both serious and dedicated Eastern Catholics who would never think of giving offense to Orthodox Christians in this way.

PaulOrthCathConfessor is one of them, I believe and the Byzantine Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of Fatima in California is a great example of Eastern Catholic devotion to the Mother of God of Fatima.

Despite this problem, I also remain faithful in this respect as well.

Alex

Alex: You are most right in your estimation of this situation. I too could accept the good things about the Fatima message, in the context of allowing the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches to also be vehicles of evangelization.

Your comment about the Stations of the Cross is interesting. I know that our people prayed them at one time, and in Ukrainian/Rusyn, but in the present form, they are clearly from the Latin Rite. The only way that they could be perceived as Eastern is in light of the fact that pilgrimages to the sites of Christ's passion originated of course, in the Holy Land. If I am correct, St. Francis first begin the "stations" for those who could not make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Is this correct? In this sense, they would be congruous with our sense of re-creating the sacred sites during the services of Passion Week. The popular version by St. Alphonsius Ligouri would seem more Latin than Byzantine in its piety. This is not the same one that was included in our Rusyn prayerbook: Moi Molitvenyk. Do you or anyone know the source of the Greek Catholic text of the stations?

God bless you and all of us as we journey towards our Lord's saving work during this Lenten season.

Fr. Joe

Monk Silouan, Father, bless!

Seems to me that theology has more or less the same relationship to God that science does to nature. Each is designed to describe/explain its subject, not to dictate what it may or may not do. Scientific theories which are contradicted by nature must be revised, or discarded. Seems to me that a theology which doesn't "allow" the good Lord to do whatever He wants to ought to be amended a tad, as well. The Lord offers Himself to us, body, blood, soul & Divinity - why should it be a stretch to believe that we can offer this incomparable Gift back to the Giver?

BTW, I believe that I read that Padre Pio will be canonized along with Juan Diego & a number of other holy folk in the very near future.


In Christ,

Sharon

In speaking of pilgrimages for those not able to actually travel to the holy sites, I am reminded of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Manhattan. When possible, I love to make a visit to this magnificent church. It is like making a vidpust to the sacred spots.

With the upper and lower churches full of wonderful shrines, one often sees pious faithful going from place to place, praying and lighting candles. In particular, the lower church offers a "catacomb" like setting with many marvelous pieces of religious art. Really, it is like being on pilgrimage and the piety displayed there in the quiet of the darkened church or during a mass is truly inspiring. Daily, they offer eleven masses as well as confession and other devotions. It has been staffed by the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) for well over 150 years. If in NYC, this church is a must for the faithful. It is on W. 31st. St., between 6th. and 7th. Avenues. Priest Joe

Bless me a sinner, Reverend Father in Christ!

I am an heir to two great western traditions in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the Basilians and the Redemptorists .

They both had different versions of the Stations of the Cross in their prayerbooks and I believe they created their own "formats" trying to be "Eastern" at the same time. They also developed slightly different methods of saying the Rosary.

I have in my possession a Stations of the Cross published by the Orthodox Church in western Ukraine.

It makes good use of Eastern ritual and includes a 15th station, that of the Resurrection of our Lord at the end, together with Ektenias etc.

They also promote the placement of the 15 stations around the interior of Orthodox Churches, thereby breaking the rule that all services must be conducted facing East.

Alex

Being disabled for a good number of years now I take comfort in the words of St. Peter Julian Eymard: "One hour spent in deep prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is worth more to the soul than a lifetime spent on pilgrimages". However I would dearly love to be able to visit the Holy Tomb of Christ and the Holy Places. I would also want to pray at the Holy Places in Rome as well as visiting many of the monasteries in the desert, Northern Thebaid and Mt. Athos.
Silouan

Bless me a sinner Father Silouan!

And then there was the man who spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament until one person asked him what he could possibly be saying to God all that time.

He said, "I'm looking at Him - and He's looking at me!"

If you could contact me privately, I think I might satisfy your pilgrimage aspirations at least to some extent.

Alex