Holy Transfiguration Monastery Experience
A Letter to Vladyka Alypy of ROCOR, prepared by the former Mamas, Monk

The following letter was prepared for Vladika Alypy of ROCOR for use in that jurisdiction's investigation of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Its contents express solely the author's own experiences, opinions and conclusions. The facts and opinions expressed herein are solely the author's and not necessarily those of the Protection of the Theotokos Web site (www.pokrov.org).

After the fall of Ceausescu the Church, and Patriarch Teoctist in particular, were strongly criticised for supporting the communist regime to its very end. The Synod's 10 January 1990 response apologised for those 'who did not always have the courage of the martyrs' and expressed regret that it had been 'necessary to pay the tribute of obligatory and artificial praises addressed to the dictator' to ensure certain liberties. [11]

Pope to lie in state at St. Peter's
Plans to be laid for burial and successor's selection
Sunday, April 3, 2005 Posted: 10:42 PM EDT (0242 GMT)

Thousands of candles burn Sunday at the bishop's residence in Krakow, Poland.
• Account: Last word was 'amen'

DEATH OF JOHN PAUL II
Time of death: 9:37 p.m. in Rome; 2:37 p.m. Eastern; 19:37 GMT, April 2, 2005
Age at time of death: 84 years
Death announcement: Archbishop Leonardo Sandri

In 367 AD, a directive from the newly organized Catholic Church listed 27 books that would go on to form the New Testament. All other so-called "apocryphal" or "gnostic" accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus were to be destroyed. But some were secretly preserved, buried in the soil of upper Egypt. They were discovered in 1945, and among them, a strikingly different account, which was dubbed the Gospel of Thomas. The Church had considered it a heresy for most of two millennia.

Renowned biblical scholar Elaine Pagels has spent much of her distinguished career digging into the account of Jesus and his teaching left by the apostle Thomas, and comparing it with the Bible's New Testament Gospels. The accounts, she says, are different.

Click the "Listen" link to hear scholar Elaine Pagels discuss the Gospel of Thomas, and how it speaks to nearly 2,000 years of orthodox Christian thought and tradition.



· Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University and author of "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas"

 

" Apostasia"  Revisited
 

  A while ago I had a " friendly" exchange with rtcorp re the ROC (Romanian Orthodox Church)'s desire to get itself embroiled in politics.To be fair to my opponent,what he actually said was : Se va IMPLICA Biserica Ortodoxa Romana (BOR) in politica ?
 It seems that the whole post ' 98 Romania has a fascination with words: toata lumea " se confrunta" cu..., toti  " se implica in "..., majoritatea sunt "agresati", and so on  und so weiter,  "ad ",   the proverbial,  "nauseam" !
 I bent over backwars ,at the time, to explain to mtcorp, that I was not against BOR/ROC but against its leadership, headed by Comrade Teoctist,one of the pillars of the RCP, Romanian Communist Party ,the man who had contributed to a staggering extent, to the installation of communism in Romania.

Student patriarch protest ends in violence

A 22-year-old Constanta University student was injured by gendarmes Oct. 26 at the patriarchy in Bucharest as she protested against the Romanian Patriarch during the St. Dimitrie ceremony, accusing him of being communist.

Paula Bulgaru, a student at the Constanta Literature Department, was protesting with 19 other students against Father Teoctist, the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, because, they said, "the Patriarch is tarnished."

Opposition to church leaders considered criminal felony

By Augustin Varnav

On 23rd of January, the Appellate Court in Iasi, Romania, upheld a decision of the County Court House condemning a young nun for crying out her opinion regarding the leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church, during the religious service.