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I have sad news to report. The MP Holy Synod meeting on 13 July 2015 in St Petersburg (zhurnal nr 41) set aside a special day of prayer for God’s Creation. Of course, the ROCOR is an integral part of the MP, so, obviously, all MP Holy Synod decisions are binding upon it. The OCA is effectually a dependency of the MP, as all know.
NEITHER THE ROCOR OR THE OCA SAY ANYTHING ABOUT “RESPECT GOD’S CREATION SUNDAY” ON THEIR OFFICIAL WEBSITES. NOTHING! THERE IS ALSO NOTHING ON THE EASTERN AMERICA DIOCESE WEBSITE ON THIS IMPORTANT ALL-CHURCH EVENT! NOTHING!
The MP has written a special molieben for the occasion, this is not usually done, which indicates the importance that His Holiness attaches to this. However, to look at the OCA and ROCOR official websites… it might as well not be occurring. They do obsess about I V Stalin and about same-sex marriage… two topics that affect the Holy Church not at all. Whatever the US Supreme Court decided about civil marriage doesn’t affect the Church. There is NO persecution in the works in the near-term, nor in the long-term either. I’m sick of the konvertsy blathering on homosexuality and abortion. These topics do NOT lie at the centre of our Faith. Our Church, pre-eminently, WORSHIPS. It stands before the Holy of Holies and PRAYS. That’s what I was taught, that’s what I believe, that’s what I think that we should concentrate on. We shouldn’t wave placards. We should follow godly hierarchs like Bishop Panteleimon Shatov, who shows the world what true Christian charity is through his actions, NOT HIS WORDS. We shouldn’t follow poseurs like Jonas Paffhausen, who protected abusers and who lies about his past… we shouldn’t follow poseurs like Victor Potapov, who obsesses over Stalin and bloviates on same-sex marriage. We should follow His Holiness, who bids us pray for God’s Creation, that we should do so as Church, in an all-Church effort (after all, the Church did issue a decree to that effect through the Holy Synod). We should follow His Holiness, who is friends with the Castro brothers… NOT THE KOCH BROTHERS.
This is disgusting. However, it gives us a choice… you may follow Potapov and Paffhausen, and embrace the rightwing enemies of Holy Rus and our Holy Church… you may follow His Holiness, who bids us to care for the environment, to care for social justice, to reject the Free Market hell of the neoliberals (“conservatives”), and who embraces the LEFT. Those be the choices… those be the ONLY choices. They’re mutually exclusive. Choose wisely.
For more information on Respect God’s Creation Sunday, click here and here
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Voices from Russia 
Famous Singer and Social Activist Pete Seeger Died in the USA
Tags: Activism, Almanac Singers, American folk music, Appleseed Recordings, Barack Obama, Clearwater, Clearwater Festival, death, Environment, Environmental movement, environmentalism, environmentalist, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Folk music, grief, Hudson River, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Iraq War, J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph McCarthy, McCarthyism, memorial, Music, musicians, New York, peaceful protests, performing arts, Pete Seeger, political activism, political commentary, Protest, protesters, protests, Toshi Seeger, United States, USA, Weavers
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The famous American folksinger Pete Seeger died at the age of 94. A performer and social activist, he was at the forefront of contemporary American folk music; many called him the “conscience of America” and “folk hero”. His record company Appleseed Recordings said that Seeger died of natural causes in hospital in New York. Seeger gained fame not only for his songs, but also for his leftist political views and environmentalism, being an early anti-Vietnam War activist, and later opposed the Iraq War. He once went to prison for refusing to testify before Congress about his ties with Communists {no… he ALMOST went to gaol… a higher court overturned his sentence: editor}. Reuters reported that despite his advanced age, Seeger performed until recently. In January 2009, he gave a concert to honour US President Barack Obama‘s inauguration. In May of the same year, he celebrated his 90th birthday at a concert in New York, attended by 15,000 spectators. A representative of Appleseed Recordings noted, “Like a ripple on the water’s surface, Seeger’s music went through the whole Earth, carrying a message of nonviolence, peace, and justice, as well as equality for all”.
Seeger was born in New York on 3 May 1919, the son of music teachers. His father was a specialist in ethnic music, and his mother was a cellist. Thanks to his father, he became interested in folk music. He once admitted in an interview that he and his father visited a music festival in North Carolina, and he “fell in love with the banjo“. His musical career began at the dawn of the 1940s, founding The Almanac Singers. In 1949, he was a founder of The Weavers. These groups’ influence led to the well-known music of Bob Dylan and other figures in the American folk music revival of the 1960s. The Weavers number one hit was Goodnight, Irene. By 1952, they sold over 4 million records. In 1997, Seeger won a Grammy for the album Pete; in 2009, he won it again for his recording At 89. One of his most famous songs was Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, which became an anthem of the anti-war movement. He founded the environmental group Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, focused on cleaning up the Hudson River, and he wrote several children’s books. Seeger’s wife Toshi, whom he married in 1941 and with whom he had three children, died last year.
28 January 2014
Rossiya-24
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1226181
Editor’s Note:
I’ve concentrated on the Russian reaction to Pete’s death… as he was very popular there, along with Paul Robeson. Anything else is easily obtainable on the web. However, don’t forget that there are those who’re identical in spirit to the McCarthyites who persecuted Pete. They’re concentrated amongst Republicans (especially neocons and libertarians (how ironic!)), but Interventionist Democrats are likeminded cruds, let me tell you. Pete fought Red Channels, HUAC, Joe McCarthy, and J Edgar Hoover… we have to fight the TSA, the Department of Homeland (In)Security, PRISM, Gitmo, and the whole perverted legacy of Slobberin’ Ronnie and the Bushies. The fight goes on… and Pete’s here with us… I dreamt I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you or me … I never died, said he...
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