O Boże, któryś św. Marka na pisarza Ewangelji świętej wybrać raczył, użycz nam tej łaski, abyśmy według nauki zawartej w Ewangelji żyli, w cnotach postępowali, i kiedyś byli uczestnikami tej chwały, jakiej on zażywa w niebie. Amen.
Fr. Andrew and I traveled down to Scranton, PA yesterday for the High Holy Mass in honor of the 40th anniversary of our Prime Bishop’s ordination to the Holy Priesthood.
It was a little rainy on the trip down, at least until we reached the Pennsylvania border. By the time we reached Scranton the sun was shinning. It was a magnificent day.
I absolutely loved the Holy Mass. The cathedral was packed of course. There were four bishops present, including the Prime Bishop. There were about 40 or more clergy for the celebration including the Very Reverend Fathers, Priests, deacons, subdeacons, and clerics, all dressed in choir.
You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful liturgy. The traditional liturgy performed by the Prime Bishop is absolutely stunning. I hope I am blessed to be taught by him someday.
The Prime Bishop does everything with great reverence and dignity. Every action, every gesture conveys meaning. No gesture, no word, is forced or uncomfortable. The liturgy is performed gracefully by a man of faith. It is the Holy Mass offered by Christ through His ministers as it should be.
Prime Bishop Nemkovich is truly a kind, generous, holy, and down-to-earth man. May our Lord Jesus Christ continue to reward him and grant him many more years of service in God’s field.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the great High Priest who calls chosen souls to offer Your body and blood in sacrifice and to assist You in saving souls, I beg You to grant our Prime Bishop health and every good grace so that he may continue to serve You at Your altar and bring Your faithful people to You. Amen.
Sto Lat Prime Bishop Nemkovich!
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An excerpt from The Suffering of the Martyred Monk James of Kastoria and his two disciples, Hierodeacon James and the Monk Dionysius:
In order to find a plausible reason to kill the innocent sufferers, for he was ashamed to slay him without just cause, the sultan sent one of his pashas to ask the saint what his opinion was of Christ and of Mohammed. When the pasha put this question to the venerable one, the latter replied with firmness that our Christ is perfect God and perfect Man, and then explained to him the mystery of the Incarnation and the entire economy of God’s salvation and His Providence concerning man. “But what thinkest thou of our prophet?” the pasha asked the holy one. “Your Mohammed is not a prophet, but a charlatan and a liar, the enemy of Christ our God and of our Faith. No one man hath so angered God as Mohammed, and whosoever putteth his trust in him and holdeth him to be a prophet shall be damned.” The pasha conveyed all of this to the sultan, who was furious. Then did he send a company of his Janissaries to the prison, promising them his favor if they would but persuade the venerable one to deny Christ, employing whatsoever means they saw fit. And they going, sought earnestly with every machination to bring the saints to their religion. But the saints, all three together, cried out with one voice, “God forbid that we should ever renounce our Lord Jesus Christ, even if you torture us with ten thousand torments.” They, hearing this, reported it to the sultan.
My thoughts and prayers are with all my Armenian friends and all Armenians throughout the world on this 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
April 24, 1915, marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide – a crime against humanity that led to the death of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. The 500,000 Armenians who survived the horrors of this extermination by the Turks were expelled from their homes and forced to settle in various countries throughout the world.
To this day the Turks refuse to acknowledge the evils their nation committed. To this day Turks, while loudly proclaiming their ‘democratic’ values, persecute Christians.
The Turkish government turns a blind eye to Islamic hegemony in Turkey and Cyprus. Local Turkish communities persecute Christians, churches and monasteries are forcibly co-opted as mosques, clergy are beaten, killed, or must live behind locked doors. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is subject to Turkish rules, has had its property taken, and cannot freely exercise the only true faith.
The democracy of Turkey is a faí§ade covering for the dhimmitude of Christians.
May God save us from the Hagarenes.
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