Κυριακή 29 Απριλίου 2012

In Memory Of The 50 Million Victims Of The Orthodox Christian Holocaust



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Compiled by Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Boise, Idaho
U.S.A.
October 1999

Written by Reverend Father Raphael Moore
(Reprinted from Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church Sioux Falls, SD., Protopresbtyer Benjamin Henderson, Priest) 


History Of Asia Minor: 1894-1923During 1894-1923 the Ottoman Empire conducted a policy of Genocide of the Christian population living within its extensive territory.  The Sultan, Abdul Hamid, first put forth an official governmental policy of genocide against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1894.
Systematic massacres took place in 1894-1896 when Abdul savagely killed 300,000 Armenians throughout the provinces.  Massacres recurred, and in 1909 government troops killed, in the towns of Adana alone, over 20,000 Christian Armenians.
When WW1 broke out the The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the "Young Turk" dictatorship which allied itself with Germany.  Turkish government decided to eliminate the whole of the Christian population of Greeks, Armenians, Syrians and Nestorians.  The government slogan, "Turkey for the Turks", served to encourage Turkish civilians on a policy of ethnic cleansing.
The next step of the Armenian Genocide began on 24 April 1915 with the mass arrest, and ultimate murder, of religious, political and intellectual leaders in Constantinople and elsewhere in the empire.  Then, in every Armenian community, a carefully planned Genocide unfolded:  Arrest of clergy and other prominent persons, disarmament of the population and Armenian soldiers serving in the Ottoman army, segregation and public execution of leaders and able-bodied men, and the deportation to the deserts of the remaining Armenian women, children and elderly.  Renowned historian Arnold Toynbee wrote that "the crime was concerted very systematically for there is evidence of identical procedure from over fifty places."
The Genocide started from the border districts and seacoasts, and worked inland to the most remote hamlets.  Over 1.5 million Armenian Christians, including over 4,000 bishops and priests, were killed in this step of the Genocide.
The Greek Christians, particularly in the Black Sea area known as Pontus, who had been suffering from Turkish persecutions and murders all the while, saw the Turks turn more fiercely on them as WW1 came to a close.  The Allied Powers, at a peace conference in Paris in 1919, rewarded Greece for her support by inviting Prime Minister Venizelos to occupy the city of Smyrna with its rich hinterlands, and they placed the province under Greek control.  This action greatly angered the Turks.  The Greek occupation was a peaceful one but drew immediate fire from Turkish forces in the outlying areas.  When the Greek army farmed out to protect its people, a full-fledged war broke out between Greece and Turkey (the Greco-Turkish war).
The Treaty of Sevres, signed in 1920 to end WW1 and which provided for an independent Armenia, was never ratified.  The treaty's terms changed not long after the ink dried as England, France and Italy each began secretly bargaining with Mustafa Kemel (Ataturk) in order to gain the right to exploit oil fields in the Mozul (now Iraq).  Betrayed by the Allied Powers, the Greek military front, after 40 long months of war, collapsed and retreated as the Turks began again to occupy Asia Minor.
September 1922 signaled the end of the Greek and Armenian presence in the city of Smyrna.  On 9 September 1922, the Turks entered Smyrna; and after systematically murdering the Armenians in their own homes, the forces of Ataturk turned on the Greeks whose numbers had swelled, with the addition of refugees who had fled their villages in Turkey's interior, to upwards of 400,000 men, women and children.
The conquering Turks went from house to house, looting, pillaging, raping and murdering the population.  Finally, when the wind had turned so that it was blowing toward the sea so that the small Turkish quarter at the rear of the city was not in danger, Turkish forces, led by their officers, poured kerosene on the buildings and homes of the Greek and Armenian sectors and set them afire.  Thus, any remaining live inhabitants of the city were flushed out to be caught between a wall of fire and the sea.  The pier of Smyrna became a scene of final desperation as the approaching flames forced many thousands to jump to their death or to be consumed by fire.
The Allied warships and shore patrol of the French, British and American military were eyewitnesses to the events.  George Horton, the American Consul in Smyrna, likened the finale at Smyrna to the Roman destruction of Carthage.  He is quoted in Smyrna(1922, written by Marjorie Dobkin) as saying:  Yet there was not fleet of Christian battleships at Carthage looking on a situation for which their governments were responsible."  This horrible act unleashed the last phase of the genocide against the Christians of Turkish Asia Minor.
On 9 September 1997, a series of speakers and memorial services, honoring the memory of the 3.5 million Christians who were murdered by Turkish persecutions from 1894-1923, were held in the greater Baltimore Washington area.  The memorial service was conducted by the choirs of St. Mary's Armenian Church, St. Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church, Fr. George Alexson of St. Katherine's, Fr. Vertanes Katayjian of St. Mary's and other Orthodox clergy.
The 75th anniversary of the Christian Holocaust was memorialized on 9 September 1997, the date in 1922 of the destruction of the city of Smyrna.  This memorial honors the memory of over 3.5 million Christians who were murdered by Turkish persecutions from 1894-1923.  Not only was this the memorial of the Holocaust of Smyrna (now Izmir) and the martyrdom of Smyrna's Metropolitan Chrysostomos, but also of the 3.5 million Christians who perished during the first Holocaust of this century.  But the events of 1922 are not an isolated incident.  The atrocities committed by Turkish forces against a civilian population began before WW1 and have never ended.  This event seeks to expose the continuum of a Turkish campaign of persecution, deportation, and murder designed to rid Asia of its Christian populace.

GREEKS
1914400,000conscripts perished in forced labor brigades
1922100,000massacred or burned alive in Smyrna
1916-1922350,000Pontions massacred or killed during forced deportations
1914-1922900,000perish from maltreatment, starvation and massacres; total of all other areas of Asia Minor
TOTAL:1,750,000Greek Christians martyred 1914-1922

ARMENIANS
1894-1896300,000massacred
1915-19161,500,000perish in massacres and forced deportations (with subsidiaries to 1923)
192230,000massacred or burned alive in Smyrna
TOTAL:1,800,000Armenian Christians martyred 1894-1923

SYRIANS AND NESTORIANS
1915-1917100,000Christians massacred

The native population of Asia Minor traces its Christian roots to the early days of Christianity.  the Armenians, an ancient people, trace their origins back 2500 years.  In 301 AD. the Armenian King Dftad declared Christianity as the kingdom's official religion, making Armenia the first Christian political state in the world.  The migration of Greek tribes to Asia Minor began just before 2,000 BC and the Greeks built dozens of cities such as Smyrna, Phocaea, Pergamon, Ephesus and Byzantium (Constantinople).  The native inhabitants of Asia Minor, among the first to accept the message of Christianity, were later to be persecuted and uprooted from their lands because of that same faith.  Turkish tribes plagued the region.  Later another tribe, the Oyuz Turks who embraced Islam and ultimately produced the Ottoman Turks, conquered Persia, the Caliphate of Baghdad, and then the whole area presently occupied by Syria, Iraq and Palestine.

Under the Ottoman Empire the Christians suffered a steady decline.  Forced conversions to Islam, the abduction of children to serve in the fanatical Janissary corps, persecutions and oppression reduced the Christian population.  Oppression intensified, leading to Genocide.  Christian clergy were a constant target of Turkish persecution, particularly once the 1894 policy of Armenian genocide had been declared by sultan Abdul Hamid.
Victims of horrible torture, many Orthodox clergy were martyred for their faith.  Among the first was Metropolitan Chrysostomos who was martyred, not just to kill a man but, to insult a sacred religion and an ancient and honorable people.  Chrysostomos was enthroned as Metropolitan of Smyrna on 10 May 1910.  Metropolitan Chrysostomos courageously opposed the anti Christian rage of the turks and sought to raise international pressure against the persecution of Turkish Christians.  He wrote many letters to European leaders and to the western press in an effort to expose the genocide policies of the Turks.  In 1922, in unprotected Smyrna, Chrysostomos said to those begging him to flee:  "It is the tradition of the Greek Church and the duty of the priest to stay with his congregation."
On 9 September crowds were rushing into the cathedral for shelter when Chrysostomos, pale from fasting and lack of sleep, led his last prayer.  The Divine Liturgy ended as Turkish police came to the church and led Chrysostomos away.  The Turkish General Nouredin Pasha, known as the "butcher of Ionia", first spat on the Metropolitan and informed him that a tribunal in Angora (now Ankara) had already condemned him to death.  A mob fell upon Chrysostomos and tore out his eyes.  Bleeding profusely, he was dragged through the streets by his beard.  He was beaten and kicked and parts of his body were cut off.  All the while Chrysostomos, his face covered with blood, prayed: "Holy Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."  Every now and then, when he had the strength, he would raise his hand and bless his persecutors; a Turk, realizing what the Metropolitan was doing, cut off his hand with a sword.  Metropolitan Chrysostomos was then hacked to pieced by the angry mob.
Among the hundreds of Armenian clergy who were persecuted and murdered were Bishop Khosrov Behrigian and Very Reverend Father Mgrdich' Chghladian.
Bishop Behrigian (1869-1915) was born in Zara and became the primate for the Diocese of Caesarea/Kayseri in 1915.  He was arrested by Turkish police upon his return from Etchmiadzin where he had just been consecrated bishop.  Informed of his fate, the bishop asked for a bullet to the head.  Deliberately ignoring his request, the police tied him to a "yataghan" where sheep were butchered an then proceeded to hack his body apart while he was still alive.
Father Chghladian was born in Tatvan.  In May 1915, as part of the campaign of mass arrests, deportations and murders, the priest was tortured and displayed in a procession, led by sheiks and dervishes while accompanied by drums, through the streets of Dikranagerd.  Once the procession returned to the mosque, in the presence of government officials, the sheiks poured oil over the priest and burned him alive.
Four of the martyred bishops who were murdered between 1921-1922 are today elevated to sainthood in the Greek Orthodox Church:  They are, in addition to Metropolitan Chrysostomos, Bishops Efthimios, Gregorios and Ambrosios.
Bishop Efthimios of Amasia was captured by the Turkish police and tortured daily for 41 days.  In the last days of his life he chanted his own funeral memorial until finally dying in his cell on 29 May 1921.  Three days later a written order for his execution arrived from Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk).
 

Metropolitan Gregorios of Kydonion remained with his church until the end, helping 20,000 of his 35,000 parishioners escape to Mytilene and other free parts of Greece.  On 3 October 1922, the remaining 15,000 Orthodox Christians were executed; the Metropolitan was saved in order to be buried alive.
Metropolitan Ambrosios of Moshonesion, along with 12 priests and 6,000 Christians, were sent by the Turks on a forced deportation march to Central Asia Minor.  All of them perished on the road, some slain by Turkish irregulars and civilians, the remainder left to die of starvation.  Bishop Ambrosios died on 15 September 1922 when Turkish police nailed horseshoes to his feet and then cut his body into pieces.
"I was five or six years old in 1922, and I still remember the songs of Akrita and the mourning of the Greek women who carried baskets full of severed heads down from the mountains.  I will never forget the women who suddenly realized that one of the heads in the basket she carried was that of her son." - Constantine Koukides, refugee from Pontius
"I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity, men, women, and children belonging to the Polish speaking race.  It is only in this manner we can acquire the vital territory which we need.  After all, who remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" - Adolf Hitler, 22 August 1939

THE UKRAINIAN HOLOCAUST OF 1932-33
Sixty-five years ago, between seven and twelve million Ukrainians were systematically and deliberately starved to death in Ukraine, the "Bread Basket of Europe".
Long before there was a Russia, Kyivan Rus' (Ukraine) was a free and fiercely independent nation.  Indeed, it was to Ukraine that Christianity was first delivered by St. Andrew - the First called Apostle - and only much later, from Ukraine, on to Russia.  In the 13th century Kvivan Rus' was decimated by invasions from Asia; and by the time the invaders were driven back, the base of power had shifted North to Muscovy.  For centuries thereafter, Ukraine was subjugated to Tsarist Russia.  Then in 1918, following the murder of the Tsar and his family by the Communists, the Ukrainians declared Ukraine a free and independent country, just as it was centuries before there even was a Russia.
Communist forces eventually recaptured the land and once again, as in the time of the Tsars, Ukraine would become little more than a part of a larger whole.  But as never before in their long history, Ukrainians would be forced to pay a dreadfully high price in their survival as a people.  Probably more than other Bolsheviks, Stalin had an exceedingly low opinion of peasants; for he considered them to be incurably conservative and a major barrier to revolutionary change.  And because Ukrainians were an overwhelmingly peasant people, among whom native nationalism was on the rise, they were doubly vulnerable to his designs.  Ukraine continued to be a land of innumerable villages of peasants working the land, with the Orthodox Church and traditional values dominating their lives.  Perhaps most galling for the Bolshevik revolutionaries was the fact that the peasant showed little inclination for sharing their dreams of a Communist utopia.
Stalin's plans for industrial expansion were based on the state purchasing cheap grain, from the peasants, which would be sold abroad at a profit; the proceeds would then be used to finance the industrialization of the nation.  But the prices that the state offered, often at one eighth of the market price, were so low that the peasants refused to sell their grain.  Infuriated by what he called "sabotage". Stalin ordered an all-out drive for total collectivization.  All land and all property, including livestock, were to be taken away from private ownership and given over to the state.  Small farms were to be incorporated into huge Collectives.  The plan was accompanied by such brutality and horror that it can only be described as war waged by the regime against the peasantry.  It was to be one of the most traumatic events in Ukraine history.
Those who resisted most stubbornly were shot.  Others were deported to forced labor camps in the Arctic and Siberia.  The rest were deprived of all their property - including their homes and personal belongings - barred from the collective farms, and told to fend for themselves.  In the winter of 1929-30 hundreds of thousands of peasants and their families were dragged from their homes, packed into freight trains, and shipped thousands of miles to the north where they were dumped amidst Arctic wastes, often without food or shelter.  In this way a large part of Ukraine's most industrious and efficient farmers ceased to exist.
When even these severe measures failed to have the desired effect, the government dispatched thousands of urban workers to implement its policies in the villages.  Their efforts produced pandemonium and outrage; often officials were beaten or shot.  The most common form of protest, however, was the slaughter of farm animals.  Determined not to let the government have their livestock, peasants preferred to kill their animals instead.  Between 1928 and 1932 Ukraine lost about 50% of its livestock.  Because of poor transportation facilities, much of the grain which was produced either spoiled or was eaten by rats.  Even more serious was the lack of draught animals, many of which had been slaughtered earlier.  Government officials were confident, however, that they could provide enough new tractors to replace the missing horses and oxen.  But the production of tractors fell badly behind schedule, and a very high percentage of those which were delivered broke down almost immediately.  As a result, in 1931 almost one third of the grain yield was lost during the harvest.  To make matters worse, a drought hit southern Ukraine in 1931.
 
The Ukraine continued to resist and to dream of a free and independent nation; and since Joseph Stalin could not kill that dream, he first decided to deport all Ukrainians to other parts of the Soviet Union.  Discovering that there were too many of them to move, Stalin decided to kill the dreamers instead; and his weapon of choice was a man-made, artificial famine which was designed to eliminate the troublemakers and force the survivors into total, complete submission.  The famine which occurred in 1932-33 was to be for Ukrainians what the Holocaust was to the Jews, and what the Massacres of 1915 were for the Armenians.  A tragedy of unfathomable proportions, it traumatized the nation, leaving it with deep social, psychological, political,  and demographic scars that it still carries to this very day.  The central fact about the famine is that is did not have to happen.  Food was available; but the state confiscated most of it for its own use.  All crops were requisitioned by the Soviet government and shipped elsewhere.  This confiscation of food included seed which was intended for spring planting.  Any man, woman or child caught taking even a handful of grain from a government silo could be, and often was, executed.  In Moscow a law was enacted stipulating that no grain could be given to the peasants until the government's full quota had been met.  Gangs of party activists conducted brutal house-to-house searches, tearing up floors and delving into wells in search of any grain which remained.  In fact, if a person did not appear to be starving, he was suspected of hoarding food.
 
Famine, which had been spreading throughout 1932, hit full force early in 1933.  Lacking bread, peasants ate pets, rats, bark, leaves, and the garbage from the well provisioned kitchens of Communist Party members.  Whole villages were erased and people were dying by the tens of thousands.  Cannibalism existed.  At first cannibals were shot on the spot, but later were thrown into concentration camps.  The most terrifying sights were the little children with skeleton limbs dangling from balloon like abdomens.  Cordons of troops prevented peasants from entering cities; those who managed to break through wandered about until they fell in the streets.  Such people were loaded onto trucks, together with the corpses, and dumped into pits outside of the city.
With the climbing death rate during the famine, the publication of death statistics was forbidden by the Soviet government. When deaths due to famine took on major proportions in Ukraine in 1932-33, physicians certifying the cause of death were forbidden to name the killer - starvation.  The word "holod" (hunger) was decreed as counter-revolutionary, and no one valuing his own life and those of his relatives dared use it publicly.  When the results of the census of 1937, for example, revealed shockingly high mortality rates, Stalin had the leading census takers shot.
Elsewhere there was no famine - much of Russia proper barely experienced it - but the borders of Ukraine had been sealed by the secret police; there was no escape.  The Ukrainians had been sentenced to death.  And thus, the greatest genocide in history was systematically accomplished.  A noteworthy aspect of the famine was the attempt to erase it from public consciousness; the Soviet position was to deny that it had occurred at all.  To curry Stalin's favor, for example, Walter Duranty - the Moscow based reporter of the New York Times, repeatedly denied the existence of a famine in his articles (while privately estimating that about ten million people may have starved to death).  For the "profundity, impartiality, sound judgment and exceptional clarity" of his dispatches from the USSR, Duranty received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.
Yet, even to this very day, there are those who deny or minimize the Ukrainian Holocaust to such a degree that it is being referred to as "the hidden holocaust of the twentieth century".  In 1984, for example, a documentary film entitled HARVEST OF DESPAIR was shown on Canadian television.  This film won numerous prizes at World Film Festivals and a 1986 Academy award nomination; yet all three top commercial networks in America refused to show it.  As recently as 1994, the New Jersey state legislators were being pressured to exclude the Ukrainian Holocaust from Resolution A-589 (The Holocaust Education Bill).  Media coverage has been just as one-sided about the Greek, Armenian, Syrian and Nestorians Holocausts of 1984-1923 and, more recently, the Serbian Holocaust.  The atrocities against Christians - especially Orthodox Christians - continue to this day!

ORTHODOX PERSECUTIONS TODAY
Of all the Christian confessions, it has been the Eastern Orthodox Church which has suffered the brunt of persecutions in the 20th century.
In the first two decades, there were massacres of Orthodox Greeks, Slavs, and Armenians in the Ottoman empire, culminating in the 1915 genocide of the Armenians in Anatolia and the near destruction of the ancient Assyrian community in Iraq.  In 1923, the entire Orthodox population of Asia Minor was forced to leave their homes, bringing to a close a 2000 year Christian presence.
During the Second World War, two groups of Orthodox Christians were especially targeted for genocide by the Nazis and their allies - the Gypsies and the Orthodox Serbs of Bosnia and Croatia, while the population of Greece, Serbia, European Russia, and Ukraine were designated by the Nazis to serve as slave labor for the Third Reich.  By special order of Heinrich Himmler (21 April 1942), clergyman from the East (as opposed to their counterparts from Western Europe) were to be used for hard labor.
At the same time the Orthodox suffered in greater proportion to any other Christian group at the hands of the Communists, who sought to completely eliminate religion.
First in Russia and Ukraine, then in Eastern Europe, in Greece during its civil war (1945-49), and in Ethiopia, the Orthodox Church was the principle target for attach, subversion, or destruction.
Finally, the Orthodox of the Middle East have found themselves caught in the crossfire of the conflicts between Muslim and Jew in Israel and the West Bank, and the civil war between Maronites, Muslims, and Palestinians in Lebanon.
Between the tolls exacted from prisons, concentration camps, forced marches and exiles, warfare, famine, and brutal military occupation, it is reasonable to conclude that up to 50 million Orthodox Christians have perished in the first eight decades of the twentieth century.
Even in the United States, where so many Orthodox have found refuge, the Orthodox Native Americans of the Aleutian Islands were forcibly interned during World War II and many of their churches deliberately destroyed by the U.S. Army.
Unfortunately, the depth and range of the Orthodox suffering throughout the world in this century, remains largely unknown and unappreciated in the West.

1987 - 1997
Harassment of the Orthodox Church in the former Soviet Union continued through the Gorbachev era.  Many of the churches supposedly returned to the Orthodox between 1988 and 1990 were in Western Ukraine.  This was part of an attempt by the KGB to sow open discord between Orthodox and Catholics - only 100 churches were returned in Russia itself.  The KGB continued to target Orthodox clergymen involved in the struggle for religious freedom and democratization; in 1990 several prominent priests, among them Fr. Alexander Men, were murdered.  It was only under President Boris Yeltsin that full freedom was restored to the Orthodox and other Russian based confessions.  In other parts of the former Soviet Union, notably in Uzbekistan and Tadjikistan, the governments have continued to limit the rights of the religious and ethnic minorities.
 
The triumph of democracy in Poland has not led to full religious freedom for members of its 1 million strong Orthodox minority.  Although the height of anti Orthodox activity seems to have peaked in 1991 after several Orthodox churches and an historic monastery were vandalized, Orthodox continue to be viewed as second-class citizens in Poland; where they are described in a secret Foreign Ministry report as an "alien body in Poland's state organism."  Laws on religious education in the schools have virtually established the Roman Catholic Church to the detriment of both the Orthodox and the Lutherans; and Orthodox believers continue to complain of petty harassment endured at the local level.
In Slovakia, the government in 1991 announced its intention to review ownership of the country's 125 Orthodox parishes.  Since that time, over 90 church buildings have been taken away from the Orthodox and given to the Catholics; and the Orthodox have been blocked by local officials from constructing new edifices, opening schools, or holding services.  Even the official policy of the vatican announced 16 July 1990, which counseled Slovak Catholics to share disputed properties with the Orthodox, has been ignored.
The wars in the former Yugoslavia have been disastrous for the Orthodox.  The Croatian government has all but liquidated the Orthodox Church in its territory, beginning with the dynamiting of the residence and library of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Zagreb on 11 April 1992.  Following the Croatian offensive of fall 1995 and the departure of over 200,000  Orthodox Serbs in Diocese in Krajina. (which brought a total of over 800,000 displaced Orthodox Christians), four dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church ceased to exist.  In Croat controlled territory in Bosnia, the Orthodox Bishop of Mostar was driven from his see, and most of the Orthodox population was expelled.  Estimates are that over 154 Orthodox churches in the territory of Bosnia and Croatia were deliberately destroyed.  On March 25, 1999 NATO began bombing of Kosovo in Serbia.  It is one of the tragic ironies of History that Western "Christian" nations have joined forces to eradicate Serbs in Kosovo who are accused of "Ethnic cleansing".  History repeats itself ----Kosovo was the site 500 years ago of the Christian Resistance to the Turks.
In Turkey and Turkish occupied Cyprus the position of the Orthodox continues to deteriorate.  Despite international guarantees contained within the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish government continues to enforce the closure of the famous Halki Orthodox Theological Academy in Istanbul.  Families of those Orthodox illegally expelled in the 1950's and 1960's have never been allowed to return to their homes, again in contravention of the 1923 treaty guaranteeing their right to do so.  On Cyprus, 450 Orthodox Churches on the northern part of the island have been desecrated; some have become night clubs while others have been turned into public toilets.  Other churches and historical monuments, some dating back to the 5th century, have been looted and left to rot away.  There is a sustained campaign to remove entirely the last traces of the 2000 year old Orthodox presence from occupied Cyprus.
In Egypt, the Orthodox continue to suffer from the many restrictions placed on their ability to function in the economic and political life of the country.  There are many rules hindering their ability to build and repair churches, and they are increasingly becoming targets for armed attacks by Muslim extremists.  In the past two years, dozens of Orthodox villagers in Upper Egypt have been murdered by Islamic gunmen.
In India Orthodox Christians report increased harassment on the part of both Hindu and Muslim extremists, with isolated attacks and vehement rhetoric demanding their removal from the Indian landscape.

THE CURRENT ATTITUDE OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
The government of the United States prides itself on its commitment to defending religious liberty.  In the Middle East and Eastern Europe, however, the United States is seen as supporting only those churches who possess sufficient "influence" in Washington, while ignoring the plight of the Orthodox.  Events over the last ten years have tended to confirm that assessment.
During the 1980's, the Immigration and Naturalization Service gave refugee status to any Soviet citizen who applied on religious grounds - except for members of the Orthodox Church.  The very church which had suffered the most under Soviet rule, whose churches continued to be closed and her clergy arrested until 1988, was not considered to be a "persecuted" church by the American government.
After 1989, Orthodox Christians in both Poland and Slovakia warned the United States government that they were "at risk" as religious minorities.  In 1991 the Congress of Russian Americans prepared two reports for the Commission of security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE: July & september 1991) warning of the dangers and asking that guarantees be obtained for the rights of the Orthodox in those nations.  No action was taken, and at this time there is no indication that the US has pressed to secure the rights of these minorities in either Poland or Slovakia.  There is also no indication that the US has ever linked economic assistance to either country or entry into the NATO alliance with improvements in the situation of their religious minorities.
Despite the large amount of economic and military assistance received by Turkey, there is no indication that the US has ever been prepared to use this leverage to secure the rights of the Orthodox minority, even though Turkey is bound by its own constitution and its international obligations to allow the Orthodox to maintain schools and other institutions.  In contrast, US senators have often publicly and vocally called for American assistance to Russia to be made conditional on Russia's acceptance of American Protestant missionaries.
Persecution and harassment of the Orthodox continues because of a belief that the United States is not interested in their fate, and that America will not undertake any effort (other than occasional lip service) to secure religious freedom for the Orthodox.  I turn, Orthodox leaders around the world are watching closely to see whether or not future initiatives on religious freedom which emanate from the US are truly based on principle, or whether American policy will be selective in terms of who is faulted and who is exonerated.
The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church has suffered greatly in this century, and continues to be a martyr church in many parts of the world.  If the US chooses to ignore this fact for political gain, then the cause of religious freedom - for all - will be gravely compromised.
This information was borrowed from:
  • The Library of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA - Ukraine, A History
  • Ukrainian Orthodox League of the USA - Ukrainian Affairs Committee
  • 3. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies - University of Toronto
  • 4. Ukrainian Orthodox League Bulletin - October 1998
  • 5. Greek Orthodox Diocese of Denver Diocesan News: Dr. Nicholas Gvosdev - August 1998
  • 6. Federation of Hellenic Societies of the Greater Baltimore Washington Region: Heritage Publications - 1997
(Editors Notes: We cannot even well imagine but "50 Million Victims Of The Orthodox Christian Holocaust" is not the correct number, as we have learned from Alexander Solzhenitsyn that more then 66.5 million Orthodox Christians also perished from 1917 and onward during the times of the Soviet Union. Secondly the New Martyrs of Serbia are increasing, the killing of innocent people, the destruction of Churches, Monasteries, Cemeteries, and homes, as well as a massive killings of Serbian Orthodox Christians, and countless missing people.)
Holy New Priest
Martyr Stefan of Kosovo,
Pray Unto GOD For Us!
Holy New Martyrs, and
Confessors Of Holy Orthodox Faith,
Pray Unto GOD For Us!
GLORY BE TO GOD FOR ALL THINGS!

Πέμπτη 26 Απριλίου 2012

Интервю с йеромонах Гавриил (Бунге) за духовното опустошение



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Йеромонах Гавриил (Бунге) е известен швейцарски богослов и монах, водещ пустинически живот повече от 30 години в  планините на Швейцария. Тази година той премина от католицизъм към православие (вж. Двери.бг)Темата за духовното опустошение, т. нар.  „прегаряне“, което изпитват  и свещенослужителите, в последно време привлича все по-голямо внимание. В интервюто на протойерей Павел Великанов с йеромонах Гавриил (Бунге) се обсъжда именно този проблем. 
Протойерей Павел: Отец Гавриил, нека да поговорим за проблема  „прегаряне“ или за синдрома на професионалната умора. Известно е, че лекарите, учителите и други дейци на социалната сфера, към които се включват и свещениците, са най-често подложени на емоционално изтощение.

Йеромонах Гавриил: Ще ви кажа, че познавам не просто „изгаснали“, „прегорели“ монаси, но и монаси, които въобще са станали жертва на този процес. Особено бих искал да насоча вниманието към избралите свещеническо служение, защото „прегорелият“ свещеник е много опасен, той е пример за другите и когато хората видят, че свещеникът е изгаснал, изгасват и енориашите.

П. П.: Бих искал малко да заостря този проблем. Понякога свещеникът губи вярата си, но не прегаря, защото в него нищо не е горяло преди това. Той може да изпълнява своето свещеническо служение, да обгрижва енориашите, да заработва пари и да бъде напълно доволен от живота си. От друга страна, искреният човек, загубвайки вярата си, в състояние на „прегаряне“ може и да напусне Църквата – не усещайки вярата в себе си, той не иска да лъже другите. Затова би било  интересно да чуем вашата гледна точка и за първия, и за втория случай. Как състоянието на вътрешна криза се свързва със страстта на унинието?

gabriel_bunge_6.jpgЙ. Г.: Аз написах една малка книжка за унинието - „Акедия“. В една от главите разглеждам ирационалните страсти, които се раждат в човека и в крайна сметка го водят до мъртва точка в духовния живот. В подобно състояние човек изпитва някаква вътрешна „двойственост“, която е много трудна за диагностициране. Причината за това, от една страна, е, че човек напълно загубва вкуса към живота, той се обезкуражава, загубва вдъхновение. Но от друга страна, ако свещеникът е искрен и обича своето служение, тогава дяволът го изкушава и подбужда да насочи своята ревност към външна активна дейност. Получава се следното: вътрешно той е вече опустошен, но иска все пак да направи нещо и по дяволско изкушение цял ден много активно обикаля по някакви дела, води много активен начин на живот, наивно мислейки, че целият свят зависи само от нас, че ако ние се спрем, веднага всичко ще рухне.  Така животът протича в безплодна суета. Изкушеният от дявола активен свещеник продължава да говори за Бог, говори за Бог постоянно дори, но вече не говори с Бог,  прекъснал е разговора си с Бог. Той подтиква другите към молитва, възглавява богослужението, но той самият лично не говори с Бог, не се моли. И именно затова неговата вяра непрекъснато се опустошава, изтощава и превръща в нищо. Защото източникът на нашата вяра и източникът на нашето служение е нашият вътрешен контакт с Бог, нашият разговор с Бог, нашето общение с Бог. Ако това го няма, всичко останало се разрушава. Искам да кажа, че познавам свещеници  и монаси на Запад (слабо познавам Изтока), които казват, че не е нужно много да се молиш, че това е загуба на време, че към нищо няма да те доведе.  По-добре е да се занимаваш с добри дела, да твориш добро.

Имам един приятел, монах, който живее в манастир и е необикновено активен. Духовната ревност го тласка напред и при това цялата му душа се опустошава, т. е. човекът „прегаря“. Той постоянно нещо организира, но сам себе си изцяло опустошава.

Оказва се, че в нашия живот ние не познаваме, не разбираме и не различаваме някои степени на духовния живот. Ще дам пример, който възможно е и да не засяга пряко нашия разговор, но е от моя опит на общение с известния румънски старец Клеопа, когото смятам за един от високодуховните старци на  XX век.

Когато пристъпваме към поредния (следващия) етап в своя живот, към точката на своето израстване, приближавайки се към ново духовно стъпало, много често изпадаме в изкушение, започва да ни посещава демон, който става за нас „екзегет“, започва да ни тълкува смисъла на Свещеното Писание и да ни навява особен смисъл на молитвата. Бих казал, че всички тези „откровения“ са пълна лъжа, но демонът убеждава: „Не, всичко това е точно така“. И защо така говори? Защо всичко така се случва? Защото дяволът иска да ни блокира на тази степен, като  останем и се концентрираме върху   демоническите „откровения“, за да ни попречи да израстнем по-нататък в духовния живот. Това е много тънко изкушение.

В Евангелието е изразено с други думи, но в същността си е точно това. В духовния живот е важно разбирането на такива деликатни въпроси, които могат да се превърнат в сериозно препятствие. За различните явления и чудеса, които срещаме по пътя си и ни водят до състояние на духовен ступор, може да се каже, че по този начин  творението ни пречи да възходим към Твореца.

П. П.: Може ли да уточня дали правилно съм разбрал, че видимият успех на духовния живот може да се окаже главно препятствие в него?

Й. Г.: Съществува разлика между творението и Бог, различие в духовните дела. Затова се случва в духовния живот човек да е много привързан към външните правила, привързан е фанатично и безусловно, така че не оставя никаква пролука за Бога, откъдето Той би могъл да проникне и да ви призове към Себе Си. Когато Господ иска да говори с вас и се обръща към вас, необходимо е да замълчите и да престанете да говорите само вие. Нужно е просто да замълчите, да погледнете към Бога, да се заслушате, да поискате и да съумеете да чуете това, което Той ви говори.

П. П.:
 Тук има някакво вътрешно противоречие. От една страна, подвижникът не бива да вижда своето състояние, за да не се възгордее и това да стане препятствие в неговия духовен живот. Невъзможно е едновременно да бъдеш смирен  и да знаеш, че ти си смирен. А от друга страна, той е длъжен да познава ясни, точни ориентири, за да не се отклони от правилния път. Длъжен е да има някаква твърда опора (стена), на която понякога да се обляга, за да разбира, че върви в правилната посока. Иначе той ще бъде като езичник, незнаещ къде отива. Така че коя е тази духовна опора?

Й. Г.: Такава опорна стена се явява учението на светите отци. Не бива да правим нито една крачка в живота, без да се обърнем към св. отци, без да получим потвърждение в тяхното свидетелство.

Ние непрекъснато четем творенията на светите отци и трябва да размишляваме върху тях, дори когато в тях се говори за неща, които ни се струва, че ги няма в нашия опит и не би могло да ги има. Това е необходимо, за да се научим да разбираме, как да постъпим в една или друга ситуация, опирайки се на опита на св. отци.

Разбира се, идеално би било, ако имате опитен духовник, самият извървял целия път и имащ  богат духовен опит. Но, уви, такива случаи са изключение... Такива духовници са много, много малко, затова светите отци остават за нас опорната стена. 

За съжаление отец Клеопа, който не само беше прочел много книги, но и опитно преминал светоотеческия път, днес е малко познат на руския читател. Необходимо е да се преведат неговите проповеди, беседи. Той е писал на френски, английски и италиански език. Аз имам видеозаписи на неговите беседи. Струва ти се, че все едно той е дошъл при нас от съвсем друг свят... Но личности с такъв мащаб и духовно измерение са били редки не само за ХХ век, те винаги са редки за всички времена. Ако нямаме редом до нас такъв човек, живеещ сега, на който бихме могли да се опрем, то - слава Богу! - ние имаме описание на живота на такива хора и техните трудове, които те са ни оставили. Аз лично така постъпвам. Когато бях малък, имах забележителен духовник. Когато пораснах, вече нямах такъв духовник и тогава започнах да се ориентирам изключително от книгите. Да, имах само една среща с отец Клеопа, но тя остави значителна следа в моя живот.

Трябва да кажа, че той беше пророк, защото изкушението, за което тогава той ми говори, е характерно за интелектуалците: когато богословието става по-важно от самия Бог. Ние имаме постоянно такова, че просто не можем да затворим книгата. Това е класическо изкушение в средите на тези, които се занимават с богословие, с наука. Но трябва ясно да се разбере, че ако не изтръскаме от себе си това изкушение, ако не го преборим, то неизбежно идва по-сериозното изкушение на „прегарянето“ или изпепеляването.

П. П.: Архим. Софроний (Сахаров), анализирайки духовния живот на преподобния Силуан Атонски, казва, че състоянието на богооставеност се явява нормален период в живота на всеки подвижник. Може ли да се разграничат „прегарянето“ и „богооставеността“? Нали и  в едното, и в другото състояние ръцете са отпуснати, човек не е вдъхновен и се намира на ръба на отчаянието.

Й. Г.: В състояние на униние може да се изпадне и чрез аскеза, ако се престараваш именно в подвижническите дела. Но да се диагностицира подобно състояние вътре в себе си е много трудно.

А състоянието на богооставеност, както казахте, наистина е много важно в духовния живот. Става дума за тези случаи при монасите с висок духовен живот, които са претърпели такова състояние. И оттук възниква въпросът: как е могло това да се случи? Нали тези хора са имали много висок подвижнически духовен живот, какво се е случило, че така са паднали и са се почувствали богооставени?

Св. отци казват, че има две причини, заради които Бог ни оставя. В първия случай, както е било с праведния Иов, Господ ни оставя в такива условия, при които се проверява вярата на човека, за да се яви тя на целия свят. Такова изпитание на вярата става пример за околните. Когато Господ взима всичко: семейство, здраве... В такава ситуация вярата  истински засиява.

Друг случай, по-скоро друга причина за унинието е гордостта. Гордите хора приписват само на себе си всичко, което са постигнали. Те се ползват с успех и забелязват само своята успешност, а дяволът пуска (посява) мисъл в сърцето на човека, че неговия труд  принадлежи изключително на него самия и успехът му е  резултат от неговите вътрешни усилия. И като следствие човек забравя да възхвали Бога за това, което има, и забравя да благодари на Бога за това, което му е дал, а по-нататък започва да презира другите хора, които се намират около него и които от негова гледна точка не са достигнали такъв успех. Тогава Господ отдръпва Своята ръка от такъв човек, за да разбере какво представлява без Божията благодат. За съжаление, трябва да кажем, че има хора, които така си остават непоправими, на които и това не е подействало. Случва се да си отидат  даже от този живот, така и нищо не разбрали и непокаяли се.

П. П.: Може да се каже, ако направим равносметка, че в основата на „прегарянето“ както на свещениците, така и на миряните лежи излишната самонадеяност. Вдъхновяването на човека  от самия себе си го отрязва от източника на божествената благодат и той неизбежно в някой момент ще прегори.

Й. Г.:
 Често се случва  такова неразбиране - непроизволно, неявно, човек дори не осъзнава, че постъпва неправилно. И в този случай е добре и дори полезно да изпаднеш в състояние на богооставеност, защото така ни се дава шанс да се покаем, разбира се, ако пожелаем това.

Обаче човек в подобно състояние може и въобще да напусне Църквата. Как да постъпиш, когато в такова положение, оказвайки се без Бог, е невъзможно дори да отвориш псалтира? Отвори молитвеника, застани пред иконите и говори, кръсти се и говори с Бога, дори ако Господ не ти отговаря. За това се говори като за нещо  саморазбиращо се, но в действителност не си дават сметка, колко ужасно и духовно опасно е това състояние на безчувствие.

Източник: Богослов.ру
Превод: Цветомира Антонова

Τετάρτη 25 Απριλίου 2012

Η πρώτη ανδρική Μονή στην Ανατολική Ασία(Ν.Κορέα)


Δευτέρα 23 Απριλίου 2012

Islamic Republic destroys historical Christian monuments



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The destruction of historical monuments in Iran is not a new story. Such destructions are conducted so widely that they have even reached ancient monuments which are nationally registered. The Republic Islamic is destroying historical Christian monuments to achieve its ultimate goal of wiping the Christian heritage from the face of Iran.
Mohabat News ) - A large number of historical structures have been demolished by the order of Islamic Republic authorities or gradually decayed due to the lack of attention, insufficient budget and lack of protection. Some experts and others concerned about cultural heritage believe that recently, pre-Islamic historical monuments have come under greater risk of destruction than ever before.
Sometime ago, the pro-regime Sharq daily wrote that from 2003, when the law establishing the Cultural Heritage organization was passed by the Iranian Parliament in 2011, at least 40 monuments or historical areas with national registration or national values were demolished.
Destruction of historical churches and Christian cemeteries were only a small segment of Islamic Republic's irresponsibility towards ancient places and Iranian historical identity.
- Historical church of Haftvan in danger of destruction
At the same time, according to news sources, "the church of Haftvan, one of the oldest monuments in Haftvan village in Salmas is on the threshold of complete destruction".
Haftvan is a village  located at the center of Salmas county (854 KMs North-west of Tehran, the capital), three kilometers south of Salmas. It holds a great number of historical monuments, one of which is the well-known Church of Haftvan. The church is well-known across both this county and even the country. The church belongs to the last years of the Safavi dynasty's rule over Iran and on March 10, 2002, it was officially registered as a national monument. However, despite registration, the church is in tragic condition and its walls are at risk of falling.
Parts of the church's walls have decayed as a result of the growth of various plants to the extent that the plants have created some cracks in its walls. Only a few bases remain from a hall in the church compound and it is predicted that if it continues like this, the church will collapse in a short time. Also the church has been attacked tens of times by trespassers and antique dealers and the yard in front of the church has been dug up several times in the search for jewelries and antiques. This has caused the soil there to erode and weakened the walls of the church.
The church was restored after the earthquake in 1930 and has existed since the eighth or eleventh century. The church stands on four stone columns and was constructed from milled igneous rocks. Some gravestones are also found in the church yard with Armenian inscriptions and religious patterns on them. There are other churches in Salmas county as well, including Sarnigh, Soor, Pakachik, Doroshk, Golzan, Akhteh-Khan, Molhem, Ghazlajeh and Marghoryaghos.
- Islamic Republic Aims to Eliminate Iran's Christian Heritage
A Christian from Salmas said, "The Islamic Republic is practically destroying monuments of Christians. It is not Haftvan alone! The church of Ashnak village has become the same or even worse because of some trespassers who are actually officials of the regime. But who cares? The laws of the Islamic country do nothing to prevent the destruction of these monuments."
Prior to this report, a historical church building in Kerman, which was registered as a national monument, was brought down using bulldozers. The church building was registered as a national monument in 2009 and so it had to be protected and restored. Nevertheless, it was completely destroyed overnight using heavy machinery for unknown reasons.
Some months later, a 200 year old Christian cemetery was completely ruined in the same province, Kerman. Protesting against this act, Christians from Kerman said, this graveyard has been destroyed without the permission of its owners. The news of the destruction of this cemetery not only shocked cultural activists but also broke the hearts of Christians.
It seems that Islamic Republic officials, unsuccessful in stopping the growth of Christianity among the people by pressuring them, arresting them and banning Christian converts from attending church services, wants to destroy historical Christian monuments to totally wipe the Christian heritage from the face of Iran.
http://www.mohabatnews.com/


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The church of Kerman was built on 1950 when the Reza Shah Pahlavi was the king of Iran. this old church is located at the heart of Kerman and one day was the place of worship for many people , thirsty for the truth.
The old building of the church was registered as a national manument on the 17th of march ,2009.
Now this building , the only church of Kerman is destructed. 
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νοτιοανατολικό Ιράν, επαρχία Κερμάν
The church of st. Andaryas ( andrew ) of Kerman was converted into a taxi service office at first , and after the officials didn't care about it's reconstruction this building destructed completely.
destroying and destruction of the historical places is another disadvantage of the republic islamic which has influenced old church buildings in the cities of Kerman  , Isfahan , Shiraz etc as well.
More news on how this church was closed and what happened afterwards , will be published as soon as received.

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and now after destruction ...
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Sometime ago we heard that Islamic republic agents destroyed a historical church building overnight in Kerman and now it is reported that a historical Christian cemetery, over 200 years old, has been completely demolished in Kerman province.
According to Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News, a historical graveyard in the Ghal'e-dokhtar area in Kerman province "has completely demolished".
(Kerman Province, south-east of Tehran)
Based on this report, local people estimate that this cemetery has existed for more than two hundred years.
The news service of a cultural heritage organization quoted Mohammad Mehdi Afzali, head of public relations in the Cultural Heritage organization of Kerman as saying, "Destruction of this cemetery was conducted as part of a project by the municipality and Cultural Heritage organization, to release lands around Ghal'e-Dokhtar and Ghal'e Ardeshir".
"After the reports and photos of this destruction were published by news services, a team of experts of the Cultural Heritage office of Kerman was sent out to the cemetery to prepare an expert report" he added.
Of course, Mr. Afzali denied this report in an interview with the pro-regime news service, IRNA on Wednesday!
Concerning this issue, Mr. Movahedi, Deputy Director of the General Office of Cultural Heritage of Kerman said, "The historical cemetery of Christians is located in the territory of Ghal'e-Dokhtar and as far as the territory of monuments is concerned, it is necessary for all the places located in the territory of Ghal'e-Dokhtar to receive proper attention."
Mr. Movahedi added that we are still waiting for the report of the experts and reliable information on this historical cemetery and specific results would be announced in the coming week.
Prior to this report, a historical church building in Kerman, which was registered as a national monument, was brought down using bulldozers. The church building was registered as a national monument in 2009 and so had to be protected and restored. However, it was completely destroyed overnight using heavy machinery for unknown reasons.
Also, according to published reports, a historical English cemetery in Boushehr port which was also used as a burial ground for Armenian minorities of Boushehr, is in a tragic condition in which all the crosses have been taken out of the ground. Day after day it seems that this historical graveyard is approaching complete destruction. Several attempts to contact officials of Cultural Heritage of Boushehr to obtain further information on this cemetery remain unanswered.
.The graveyard of English Christians is one of the historical places in Bushehr, Iran which was also used by Armenian community of Bushehr for the same purpose. However, today, all the crosses on graves are broken, the cemetery is in an inappropriate condition and is becoming a ruin.
Mohabat News ) - The burial place of English commanders and soldiers who were killed after the English army entered Iran in 1856 and WW1 had become a graveyard, however this place has been turned into a residential area. Now only a small corner of it has survived and can be seen.
The photos received indicate that all the crosses in the graveyard have been removed and have an improper situation. These gravesites are being destroyed as days go by. The efforts of some culturally sensitive citizens for informing authorities have born no result.
This English's graveyard is one of the historical sites of Bushehr port in the south of Iran. Although the cemetery was very old, only a limited number of photos from it are available on the internet. The graveyard, which is listed under properties of government organizations of Bushehr province, was used as a place of burial for Armenian Christians, until 30 years ago.
For a long time, the graveyard has been intentionally overlooked by state authorities of Bushehr, because it houses the bodies of English veterans. This disregard continued to the extent that in 2003, the tourism organization of Iran built a stone wall around the graveyard and prevented visitors from entering.
This English cemetery was originally part of a wider area but much of it was destroyed and exhumed between 1979 and 1989 and then sold for development purposes. Recently, a cinema was also constructed next to the cemetery.
According to old photos of the graveyard, large crosses were built on graves, but today nothing is left from them. Today, only some broken tombstones remain and brushwood, animal corpses and garbage fill the place. Individual gravesites have become plant beds and only one stone inscription of a grave remains.
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AΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΙΚΗΣ ΔΙΑΔΙΚΤΥΑΚΗΣ ΟΜΑΔΑΣ «ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ» ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΙΕΡΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΙΚΕΣ ΔΡΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΤΟΥΣ 2020 ΚΑΙ 2021.

blog counter Αγαπητοί εν Χριστώ αδελφοί «ο Χριστός είη εν τω μέσω ημών». Ευχαριστηριακές δοξολογίες οφείλουμε στον «ενανθρωπήσαντα» Θεό μας...