Mother Cathedral

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St Michael Cathedral is a great example of Old Russian church architecture. The greatest Orthodox Missionary in Alaska, Bishop Innokenty Veniaminov, designed it. He came to Sitka in 1834, returned to Russia in 1838, and became a bishop in 1840. He was the first Bishop of Alaska, and upon his return to Sitka in 1841, he began planning the construction of the cathedral. Bishop Innokenty laid the cornerstone in 1844 and hired carpenters and craftsmen to build it. The building used spruce logs with an outer layer of clapboard, and sailcloth covered the ceilings and walls for insulation and acoustics. The history of St Michael Cathedral began when a ship carrying the St Michael icon sank, along with all its valuable cargo, 30 miles short of its destination. Thirty days after the Neva sank, the undamaged crate carrying the icon washed ashore at Sitka and local residents found it On 20 November 1848, Bishop Innokenty consecrated St Michael the Archangel Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The building is laid out in the form of a cross, with three altars dedicated from left to right to the Mother of God “of Sitka”, St Michael the Archangel, and St Innokenty.

Bishop Innokenty learned how to speak the Tlingit language, and the Tlingits loved him, as he went all-out to understand their way of life and spiritual needs. He provided them with medicine and vaccines. Today, 90 percent of the cathedral congregation is Tlingit, as well as other native groups. The music in the liturgy is sung a capella (unaccompanied voice) in English, Slavonic, Tlingit, Aleut, and Yupik. Bishop Innokenty eventually returned to Russia and became the Metropolitan of Moscow and all the Russias. The Church canonised him a saint in 1977.

On 2 January 1966, tragedy struck the cathedral. A fire in Sitka’s business district in the middle of the night eventually spread to the church. Scores of local people rushed to the cathedral, where they formed human chains to remove most of the treasures… original artworks, icons, and religious objects, at the risk of their own lives. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed the structure, the clock built by Bishop Innokenty, Bishop Innokenty’s library, and bells. The Icon of the Last Supper above the Royal Doors in the main altar also perished in the blaze. Immediately after this tragedy, concerned citizens made plans to rebuild the cathedral in its original form, beauty, size, and style. They formed the Sitka Historical Restoration Committee, including many prominent citizens. It took 10 years to rebuild due to the difficult conditions peculiar to Alaska. The original plans were extant and they used them in the reconstruction. The replacement was completed and consecrated on 21 November 1976. The generous support of thousands of people in Sitka, throughout Alaska, and Lower 48 states made all of it possible.

The National Parks Service designated St Michael Cathedral a National Historical Monument and the OCA Holy Synod of Bishops named it an architectural and historical monument. To this day, its clergy serve a full cycle of liturgical services to accommodate the needs of Orthodox believers in Sitka, and it’s the “Mother Cathedral” of the Orthodox Church in America.

20 August 2014

Junjun Ablaza

Manila Bulletin

http://www.mb.com.ph/mother-cathedral/

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Finnish PM Said that NATO Wouldn’t Send Military Aid to the Ukraine

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On Sunday, Finnish Prime Minister Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb said in a radio and TV interview that there was no way to respond to a request from the Ukrainian junta for military aid, saying, “Of course it’s not possible. Not from NATO, because NATO only provides military assistance to its members, and that’s well known. The EU doesn’t have the capacity to provide this kind of support”. Stubb said that Russian-EU relations are going through a lengthy deterioration and that Finland’s wish is “for the wall between Russia and the West to be as low as possible”. On Sunday, the Foreign Ministers of Russia, the Ukraine, Germany, and France met in Berlin to discuss the Ukrainian crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that NATO and the EU would abrogate all the agreements that they’d reached with Russia so far if they decided to provide the Ukraine with military support.

18 August 2014

Rossiya Segodnya

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140818/192118779/NATO-EU-Military-Assistance-in-Ukraine-Impossible–Finnish-Prime.html

Editor:

Europe smells the scent of death around the junta. It’s not going to dirty its hands. It’s going to make all sorts of noise… signifying nothing.

BMD

Price of Bread Rises in Kiev

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On 18 August, PAO Kievkhleb announced that prices for baked goods would go up in Kiev and the capital region. Prices went up 30-90 kopeks (1-3 Roubles. .02-.06 USD. .02-.06 CAD. .02-.06 AUD. .02-.06 Euros. .01-.03 UK Pound) per item on five kinds of baked goods. The company stated, “We were forced to take this step because PAO Kievkhleb, the main producer of baked goods in the capital region, runs at a loss. The costs of all components, namely flour, gas, electricity, transportation costs, and so on, keep going up”.

19 August 2014

Novorusinform                 

http://www.novorosinform.org/news/id/6500

Editor:

The Russian Revolution of 1917 started because of a rise in bread prices. Need I say anything more?

The price rise seems moderate, but most people buy a loaf of bread a day… that adds up. At the beginning of the year, under V F Yanukovich, the average pensioner received 1,000 Grivna (3,140 Roubles. 87 USD. 96 CAD. 94 AUD. 63 Euros. 57 UK Pounds) (exchange rate as of 04/14). At present, the average pensioner receives only 500 Grivna per month (1,380 Roubles. 38 USD. 42 CAD. 41 AUD. 29 Euros. 23 UK Pounds). The average worker only makes double this amount. If a loaf of bread goes up six cents, that’s thirty loaves of bread a month, that’s 1.80 more a month… and there’s NO COLA, kids. That is, pensions were inadequate… now, it’s gotten worse. Wages were a joke… now, it’s a choice between paying for utilities or buying bread.

The junta isn’t long for this world.

BMD

Civil Unrest in Lvov… Families of Soldiers Blocked Streets, Ordinary People Came Out Against Junta Mobilisation

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Traffic halted on Stryska Street in Lvov for more than two hours due to anti-war demonstrators blocking the street. Relatives of soldiers from the 80 Airmobile Brigade demanded that the government pull them out of the combat zone. Currently, the unit is near Khryashchevatoe, in heavy combat with the opolchenie, but the demonstrators believe that the authorities don’t seem to understand the full seriousness of the situation. Yelena, a sister of a soldier from Lvov noted, “Now, some of the parents went to Kiev and spoke with the Deputy Minister of Defence. He said that the guys are very good fighters, so, therefore, they’re holding them longer at the front. Every night, our guys are under constant Grad and mortar bombardment. My brother climbed a 30-metre tower to make a call on his mobile. All that he managed to say is that they need some “green”. I think that he meant that they needed a clear corridor [to withdraw]. They’re in a terrible fix”. The blockage on Stryska Street extended from the Army Academy to the tax building. Colonel Viktor Kopachinsky, the commanding officer of the 80 Airmobile Brigade, met with the demonstrators. He promised to pull his troops out of their present predicament. However, he didn’t elaborate how he’d do it. In response, the relatives said that they’d continue to block traffic as long as their loved ones can’t contact them to tell them that they’re safe. The GAI organised a detour for traffic around the blockage.

On 19 August, seven bodies of dead servicemen arrived in Lvov, two from the 24 Mechanised Brigade and five from the 80 Airmobile Brigade. How many will they write off as “missing”, how many announcements will soon appear on social networks saying, “Help me find my brother (husband, son) serving in the Donbass”, with photographs of soldiers? That’s an open question. For several days now, the relatives of junta servicemen demonstrate, only to learn that their relatives fell fighting the opolchenie, trying to uphold their friends (the first demonstration blocking the roads in Lvov was on 16 August). They went to Kiev, only to get the bum’s rush from the Minoborony Ukrainy and the presidential administration… that surprised them. However, everyone understands the families of those who received a summons for the new mobilisation. They stand with their placards next to the relatives of those killed in the so-called “punitive operation” against their own people… they don’t intend to let anyone else suffer the same fate.

19 August 2014

Russkaya Vesna

http://rusvesna.su/news/1408424187

Editor:

The junta is losing the Lvovshchina… that’s finis for them. It’s all over, save for the shouting. However, there’s going to be more blood spilt before it’s over. Fascist pigs such as Svoboda and the UGKTs won’t go quietly, I fear. Where will they end up? Again, I fear that many would go to the USA and Canada, and reinforce the already-too-strong hatred in the Galician Uniate community. God do help us all.

Oh, yes… Chilly Hilly, John McCain, Biden, Ted Cruz, Zbig, and Sarah Palin LOVE the junta murderers… does that tell you something? If you’re Orthodox and you support anyone of those named, you spit on the Lord Christ, His Church, and all other Orthodox Christians. I think that’s fair to say…

BMD