“The use of sponsors in Baptism dates back to the days when Christians were persecuted by the Roman Emperor Nero. Parents were often massacred during these persecutions. Thus sponsors were provided to instruct the children in the Christian faith in the event the parents were martyred. The godparent promises to see to it that the child is raised and educated in the Orthodox Christian faith.” — Greek Archdiocese of Australia
Affinity: (Gr. Syngeneia). The spiritual relationship existing between an individual and his spouse’s relatives, or most especially between godparents and godchildren. The Orthodox Church considers affinity an impediment to marriage.
— From: A Dictionary of Orthodox Terminology. Fotios K. Litsas, Ph.D. (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese web site)
Sub-deacon Thomas Wilson has compiled from the OCA web site and Fr. Timothy Sawchak some areas of responsibility for the godparent. They are written mostly in the tone of godparents of non-adult godchildren, but essentially, they break down into these twelve: …
The Responsibility of the Godchild
by Sub-deacon Thomas Wilson
Godparent and Godchild should develop a close and loving relationship. As with any relationship, this spiritual one needs to be fostered and cared for in order for it to develop. The best way for this relationship to grow is through prayer. Pray for your Godparent and his/her family. By doing this you are encouraging a relationship and giving it the spiritual basis on which to mature. …
Wherefore clad in the sacred vestments of epitrachilion and omophorion, we say, If any man preach unto you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, even though an angel from heaven, let him be anathema (Galatians I8:9). As many as are befitting, that pursue after such a diabolical and lawless employment of Freemasonry, and all they that follow unto their infatuation and unto their error, let them be excommuicated and accursed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After death, they shall be unpardoned, indissoluble, and bloated. Groaning and trembling, as Cain, shall they be upon the earth (Genesis 4:14). The earth shall cleave and swallow them up, as Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16:31-32). The wrath of God shall be upon their heads, and their portion together with Judas the betrayer. An angel of the Lord will prosecute them with a flaming sword and, unto their life’s termination, they will not know of progress. Let their works and toil be unblessed and let them become a cloud of dust, as of a summer threshing-floor. And all they indeed that shall abide still unto their wickedness will have such a recompense. But as many as shall go out from the midst of them and shall be separated, and having spat out their abominable heresy, and shall go afar off from their accursed infatuation, such kind shall receive the wagers of the zealot Phineas; rather let them be blesed and forgiven by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Only unconfused and undivided Trinity, the One God in nature, and by us His servants.” – The Aphorism Against Freemasonry – St. Cyprian, Archbishop of Cyprus, Martyred in defense against the Turks 1821.
It occasionally bears repeating, that Orthodox are forbidden to be freemasons. Period. No, ifs, ands, buts. Not if we understand it in a certain way. Not if it is this or isn’t that. It’s verboten. Among the various acts condemning participation in masonry are:
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A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, “You are mad, you are not like us.” – St. Anthony
This is, in fact, the theme of every zombie-genre film from 28-Days to I am Legend: a race of people who are sick and who turn on any one who is not sick.
One could unpack many interesting things from Abba Anthony’s comment: thoughts on psychology, the union of soul and body, medicine and Holy Orthodoxy, prophesy and the progress of Death. But there is something there that, at the moment, I find particularly interesting – namely that his comment is also a commentary on deviance and the homogenization of culture.
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Hmmm. I still hold to Fr. Seraphim Rose’s argument, that evolution is rejected in principle, since death is a result of the human fall, and there was no death prior to that.
One can get into scriptural arguments, like the animals eating ‘every green herb’ rather than each other, but I think this is to descend to the ground of one’s opponents unnecessarily. The burden is on the one who would claim to simultaneously hold Orthodox doctrine and evolutionary theory.
I’ve read the arguments against that by orthodox claiming that, well, the garden wasn’t the whole earth, and so on. I think those are straw man arguments.
I could see an argument for Eden existing outside of normal time, so that the curse fell upon the garden and the rest of the world simultaneously but at different times, yielding an old earth subject to death and a young mankind entering the world at a particular time-point and subject to the same death. Leaving the garden would then constitute being subjected to a world embued with normal time and mortality at once. And I could see that, as well, fitting with scriptural assertions that death was created to ensure that man could not live forever in either his illicit knowledge or his sins. Still, in this scenario, death would begin with man’s fall. The origin and problem of death is an inviolable tenet of our Faith.
On this day we venerate the hierarch:
As a canon of faith and an icon of meekness,
of abstinence a teacher,
the truth of thy deeds has shown thee to thy flock as a canon of the Faith;
wherefore thou didst acquire through humility the high things,
through poverty, riches.
Father hierarch Nicholas,
intercede with Christ the God
that our souls may be saved.
–//–
Thou wert truly a priestly worker in Myra,
for zealously living the Gospel of Christ,
thou didst dedicate thy life to thy people;
thou didst save the innocent from death.
Therefore thou hast been sanctified
as one who has entered the mystery of God’s grace.
–//–
“He that has pity upon the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will pay him again.” – Proverbs 19: 17
It is an oft-contended issue whether women must cover their heads in Church. Oddly, it is less contended that a man must uncover his head. Seldom does anyone rush to assure men that a hat in Church is perfectly natural. Much less does anyone set straight the clergy, encouraging them to cover their heads freely at the moments in liturgy when they uncover them, or vice versa. The tradition of Orthodox women, however, should be clarified: it is not that a woman should cover her head in Church, but that she should cover it when she prays. If we are inclined to dispense with the piety, it should at least be the fullness of it and not a misunderstanding of it that is dispensed. …
Catechumens: I’ve spoken to you occasionally concerning the need for prayer at all times and in all activities, whether preparing supper or traveling or preparing for any work. This tradition is visible in the many prayers for such occasions in the prayer books for laymen, in the Russian Book of Needs, and in the various priestly blessings for everything from traveling to blessing a house. As an example, I have referred to the pieties of the Celts, Orthodox before the centurions came to convert or martyr them by the sword. Whether from pious customs of the Russians, the Serbs, the Greeks, or those of any pious people, we stand to learn much that can transform the inner man by transforming his outward veneration.
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