Hail, readers!
We've already received a number of requests from you for Orthodox pen
pals. We are now in the process of confirming your information and
selecting your pen pal.
We've also received a couple of e-mails expressing confusion or concern
about submitting the personal information we requested (see From the
Office in YO-Mail #15). So that there is no confusion, let us just set
the record straight.
Many of you (hopefully!) have been told never to give out personal
information over the Internet. In our July 1st
issue (#11), in fact, we strongly suggested the following chat room
guidelines:
We still strongly urge you to follow these guidelines.
The purposes of e-mailing us your
is two-fold:
Any information you provide us is considered completely confidential and
will not be shared with anyone outside our Office.
One addition note: We have the addresses (snail mail) of a number of
Orthodox Christian youth in Alaska. If you are interested in a pen pal
from Alaska, please note it in your e-mail.
Rom 8:28-39 (Epistle reading on All Saints of Alaska, September 24)
And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from
the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that
bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!" But He said, "More than
that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ... What
then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
...
It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
September 24, 1794 is the day when the first Orthodox missionaries
stepped foot in Alaska. In the Church every year we celebrate this day by
commemorating all the saints of Alaska:
These people faced incredible dangers and hardships every day as they
struggled to live their Orthodox faith in a place which was not
"Christian," and where the climate made every day an exercise in survival.
It is interesting that the Church chose the above scripture reading for
the day we remember them. It is one of the most beautiful passages in the
Bible that speaks to the heart of everyone who has ever felt like he or
she was working against impossible odds. We all feel this from time to
time.
Sometimes it's as if every day we are being made to face more and more
impossible tasks: chores, school work, projects at work, family issues,
arguments with friends, personal goals, etc. Money issues, peer pressure,
and sometimes even ridicule become enemies which we feel we must "fight to
the death." It can become pretty overwhelming.
The saints of Alaska are proof that this scripture passage isn't just
"nice words." They read this, believed this, and lived this. Through
them God shows us that, with Him on our side, even the worst experiences
can be turned into something positive, and that with Him nothing, in fact,
can beat us. The result may not always be what we hope for, but we can be
confident that God will be with us through it.
If we are Christians, we know that whatever we face and what the result
is, the truth of the matter is "Christ is Risen!" Through Him all of us
can rest where there is "no sickness or sorrow, but everlasting life"
(from our funeral service).
Something to think about
For more information on the Saints of Alaska and North America see www.oca.org/Feasts-and-Saints
and follow the link to lives of North American Saints.
FP from AZ writes:
>>
In interviews Natalie Merchant has said her new release Ophelia is her
most personal and best work. While occasionally difficult to understand,
it is a reflective and intelligent, though occasionally melancholy,
collection of mellow ballad-type songs that lyrically express a huge range
of emotions and experiences.
It is not often that CDs have such a variety of messages. The CD starts
off on an extremely positive note and ends in an almost suicidal tone.
Let us be more specific.
On the up side:
On the down side:
St Vladimir's Seminary, an OCA seminary in Crestwood, NY is celebrating
its 60th anniversary at the annual Orthodox Education Day on Saturday,
October 3.
The day's activities include:
It's a great place to meet some new people and hook up with friends while
eating good food and discussing our Faith.
For more information check out the Seminary's web site at
www.svots.edu or
call them at +1.914.961.8313.
To advertise your event here send information to:
youth@oca.org
America, and in fact much of the world, is caught up in a near addiction
to talking about the President Clinton scandal. We are all sick of
hearing about it, but can't seem to stop adding our own two cents to
discussions that inevitably pop up wherever two or three are gathered.
Topics such as the First Lady's reaction, the scandal's effect on the
national and even world economies, and President Clinton's ability to rule
given Starr's report are dominating our conversations and affecting our
national consciousness.
As Christians and voting citizens of the United States, it's our duty to
look at all the evidence, pray about it, determine for ourselves what we
think, and let our representative and/or congressman know our beliefs --
even when we want to pretend it never happened. There are many issues for
us to consider. We must decide if we, as U.S. citizens, believe that our
leaders' personal character is directly related to how he or she functions
as a public servant.
We must reflect on what role we feel forgiveness and repentance (see the
Readers Write section in YO-Mail #11) should play when our leaders make
mistakes. We must determine if we believe that secret testimony should be
made public for specific situations.
Regardless of our political status, though, perhaps there are a couple
lessons which all of us can learn from all this insanity. First, contrary
to many people's opinions, just because something is done "discreetly" by
two consenting adults doesn't mean that it doesn't and won't dramatically
affect others. Anything that is kept secret runs the risk of being
exposed -- no matter how well we think we can cover it up. A question to
ask ourselves is who (and there is always someone) am I hurting by doing
this.
And second, there is no such thing as a "little" lie. Regardless of
whether one is the President of the United States, or a college freshmen,
one's acts -- no matter how "discreet" -- can and do affect others. When
we lie to someone, we set up an entire system of deceit that leads to
another and another and another lie. This makes it more and more
difficult to be ourselves with people and we end up using huge amounts of
energy pretending to be someone we aren't.
We may not even get caught, but every time we try to hide something, or
lie to someone, we are setting up a chain of events that could come
crashing down around everyone around us.
Who needs that kind of stress?
Q.
(from AK from FL)
A few days ago I came across a quote in a book entitled The History of
the Holocaust by Yehuda Bauer that was very disturbing: "The Jews
sacrifice their children to Satan. ... They are worse than wild
beasts ... they know only one thing: to satisfy their stomachs, to get
drunk, to kill and beat each other up like stage villains and
coachmen. ... I hate the Jews, because they violate the Law. I hate
the Synagogue because it has the Law and the Prophets. It is the duty
of all Christians to hate the Jews." -- St John Chrysostom
The source of this quote is Fred Gladstone Bratton's The Crime of
Christendom (Boston 1969), pp. 84-85. I realize it could be a
complete fallacy or simply taken out of context. I wonder if you can
offer some sort of explanation.
Thank you.
A.
AK, texts such as this can be very disconcerting. The text you
mention does make the late-20th century reader squirm a bit. Some of
us remember coming across it ourselves. Your question is
characteristic of your inherently Christian belief that we are called
to love everyone, even our enemies.
We did a bit of research and found out a number of important things.
First, The Crime of Christendom book that Yehuda Bauer used as the
source for his information identifies the original source of this text
as St John Chrysostom's homilies "Against the Jews." In fact, this is
incorrect. The actual name of this set of homilies is "Against the
Judaizers" -- meaning those Christians who wanted to behave as the
Jews. This is important since all the material in them would be
addressing other Christians on the issue of Christian identity, rather
than condemning people who are Jewish.
Second, the way oratorical language was used in the early 300s is much
different than the speeches we hear today. This type of rhetoric was
an art form and was used much in the same way that we create "straw
men." The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a straw man as "an
imaginary argument or adversary set up only to be easily confuted."
In a similar fashion, St John is emphatically urging people not to
think that Christianity, and therefore salvation, is based upon
following rules, but by loving God.
Third, the extracts that Mr. Bratton quotes are from over 100 pages of
text. The footnote at the bottom of the page reads, "All the above
quotations are from Chrysostom's eight 'Homilies Against the Jews,' in
Patrologia Graeca (Paris: Garnier, 1857-1866) 48:843-942." It makes
one wonder about the context in which these relatively few sentences
were mentioned over many pages. The mistranslation of the word "Jews"
(see first comment) plus this extremely broad citation would seem to
indicate that Mr Bratton is much more concerned with making a specific
point than with presenting the true meaning of St John's words.
Fourth, we would be remiss not to mention that St John, like many of
the early fathers, spoke using the same language he found in the
Bible, especially in the prophetical books. A quick reading of any of
the books of the prophets shows that they were often very harsh in
their attempt to exhort the people. They would use Israel as an
example of disobedience and of sanctifying external religious
practices. They did this speaking to other Israelites. Similarly,
the early fathers, would use these same words referring to the Church,
which they saw as the continuation and fulfillment of Israel.
Finally, your question brings up a point that needs to be addressed.
As we study our Faith, sometimes we become aware of incidents in the
history of our Church that can often seem scandalous. We should not
be disheartened by these.
As Christians and members of the Church, we need to remember that the
Church is made up of sinners. The Scriptures attest to this. Even
our understanding of saints acknowledges this. While all of us are
called to be holy as God is holy, there is only One who is truly holy,
and that is God. It is He that makes the Church holy, not us or any
member of it -- whether we are alive or asleep in Christ. Our
holiness comes to the extent that we attach ourselves to Him.
Hope this answers your question.
For more information on the Orthodox Church and Jews see:
Check out your parish and public libraries.
Next issue:
If you have a question, or know a friend who does, send it to us at
youth@oca.org. We'll give you a direct
and concise answer!
NE from MN writes:
Is there any way we can get a directory out so that people can talk to
their friends, and not just take a wild guess on some initials?
Secondly, I was wondering if there was a way to stress the importance
of the AAC [All-American Council] coming up next year in Pittsburgh,
and get a rather large group of youth and young adults there, even if
it is just a replay, or a follow up of what happened in Chicago? We
set our goals, or desires for our Church, and I think we should meet
again in Pittsburgh to go over those ideas, see what has been met,
what hasn't, and what we can work on for the next 3 years.
I'd just like to see a push in The Orthodox Church inviting the
youngest members of our church to attend. Just my 2 cents.
>>
Thanks NE! As we have mentioned previously, if you (or any reader)
would like your name and e-mail address listed with your posting,
just indicate that at the end of your e-mail. If you check out
some of our past issues, you will see that we have done this where
requested.
In regards to your second question: Fear Not! We are planning on
having activities for children, youth, and young adults at the
next All-American Council in Pittsburgh 1999. A crucial element
of the activities will be reviewing "Our Dream for the Church"
that the youth drafted in Chicago (see www.oca.org/YO!), reporting
on how far the OCA has come to achieving that dream, and
establishing goals for the youth and young adults of the OCA
during the next three years.
Look for articles here and in The Orthodox Church newspaper.
Don't forget to add your thoughts on some of our ongoing questions:
In case you forgot: YO-Mail is your mail.
If you have an opinion about something in YO-mail or something going on
at school, in the Church, or in society, send it in! Send it to
youth@oca.org Don't worry! All entries
will be treated anonymously unless you tell us otherwise.
From the Office:
A Note on Requesting Information for Pen Pals
Food for the Soul
"Lord, I face problems and challenges that sometimes seem impossible to
overcome. Help me to remember that nothing is beyond Your power and that,
even if the result is not what I necessarily expect or desire, You are
providing me with an opportunity to grow closer to You and to others.
Amen."
Music: Natalie Merchant's Ophelia
Could you do an Orthodox Look at Natalie Merchant? Thank you!
FP, your wish is our command!
On the Calendar
St. Vladimir's Seminary Plans Education Day
In the News
The President Clinton Scandal: A Lesson for Us?
Real Questions, Real Answers!
St John Chrysostom and the Jews
On Hell and Judgement
Readers Write ...
A Young Adult Directory,
the All-American Council,
and Some Thoughts on Violence in the Media