Defanging The Atheist Tiger - Volume Two

Audio Lectures by Father Thomas Hopko - The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia

Written Observation by Fr Symeon Elias  - The Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A.

 "Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." President Dwight Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation, Jan. 17, 1961.

Now to Father Hopko's first lecture:

Here is the link for just the audio track that may be downloaded for Ipod or any other divice. 

Jan 20, 2010

Darwin and Christianity - Part 1 What is the relationship between the concepts of natural selection and Christian theology? Fr. Tom begins a series of reflections on Charles Darwin and what he has learned in his research may surprise you!

52:32

I absolutely agree that "religion" is a sickness and to speak about science and religion is an ignorant paradigm. One reason this is true, that Father Tom does not mention, is the fact that sometimes so-called science isn't science at all, but just one of the competing religious sicknesses. For a great many scientists, but many times more non-scientists who have accepted secular humanism as a moral code, who need the "faith of extreme materialism" to keep from feeling responsible to God, and God's moral imperative, evolution is a religion, and they are religiously sick. They are in fact pagan.  In the case of the religion of Darwinism, the religion has become so pervasive in the culture that to dissent is HERESY.  Father Tom suggests strongly that you view the movie, "Expelled".  I have not yet seen it, but I am very aware of the persecution of those in academia and the arts who refused to except the common Darwin social continuum.  He is pointing out this reality, that the religion of Darwinism has become the Scholasticism of this century. Be careful all you who dissent against the Church of Secular Humanist Darwinism, YOU WILL BE SACRIFICED!


This has been true for the overarching period of popular evolution theory, at least since the early 1900s. This dismissal of Christianity as myth happened in conjunction with the work of the theologian, Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930).  In both cases, Darwin and Harnack, doctrinal theories were built upon incomplete and broken record, but presented as fact.  These "theories" are NOT fact. They were merely the prejudices and preconceptions of the "scientists."  This is the reason that I say of my presentations on my blog pages that I approach what I write as neither a religionist, academic or scientist, but as a human being free to think, investigate and learn and I dare say teach. This is the prerogative of the "writer."  Although I think that in a real foundational way I am a "theologian," in the secular sense I am merely a writer, making observations upon the human record of science and theology. That is okay. It still presents a window, a view of what may be real and what may be LIE and of the Liar. 

I also agree with Fr Hopko's points about the grand ignorance of so many purporting to be Christian. It is a sad situation that many of the most vocal defenders of Christianity against both atheism and Darwinism are ignorant of their own Christian foundations and often also, ignorant of the science or mythology they are defending against. They create deformed arguments and most times do so passionately and without love, actually driving reasonable people to disbelief. I hope I am never THIS. I am an ignorant man, not blessed with wealth or position, but possessed of the desire to see and know only what is true. My favorite pagan, Hermese Trismigistus said, "I want to know God and things as they are."  That is the story of my heart.  A Christian friend said, "I would stop with, 'I want to know God.'"   I said, "If I were a mystic and not a physical human being, and believed that salvation was about ephemeral things and not concrete things like the renewal of all things - like Saint Paul clearly teaches - then I would be satisfied with knowledge of God only.  But upon this plane of existence, BEING, and being a Human born into this BEING, knowing "things as they are" is the same as coming to know God. At least to the level of coming to know "about" God. If this is not so, why then did the Apostle Paul say, both that the very Godhead may be observed in the things that are made and that all those things await restoration and renewal?  "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." To me this does not sound like some ephemeral "floaty places."

Many have adequately disproved Darwinism. The Darwinian postures that such folk have only replaced it with Creationism. And it is true that some arguments against it have been on this shallow level.  If William Jennings Bryan had truly known the amazing and real ontology of the Judeo/Christian Tradition, the Apostolic Tradition, Clarence Darrow would have never won the argument, but at the same time Bryan's own ontology would have been shaken to the core. What Bryan argued was not, is not the faith of the true Christian.  Bryan argued from a narrow religious perspective calling to mind religious aphorisms that in the culture seemed axiomatic and then simply mocked the obvious lunacy of Darwinism. The same thing is true of the Husley-Wilberforce debate in London a year after The Origin of Species  was published. Bishop Wilberforce was a naturalist himself and was no ignorant man. He wrote a critique of Darwin's book that was brilliant and history proves true. Yet in debate with Thomas Henry Huxley (the Liar, atheist and Darwinian evangelist) he could not resist taking the route that Bryan did at a later date. Huxley nailed him saying 'If there were an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling, it would rather be a man - a man of restless and versatile intellect - who not content with success in his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice.'"  -




 It Takes Courage To Seek Only What Is Real - article by Fr Symeon.

I concluded in my article many years ago that Darwinism is simply a vehicle for Atheism, as repeated above. Father Tom makes the interesting point that Christian ignorance is also a powerful vehicle of Atheism.  I pointed to the massive ignorance of the Scholastic movement in Roman Catholicism as such and Father Tom points to the fundamental flaws in modern Protestantism, Romanism and he did not spare Orthodoxy as also being a vehicle of ignorance driving people to disbelief.  He is right that such silliness as Biblical Literalism, and other unbiblical misuses of the Bible and other modern religious ignorances (sicknesses) drive reasonable people toward disbelief.  The first path theologian exists in every corner of Christianity clinging to "the received tradition" he recognizes,as an end in itself.  The rational and/or emotional theologian deforms the Ikon of God, creating innovations that diminish God to a God they can comprehend, or which destroys God altogether.  The Darwinist are of the second path, the Biblical Literalists and Fundamentalists are of the first path, clinging to the bible like it is a channelled book direct from God with no reality in History. They then accept a truncated idea of Christianity and project it across every passage they read in the sacred writings. Father Tom hinted at something that I had not given much thought, and that was the particular conditions of religion in England at the time of Darwin. I'm a huge fan of Thomas Hardy, I've read everything he ever published and a few things he didn't.  Hardy had a talent for painting the underbelly of the idyllic British Golden Era. Father Tom's picturing of the great and respectable British apostasy is of course correct.


The Three Paths of Spirituality/Theology - article by Fr Symeon

I love the honesty Father Tom states vis a vis the history of the violence of Christians against those who dissent, both the heretics, and those who were merely scientific inquirers. Every Church body, East, West and Protestants have persecuted dissenters, and some by horrible and blood soaked means. As an Orthodox Christian to avoid the triumphalism and golden age mythology of fellow Orthodox Christians who are "religionists" I keep very handy in a small frame on my Ikon corner the quote of an Old Believer in Russia, speaking of the persecution of Christians there under the Religion Department of the Czar (which for a long and shameful period passed for Orthodoxy in Russia). Many Orthodox Russophiles will today defend this period and speak of it as "Holy Rus." It is indeed a religious sickness stated succintly, "What can we say of a Church, which, it is pretended, is invincible, because it rests upon the support and sword of the powers of the earth? What has it to do with the Truth when it resorts, not to persuasion in a spirit of evangelical gentleness, but to civil statutes, to influences of which the flesh alone is sensible, to fetters and prison cell? Eternal Truth abhors such arguments, disdains to subserve and stoop to methods as vulgar as they are blood-soaked. Truth has power in herself to conquer all who think; the lie, on the contrary, because its authority only rests on the violence of a despotism, which fawns on it, is beholden to external might and must approve all its measures. The methods upon which the domination of the new ritualism is built and reposes are good evidence of its inward insufficiency." 

The history of the corruption of the Church's hierarchy is nothing new. Why should it be, the corruption of the laity usually equals it. However, to assume that at any time the church's hierarchy has been completely corrupt would be an over statement though sections of it have thorougly apostatized sometimes for centuries. The Protestants point to the compromises under the Bytantine emperiors as apostasy, and lay that burden upon both the Eastern and Western Catholic Church. Well, it would be to argue against history to deny it. At the time the Church itself recognized the battle with death that was happening in its ranks. It was the reason for the "anchorite" movement and the founding of monasticism. History also tells us that the majority of monastic houses apostatized in time, and even the so called, "Holy Mountain" Mt Athos has endured horrible scandal and periods of extreme corruption. Anytime that the Christian church has resorted to killing people who disagreed with it, that is Apostasy. As an Orthodox Catholic, I know from the record that sadly the Protestant churches sought to recover the reality and the power of the Ancient Church, but instead with limited resources, limited access to the early Church fathers, instead gave new life to many ancient heresies.  The Roman Church with its conception of "expanded revelation" has stepped solidly into heretical beliefs and practices also and the Orthodox church has not escaped the contamination of Scholasticism, and in some cases sophianism, and massive corruption and comprimize to both Muslim Potentates and Czarist Potentates and atheist Potentates.  Sadly many in Orthodoxy will argue that such compromise of "Christ's Kingdom" to earthly rulers and resorting to power by the sword is part of Tradition, under the false tradition called "symphonia." This is small t tradition, and something I will never accept. Christ's Church needs to separate itself from every secular government and stop the fantasy that secular governments may be an arm of Orthodoxy.

So you will not believe that I am, in the vanacular, blowing smoke, I'm presently reading a book about Saint Symeon the New Theolodian. Here is an excerpt of a letter he wrote to his governing hierarch:

"Bishops had in the early church been given the authority to bind and loose which they received as successors to the Apostles, but when time had passed, the Bishops became useless and the authority was passed on to priests of blameless life and worthy of Divine Grace. 

When they became polluted also, …it was transferred to monks. It was not that it was taken away from the Priests and Bishops, but rather that they had made themselves strangers to it (by means of their lives)…Someone is NOT Orthodox (Christian) just because he does not slip some new dogma into the Church of God, but rather by whether he possesses a life which is in harmony with true doctrine…

However, the devil remained busy with his goal and when the monks had multiplied, he brought false brethren among them also and monks also were rendered useless…

“Therefore, it is neither in the habit of monks, nor to those ordained and enrolled in ranks of priesthood, not even to those who are honored with dignity of episcopate_I mean Patriarchs, Metropolitans and Bishops_ that God has given the Grace of forgiving sins merely by virtue of their having been ordained. 

PERISH THE THOUGHT! 

For these are allowed ONLY to celebrate the sacraments, although I think even this is not to be done by many of those who are burning up entirely by their service when they are themselves but straw. 

Rather this GRACE is given ONLY to those as many are there are among the priests, Bishops and monks, who have been numbered with Christ’s disciples ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR PURITY OF LIFE! “

"Shocking" words by The Theologian Saint Symeon in letter that denounced the hierarchical thought process that had entered the Orthodox Church in his day and continues in so many places even today. This message among many built up the reason why so many monks, Patriarchs and Priests were so angry with his call to holy life and persecuted him while he was alive.

Vol 3, p.186-203, “Letter on confession” by St. Symeon the New Theologian, SVS Press. Translated by Alexander Golitzin.

Father Tom, speaking in 2010 noted that atheist are not interested in returning the favor and burning Christian at the stake. I'm not sure I would have shared that view in 2010, but any would be naive to believe that today. In the last two years we have endured Roseanne Barr (a noted secular humanist/Athiest) suggesting on Russian Television that anyone in America who holds traditional views on Liberty and Marriage should be sent to re-education camps and if that didn't work they should be "eliminated." We have seen the Federal government "office of equal opportunity" try to force a church to hire a pastor who didn't share the beliefs of the Church in which he presumed to pastor. We have seen an open assault on religious freedom and the criminalization of moral conscience.   We saw the late Christopher Hitchens call for the enditement of the Pope. 

The media has been on a 20 year campaign to paint the Roman Catholic Church as totally evil and totally corrupt and it took a Jewish business man to set the record straight, though the media will never accurately report these facts. The facts are that the Protestant churches, and secular help professions like psychiatry, psychology, medical doctors, even dentists, social workers, police, nurses, secular foster parent programs, hospitals for the mentally challenged and even nursing homes have a much higher rate of sexual misconduct than does either the Orthodox or Roman Catholic Churches. But facts can never stand in the way of agenda, and the secular humanist Culture of Death, that rests upon the foundation of Darwinism, will continue their demonization of all things Christian.

I believe Father Tom's charity is very misplaced concerning the secular humanist movement and their potential for violence.  Father Tom absolves the modern prophets of the movement of such motivation and baptizes them as honest brokers of science and seekers of truth. It is hard for me to follow the reasoning when he opened by recounting that history teaches us that these atheistic (secular humanist) movements have morphed into political movements, based upon Social Darwinism. In relative terms, the Christian persecution of a few pales in comparison to the tens of millions of Christians killed by such movements in the 20th century alone. One could say accurately that the 20th century was The Century of Martyrs, quite possibly more Christians killed for being Christian in the 20th century than in all the rest of Christian history combined. And at least half of these deaths may be ascribed directly to Atheistic Utopian Movements, as political scientists and sociologist sought through practical and rational means to further the evolution of man and society. But I think Father Tom's heart is rather like the picture of finding an innocent little Adolf Hitler floating in a basket in the river. What to do? Well the monster was fully grown in Germany, China, the Soviet Union and other places around the globe and it is presently growing exponentially here. There is no way that Darwinism can be separated from politics.

Father Tom stated in this lecture that "physics doesn't have anything to do with Darwinism" "that physics has to do with science." I can't follow his thought here. That would be like saying that Atomic Physics doesn't have anything to do with Newtonian Physics.  Physics has to do with everything. Without Newtonian Psysics, the tools would have never been invented to create modern atomic physics. You can no more separate Physics from evolution than you can separate chemistry and biology from evolution. Living beings are constructed of chemicals that function in a biological manner. Chemicals are made of molecules, composed of atoms, composed of sub-atomic particles, which are not quite particles, but are rather energy fields functioning as particles, etc.  The "energy" in the matter is the subject of the evolutionist. They ascribe to it a "motive." The motive TO BE, and the motive to EVOLVE.  It takes a broad interdisciplinary view to see the absurdities claimed in areas of evolutionary science.  I may be jumping the gun and he may make sense of this later.

It was so special to me to hear Father Tom quoting my second favorite Orthodox Hymn. I received this hymn more than twenty years ago from a Serbian/Kosovo source. Since he quotes it and I had years ago transcribed it and set it to music, I'll include that complete text at the end so you can read it and come to know the deep appreciation for the earth, the heavens, the universe and all that rest therein, that is the Spirit of Orthodox Christianity. I say it this way, The Orthodox are the least Gnostic and most earthy of Believers. We do not believe matter and the universe of things seen and unseen to be in the slightest way an attack on God or mere trash or garbage to be discarded in favor of some holy floaty place of ephemeral spirituality. That said, I'll have to admit that Father Tom's quick acceptance of some Russian mythology as to the Hymn's authorship just hit my gut the wrong way. Since I have used this in my prison work as an Ikon of the liberated soul while deprived of physical freedom, and it has been such a blessing to so many from that perspective, the cosmopolitan explanation of its origins rather grieves me. I do not on the face of it share Father Tom's belief as to the authorship of the hymn. I have no reason to believe that his correspondence with a modern Russian bishop about the history of the hymn holds historical validity. These are the same people who still sell "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or The Protocols of the Meetings of the LearnedElders of Zion" a horrible anti-semitic Czarist forgery, in their book stores. When I look for truth, the Russian Hierarchy is not my first source, or second, or third.  I have no reason to believe that Protopresbyter Gregory Petrov, to whom Tradition has ascribed the authorship, is a pen name and a fictional character.

Further the content of the hymn pictures far better the concentration camp where tradition states Father Petrov died, than the relative ease of an aristocratic Russian bishop, in love with Darwin.  I could be wrong, but it will take more than this story to change my mind. 

Kontakion 7 ^In the wondrous blending of sounds it is Thy call we hear; ^in the harmony of many voices, ^in the sublime beauty of music, ^in the glory of the works of great composers: /Thou leadest us to the threshold of \paradise to come, ~and to the choirs of angels. /All true beauty has the power to draw the soul \towards Thee, ~and to make it sing ~in ecstasy: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 7 /The breath of Thine Holy Spirit inspires artists, poets and \scientists. /The power of Thy supreme knowledge makes them prophets and interpreters _of Thy laws, /who reveal the depths of Thy cre\ative wisdom. ~Their works speak unwittingly of Thee. ~How great art Thou in Thy creation! ~How great art Thou in man!

/Glory to Thee, showing Thine unsurpassable power in the \laws of the universe

/Glory to Thee, for all nature is _filled with Thy laws

/Glory to Thee for what Thou hast revealed to us \in Thy mercy

/Glory to Thee for what Thou hast hidden from us \in Thy wisdom

/Glory to Thee for the inventiveness _of the human mind

/Glory to Thee for the dignity \of man's labour

/Glory to Thee for the tongues of fire that \bring inspiration

/Glory to Thee, O God, _from age to age

The Complete text: I strongly suggest reading this wonderful poem/prayer.

The Akathist Hymn: "Glory to God for All Things"

This Akathist, also called the "Akathist of Thanksgiving," was composed by Protopresbyter Gregory Petrov shortly before his death in a prison camp in 1940. The title is from the words of Saint John Chrysostom as he was dying in exile. It is a song of praise from amidst the most terrible sufferings.

(Chanting Key: / = re me fa ; \ fa me re ; _ = do do re ' ~ = re me do re : ^ la re re re re etc.

Kontakion 1: /Everlasting King, Thy will for our salvation is \ full of power. /Thy right arm controls the whole course _ of human life. / We give Thee thanks for all Thy mercies, seen and \ unseen. ~ For eternal life, /for the heavenly joys of the Kingdom which \ is to be. /Grant mercy to us who sing Thy \ praise, ~both now and in the time to come.

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age.

Ikos 1: /I was born a weak, defenceless \child, /but Thine angel spread his wings over my cradle _ to defend me. /From birth until now Thy love has illumined my \path, ~and has wondrously guided me ~towards the light of eternity; /from birth until now the generous gifts of Thy providence have been marvelously showered \upon me. ~I give Thee thanks, ~with all who have come to know Thee, ~who call upon Thy name.

/Glory to Thee for calling me \into being

/Glory to Thee, for showing me the beauty \of the universe

/Glory to Thee, spreading out before me heaven and \earth

~Like the pages in a book ~of eternal wisdom

/Glory to Thee for Thine eternity in this fleeting \world

/Glory to Thee for Thy mercies, _seen and unseen

/Glory to Thee through every sigh \of my sorrow

/Glory to Thee for every step _of my life's journey

~For every moment of glory

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 2: ^O Lord, how lovely it is to ~be Thy guest. ^Breeze full of scents; mountains reaching ~to the skies; ^waters like boundless mirrors, reflecting the sun's golden rays and ~the scudding clouds. /All nature murmurs mysteriously, breathing the \depth of tenderness. /Birds and beasts of the forest bear the _imprint of Thy love. /Blessed art thou, mother earth, in thy \fleeting loveliness, ~which wakens our yearning ~for happiness that will last for ever, ~in the land where, amid beauty that grows not old, ~the cry rings out: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 2: ^Thou hast brought me into life as into an enchanted paradise. ^We have seen the sky like a chalice of deepest blue, /where in the azure heights the _birds are singing. ^We have listened to the soothing murmur of the forest and ~the melodious music of the streams. ^We have tasted fruit of fine flavour and the ~sweet scented honey. ^We can live very well on Thine earth. ^It is a pleasure to ~be Thy guest.

/Glory to Thee for the Feast \Day of life

/Glory to Thee for the perfume _of lilies and roses

/Glory to Thee for each different taste of \berry and fruit

/Glory to Thee for the sparkling silver ~of early morning dew

/Glory to Thee for the joy of \dawn's awakening

/Glory to Thee for the new life _each day brings

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 3 ^It is the Holy Spirit who makes us find ~joy in each flower, ^the exquisite scent, ~the delicate colour, /the beauty of the Most High in the _tiniest of things. /Glory and honour to the Spirit, the \Giver of Life, /who covers the fields with their \carpet of flowers, /crowns the harvest with gold, and gives to us the joy of gazing at it _with our eyes. /O be joyful and sing to Him: \Alleluia!

Ikos 3 /How glorious art Thou in the \springtime, /when every creature awakes to new life and joyfully sings Thy praises _with a thousand tongues. /Thou art the Source of Life, the \Destroyer of Death. ~By the light of the moon, _nightingales sing, /and the valleys and hills lie like \wedding garments, _white as snow. /All the earth is Thy promised bride awaiting her \spotless husband. /If the grass of the field is like this, how gloriously shall we be transfigured in the \Second Coming /after the Resurrection! How splendid our bodies, _how spotless our souls!

/Glory to Thee, bringing from the depth of the earth an endless \variety of colours,

~tastes and scents

/Glory to Thee for the warmth and tenderness of the \world of nature

/Glory to Thee for the numberless _creatures around us

/Glory to Thee for the depths of \Thy wisdom, ~the whole world ~a living sign of it

/Glory to Thee; on my knees, I kiss the traces of Thine \unseen hand

/Glory to Thee, enlightening us with the clearness _of eternal life

/Glory to Thee for the hope of the unutterable, imperishable beauty of \immortality

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 4 ^How filled with sweetness are those whose thoughts dwell on Thee; ^how life giving Thy holy Word. ^To speak with Thee is more soothing than anointing with oil; ^sweeter than the honeycomb. /To pray to Thee lifts the \spirit, ~refreshes the soul. /Where Thou art not, there is on_ly emptiness; /hearts are smitten with sadness; nature, and life itself, become \sorrowful; /where Thou art, the soul is _filled with abundance, ~and its song resounds ~like a torrent of life: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 4 /When the sun is setting, when quietness falls like the peace of \eternal sleep, /and the silence of the _spent day reigns, /then in the splendour of its \declining rays, /filtering through the clouds, _I see Thy dwelling place: ~fiery and purple, gold and blue, /they speak prophet like of the ineffable beauty \of Thy presence, ~and call to us in their majesty. ~We turn to the Father.

/Glory to Thee at the hushed hour \of nightfall

/Glory to Thee, covering the earth _with peace

/Glory to Thee for the last ray of the sun \as it sets

/Glory to Thee for sleep's repose _that restores us

/Glory to Thee for Thy goodness even in the \time of darkness

~When all the world ~is hidden from our eyes

/Glory to Thee for the prayers offered by a \trembling soul

/Glory to Thee for the pledge _of our reawakening

~On that glorious last day, ~that day which has no evening

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 5 ^The dark storm clouds of life bring no terror to those in whose hearts Thy fire is burning brightly. ^Outside is the darkness of the whirlwind, the terror and howling of the storm, ^but in the heart, in the presence of Christ, ~there is light and peace, silence: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 5 /I see Thine heavens re\splendent with stars. /How glorious art Thou _radiant with light! /Eternity watches me by the rays of the \distant stars. ~I am small, insignificant, _but the Lord is at my side. /Thy right arm guides me _wherever I go.

/Glory to Thee, ceaselessly \watching over me

/Glory to Thee for the encounters _Thou dost arrange for me

/Glory to Thee for the love of parents, for the \faithfulness of friends

/Glory to Thee for the humbleness ~of the animals which serve me

/Glory to Thee for the unforgettable \moments of life

/Glory to Thee _for the heart's innocent joy

/Glory to Thee for the \joy of living

/Moving and being able _to return Thy love

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 6 ^How great and how close art Thou in the powerful track of the storm! ^How mighty Thy right arm in the blinding flash of the lightning! ^How awesome Thy majesty! /The voice of the Lord fills the fields, it speaks in the \rustling of the trees. /The voice of the Lord is in the thunder _and the downpour. /The voice of the Lord is heard a\bove the waters. ~Praise be to Thee ~in the roar of mountains ablaze. /Thou dost shake the earth _like a garment; /Thou dost pile up to the sky the _waves of the sea. /Praise be to Thee, bringing low _the pride of man. ~Thou dost bring from his heart ~a cry of Penitence: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 6 /When the lightning flash has lit up the \camp dining hall, ~how feeble seems the light from the lamp. /Thus do You, like the lightning, unexpectedly \light up my heart ~with flashes of intense joy. /After Thy blinding light, how drab, how colourless, how illusory _all else seems. ~My souls clings to Thee.

/Glory to Thee, the highest peak of \men's dreaming

/Glory to Thee for our unquenchable thirst _for communion with God

/Glory to Thee, making us dissatisfied with \earthly things

/Glory to Thee, turning on us _Thine healing rays

/Glory to Thee, subduing the power of the \spirits of darkness

_And dooming to death _every evil

/Glory to Thee for the signs \of Thy presence

~For the joy of hearing Thy voice ~and living in Thy love

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 7 ^In the wondrous blending of sounds it is Thy call we hear; ^in the harmony of many voices, ^in the sublime beauty of music, ^in the glory of the works of great composers: /Thou leadest us to the threshold of \paradise to come, ~and to the choirs of angels. /All true beauty has the power to draw the soul \towards Thee, ~and to make it sing ~in ecstasy: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 7 /The breath of Thine Holy Spirit inspires artists, poets and \scientists. /The power of Thy supreme knowledge makes them prophets and interpreters _of Thy laws, /who reveal the depths of Thy cre\ative wisdom. ~Their works speak unwittingly of Thee. ~How great art Thou in Thy creation! ~How great art Thou in man!

/Glory to Thee, showing Thine unsurpassable power in the \laws of the universe

/Glory to Thee, for all nature is _filled with Thy laws

/Glory to Thee for what Thou hast revealed to us \in Thy mercy

/Glory to Thee for what Thou hast hidden from us \in Thy wisdom

/Glory to Thee for the inventiveness _of the human mind

/Glory to Thee for the dignity \of man's labour

/Glory to Thee for the tongues of fire that \bring inspiration

/Glory to Thee, O God, _from age to age

Kontakion 8 ^How near Thou art in the day of sickness. ^You Yourself visit the sick; ^You Yourself bend over the sufferer's bed. ^His heart speaks to You. /In the throes of sorrow and suffering Thou bringest peace and unexpected \consolation. ~Thou art the comforter. /Thou art the love which watches over \and heals us. ~To Thee we sing the song: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 8 /When in childhood I called upon Thee consciously \for the first time, /Thou didst hear my prayer, and Thou didst fill my heart with the \blessing of peace. /At that moment I knew Thy goodness and knew how blessed are those who \turn to Thee. /I started to call upon Thee _night and day; /and now even now _I call upon Thy name.

/Glory to Thee, satisfying my desires \with good things

/Glory to Thee, watching over me _day and night

/Glory to Thee, curing affliction and emptiness with the healing \flow of time

/Glory to Thee, no loss is irreparable \in Thee, ~giver of eternal life to all

/Glory to Thee, making immortal all that is \lofty and good

/Glory to Thee, _promising us the longed for meeting ~with our loved ones who have died

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 9 ^Why is it that on a Feast Day the whole of nature mysteriously smiles? ^Why is it that then a heavenly gladness fills our hearts; ^a gladness far beyond that of earth and the very air in church ~and in the altar becomes luminous? /It is the breath _of Thy gracious love. /It is the reflection of the glory \of Mount Tabor. ~Then do heaven and earth sing Thy praise: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 9 /When Thou did call me to serve my brothers and filled my soul \with humility, /one of Thy deep, piercing rays _shone into my heart; /it became luminous, full of light like iron glowing \in the furnace. ~I have seen Thy face, ~face of mystery and of unapproachable glory. /Glory to Thee, transfiguring our lives with \deeds of love

/Glory to Thee, making wonderfully Sweet the \keeping of Thy commandments

/Glory to Thee, making Thyself known where man shows mercy \on his neighbour

/Glory to Thee, sending us failure and misfortune that we may understand the \sorrows of others /Glory to Thee, rewarding us so well _for the good we do

/Glory to Thee, welcoming the impulse \of our heart's love

/Glory to Thee, raising to the heights of heaven every act of love in \earth and sky

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 10 ^No one can put together what has crumbled into dust, ^but Thou canst restore a conscience turned to ashes. ^Thou canst restore to its former beauty a soul lost and without hope. /With Thee, there is nothing that \cannot be redeemed. _Thou art love; ~Thou art Creator and Redeemer. ~We praise Thee, singing: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 10 /Remember, my God, the fall of Lucifer \full of pride, /keep me safe with the power \of Thy Grace; /save me from falling _away from Thee. /Save me from doubt. Incline my heart to hear Thy mysterious voice every moment \of my life. /Incline my heart to call upon Thee, present in \everything.

/Glory to Thee for \every happening

~Every condition Thy providence has put me in

/Glory to Thee for what Thou speakest to me \in my heart

/Glory to Thee for what Thou revealest to me, _asleep or awake

/Glory to Thee for scattering our vain i\maginations

/Glory to Thee for raising us \from the slough _of our passions through suffering

/Glory to Thee for curing our pride of heart by hu\miliation

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 11 ^Across the cold chains of the centuries, ^I feel the warmth of Thy breath, ^I feel Thy blood pulsing in my veins. /Part of time has already gone, but now \Thou art the present. ~I stand by Thy Cross; ~I was the cause of it. /I cast myself down in the \dust before it. ~Here is the triumph of love,

~the victory of salvation. /Here the centuries themselves cannot re\main silent, _singing Thy praises: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 11 ^Blessed are they that will share in the King's Banquet: ^but already on earth Thou givest me a foretaste of this blessedness. ^How many times with Thine own hand hast Thou held out to me Thy Body and Thy Blood, ^and I, though a miserable sinner, have received this Mystery, ^and have tasted Thy love, ~so ineffable, ~so heavenly.

/Glory to Thee for the unquenchable fire \of Thy Grace

/Glory to Thee, _building Thy Church, ~a haven of peace ~in a tortured world

/Glory to Thee for the life giving \water of Baptism ~in which we find new birth

/Glory to Thee, restoring to the penitent purity \white as the lily

_Glory to Thee ~for the cup of salvation ~and the bread of eternal joy

/Glory to Thee for exalting us to the \highest heaven

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 12 ^How often have I seen the reflection of Thy glory in the faces of the dead. ^How resplendent they were, with beauty and heavenly joy. ^How ethereal, how translucent their faces. ^How triumphant over suffering and death, their felicity and peace. /Even in the silence _they were calling upon Thee. /In the hour of my death, enlighten my soul, too, that it may \cry out to Thee: ~Alleluia!

Ikos 12 ^What sort of praise can I give Thee? ^I have never heard the song of the Cherubim, a joy reserved for the spirits above. /But I know the praises that \nature sings to Thee. /In winter, I have beheld how silently in the moonlight the whole earth \offers Thee prayer, ~clad in its white mantle of snow, ~sparkling like diamonds. /I have seen how the rising sun re\joices in Thee, /how the song of the birds is a chorus of \praise to Thee. /I have heard the mysterious mutterings of the forests \about Thee, /and the winds singing Thy praise as they \stir the waters. /I have understood how the choirs of stars pro\claim Thy glory /as they move forever in the depths _of infinite space. ~What is my poor worship! ~All nature obeys Thee, _I do not. /Yet while I live, I \see Thy love, ~I long to thank Thee, ~and call upon Thy name.

/Glory to Thee, \giving us light

/Glory to Thee, loving us with love so deep, di\vine and infinite

/Glory to Thee, blessing us with light, and with the host of \angels and saints

/Glory to Thee, Father all holy, promising us a share_ in Thy Kingdom

/Glory to Thee, Holy Spirit, life giving \Sun of the world to come

/Glory to Thee for all things, _Holy and most merciful Trinity

~Glory to Thee, O God, ~from age to age

Kontakion 13 ^Life giving and merciful Trinity, ^receive my thanksgiving for all Thy goodness. ~Make us worthy of Thy blessings, /so that, when we have brought to fruit the talents Thou hast en\trusted to us, ~we may enter into the joy of our Lord, ~forever exulting in the shout of victory: ~Alleluia!

(repeat Kontakion 13 and Alleluia three times * Then repeat Ikos 1 and then Kontakion 1)