The American Presbyterian writer Timothy Keller has recently published a book on Mark’s gospel, entitled King’s Cross. It is a vividly written and often very moving presentation of the great themes of the gospel (and incidentally offers a forceful defence of substitutionary language for the atonement that might give second thoughts to some who find this difficult); but perhaps its simplest and most dominant insight is that Christianity is not advice but news. The world has changed; humanity is not what it was. We are still working out, often in floundering and stumbling ways, what this means, but the one thing to beware of is reducing the news to exhortation, sound moral or even spiritual teaching, alone. We must always be beginning again with the news that God has shown himself to be a God who does not abandon ”“ even when all the evidence has pointed to his absence, he recovers himself and us in the great act of vindication, homecoming and transfiguration that is the resurrection; a moment so alarmingly beyond all expectation that Mark can only present it with the silence, the fear and trembling, of his famous ending at 16.8. And I suppose that what I am pleading for in our discussion today is a revitalised sense of the news we have, the event we celebrate as having changed everything.

When you discuss all this, perhaps the question to ask is first, ”˜What does it mean to each of us that God does not abandon us?’ How have we learned this? And what are the habits we have developed to keep this sense alive in us? Arising from this, with Congo in our minds, can we then go on to ask, ”˜Where do we see the Church we know locally acting in this way, acting as the sign and presence of the God who does not abandon?’ This may help us focus on the issue I hinted at earlier, the question of what would not happen if the Church were not here.

The main point is really to make the connection between growth and service.

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(Please note that this was produced by the voluntary hard work of a blog reader. We are incredibly grateful to him/her for his/her efforts since not everyone has been able to listen to the full audio the link for which was posted earlier. Readers are welcome to check it against the audio and please if you would be so kind let us know if there are any corrections–KSH).

Sharing Good News and Building the Church Today

Address of His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania to the General Synod of the Church of England 8th June 2011

Introduction by the Archbishop of Canterbury:
The first of our guests is going to be speaking to us in fact by my invitation shortly and that is His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania who has been head of the Orthodox Church of Albania since 1992 and is also Orthodox President of the World Council of Churches. [Applause]
”¦
As I’ve said, Archbishop Anastasios has kindly agreed to address Synod, and I will now invite him to join me on the platform. For those of you who do not know the extraordinary recent history of the Orthodox Church in Albania, I think I should say that Archbishop Anastasios has been instrumental in reviving a church which had virtually disappeared in Albania during the years of communist rule. The church had suffered acute persecution and privation. In the last decade and more it has revived to the extent of restoring many buildings, putting up impressive new buildings for worship and for service. It has extended to an extraordinary extent, its work with schools and with young people and has continued to play a crucial part in the renewal of the life of the whole country.
This great revival owes very much indeed to a leader whose spiritual qualities, intellectual qualities, force of personality, humility and sanctity have been a beacon to many across Europe over the years. Archbishop Anastasios began his career in Africa and is a missiologist of note and a theologian. Greek by origin, he has taught theology in a number of contexts and has been able to put that missiological and theological skill to the fullest possible use in the rebirth of the Orthodox Church in Albania.

It is a very great delight to be able to welcome him among us for this occasion. Your Beatitude:
[Applause]

Archbishop Anastasios:
Your Grace, I am thankful for your warm and kind words.

Your Grace, beloved Archbishop Rowan, dear Brother Bishops, Brothers and Sisters it is a particular joy for me to address this noble gathering. I feel first of all the need to express my cordial thanks to their Graces, the Archbishops for the honour of this kind invitation.

The topic I was asked to speak on from experience is: ”˜Sharing Good News and Building the Church Today’ offering some personal reflections. In accordance with this proposal, my remarks will be of a quite personal nature. As you are already aware I have come from Albania, a country that during the previous century experienced a most cruel and long lasting persecution. From 1944 to 1967 this autocephalous church underwent the familiar forms of oppression that all the Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe suffered. But from 1967 to 1990 for 23 long years an atheistic constitution which banned all expressions of religion brought about the complete dissolution of the church. This is the first special characteristic of our church.

The second is that the Orthodox in Albania do not constitute the majority of citizens as is the case with other Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe. Nor do they form a very small minority as in various Orthodox patriarchates. According to the last statistics in 1942, 68.9% of the population are Muslims, the Orthodox 20.7% and the Roman Catholics 10.3%. Of course today these numbers are not accurate. From this resurrected missionary Orthodox Church I would like to convey to this eminent gathering, cordial and fraternal greetings.

I had never thought about Albania, and never expected to live in it. All my interest had been focused on Africa, and that is where I was in December 1990 when I received a message from the Ecumenical Patriarchate that I had been elected Patriarchal Exarch, a type of nuncio, to Albania. My task would be to investigate the conditions which obtained after the persecution, as well as the opportunities which existed for starting a new missionary effort, and for reconstituting the Church of Albania. I was greatly surprised and harbored a good many reservations.

It was July 1991 when I arrived for the first time in Albania. Together with a small group of old and harrassed men, we made our way from the airport to the ruined Cathedral of Tirana. In order to express the most essential message of my mission, I asked each one of those present to take a candle, and inquired how to say the greeting ”˜Christ is Risen’ in Albanian? I lit the candle exclaiming ”˜Christium Gal’, that is Christ is Risen! One after the other, the candles of the few believers were lit, and they answered ”˜Vertatum Gal’, Truly He is Risen! And their eyes were full of tears and light.

From then on the exclamation ”˜Christ is Risen’ has become the watchword with which we have advanced all these years with the restoration of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania from the ruins. This phrase gave light to the mystic Autumns and the darkness of the harsh Winters that followed and it dominates the spiritual Spring that finally God granted to us. As Patriarchal Exarch in Albania I visited as many cities and villages as possible where there had formerly been Orthodox communities. People began to become together and hear the Gospel message and liturgies most of which took place in the open air under trees or in the ruins of old churches. The liturgical life and sermons were the basic means of getting the faithful to attend. The central message of the sermons and of spiritual activities was that Christ crucified, buried and risen is the light of the world, that God does not abandon us, and there is hope, however dark everything may seem.

There followed the creation of a seminary to provide basic theological education for future Albanian clergy. This nursery had to be located in Albania in a hotel despite suggestions that we should send candidates abroad. From similar experiences in Africa, I knew that if we did so, most of them would certainly not return to the difficult conditions in Albania. The most difficult dilemma I faced was when the issue of the election of an Archbishop was raised. This was necessary so that the reconstitution of the local church could be properly effected in ecclesiastical terms. When I was sounded out by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I replied: ”˜If the Orthodox in Albania really want it, if you endorse it, and finally if the government accepts it, then I will give it serious thought. I had already become aware of how harsh the place was and that there was no infrastructure whatsoever. The ground was stony and inhospitable. The old establishment of the atheistic state was very powerful and active. Failure seemed certain.

In the end, after much thought and prayer I decided to take the risk, in the certain knowledge that what was principally required of me at that critical and historical moment was Fidelity to the Will of God, not success in itself. In the spiritual life, freedom from fear is of particular importance. Love casts out fear, even the fear of failure.

My election as Archbishop of Albania took place on 24th June 1992. Conditions were so adverse, I did not find a room to stay or even a piece of paper from the archives of the past. At first my assistant and I stayed in a hotel, later in a sparce flat. There was no guaranteed source of funds. The steady income we had was my salary from the University of Athens where I was a professor for 20 years. In the end though, funds arrived from unexpected places, and these allowed us to meet our immediate needs. We were faced with another serious problem as regards the reconstitution of a united Orthodox autocephalous church. The individual Orthodox communities were not all of the same national background. Apart from Albanian communities there were Greek – Slavs, and so on. In the transitional period after the collapse of the atheistic regime there was lively interest on the part of certain nationalistic Serbs in the Balkans in affiliating these communities and taking them into their own national churches. This could have undermined the creation of a strong local church. Thanks to God, in the end all Orthodox irrespective of origin agreed to join the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. I often repeated: ”˜A forest is not more beautiful if it only has one kind of tree, what is needful is that all should be free to grow as their potential permits.’

A fundamental element in Christian missionary work throughout the centuries has been the construction of places of worship so that hymns and thanksgiving can be raised to God in the ages of ages. Hundreds of churches had been destroyed or converted to other uses. We were concerned therefore to build new churches in places where old ones had been demolished. Altogether 150 new churches were built, and at the same time, 60 dilapidated cultural monuments were restored. As well as this, in many villages 160 small churches were repaired, as were about 70 buildings built to house the administration of the dioceses, schools, medical centres and various institutions. This broader construction activity contributed to the provision of work for thousands of workers with benefits for a corresponding number of families as well as for the economy of the country in general.

In the administrative sphere, apart from the establishment of the Holy Synod, and the creation of a local Albanian clergy – around 150, about 460 parishes were organised in towns and villages. As well as these, a new Consitutional Charter of the Church was drawn up which reflected the new democratic period in Albania. This included significant new elements such as the participation of the laity, women and youth in the various councils and also at the same time an accord was reached with the government, which was passed into law, which guaranteed autonomy of administration and action for the Church. You understand, that these things in a Muslim country are not so easy.

Because of the total lack of religious literature in the Albanian language, one of our first priorities was to make translations and to set up a publishing house with its own press as well as a radio station and website. The interest of our church was directed in particular to the younger generation. In this traditional transitional period, young people are faced with an enormous vacuum. From the old illusion of the communist paradise they have been led to the illusion of the capitalist paradise without moral inhibitions, and yet thousands of young people have responded to our invitation. In this way, these young people do not represent merely the future of the church, but also the present.

In order to develop a liturgical conscience and Orthodox spirituality we insisted on the need for the continuation of the experience of the Divine Liturgy in everyday life through the extension of the liturgy after Liturgy, a notion that we have first introduced in the early 70’s so that the whole of life will be transformed into a personal liturgical expression in which we will share in thanksgiving the gift we receive with those people who God brings to us.

Thus initiatives were also undertaken from the very earliest year for the involvement of the Orthodox Church in social developments. In particular in matters of social welfare: the provision of the agnostic centre for people of all religions and none, more than one million came during these years; education ”“ primary and secondary schools, technical education and also the core of a new university; agricultural development; culture; and ecology. With all these activities, the church transmits the Gospel of Love in a silent way, to various strata of the population. Besides, when in 1999 [ it is another example] thousands of refugees from Kosovo flooded into Albania, the Orthodox Church in collaboration with other European churches sustained more than 33,000 Muslim refugees. We have cultivated genuine respect for diversity among all human persons and groups of citizens; cultivating relations of peaceful coexistence with other religious communities, Muslim or Christians; but also with those who continue to be completely indifferent or even hostile towards religion. Acceptance of others in sincere love, irrespective of what or if they believe, has been a firm principle for us.

In the midst of the multi-religious situation of Albania, apart from the emphasis on the Christian Credo, we underlined our conviction that of all the religions or philosophical proposals relative to the value and future of humanity, the boldest and most magnificent remains that of Christianity. It insists on the incarnation of the supreme being of the God of love and of the progress of the people towards deification by grace.

We Christians declare that Christ is the light of the world, that the Trinity as a whole is light. Regarding the people of various faiths, in respect of the above symbolism of light, we are thinking many times, that the new wealth of scientific knowledge regarding the nature of created light has given great breadth to the symbolism of the astonishing effects of spiritual light in the world. The fundamental particle of light, the photon, occupies a special place among the particles of matter and energy that make up the world in the form of photons or electromagnetic waves. Light exists and acts in the most remote spot of the universe which we cannot imagine. Equally, the Divine Light can also be active in cases and places where the human mind does not suspect. The light of Christ, the light of the Holy Spirit is recognisable and familiar as is the natural light, but is at the same time inconceivable and inaccessible in His essence. God is called light not according to His essence but according to His energy as St Gregory Palamas explains, and while the essence of God remains inaccessible, all who so desire may participate in His energy.

From the very first years, we made it a priority not only to have cordial relations with the other Orthodox Churches, but also to become members of the Conference of European Churches, and the World Council of Churches and to have bilateral relations with the Roman Catholic Church, and I am very thankful that in these bodies I have the opportunity to have friendship with excellent members of your own Synod.

We were presenting a double message internally, that even though we are a minority, we still belong to a wider global family which monitors our struggles and supports us; and externally that the Church which had been in dissolution for decades is now participating actively in global Christian development.

As far as the future of the ecumenical movement is concerned, I believe that we must avoid both the euphoria of overoptimism and unwarranted disappointment. Our responsibility for the development of the modern world is all the clearer and rapprochement and collaboration among Christians more imperitive. God has opened new horizons for the common actions of Christians such as the issues of world peace, justice and the sustainment of the creation supported by the profound assurance of the faith in Him who is indeed the creator of the Universe, the true being, by the truth and love which he revealed to us in their plenitude. We Christians, we dare to hope, and in this new phase of global history in the midst of pressing problems, we proclaim with boldness: there is hope in our efforts for unity; there is hope in the common battle for peace and justice, when we insist together on the obligation of solidarity between people and peoples, when we intensify our common efforts for unfailing respect for the creation. In the end through the power of the crucified and risen Lord Christ, truth, justice and love will prevail.

Let us not trouble over the future, the future belongs to Christ. He is the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, and he is coming again, from the future.

When we discuss the theme of sharing, my thoughts go to the two lakes of Palestine, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Those two lakes have a principal feature in common and a basic difference. Both receive the water or the River Jordan. The first, the Sea of Galilee receives the water and offers it to fertilise the Southern regions. The second, the Dead Sea receives the water but keeps it for itself. In the first there is plenty of life within its waters and around them. In the second, there is no sign of life, and we know that our Lord had nothing to do with the Dead Sea. He started his public mission and performed many of his miracles in the area of the Sea of Galilee.

We Christians have the privilege of receiving continuously the living water of the spiritual Jordan. We receive a great many gifts, spiritual and material. If we keep them only for ourselves, for our communities, for our family, for our nations, we shall lose them. The Dead Sea remains the symbol of what it means merely to receive and keep for oneself. If we offer, we shall be like the Sea of Galilee, full of life. Receiving and sharing is the secret for having life, The Life. Thank you.
[Applause]

Across South Sudan, jubilant crowds are celebrating their freedom and what they hope will be the start of a peaceful and prosperous future.

In a statement, the head of the Episcopal Church in Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng said, “We now have a real government and can now be identified as a nation, which has attracted international support.

“These are great achievements which must be recognized, celebrated and guarded carefully.”

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Every generation has its life-defining moments. If you want to find out what it was for a member of the Greatest Generation, you ask: “Where were you on D-Day?” For baby boomers, the questions are: “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” or “What were you doing when Nixon resigned?”

For much of my generation””Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980””there is only one question: “When did your parents get divorced?” Our lives have been framed by the answer. Ask us. We remember everything.

When my dad left in the spring of 1981 and moved five states away with his executive assistant and her four kids, the world as I had known it came to an end….

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Jaroslav Pelikan, an important historical theologian who became Orthodox late in life, once told me, “You evangelicals talk too much about Jesus and don’t spend enough time thinking about the Holy Trinity.” Can one talk too much about Jesus?

I would not want to contrast faith in Jesus with faith in the Holy Trinity. My faith in Jesus is precisely that I believe him to be not only truly human, but also to be the eternal Son of God. I cannot think of a faith in Jesus that does not also involve faith in God the Father.

How is Jesus present to us personally at this moment? How is it that he is not merely a figure from the distant past, but that he also lives in my own life? That is through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I cannot understand a faith in Jesus Christ that would not also involve faith in the Holy Spirit.

I don’t think we can have too much faith in Jesus. But faith in Jesus, if it is to be truly such, is necessarily Trinitarian. If you look at the lives of the Orthodox saints, you will find a very vivid faith in Jesus. Their affirmation of the Trinity did not in any way diminish their sense of Jesus as their personal Savior.

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Certain practices and beliefs remain intact even as the church’s outward trappings change. Scientology’s core practice is “auditing,” in which members use a crude lie-detector device to probe each other about traumas in current and past lives. Auditing allows a Scientologist to rise in the church’s spiritual hierarchy””as long as the auditing, Ms. Reitman says, is accompanied by hefty financial contributions.

Ultimately the church reveals to its highest-level members””spoiler alert””75 million years ago Earth was known as Teegeeack and that an intergalactic warlord named Xenu brought billions of his enemies here from other stars and vaporized them with hydrogen bombs. The souls of those beings still haunt our planet, and auditing exorcizes them.

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South Sudanese wept openly as they celebrated their independence Saturday, cheering, whistling and dancing down the streets in a ceremony fitting for the birth of a new nation.

“We are free at last,” some chanted, flags draped around their shoulders.

A man on his knees kissed the ground.

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Iran said on Saturday it test-fired two long-range missiles into the Indian Ocean earlier this year, the first time it has fired missiles into that sea, according to state television.

“In the month of Bahman (Jan 21-Feb 19) two missiles with a range of 1,900 km (1,180 miles) were fired from Semnan province(in northern Iran) into the mouth of the Indian Ocean,” Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division, told a news conference some of which was shown on television.

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O thou who hast taught us that we are most truly free when we lose our wills in thine: Help us to attain to this liberty by continual surrender unto thee; that walking in the way which thou hast prepared for us, we may find our life in doing thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Gelasian Sacramentary

Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast of the name of the LORD our God. They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright. Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.

–Psalm 20:6-9

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The leaders of two congregations that once made up St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Oceanside said this week that their flocks are looking forward after the split, which saw a majority of parishioners leave the national Episcopal Church in 2006.

Deacon Bob Nelson, the clergy member in charge of the smaller congregation that today meets at the original West Street location, said he has seen membership grow from 18 in September to 50 people today.

A retired city manager, Nelson was appointed by the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego as a temporary administrator and spiritual leader until the church can hire its own priest —- something Nelson said he expects to happen late next year.

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The questions arose after a plaintiff listed as John Doe 181 filed a lawsuit June 22 against Conception Abbey, a Roman Catholic monastery in Missouri, where Parry was a monk in the1980s and directed a choir. The plaintiff, now an adult, alleges that Parry had sexual contact with him during a 1987 summer choir camp at the abbey.

The suit also alleges that Parry engaged in inappropriate relationships with other youth in their late teens both at the abbey and while he attended St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota. The suits claims that “Parry was a known serial child predator who had sexually abused numerous students” before he assaulted the defendant.

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As predominantly Christian and animist South Sudan stands on the threshold of independence, one man who helped bring world attention to the suffering of believers there is no longer here to savour the day.

On Feb. 10, 1993, Pope John Paul made a tense visit to Khartoum and pulled no punches in a highly charged meeting with the country’s president, General Omar Hassan Ahmed al Bashir. In his meeting, the outspoken pope left diplomacy at the door, as was often his custom when he wanted to speak from the heart. He bluntly compared the suffering of Sudan’s Catholics to the crucifixion of Christ and told the Islamic government that only guaranteeing the rights of Christians and other minorities would bring peace….

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Consumers who illegally download copyrighted films, music or television shows might see their Internet speed slowed or access restricted under an industry anti-piracy effort announced on Thursday.

U.S. Internet service providers, including Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp, Time Warner Cable Inc, Cablevision Systems Corp and AT&T Inc agreed to alert customers, up to six times, when it appears their account is used for illegal downloading. Warnings will come as e-mails or pop-up messages.

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