True Marian Apparitions-The Theotokos as she really is

 

There is a lot of talk recently regarding the consecration of Russia by the Pope, and the so-called secrets of Fatima.  I have no doubts believing that the apparition saw by the children in Portugal was nothing more than a demonic interpretation of the Theotokos and that it was not the Theotokos herself. Because of this along with some sources provided by friends of mine, I want to clarify some actual identifiable Marian apparitions that have appeared to those of us who have remained Orthodox. I myself have never had the pleasure of witnessing such greatness, but I am humbled by those who have. Today let us look at few and show the world the true nature of Our Lady the Ever-Virgin Mary.

            The first apparition I want to detail is that of the 4^th century. Our Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary appeared to sailors who were distressed. These sailors, two of them in fact, built The Theotokos a shine In Theoprospon, Lebanon where she is referred to as Our Lady of Light. The story goes that these gentlemen were lost at sea, scared out of their minds and wanting to find land as soon as possible. The Theotokos as the intercessor for mankind appeared to them as a bright and shining light guiding them to the afore mentioned town in Lebanon where they were safely protected. The Orthodox Monastery on the sight is known for its miraculous icon that still to this day shines for those who have wayward ships and guides them home.

            The second commemoration of The Theotokos is when she appeared to Emperor Leo I of Byzantium in 450 AD. She led him to a spring where there was an eventual church built. Giving her the name, Our Lady of the Life-Giving Spring. According to the story, the then not Emperor Leo I was traveling through Constantinople when a blind beggar began calling out for him to find water to quench his thirst. As he was walking through the wooded part of the district, he heard a voice calling out to him to give the blind man some water from the deepest part of the forest and to put the clay from the water in his eyes. There he did so and the Theotokos as the intercessor for mankind was once again revealed.

            The third apparition I wish to detail is that of St. Andrew of Constantinople. While not much can be found in English on this story, I will try to cover the gist of it. St Andrew was praying in the church in Blachernae when he saw that the veil of the Theotokos was protecting St. Andrew and his fellow believers from enemies both seen and unseen. As the intercessor for mankind, she continually protects us through her prayers whether we know about them or not. This apparition shows the love she has for all mankind, just like her beloved Son and God Jesus Christ.

            The fourth apparition is that of the apparition that appeared to St. Gabriel of Iveron, on Mount Athos. This one is most interesting, as it happened during a particular difficult time within the Church when people were forsaking Orthodoxy for a shallow false shell of the faith. The people of this time were rejecting the icons, forgetting their heritage as Orthodox Christians and believing them to be idols and pagan worship. As Orthodox we know that they are not Idols, but rather gifts and tools from God to strengthen our faith. The soldiers of this time came to a widow and her son, where they demanded she hand over an Icon of the Theotokos. When she decided to not hand it over, she tearfully took the Icon to the sea and cast it in. However, by miraculous intervention, it did not sink. It stood upright. The Theotokos appeared to the widow and said that she was guiding it to a monastery where it would be kept and venerated for centuries. She also said that upon the repose of the widow she would guide her son there as well. St. Gabriel was the son, and after his mother’s repose, he went to the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. At his own repose, he requested the monks write his story down for the keeping of records and we have been handed down this miracle to this day. The Theotokos not only intercedes for us, but through the Divine Grace given to her by her Son and God Jesus Christ she rewards those who have faith and protects those who honor her.

            I could write many more humbling appearances by the Mother of God to our saints and other people throughout the world. However there are too many to list here, and I would ramble on for hours upon end. I have detailed four different ones that I believe show the true nature of Theotokos and how she works in the world. Russia is a place full of Orthodox Christians, a place that has never abandoned the true faith, and fallen away like Rome did in 1054. While I do believe that the Mother of God can appear to those she chooses, I also believe that the Theotokos would never contradict herself. At Fatima she truly did because Russia has honored her for centuries and yet the “Mary” that appeared to the children there acted as if she had never received any honor from them. That is because while it may have appeared to be Mary, it was in fact a demonic deception passed as truth. May God have mercy on their souls and all our souls through the prayers of the Mother of God, the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary.

A look at Orthodox Monarchy

 

            When choosing a name for something, like a dog or your children, a lot of thought goes into the decision. You may talk with family members, you may seek advice from your priest, you may even pray about the decision. All of these are noble and good, and in the end the name that you give your child especially will be carried with them the rest of their earthly and eternal lives. So too when I took up my keyboard to first write this blog, I took my time in deciding a name for it. As you all know by now if you’re reading this, the name of the blog is The Tsar’s Corner. That’s not by accident, and certainly not a misnomer. When something is laid on your heart, a wellspring of the Holy Spirit pours forth and if you allow it, God can speak through you. I don’t imagine God uses this 29-year-old young man from the spiritually inept regions of the United States to do much good, but I pray that as God guides me on my journey, he might just give me the grace of the Holy Spirit to do a few good things in this life. This article you are about to read is one of those things I pray God blesses with the uttermost blessing. A chance to share with you a passion of mine, as well as something that I have grown to understand is the basis of how God not only rules the universe but has ordained man to govern the earth. It is a foreign concept in our age of enlightenment, in our age of reason, but nonetheless it is the way God has intended. I am of course talking about monarchy. And my friends that is why this blog is called the Tsar’s Corner. Named in honor of St. Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia.

            With that said, let’s look at the most recent Orthodox monarchy, that of Russia for our first inspiration. Russia, that bastion of orthodoxy that has in recent years come under so much scrutiny from the west and the United States of America was once the mightiest of the Orthodox lands, the third Rome if you will. Now, I am not going to go into detail over whether it is the Third Rome, that is an entirely different argument, but it is important that it was center for Orthodox thought from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to 1917 when it itself fell to the abominable and morally heinous Soviet Regime. Out of Russia, great saints of the faith rose certainly after this especially during the great periods of persecution and tribulation that was suffered at the hands of the soviets, but so too before this. We witness of course, Seraphim of Sarov, of who’s name I carry. We witness the Optina Elders, Valaam had its greatest period of spiritual growth during the reigns of the Tsars and certainly the people were allowed to worship fully in spirit and in truth during the reigns of the Tsars from St. Vladimir the Great, to the final Romanov monarch St. Tsar Nicholas II. St. Vladimir, influenced by the repentance of his grandmother St. Olga of Kiev, sought the light of Orthodoxy in Constantinople. It was there that his emissaries said, “We knew not whether we were in Heaven or on Earth… We only know that God dwells there among the people, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations."  The truth of Christianity was brought back to Kievan Rus and there it stayed and has not left since.

            Though Russia was the last bastion of Orthodox Monarchy, it was not the first. We know that from the reign of St. Constantine the Great and his mother St. Helen, that Byzantium and the Eastern Roman Empire was a Christian nation. It was there when the forging of the great Nicene Creed, the ecumenical councils, and when the church fathers began to write. God was the King of the Universe, and the Emperor was God’s chosen vessel to rule. Now this seems eerily familiar with the so called “Vicar of Christ” title the Pope of Rome has assumed, but no, it was different. The Emperor wasn’t chosen by God to rule over the Church and create new teachings and new policies or to rule over the thoughts of men, but rather to bring peace and stability to the people and govern justly and with the heart of Christ.  The Emperor would from time to time be asked to solve disputes within the church, but as an outside adjudicator. The Emperor was after all, not an ordained priest, but a layman, under the guidance of a spiritual father. A confessor. The Emperor was meant to be one of virtue. Now we know that this wasn’t often the case, many were corrupt men, as all men are. We also know that many saints and many of the elders of the church were at one time royalty, surrendering everything they had for the sake of Christ. These men and their spouses were to uphold the commandments for all to follow, to be the shining example of their people. If we compare it to today’s politicians, we see that those men are not examples for us to follow, rather they are laughed at, mocked, and often times are involved in things that as Christians we should and must scorn.

            Finally, we reach the last argument I will make regarding monarchy. Heaven. Yes even heaven is a monarchy. With Jesus as King and Sovereign over the universe, and the angels his ministers, or as the bible more eloquently puts it, “He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” (Psalm 104:4) I am reminded of the Lord of Spirits podcast, of the teachings of Fathers Andrew Damick and Stephen De Young, who as Orthodox priests proclaim the truth that Orthodoxy has maintained, in that Jesus as the King, and the angels his ministers, sit in council together, and final authority rests of the shoulders of God, and thus heaven itself is a monarchy. Though God does take counsel, he being creator of all, and omniscient, knows everything. He makes the decisions for the world that is best for us. He being the good king, like an Aragorn of Lord of the Rings note. Again, don’t take my word for it, rather read Isaiah 37:6 which says, “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.” Or Psalm 95:3 which says, “For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods,” I might do a future post on God of gods, and the like but now is not the time. Another verse that shows that heaven is a monarchy, is 1 Timothy 1:17 it reads, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.  Psalm 47:8 says, “God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. Even Matthew says in 4:!7, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Revelation 11:15 talks about the victory that Christ won at His Resurrection, and the establishment of the eternal Kingdom of God when it says, “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

            So you have seen the examples of Russia and Byzantium. You have also been given scriptural references that Heaven is a monarchy. So what do we do with this information now that it is presented. There are always two options. The first is to reject it. As often men do when it doesn’t fit their narrative. They reject it and come up with a rational explanation. No, heaven is a monarchy, people should be free to govern themselves, a king would only make matters worse. If we look at the democracies of the world in which this argument has been made, then, it is a lie. Countries of the west, like Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and the United States are all spiritually weak, and feeble minded. We see this with the politicians, and leaders of the countries allowing mob rule and for morality to be thrown aside for comfort and ease. Places like Russia and Ukraine and the Eastern European nations that once held fast to the Tsar are albeit spiritually sound but struggling against the pulls of the devils and their wiles to bring down these nations and destroy them. When power rests in the hands of one person, decisions can be swift, and taking the council of a few chosen who have been learned in the scriptures and writings of the Church can make the actions of the ruler much more informed. What happens when we allow all to make a decision is that no one agrees on anything, and they try to profit off gaining their own interests and power. Sad really. So that is why I pray for the return of an Orthodox Emperor, one who can unite the Commonwealth of Peoples under the Orthodox banner of faith and restore peace and stability to the world. Not in a one world new world order sort of way, but one that will bring honor and glory to God and God alone.

 

Amen.

 

 

 

Lovers of Themselves

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.  But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

    Throughout Church history, there have been heretics. From the very beginning with the Arians, and the Nestorians, various sects and people have risen up to claim that they have the form of the true Christ and that the Church though it appears genuine has somehow lost the true path even though it has remained unchanged for centuries.  As I mentioned, the first heresy recorded by the Church is Arianism. Arianism, teaches that Jesus was begotten of the Father in time, and was not co-eternal with him at the beginning, thus making Jesus a subordinate of God the Father, a creation set a part, and not as the Creed teaches, Light of Light, True God of True God.  Today two religious heretical groups, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Jehovah's Witnesses still claim this as the true doctrine.  The Mormons teach that Jesus is completely subordinate to God the Father and that Jesus while a creation of God, has perfected his will with God's in that he is now eternal.  While they reject some of the basic tenants of Arianism, they certainly derive their theology from Arius and his so called disciples.  Jehovah's Witnesses on the other hand also state that Jesus is a created being, they see God the Father as the only "true God" and Jesus as a mediator.  Thus both of these heretical groups deny the teachings of the Church as established in the Symbol of Faith.  They claim to be continually learning and developing ideas about God but never coming to the truth.  The truth being that Jesus was co-eternal with the Father before all ages, and that he is the second person of the Trinity...the Logos. St. Paul warns us in the reading to be wary of this, because we could continually question God, about everything, and never really come to know him.  The second heresy I mentioned was Nestorianism. That Jesus was 100% both God and Man, and that there was no union of the two or rather, that the Logos entered the physical body of Jesus and that he was a man, given the power of God.  The Church teaches a hypostatic union of both human and divine. He was not sometimes human, sometimes divine, but 100% both God and Man at all times.  This was formalized at the Council of Chalcedon, which was rejected by the Assyrian Church of the East, and is the only true form of Nestorianism still practiced today.  

    Let us continue our quest to outline more fully the reading from today.  As you can already tell, both heresies arose out of a love for themselves, for their knowledge that supposedly no one else had and it placed themselves as God rather than God himself and His established One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church.  More recently we have seen the likes of organizations like TBN, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyers, Paula White, and of course the largest prosperity gospel preacher, Joel Osteen flout the prosperity gospel, becoming lovers of money and lovers of themselves...hence the name of this blog post. They promote that by sending in money to their ministries, that people will be given vast amounts of wealth and that God will bless them.  However if we look at even modern church history through the eyes of the Church under Soviet era Russia, we understand that the Church is not meant for prosperity on earth.  We are meant for prosperity in heaven.  In the Russian Civil War alone, 652 clergymen were executed by the Soviet Atheists, and 579 monasteries completely destroyed. But of course it gets worse as this story continues. Kiev was completely obliterated when 28 bishops, and 6,775 priests were condemned to death by the Soviet regime in 1921. The Soviets violated the 73rd Orthodox Canon, and manipulated church law to install Metropolitan Sergius as the so called head of the church. 8,000 were killed in 1922.  Finally the worst came in 1937-38 when 106,300 were executed for their faith alone. No crimes, except for being Christian.  The Gospel therefore is not one of peace and prosperity, but one that brings us to the fullness of Christ. If Christ suffered, then so must we.  

    Finally let us briefly mention those who are the renovationists, the ones trying to renovate the church.  While the protestants certainly are renovationists in the fullest extent, the ones I am most concerned about were those within the Russian Orthodox Church at the time of the Soviets.  These are the treacherous, rash and conceited that Paul discusses in the reading from today. These men, having no concern for their flock subjected them to the horrors and tortures of the Soviets without regard for their wellbeing or their salvation.  They believed just like the Arians and Nestorians through their own intellect they knew more than God himself and could bring the church into a new era with new ideas. They rejected the lives of the saints, they rejected the teachings of the church, and refused reason. Though they claimed they had more reason than the Church.  They were content with the pleasures of this world, being protected by the government to live their lives in peace, while their flocks were pushed underground into the catacombs to pray and worship.  They saw the church not as a eternal ship guiding the world to salvation in Christ, but as an earthly ship guiding man to a better life on earth.  They are anathema.  

    Today's blog post might not be the most wonderful you have ever read, nor will it be the most cheerful. But we can see that through the eyes of this passage that I stated in the beginning that Paul knew what was to come. He was warning not just his spiritual son Timothy, but the church throughout history to be on the lookout for those who seek the destruction of the faith and to turn it into something foreign, something demonic.  This is the work of the antichrist, in preparation for the Antichrist.  Let us as St. Theophan says to watch carefully for the Second Coming of Christ and to prepare inward our hearts that our hearts may be the throne of God. We must prepare ourselves not for comfort but for persecution. 

Amen. 

  

Tsar St. Nicholas and the Royal Passion Bearers

​Tsar St. Nicholas II and his family are extremely polarizing among many people in the west. Their lives and their martyrdom are well discussed in many history classes purely based as a popular uprising and a revolution that lead to the formation of the communist state. While there are complex issues about the Romanov family and especially Tsar St. Nicholas II, that could be said of all of us. One decision, one choice does not define us. In the world today there is a tendency for people who the world deems as controversial to be “cancelled.” That is that their entire past and words spoken by them are used to show that the person they are today is the same person they’ve always been and cannot change . However we in the church are called to change our lives and constantly grow and become more like Christ day by day.  Having recently discussed this particular topic with a dear friend of mine (shout out to you Yianni!) we both agree that history classes and world history in general paints the Tsar as this weak figure and the reason behind the attempt of the people to form a communist state which led to 100 years of atrocities within the so called Soviet Union. However, history would also point to a different Tsar. One who tried his very best to maintain the heart of orthodoxy within the Empire when it’s  citizens  and as seen by the capitulation of the church in particular those like Metropolitan Sergius (even though he later recanted) were led to a more demonic interpretation of Christianity and the ways of the world. Tsar St Nicholas is well known for visiting various monasteries, laying the cornerstone of many churches and returning Russia to a more traditional way of life. Without Holy Tradition within the church, you don’t have Holy Orthodoxy. Tsar St. Nicholas saw this and he understood that the westernization of Russia was slowly bringing about its downfall. He encouraged traditional icons, he begged his people by his example to deny themselves and take up the cross of Christ. Not only that but within his reign the church increased by 10,000 churches and a total of 57,000 churches were standing by the end of his reign. One thousand and twenty five monasteries were active within the church by the time Tsar Nicholas II was martyred. However as we have seen in history this was not to last and eventually things turned sour in Russia. Vladimir Lenin and his followers infiltrated the various places of society and were successful in turning the hearts and minds of the people away from God and His Church and persecuted them heavily after the martyrdom of the Tsar and his family. This period can best again be summed up by that friend of mine who I discussed this topic with. Russian Orthodoxy had stood for a 1000 years before the Bolsheviks began to ruin the church. And even then they could not destroy it. So now that we have entered the new year and a new chapter in Russian and world history, Tsar St. Nicholas’ call for all of us to return to traditional ways of life and to submit ourselves in obedience to the church and those in authority rings even more true now. We must completely change our way of life, submit ourselves to God and become more like Christ. Only then can we truly change the world. I pray that St. Nicholas intercedes on all our behalves and that we may learn from his example. 

“Most noble and sublime was your life and death, O Sovereigns;
Wise Nicholas and blest Alexandra, we praise you,
Acclaiming your piety, meekness, faith, and humility,
Whereby ye attained to crowns of glory in Christ our God,
With your five renowned and godly children of blessed fame.
O passion–bearers decked in purple, intercede for us”