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Good luck to all students over the coming year…
С любовью к знанью и труду,
Я в школу радостно иду!
With all my love, I’ll strive and work,
Skipping merrily off to school!
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
A Photo Essay. “The Day of Knowledge” at Christ the Saviour in Moscow…
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Patriarchal Molieben for the “Day of Knowledge” Drew More than 5,000 Faithful to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow
It’s necessary to form not only the mind, but the soul, as well, in order to bring joy to others.
Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias
On Tuesday morning, more than 5,000 pupils, college students, their parents, and teachers gathered for a molieben to mark the start of the school year at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour served by Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias. Addressing the attendees, he said that it’s very important to have good education today, “because the world is such that, even if one doesn’t work in the sciences, without knowledge, it’s very difficult for someone to properly arrange their lives… there’s so much information, it’s more than one can properly perceive and correctly use, and you have to block out what’s unnecessary [to you]”.
He went on to say, “At the same time, a man can be educated and still be a loser in life, or even a criminal… we see quite a few of those today. People can be educated and still not have any friends or loved ones, or those who love them. This means that education is not synonymous with happiness. It’s necessary to form not only the mind, but the soul, as well, in order to bring joy to others. However, the only way to do so is by being a good man… one who gives to others what he himself has… giving of their time, attention, and care, one who shares with others their material goods. The Orthodox faith teaches us to be good people; it doesn’t just teach us, it gives us advice and guidelines, which if we actually follow them, we can become good, therefore, we can be joyful, creating around ourselves a field of love, compassion, and gladness”.
During the molieben, he asked for the intercessions of St Sergei of Radonezh, who is one of the patron saints of students, and he related that when he was a child, before he went to school, he always prayed before an icon of St Sergei. After the liturgy, Patriarch Kirill gave his greetings to students and teachers at the beginning of the academic year, wishing them “clear thinking, willpower, and sharp observation”. He urged students to “rely on prayer, but they shouldn’t slacken their efforts”, because if we are lazy, “the Lord won’t answer our prayers, in order to discourage our weaknesses and imperfections”. Students of both secular and Orthodox schools attended the services. After the molieben, the clergy sprinkled holy water on all those present and distributed icons that had been blessed by the patriarch.
31 August 2010
Interfax-Religion
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Poll Shows that Most Jews and Muslims Support Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama (1961- ), all his numbers are 50 percent or above… except for Sectarians… food for thought…
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A poll found that most Muslims and Jews support President Barack Obama. According to a survey conducted by the Gallup Organisation, with a sample of more than 275,000 Americans, 78 percent of Muslims, 61 percent of Jews, 50 percent of Catholics, and 43 percent of Protestants and Mormons supported the policies of American President Obama. Meanwhile, the total number of Americans who approved Mr Obama’s policies declined compared to last year from 63 percent to 48 percent.
30 August 2010
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=37134
Editor’s Note:
This is interesting… it shows that the group that is most anti-Obama are sectarians… Mormons, “Evangelicals”, and Pentecostalists. In fact, since “mainline” Protestants and other Reformation groups (Missouri/Wisconsin Lutherans, Mennonites, Southern Baptists, et al) are lumped in with American Sectarians, a false picture of Protestantism is obtained. If the groups were separated out, you would find that the “Protestant” figure would be closer to the Catholic one (actually, a bit higher), and the Sectarian figure would drop to one-third or less.
The Tea Party is using imagery, rhetoric, and methods that “appeal” to Sectarians. Unfortunately, that group has “maxed out”… there’s no potential for growth in that direction. This is the major error of the Tea Party movement. To put it bluntly, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are dumb-as-dirt choices as spokesmen. If the GOP is to win this autumn, it has to win support in the centre. That is, it has to “tone down” the ideological spin of its message… but that won’t happen easily, if at all. Yes, there’s a “throw the rascals out” feeling out there… but most people aren’t demonstrative… I believe that much is being made of a rather insipid movement because of the needs of the “news machine”.
The only poll that counts will be held in November. There are two full months of campaigning ahead. It’s rather early to be counting chickens, no?
BMD
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A Moscow Artist Used Rose Petals to Make an Icon as a Gift for Patriarch Kirill
The Holy Trinity
St Andrei Rublyov
1411
Perhaps, the most famous of all Russian Orthodox icons.
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Tatiana Petrova, a Moscow artist, used rose petals to make a copy of St Andrei Rublyov’s icon of the Holy Trinity as a gift for Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias. “I worked on it for the entire summer. The only dye that I used to tint the roses was light blue, all the other colours are natural”, Ms Petrova said to our correspondent after presenting the icon to the patriarch at the end of Sunday liturgy at the Andronikov Monastery of Our Saviour, the location of St Andrei’s grave. His Holiness was serving liturgy there in honour of the 650th anniversary of St Andrei’s birth. Since the artist invented the technique of using rose petals as a material for icons, her works are unique. Her two previous icons made from rose petals, one depicting the Saviour, and the other the Mother of God, are located in the monastery’s refectory. “I made this icon of the Trinity for the 650th anniversary of [the birth of] Andrei Rublyov. An encounter with his artistry is an inspiration not only for artists, but for all believers”, Ms Petrova said (she’s been an instructor at MArKhI (Moscow Architectural Institute) some 20 years). Patriarch Kirill thanked the artist and took the icon as a gift.
30 August 2010
Interfax-Religion
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