Christ is Risen in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region of the Susquehanna Confluence. Truly He is Risen!
This blog is an ongoing reflection on Orthodox Christian life, apologetics, and Bible study in Northern Appalachia, by an unworthy American Russian Orthodox country priest who as a literature professor studies and teaches about Christian ecosemiotics, or the articulation of meaningfulness in Creation. He asks for your prayers. Below is an introduction to the blog.
Appalachian-style Orthodox chant, video above and below.
The Russian Orthodox statesman-writer Konstantin Pobedonostsev wrote, “Let us remember the ancient admonition: ‘know thyself.’ In application to life this means: know the milieu in which you must live and act, know your country, know your nature, your narod [the community of people] with its soul and its way of life, its wants and needs. This is what we should know and what we for the most part do not know. But what a blessing it would be for us and for all of society if we tried to know all this, if only that place, that region, that corner of a region where destiny has placed us” (translated by Thomas Calnan Sorenson).
This can relate to prophecies of the restored Israel as the Church (as in Ezekiel 36)–a place in which Paradise is glimpsed, along with a sense of the Kingdom of God, by illumination in the local parish as fractal for the “One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.” The mystical unity that Russian Orthodox Christians call sobornost, non-essentialist and from the heart, sparkles in the mystery of the Orthodox Church as the Body of Christ in every place, including in the Northern Appalachia of our parish.
Encountering the Great Books (recognized across generations and cultures as classics) is central to a good liberal arts education.
Sign up for a half-credit course this fall that will allow you to explore some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays in a low-stakes but thoughtful discussion group, guided by a Literary Studies professor specializing in early literature.
ENLS 101 03, Great Books, will meet weekly on Fridays 10 to 11:20 a.m. It welcomes students from all majors and colleges at Bucknell looking for a way to deepen their liberal-arts education as they may pursue other areas of study.
The fall half-credit course, with the focus “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits,” can be taken on its own, or in sequence with a half-credit course with different readings in the spring semester.
Readings this semester will include these plays by Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (one play every two weeks across the semester. Assignments appropriate to a half-credit course will include in-class written reflections on the plays as a basis for discussion. There will be no research papers or take-home writing assignments.
Meets AHLG, ARHC, FRST requirements.
Your instructor: Rev. Prof. Paul Siewers has taught at Bucknell in English Literary Studies for a quarter century, specializing in early literature, and received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He has studied, taught, and written about Shakespeare as a part of his focus on overlapping themes between biblical, medieval and modern literature. A former award-winning writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, he is also a chaplain at Bucknell and at the Muncy State Women’s Prison.
This course is supported by the Bucknell alumni of the Open Discourse Coalition.
(Photo: Prof. Siewers leading discussion at the Bucknell bookstore.)
August Newsletter St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Russian Orthodox Church, 7534/2026.Please note: On the Church calendar, August begins on Aug. 14 of the civil calendar, when the newsletter appears. Dates below are given in terms of the Church calendar/civil calendar. Contact us: 570-863-9039,priestpauls@pm.me, P.O. Box 155, Winfield PA, 17889. Website: stjohnthewonderworker.com
Regular Parish Schedule
Saturday Vigil 4:30 p.m., Sunday Divine Liturgy 10 a.m. (Hours 9:40). Bible Study 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Bucknell Barnes & Noble Bookstore Café, Lewisburg. Orthodoxy Online class, Saturday 10 to 11 a.m. Check with Fr Paul for link. Akathist, usually Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (but on Thursday July 31/Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m.; also, on the Feast of the Transfiguration, Aug. 6/19, there will be no Akathist; likewise preceding the Feast of the Dormition there will be no Akathist on Aug. 13/26 but a Paraklesis service, see below).
Details on special feasts, our film outreach series, and ministries are below.
May the Lord bless our community and mission work for His Church in Appalachian America!
The Dome and Cross Above Us…
…are now installed at St. John’s, glory to God! (see photo) Blessed by Bishop Luke of Syracuse and Jordanville last summer, the golden Onion Dome and Slavic-Style Cross are now on the roof of our Holy Temple, installed July 26/August 8. Let them together be a reminder to us of the inspiration of Pentecost on the Church as the Body of Christ and the relation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the ancient domed Churches of Byzantium and the Holy Land, and especially the Church’s grounding in the flame of Pentecost (all symbolized by the Onion Dome), and how we as Orthodox Christians live under the example and protection of the Cross of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and like the Wise Thief with penitence seek salvation through His grace.
The Dormition Fast and Confession for Summer Pascha and “Orthodox Thanksgiving”
Welcome to High Summer on the Orthodox Church calendar, which is the “Orthodox Thanksgiving” season leading up to the Summer Pascha of the Dormition of Our Lady the Most Holy Mother of God, as we move toward the Church New Year. During this time, while fasting and celebrating two major feasts of the 12 in our Church year, we also offer thanks for God’s meeting our needs throughout the year in mini-feasts blessing harvests of honey, fruit, flowers, and nuts. Please keep attentive on the parish calendar to fasting requirements daily or contact Fr. Paul.
Our Church Tradition requires Confession at least during each of the four major fasting seasons of the Church, to be prepared to receive Communion. This Mystery of the Church is a “spiritual reset” and a joyful death to our sins, through the redemption of Jesus Christ. Please be in touch with Father Paul to schedule Confession during this two-week Fast in order to receive the Eucharist, especially if you also did not previously have Confession during the Apostles Fast earlier this summer. A new statement by our Bishops also has required that Confession in the Diocese be done with the Parish Priest as confessor/spiritual father, not elsewhere. If you are visiting elsewhere and wish to receive Communion, you should in advance request a blessing from Fr. Paul, so that you can communicate in advance to the Priest at the Church where you are visiting that you are prepared for Communion through Confession and regular participation at St. John’s.
The Dormition Fast begins Friday Aug. 1/14. We will have a special Akathist on Thursday July 31/Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. to mark its beginning, in honor of the Life-Giving Cross and the Feast of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross that begins the Fast. As is traditional, a blessing of the Lesser Waters will be held at that time, together with a blessing of honey; please bring honey to be blessed! This is also known as the Honey Spas, the first of three special feasts of our Lord related to the Dormition season. (This Akathist will take the place of the regular Wednesday night Akathist.)
Proper Attire as Part of Preparation for Communion
In approaching the Chalice starting at the beginning of the Dormition Fast, you will be reminded if needed of how you should wear proper attire next time you approach. Proper Church attire (as set by our Tradition and affirmed previously also by Fr. Claude and Fr. George) consists of long sleeves and pants for men, and a long dress or skirt with shoulders covered and head covering for women (head covered especially when approaching the Chalice). The purpose of our traditional attire is the beauty of humility as part of our worship and life practice (this is why the Priest unworthily for example wears his black Cassock and Riassa robes, pectoral Cross and Skufia, at all times, as a reminder of humility and obedience and accountability, and avoidance of any display of pride, for love of our Lord’s Church). This is also preparation for our Bishop’s expected visit this fall, God willing. After an initial caution on proper attire, in future weeks those not so prepared for Communion will be asked at the Chalice if needed to refrain from receiving until they are so ready. If needed, clothing items for borrowing will be available, please contact Fr. Paul as needed. Preparation of the heart is the most important readiness for Communion, but, like the preparation prayers, this should be expressed outwardly in humble obedience to our Holy Church Tradition as well. Thanks for observing this simple tradition of our Church that is part of the beauty of our govenie or spiritual preparation, glory to God!
Feast Schedule (in addition to regular schedule of services above)
Thursday July 31/August 13: 6:30 p.m. Eve of the Honey Feast. Akathist for the Holy Cross and Lesser Blessing of the Waters, with blessing of honey. For the eve of the Feast of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross and the beginning of the Dormition Fast.
Wednesday August 6/19. The Feast of the Transfiguration, one of the 12 major feasts of the Church Year. Vigil will be at 6:30 p.m. the night before. Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m., Hours 9:40. Blessing of Fruit afterward. This is also known as the Apple Feast. Fish day. There will be no Wednesday Akathist that night.
Friday August 15/28. Feast of the Dormition, one of the 12 major feasts of the Church Year. Vigil will be at 4:30 p.m. the evening before (please note earlier time for weekday Vigil). Blessing of flowers after Liturgy. There will be no Wednesday Akathist preceding, but a Paraklesis service on July 31/August 13.
Saturday August 16/29. The Nut Feast. We will bless nuts at Vigil following the tradition of the Nut Spas or third small feast of our Lord during the Formation season.
Susquehanna Valley Orthodox Christian Film Festival Continues
Films are free, and will be followed by brief discussion. Invite a friend, inquirer, relative, co-worker to these outreach mission events. Out first showing, American Orthodox, outdoors in July was a hit. The opportunity to see even classic “old favorites” on the big screen in community, with discussion, is special. Glory to God! Note: These films include serious portrayals of faith amid human life that will require attentive parental supervision; parents are encouraged to speak with Fr. Paul about their age-suitability.
Tuesday Aug. 25 at 8:15 p.m. at the Church property (outdoors); rain date Aug. 27. Ostrov.
Sunday Sept. 12, 1 p.m. Campus Theatre, downtown Lewisburg. Moses the Black
Tuesday, October 20, 7 p.m. Bucknell campus: Elaine Langone Student Center Forum. Andrei Rublev.
Tuesday, November 17, 7 p.m. Bucknell campus. Elaine Langone Student Center Forum. Man of God.
Prison Ministry
Please pray daily for our Orthodox Christian inmates at Muncy SCI, Tanya and Tatiana, and those in the Orthodox catechism class including Beth and Meredith. If you would like to volunteer to help with the prison ministry, please contact Fr. Paul
Campus Ministry
Thanks to our Bucknell student Eleni for her work this summer in working on plans for the Bucknell Orthodox Christian Fellowship this coming academic year. Pray for our Parish University Students including Eleni, Maia, Kevin, Lizzie. We look forward to supporting our students both at Bucknell and at Susquehanna. If you would like to volunteer to help, and for a more complete prayer list of students, please contact Fr. Paul.
Youth and Young Adult Ministry
We hope to develop some activities this fall related to youth and young adult education during coffee hour that relate also to interests and needs of members of all ages. Please be in touch if you would like to help!
Shut-in and Senior Ministry
We have regular ministry to those who are seniors and/or shut-in, and can always use help, including prayers. Please especially keep in your prayers Mary, Innocent, Nicholas S., and those in our prayer list. For an updated prayer list of the sick please contact Fr. Paul.
Sisterhood of St. Olga of Alaska
We’re grateful to the Sisterhood for continued support of coffee hours and cleaning/landscaping. Hopefully with everyone’s help we can do more in those areas. Please contact Matushka and Sophia to help, thanks!
Brotherhood of St. Alfred the Great
The Brother has been helping to support the film series and our Susquehanna Valley downtown outreach events, which will continue this fall, God willing! Thanks especially to Longinus for his mowing the grace of our extensive lawn area, glory to God!
Praying for our Catechumens
Lord have mercy on Laura, Charles, Corey, James, Ty, Noah, Charles, Wyatt, Aaron! Give them good strength and wisdom as they journey God willing toward Baptism, O Lord! Please pray for them daily.
Keep in Touch
Please be in touch with any requestsfor prayers, blessings, rides to Church, home or hospital visits, or other needs. 570-863-9039, priestpauls@pm.me.
Pictures: (Above) “The Arming and Departure of the Knights of the Round Table on the Quest for the Holy Grail,” by Edward Burne-Jones. (Below) Entering our Church with her new Onion Dome and Slavic Cross last night.
An Homily for the Tenth Sunday of Pentecost from St. John’s Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Winfield, PA, by Priest Paul Siewers.
Two great quests in modern Western imagination have been the quest for the lost Ark of the Convenant and for the Holy Grail. We have found both in the Orthodox Church, and brothers and sisters, this is our open secret, that they are both with us here in our humble country Church today in Appalachian America. Let’s first, though, consider a holy Orthodox pilgrimage place far away as we contemplate how we also have with us here in Winfield, Pennsylvania, the fulfillment of the Ark and the Grail.
Indeed, today Orthodox Liturgy is being said on remote Spruce Island, Alaska, to commemorate the glorification of Saint Herman of Alaska on this day in 1970. Our Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has an important part in that tradition, which made today one of the great feasts of that founding missionary to America. Hieromonk Seraphim Rose of Blessed Memory with his monastic brothers spearheaded the canonization of St. Herman. It occurred simultaneously with services in Alaska and at the Cathedral in San Francisco where lie the relics of our patron St. John. Although in Alaska St. Herman’s relics are at an Orthodox Church in America cathedral, the churches around Spruce Island are peopled by American Serbian Orthodox monastic communities that originally were from Blessed Seraphim’s ROCOR monastery in California. So we all in America across jurisdictions join today in commemorating Saint Herman.The Irish Orthodox Christian writer Paul Kingsnorth, whose visit here our mission co-sponsored a few years ago, wrote this about his pilgrimage to Spruce Island:
“The skiff drops us on the sands of the appropriately-named Monks Bay, and Fr Adrian points us through the vast, mossy, Tolkeinesque forest, up a path through the trees. Head up there, he tells us, and we will reach the little church which is built on the spot where St Herman lived. Fr Adrian tells us he will catch us up when we have had time to savour the place and its atmosphere.
“And it needs savouring. There is something about this forest that I have never quite experienced anywhere else: a deep and abiding peace. It is very hard to put into words. At first I assume that the whole of the island must feel like this, but after I walk on later I realise that, in fact, it is only the area around St Herman’s cell that has this atmosphere. There is a kind of radical stillness. When Fr Adrian arrives ten minutes he later I tell him about it. ‘Yes,’ he confirms, ‘everybody who comes here feels this, whether they’re Christian or not. It’s as if the forest itself is praying.’ Or, I think, as if St Herman is praying too, somehow, for or in the place he once called home.
“A tiny wooden chapel stands today on the spot where St Herman lived as a hermit in these woods. Walking on from the chapel, winding paths take us through forests studded with icons and hung with huge lampadas of green moss.
“Deep in the forest, we pass the cell of Fr Gerasim Schmaltz, whose life deserves an essay all of its own (and in fact you can read one here.) He was a Russian monk who was sent to Alaska in 1916, only to be stranded here when the Bolshevik revolution happened. He lived the rest of his life on Spruce Island, often entirely alone ….Soon enough we come to another chapel – a bigger one, this time, and with a curious little door which appears to lead to a dark space beneath…. Pilgrims today still crawl beneath the chapel here to pray at the saint’s original grave, and sometimes to collect some soil to bring home. I have a little pot of it on my icon table as I write this.My daughter and I both pray at the grave site. Then we all picnic outside the church before Fr Adrian leads us through an open meadow studded with iris and salmonberry that looks like it ought to be in the Alps rather than in Alaska….
“[Spruce and a neighboring island] iare strewn with little wooden cells which at different times have been inhabited by hermits or pilgrims. The monks and nuns catch their own king salmon in the water around the island, and share food, firewood and prayer…..
“I have been on pilgrimages to many Orthodox places in many different countries since joining the church, but this place speaks to me in a way that none of the others quite have. I don’t know why that is, but there is some affinity. Overall, I am left with a wonderful confirmation of the mystical wildness of Orthodox Christianity. Monks stomping through mud in long black cassocks and wellington boots; sleeping in crumbling log huts in a forest of moss; netting salmon from skiffs; picking berries in mountain meadows. Compost toilets, fires on the beach, icons affixed to tree trunks. A forest of prayer. It’s all primal and real and full of the Spirit, and you can feel it everywhere. It feels like you have fled far from the over-civilised West – and yet this is modern America. Orthodoxy is a paradox, all the way down.”
Brothers and Sisters, truly Orthodoxy is a paradox or a mystery, even while offering us reason for our hope in God. Part of the mystery is that what pilgrims may find on their quests to Spruce Island, metaphorically their Grail or Ark but in actual lived faith, can also be found right here in rural Union Township, both in modern America and in timeless experience, and again not only metaphorically but literally so. This is the paradox of Orthodoxy all the way down, as Paul Kingsnorth put it. Blessed Seraphim Rose wrote that he felt no need as an American convert to travel to far places of Orthodoxy. Pilgrimages are beautiful and important to the spiritual life of the Orthodox Christian. We may go even in our Appalachian region to Jordanville, to White Haven, to Wayne West Virginia, and we should, as pilgrims to Orthodox monasteries. Maybe we someday will go to the Holy Land or Holy Russia or Mount Athos. But, as Blessed Seraphim noted, we also can find, like St. Herman on Spruce Island, our own pilgrimage each week and even daily, to the holiness of the holy of holies of the Ark and the Holy Grail of legend, right here, fully realized even in our little Church, a portal to the biblical Israel fulfilled in the Kingdom of Heaven, right here in Penns Woods.
Here is the open secret, the supposedly lost Ark and missing Grail are here with us in the Church. As the Apostle Paul noted in Hebrews, in the original Ark of the Covenant of the wilderness tabernacle, made according to the pattern revealed to Mose by our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Sinai, were the tablets of the Law of God, the bowl of manna, and Aaron’s blooming rod. Nearby in the tabernacle and the bowl of incense and the place of sacrifice, from which the blood of lamb was scattered over the altar and the veils of the holy of holies at Passover. Some of these items disappeared when the Phillistines seized the tabernacle and art as the people of Israel were unfaithful. Then the Ark itself seemed to permanently disappear with the furnishings of the Tabernacle when the Prophet Jeremiah hid it just before the destruction of the Temple at the time of the Babylonian Captivity. Scripture describes how the place of its hiding was unknown and the Prophet said it would be revealed only in God’s time. In the book of Revelation indeed the Ar is described as reappeared.
We know in Church Tradition how the Theotokos the Mother of God fulfilled the symbolism of the Tabernacle as bearing the Body of Christ, which became His Church. We have in the altar area the Gospel book fulfilling the tablets of the law, the Body and Blood of Christ in the bloodless sacrifice of the Lamb at the Liturgy, which has replaced the pot of manna with the paten and chalice, and the blood of the sacrificial animal lambs of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple with the transformed gifts. We have the candle stand at the altar as there was in the tabernacle. We have the Cross standing at the altar that fulfills the type of the blooming rod of Aaron, which symbolizes the turning of suffering into resurrection through the Crucifixion and Rising of our Lord. Brothers and Sisters, the Ark of the Covenant is found and fulfilled in the altar of the Orthodox Church, our Lord’s Church. Likewise, the Holy Grail is found here in our Chalice, from which we partake in the Body and Blood of Christ at each Holy Eucharist, even in a small country Church reminiscent unworthily perhaps of little chapels of Arthurian lore and historical Celtic Christian landscapes, glory to God!
Early tradition in Britain says that St., Joseph of Arimathea brought the Holy Grail to Glastonbury, where it became associated with Arthurian legends and quests, and my research on this long ago helped lead me to Orthodoxy, thank God. Some scholars even speculate that the Holy Grail legends originally reflected the amazement of Western Crusaders encountering the Byzantine Orthodox Liturgy for the first time.
But our quest for the supposedly lost Ark of the Covenant and for the Holy Grail is fulfilled right here in a little country Church of our Lord too. May we be reminded of this as our Onion Dome and Cross rise above our Temple for the first morning ever, glory to God! The Onion dome echoes the domes of the great ancient Byzantine and Holy Land Churches in the humble forest traditions of Russian hermitagee, as well as the flame of Pentecost alit in the uncreated energies that we may experience in each Orthodox Church and in our lives as Orthodox Christians with God’s help. The Cross is our Lord’s emblem of suffering and victory, with the cross bar in the Russian Cross reminding us of the Wise Thief helped into Paradise. Let us remember today on this feast of Saint Herman, and each day, how we have the most precious pilgrimage each time we come to the humblest Orthodox Church in the countryside here, and dwell in our hearts in this pilgrimage, so that we don’t want to miss a worship service however far or arduous the journey. Because in her we fulfill those ancient living and timeless quests for the Ark and the Holy Grail, which are not lost at all, but dwell in our heart right here, in our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory to God for all things!
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew,
§72[17:14-23a]
At that time, a certain man came to Jesus, kneeling down to Him and saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sorely vexed; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.’ Then Jesus answered and said, ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, ‘Why could we not cast him out?’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ and it shall remove. And nothing shall be impossible unto you. However this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’ And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, ‘The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again.’
Holy Gospel according to John,
§ 52 [15:17-16:2]
The Lord said to His disciples: ‘These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you: “The servant is not greater than his lord.” If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law: “They hated Me without a cause.” But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not lose faith. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.’
Immediately adjacent to the Moscow Kremlin stands the iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral, which is often considered the photographic profile of the metonymic headquarters of the Russian government since the 1917 Revolutions.
Actually, its real name is not St. Basil’s and it’s not fully a Cathedral, but that’s part of the fascinating history of this complex and wonderful historical, architectural, and spiritual place, the details of which are surveyed well in this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Basil%27s_Cathedral
It has a name of “Jerusalem” too as is the case with many historical Orthodox Christian temples, which serve mystically as fractals or portals for the Kingdom of Heaven, as do Orthodox Churches at large. St. Basil’s itself is designed with colors also reflecting the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation. Its mix of the Byzantine trope of Jerusalem with a “Russian Renaissance” style with Italian influence relates to the development of the concept of Moscow as the cosmopolitan Third Rome of Orthodoxy.
But one of the most beautiful aspects of the tradition of the Temple–in addition to its very survival through the Soviet years (while still a museum it again has been hosting the Orthodox Liturgy since the fall of the USSR)–is the common name for it as St. Basil’s.
St. Basil the Holy Fool, or St. Vasily, was born a serf in 1468 at the portico of a cathedral in what is now Moscow, and traveled to Moscow when he was 15. His begging there involved seeking alms for those poor and hungry but embarrassed to do so themselves. Naked and weighed down with chains for penitence, he was said to have the gift of prophecy. Ivan the Terrible was said to have commented that the one person he was subject to was Basil the Holy Fool, and he rebuked the Tsar for being inattentive in Church. When he died on Aug. 2 (in 1552 or 1557) St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, led the funeral, and he was buried in what became known as St. Basil’s Cathedral. (Info from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Fool_for_Christ)
But the seat of arguably the world’s worst modern totalitarian government, the Soviet Union (in terms of its conduct and influence detailed by scholars in The Black Book of Communism), preserved the relics of a holy fool of Orthodox Christianity known for his authority over the greatest tyrant of his age. And survived. Glory to God for all things!
An homily from St. John’s Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Winfield, PA, for the Feast of the Holy Prophet Elijah, 7534/2026, by Priest Paul Siewers.
Today we commemorate the Holy Prophet Elijah, known in Greek and Slavonic as Elias. One of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, he lived nearly 3,000 years ago. His life is chronicled mainly in the 3rd and 4th books of Kings in the Orthodox Christian Bible. The Prophet Malachi predicts he will return, because he did not die but was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot in a whirlwind. This is why traditionally Orthodox Churches bless cars on the Feast of Elijah. The prophet also is mentioned in the Gospels, identified with the work of John the Baptist as Forerunner, and appears talking to Christ and Moses at the Transfiguration. In references in the Book of Revelation to two mysterious witnesses standing up to the Antichrist, Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy see the final bodily return of Elijah with a lesson for our own lives. The pairing of Elijah as a figure of courage with Enoch (traditionally the main choice for the second witness, who also did not die but seems held by God for a future mysterious plan) involves a spiritually powerful combination of courage from Elijah and repentance from Enoch. That combination of courage and repentance perhaps models a grace-filled resistance to the spirit of Antichrist, which the Evangelist John tells us involves the denial that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and which Orthodox Christian exegetes see unleashed in the world today.
Elijah originally lived little more than a century before his nation Israel would be forced into exile in Assyria, from which it would not return due to its apostasy from God, becoming part of the legend of the “lost tribes of Israel” as a result of the kingdom’s wickedness. He was a faithful prophet of God who faced off against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel who apostasized to worship the pagan Baal. Elijah by contrast offers an example of the spiritual power of a pure heart and faith. He became a prototype of Christian monasticism. The prophet gave many mighty proofs of his faith in miracles and courageous preaching. But Ahab and Jezebel seemed to have all the worldly power. He became depressed, feeling that the people of his country Israel had left their faith in the God of Abraham and of Moses. At one point, in despair, Elijah went out into the wilderness and hid in a cave at Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. This was where Moses, about 1,500 years before Elijah, had received the law of God. God had revealed Himself by name to Moses as “I Am the Existing One,” and Jesus later referred to Himself also with that phrase “I Am.” But Elijah felt in his cave that he was the only faithful follower of the God “Who Is.”
Elijah, despite his success, was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and felt a failure. But God came to the prophet as if in a still small voice and showed His glory, to tell him that there were yet a few thousand believers in Israel. He inspired Elijah to overcome his demon of depression and continue. With God’s help, he triumphed in showing all the true God, the I Am He Who Exists, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. In his amazing witness, Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot in a whirlwind rather than experiencing death.
From there, Elijah’s life is seen as continuing in Church tradition in another dimension. He was faithful to Moses’ vision from our Lord, and received visions from Christ, in the Old Testament, resisting decadent idol-worshipping tyrants. But King Ahab in his evil rule was a type of Antichrist, and Jezebel was a type of the Whore of Babylon also in Revelation, even as Elijah in the “other dimension” of the New Testament spiritually became identified in the Church with one of the two main witnesses against Antichrist in the final days before Christ’s Second coming.
Typical of much Old Testament prophecy, there actually are four layers to Elijah’s life biblically: (1) The historical, in the context of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, in the era before the Assyrian exile. (2) The moral, in terms of how his life may inform our own choices and faith life, in terms of living out the virtue of courage as a spiritual expression of grace. (3) The allegorical, in terms of how Elijah came to be identified with the spirit of the Forerunner John the Baptist as a courageous preacher of truth proclaiming the way of the Lord. (4) The mystical, in terms of how he is seen as one of the Two Witnesses against Antichrist.
Maybe the return of Elijah and Enoch from the Old Testament into the New sounds incredible to modern readers not familiar with Church Tradition. Yet consider the wonder-working nature of Elijah’s work in the Old Testament, defying with fire from heaven the prophets of Baal, healing and raising the dead, providing food miraculously, showing the penalty for idolatry in drought, preaching against evil. Elijah lived in effect in another dimension, one connected with Paradise, which while it had disappeared to mortal eyes in the Fall, still hovers over and around us, so much so that St. Ephrem the Syrian described Paradise as a hollow mountain above and around us, inside which we live unknowingly. This involves a different experience of space and time, in Christ.
The modern exegetist Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios synthesized patristic teachings on the Book of Revelation, and wrote extensively of Elijah as one of the two witnesses who would appear just prior to the Second Coming of our Lord. Father Athanasios’s Orthodox commentary challenges us with signs of the end times, including the public widespread nature of sexual perversion and abuse of children, corruption, tnormalizing of mind-altering drugs and media, global apostasy and hostility toward traditional Christian faith. He wrote that, “we should see that while the antichrist is reigning, the two witnesses will be feverishly working on an international level for the preservation of the world, and especially for the apathetic Christians who will have believed in the works of the Antichrist. The apathetic Christians will be those most victimized by the corruption of the Antichrist, while the Church, remaining unshakably steadfast and unmercifully persecuted by the Antichrist, will have fled into the desert, in other words, back into the catacombs. Are we prepared for any of this?” he asks (vol. 3, p. 122).
We in this humble temple today are a Church in the wilderness in the sense of being in the country, off the beaten track thanks God. But more importantly we should be so in our hearts in separating ourselves from the evil of our times, and growing closer to God and to one another in the mystical union of our Lord’s Church. This is harder today because of our online world and life. But God provides for us, just as He will send His two witnesses at the right time according to Church Tradition, and restrain the power of Antichrist long enough for them to expose him and also to shore up those believers who remain faithful, and to test our faith. Still, it will not be a “happy ending.”
Scripture tells us that the Beast, or the Antichrist, that came from the bottomless pit, the abyss, will come and kill the two witnesses after a period of time, which is given as three and a half days (interpreted often as symbolic of years) in which they had preached and done true miracles against Antichrist. Scripture tells us their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified (Jerusalem apparently), to be viewed for another three and a half days, unburied. Many will rejoice over their deaths and send gifts to each other, because the two witnesses had bothered them about repentance. But after the additional three days and a half of death, the Scripture tells us, “the Spirit of life from God entered into them.” They stood up. “They heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in in a cloud.”
Then in the Book of Revelation the angel sounds the seventh trumpet, and then is recorded the wonder of the Woman with child, surviving and triumphing, and the defeat of the devil. Many Church Fathers take this as a prophecy of the Church in the wilderness in the end times. The two witnesses, including Elijah, before that have their time to expose and oppose Antichrist. Then Antichrist reigns for the same period of time. But God keeps the period short, and resurrects the two witnesses as a sign of the triumph of the faithful, before the coming of Christ. Glory to God!
But will we be faithful in such trials, in the Church in the wilderness? This is a question for us in our individual daily lives, as well as for the collective end times of the world. The Beast or the Antichrist comes from the abyss or bottomless pit, a spiritual darkness devoid of true faith in God. But Archimandrite Athanasios warns that each of us, as we waver or are lukewarm potentially, are in that abyss. “This occurs, beloved, because we Christians are fully engulfed in the secular spirit and move about in this world with no regard for the existence of God, Christ, and death, hell, or the Kingdom of God. If we reach this deplorable state (God forbid) and live such a life, then we can be certain that we ourselves have become the walls of the abyss that will spew out the Antichrist.”
The Antichrist will kill the two witnesses, according to Scripture. Yet there is hope. God offers us the testimony of the witnesses, Elijah with courage and Enoch with repentance. Our Lord gives us in love the Gospel and mysteries of His Church. He gave His only begotten Son. And afterward will come the resurrection of the two witnesses and the coming again of Jesus Christ. Help is on the way.
Brothers and sisters, courage is one of the seven biblical virtues that are grace, a gift of the Holy Spirit, exemplified by Elijah. Even he faltered, but God’s grace upheld him and comforted and strengthened him, for a miraculous purpose in life. So too we look for the return of our Lord, and must keep our hearts warm and open to Him in faith and to one another through His loving grace, both in our daily personal lives, and in the challenges of the end times. Archimandrite Athanasios suggests that we test ourselves spiritually, engage in exercises, so we will not falter at the appearance of Antichrist or his forerunners, at their delusional victories, exemplified by the temporary death of the two witnesses, but will have the grace of courage like Elijah. Daily prayer, confession, fasting, heartfelt preparation and participation in the Eucharist, all guide us on the right path, so we will not despair when the witnesses are killed. They will rise again and be taken up to God. We live and move and have our being in God, as the Scriptures tell us, and in Him there are more dimensions to life than we can imagine. Even as we go out today after the service to bless our cars in memory of Elijah’s fiery chariot, he remains part of our story, as we are in his, the living story of our Lord’s Church, the Gospel story of Creation, in which we too are called to be witnesses and to be saved, and to help save others in our mission work. For as our Lord says, greater love has no man than this, than to give his life for a friend.
Above, an illustration of Alyosha and the children at the funeral in the ending of The Brothers Karamazov.
In a memorable scene from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Alyosha while mourning the passing of his Elder weeps and waters the earth with his tears, and then is described as rising up as if touched by someone (presumably his holy spiritual father) strengthened for future work.
Sinner that I am, I could not claim as deep an experience recently at the graves of my family in Chicago, but it was a moving and healing one nonetheless.
Having moved out of state, I had not visited their graves since their deaths decades ago, touched by tragedy, and repenting of sin on my part in my early family life then, in what seemed another life.
Yet on this most recent trip I brought along my priest’s satchel thinking that I might visit their graves again at last, now as an unworthy priest, to say graveside prayers there.
They were not Orthodox, so my prayers were the basic Trisagion invocations, and blessing their graves with holy water.
The cemetery is in the middle of a modern booming suburban area, and in fact could be seen from the high-rise hotel room where my older son and I were staying while visiting a living relative with health needs.
One morning on our short stay I got up early to go to the cemetery, and was grateful when my son expressed that he wanted to go with me. He had never known my parents and sister (or my grandparents) who were all buried there. Yet he helped me find the graves, and prayed with me.
All these years later, the prayers were still a release, a refreshment, an opportunity for penitential reflections on my failings as a family member, on my sinful life before becoming an Orthodox Christian almost three decades ago now (near the end of my parents’ lives and after my sister’s earlier passing), and my continued failings and sins since.
It marked a link also to memories of my final moments with each of my parents, when I was able to pray the Jesus Prayer with them as a newly baptized Orthodox Christian.
How wonderful are the prayers of our Church and is our God, that we can reach out in prayer to the past, redeem memories good and bad, and share that experience with our family members, both in our household and in our family that is the Church, and, we hope, with those of who have passed on not in the Church.
The prayers and the reaching across generations with my son present were a reminder, also, of a statement by Alyosha in Dostoevsky’s novel, that one good memory from childhood can be enough to save us, for (in my own terms) it can help to lead us to faith by the grace of our Lord.
The Orthodox Church. “No one can have God for his Father who has not the Church for his Mother,” wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage. The Orthodox Church, founded by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, the Body of Christ or Bride of Christ, began at Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit around 30 A.D., was prefigured in Old Testament times and is the biblical Israel today, continuous in episcopal succession and in doctrines and governance. Upholding the Ecumenical Church Councils, the Orthodox Church is the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” proclaimed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Russian Orthodoxy. The Russian Orthodox Church today has the largest number of adherents of the local Orthodox Churches, which include the Greek Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, and many others. “Russian Orthodox” refers to a specific local historical tradition and hierarchical governance, not necessarily ethnicity (as “Roman Catholic” historically in the West did not mean adherents were necessarily Roman). Russian Orthodoxy traces back directly through Kievan-Rus’ to Byzantium to the Holy Land. Our Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia emerged from the post-Revolutionary diaspora of many faithful Russian Christians, is headquartered in America, and is under the Patriarchate of Moscow, which was founded with the blessing of ancient apostolic patriarchates.
Basic Pilgrim Gear. The best way to learn about Orthodoxy is to attend services and to start praying. The Orthodox Study Bible and the Jordanville Prayer Book (both widely available, at our parish and from online bookstores) are two basic books to start your own library and prayer life. Consult with our Priest Paul about starting an Orthodox prayer life for which a prayer rope, called a chotki or komboschini or lestovka, is also helpful.
Basic Readings/Viewings. The first six readings below are especially helpful for inquirers and catechumens. Additional resources follow below them. Please be in touch about attending services, our Orthodoxy Online class, and our in-person Bible Study as well. Visits to monasteries are helpful, such as Holy Protection Women’s Monastery in White Haven and the Russian Orthodox Monasteries in Jordanville, NY (Holy Trinity) and in West Virginia (Holy Cross).
by Priest-Martyr Daniel Sysoev, is an excellent guide to the Orthodox faith and goes into detail about an Orthodox understanding of scripture. It is available in hardback from Orthodox bookstores and Amazon.
A classic in-depth textbook on Orthodox theology, long used at ROCOR’s Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY, by former Holy Trinity Professor Fr. Michael Pomazansky, this is now available as an e-book or paperback in English, translated by the well-known ROCOR American convert and writer Fr. Seraphim Rose.
by ROC Metropolitan St. Philaret of Moscow, essentially describes all the important doctrines of the Church. This is what our Mission currently uses in our Catechism class taught by our Rector.
Journey to Orthodoxy Compiled by Priest John Peck, a collection of stories from real people who converted to Orthodoxy from a variety of backgrounds.
The Way Into the Kingdom of Heavenby Russian Metropolitan St. Innocent of Alaska, describes the goal and practices of Orthodox Christian life, our relation to the Creator, and the aim of the Orthodox Church.
In preparing a prison inmate for Orthodox Christian baptism, I a sinner reflected on main points that have made and do make Orthodox Christianity dearest, truest, and most worthwhile in my unworthy life as an American convert. I came up with 10. But more than any such points of course, it is faith, prayer, worship, and example that convince and convict. Still, perhaps this poor offering may help a bit in reflecting on how we may be ready with an answer for our hope, as the Apostle Peter taught. They hopefully are based in the Symbol of Faith or Creed of the Church, and above all in faith in Jesus Christ, summed up in the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”
1) The complete and correct Creed. Orthodoxy preserves the original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as formed and proclaimed by the ancient Church. Others changed it. We say it at every Liturgy and at each Compline in original form and hold to it in our hearts and faith.
2) Coming from that first point: We preserve the deepest theology of Christian Trinitarianism. We don’t subordinate the Holy Spirit, which is a full member of the Trinity so to speak in the deepest sense in Orthodox teaching. Not so elsewhere. The Trinity is the ultimate mystery of love.
3) Following all the true Ecumenical Councils, Orthodoxy most clearly upholds the true nature of Christ as fully God and fully man, one person with two natures. Christ is Truth. We don’t water this down by interfaith intellectualism into Deism or Unitarianism, as many of the old Puritans did, expressed in confusion in much of modern American heterodox Christianity.
4) Orthodoxy reads Holy Scripture as both literal and symbolic in light of Church Tradition. No confusion or ignoring or tweaking of the Bible; we don’t like Protestants leave out books of the historical canonical Bible, and we rely primarily on the Old Testament used by the Apostles. We look to the inspired early Church Fathers for guidance in interpretation in light of Tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit, rather than any pope or preacher.
5) We preserve that ancient and inspired and living understanding of the Church that, like the Holy Spirit (2), Grace is not objectified. Orthodoxy teaches and demonstrates how grace is uncreated, not created. Grace is divine. Grace is not the essence of God but the energy of God. Yet that energy is uncreated. It forms a whole different basis for natural law–not legalistic, or rationalistic and individualistic in the modern senses. It highlights how theosis, or oneness with the divine energies through Christ, is the purpose and salvation of man.
6) There is no pope or preacher in the way. Christ is the Way, and His “one holy catholic and apostolic Church” of the Creed, the Orthodox Church, does not center on any one individual mortal, whether one pope in Catholicism or the idea that everyone is a pope in Protestantism. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Orthodox Church is continuous from Pentecost and has kept true to the Holy Spirit’s inspired Tradition. The Church didn’t disappear and doesn’t change under the orders of any mortal; it is the fullness of biblical Israel (and also not the modern nation-state of Israel as some wrongly believe). “Orthodoxy” means simply right teaching and right glorifying both.
7) Orthodoxy emphasizes ascetic synergy in salvation, govenie in Slavonic. Salvation is the synergy of God’s uncreated grace and our free will and struggle. Ascesis or asceticism is our will with God’s grace to be sacrifice self to serve God and each other. That’s why fasting in all senses (including alms-giving and discipline of prayer and desiring) is so much more important, for example, in Orthodoxy as a whole than in Catholicism or Protestantism. Faith is not just “in our head” but involves our body, too.
8) The true teaching of iconography in Orthodoxy is upheld by the Seventh Council growing out of the work of the first six councils. It is part of our full-bodied approach to worship, reflecting the Incarnation of Christ as central to His Church as His Body.
9) Related to (8), the beauty of Orthodoxy. That’s why St. Vlaidmir the Great converted to Orthodoxy, and his people as well. They saw the beauty of Orthodox worship and knew not whether they were in heaven or on earth, they said. This beauty of worship is physical and embodied, just as our Incarnational Lord, a reminder that Logos means also “harmony.”
10) Finally, the biggest: Love. God is love, the Evangelist John tells us. Love is the greatest virtue or gift, writes the Apostle Paul. Jesus Christ showed us how to love. He gave us a New Commandment to love our neighbor as more than our self. The mysteries and discipline of the Orthodox Church encourage and guide us into this.
Prepared by Priest Paul Siewers, Rector of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Winfield, PA, and Professor and Chaplain at Bucknell University.
Find us at stjohnthewonderworker.com, or contact us at 570-863-9039, or priestpauls@pm.me
An homily from St. John’s Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Winfield, PA, by Priest Paul Siewers.
Today we commemorate the Baptism of Rus’ in 988 AD and the First Six Ecumenical Councils that preceded it. The Baptism of Rus’ was the mass Christianization of Kievan-Rus’ the predecessor to Russia. The Six Councils of the Church during the first seven centuries of the Christian era helped defend and further articulate Church teachings and practices.
What would it take to have a Baptism of America?
Understanding of the Ecumenical Councils, for one thing. The first Six Councils, inspired by the Holy Spirit, provide the antidote to the demonic-inspired delusions and heresies that still afflict us in new and combined forms today, with even greater force.
But each time we have a baptism here in our little country church in Appalachia, each time we renew our catechism, baptismal, and chrismation vows by participating in those of someone new joining our Church, we also participate in the Baptism of America. Sayga, sayga, step by step little by little, as our Greek brothers and sisters like to say.
Take the preparation for an Orthodox baptism at the Muncy State Women’s Prison as part of our prison ministry. In preparing the inmate for baptism, in catechism, I’ve had to consider further a basic question that it is good for all of us to think and pray about, and put forward in our lives, in our missionary work. That question is, what makes Orthodoxy different from the heterodox forms of Christianity familiar in America, namely Catholicism and Protestantism? The question was discussed in our parish Orthodoxy Online class yesterday as well. The Ecumenical Councils help us to prepare an answer to that question, based in the Church Tradition that we experience in Church throughout the year, and in the lives and prayers of the Saints.
Here are 10 points that occurred to me in answer to the question, What makes Orhtodoxy truly different and worth by comparison to Protestantism, Catholicism, non-biblical faiths, neopaganism, occultism, and pseudo-scientific atheism combined? Here are my ten points, offered by me as the worst of sinners, for we should nor out of pride assume any superior righteousness, But we can and should consider how best ro witness to others for our Lord’s faith out of concern for their salvation too. Think about your “points” of witness, too, remembering that the Apostle Peter says, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” The best answers of course lie in example, love, and prayer.
1) The complete and correct Creed. Orthodoxy preserves the original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as formed and proclaimed by the ancient Church. Others changed it. We say it at every Liturgy and at each Compline in original form and hold to it in our hearts and faith.
2) Comes from that first point. We preserve the deepest theology of Christian Trinitarianism. We don’t subordinate the Holy Spirit, which is a full member of the Trinity so to speak in the deepest sense in Orthodox teaching. Not so elsewhere.
3) We preserve that ancient and inspired and living understanding of the Church that Grace is not subordinate or objectified either. Orthodoxy teaches and demonstrates how grace is uncreated, not created. Grace is divine. Grace is not the essence of God but the energy of God, yet that energy is uncreated. It forms a whole different basis for natural law that is not legalistic, or rationalistic and individualistic in the modern senses. It highlights how theosis, or oneness with the divine energies through Christ, is the purpose and salvation of man.
4) The Ecclesiology of Orthodoxy as explained in the Creed, “one holy catholic and apostolic Church,” does not center on any one individual, whether one pope in Catholicism or the idea that everyone is a pope in Protestantism. The Church is the Body of Christ. Orthodoxy shows how it is the Church of the Apostles and has kept true to the Holy Spirit’s inspired Tradition. It doesn’t cop out by saying our Lord’s Church has somehow vanished, like many Protestants do, some of whom even try to replace the biblical Israel realize din the Church with the 1948 state of Israel. Orthodoxy doesn’t identify a human leader as the Tradition, as many other groups do. “Orthodoxy” means simply right teaching and right glorifying both.
5) Orthodoxy emphasizes ascetic synergy in salvation, govenie in Slavonic. Salvation is the synergy of God’s uncreated grace and our free will and struggle. Ascesis or asceticism is our will with God’s grace to be sacrifice self to serve God and each other. That’s why fasting in all senses (including alms-giving and discipline of prayer and desiring) is so much more important, for example, in Orthodoxy as a whole than in Catholicism or Protestantism. It’s not just “in our head” but involves our body, too.
6) Following all the true Ecumenical Councils, Orthodoxy most clearly upholds the true nature of Christ as fully God and fully man, one person with two natures. We don’t water this down by interfaith intellectualism, into Deism or Unitarianism, as many of the old Puritans did, expressed in confusion in the history of American Protestantism.
7) The true teaching of iconography in Orthodoxy is upheld by the Seventh Council growing out of the work of the first six councils, is part of our full-bodied approach to worship, reflecting the Incarnation of Christ as central to His Church as His Body.
8) Related to seven, the beauty of Orthodoxy. That’s why St. Vlaidmir the Great converted to Orthodoxy, and his people as well. They saw the beauty of Orthodox worship and knew not whether they were in heaven or on earth, they said. This beauty of worship is physical and embodied, just as our Incarnational Lord, and a reminder that Logos means also “harmony.”
9) Orthodoxy reads Holy Scripture as both literal and symbolic in light of Church Tradition. No confusion or ignoring or tweaking of the Bible; we don’t leave out books of the historical canonical Bible, and we rely primarily on the Old Testament used by the Apostles. We look to the inspired early Church Fathers for guidance in interpretation in light of Tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit, rather than individual whims of ourselves or any particular popular heterodox preacher.
10) Finally, the biggest: Love. God is love, the Evangelist John tells us. Love is the greatest virtue or gift, writes the Apostle Paul. Jesus Christ showed us how to love. He gave us a New Commandment to love our neighbor as more than our self. The mysteries and discipline of the Orthodox Church encourages and guides us into this.
Those are ten things I, a sinner, could mention about how Orthodoxy is different for me and why I love Orthodoxy. Depending on whom I spoke with, one such point be more effective than others, but, with prayer, pull on any one and in Orthodoxy the thread will connect to many other aspects. There are as many such aspects of Orthodoxy as God is infinite.
What would be your response to the question of why is Orthodoxy different for you and worthwhile by contrast to heterodoxy and/or atheism or neopaganism or the occult or non-biblical religions?
We should, as Scripture says, be prepared to answer for our hope, and defend it. For this is how apologetics help us spread the faith. But most of all this starts in the spiritual dimension of example, practice, prayer, and love.
The Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils, and the Saints of the Baptism of Rus’ all stand with us. We ask them to pray for us in our mission work to the human heart today.
That’s another thing about Orthodoxy, how the saints, led by the Theotokos, are part of our Church family even in this humble little country mission. They are close as family and even closer in how they respond to us for their requests for prayers. There is no preacher or pope in the way. They are with us here in the Lord’s Church, the Body of Christ, the Orthodox Church. Amen.
(Above) Holy Cross Russian Orthodox Christian Monastery in West Virginia
An Open Letter in response to an article on my work, sent to George Washington University administrators and others involved nationally in opposing anti-religious bias in U.S, higher education. A slightly edited version is posted online by the Union of Orthodox Journalists, together with the original Illiberalism article link, at https://uoj.news/defending-faith/an-illiberal-attack-on-orthodox-christianity/ My unworthy work is not significant but hopefully this correction may help make such unfair bias less acceptable in American academia in future. Lord have mercy!
July 21, 2026
Dear IlliberalismEditors,
Eliza Fisher in a recent Illiberalism post reviewing my work provides a humorless and biased stereotype of my writing about Orthodox Christianity and culture in Appalachia, which demeans my faith culture through inaccurate polemics.
That this is done under the aegis of a supposedly university-related center (ironically the Illiberalism studies program at George Washington University), which widely promotes it on social media, raises questions about the editorial standards and biases of the larger project. The article seems “illiberal” itself in the oldest meaning of the term.
Fisher’s June 30, 2026, article uses an unexamined framework of “Reactive Orthodoxy” as a Procrustrean Bed for un-nuanced critique. But her work could be subject to counter-analysis under another label: “Reductionist Anti-Orthodox Christian Bias,” such as reducing my faith unfairly to “weaponization” in the headline.
“Reactive Orthodoxy” is a theoretical framework attributed to anthropologist Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, whose study of a traditionally minded Orthodox Christian community in West Virginia was controversial, and methodologically questioned for progressive political bias. There is no questioning of this framework by Fisher, however, who in effect uses it as a cudgel.
Tellingly, in terms of the quality of research of the article as a whole, Fisher, who holds an M.A. but with no listed peer-reviewed or professional journalism publications, identifies me from the start incorrectly as a Deacon in the Orthodox Church.
I am a Priest, as clearly listed online in many places, including sources she claimed to have studied in her research. In addition, my Church name as a Priest (and before that as a Deacon), used in my publications and in my university work in recent years, is Paul. Yet she ignores this and “dead names” me as Alfred Kentigern Siewers, an older name from earlier publications and a secular identity, so to speak.
This is from a writer who identifies herself as “investigative researcher” on her Linked-In account. She also seems concerned in the article with marginalized identities. But would she be so slipshod in misidentifying and misnaming, say, a trans person? In my experience in the past as a professional journalist, such glaring inaccuracies are often earmarks of emotional involvement, rather than measured objectivity. It is at least also a failure of basic fact-checking.
She also erroneously identifies my particular Orthodox Christian religious jurisdiction, for which I do not speak (as I do not speak for my university), as the most influential in the U.S., when it is one of the smallest. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is the largest and most often visible Orthodox entity in public contexts in the US, but there are other larger and more influential jurisdictions as well.
Most fundamentally, she engages in a mix of personal analysis and reductionist theoretical framing that lands somewhere between an opinion piece and a class research paper (perhaps the origin of the blogpost?). It offers an immature level of scholarship and undisciplined journalism either way.
In engaging in cross-disciplinary commentary, she doesn’t appreciate literary and poetic analysis in her attempted re-presentation of my views. Thus, she says that I wrote that “Trump is Aragorn,” when I was referring to a metaphoric similarity between a Tolkienian mythos of “the return of the king” and Trump’s 2024 re-election in the eyes of some, not a literal identification.
She inaccurately implies a view on my part of Unitarian-Universalism and Christian Science as involved in global conspiracy, when I clearly identify these denominational movements in U.S. history as examples of theological tendencies and influence, not conspiratorial root causes. The spiritual problem with the unitarianism of them both is broader, in my view. It wasn’t clear that she understood their shared unitarian theology.
Similarly, she speculatively looks up online a source she says may have been the basis for my descriptions of early Irish Sea Christianity, which not only was not a source for my work, but ignores detailed primary, historical, and archaeological sources on that topic in my writings, such as in my book Strange Beauty. That is not perhaps readily discovered in Google or AI searching, however.
In all this, she engages in what she criticizes my work for doing: Fantasy world-building.
From a writing standpoint, she lacks a sense of humor. When I criticized faculty “settler culture” in writing for First Things, it was in a tongue-in-cheek style, not concealing my own position as a faculty member, as she implies with her very serious literal reading.
More seriously, she claims in error (among other things) that I advocate silencing the voices of people of color and queer people, when I am critiquing from a theological-anthropological standpoint a dominant Western view of identitarianism. Her apparent advocacy informs her inaccurate summary. I do not advocate such silencing.
In the process of all this, following her unexamined “Reactive Orthodox” framework, the article engages with a spirit of Orientalism that seems to view the Russian Orthodox Christian religious minority in the U.S. as a kind of sinister fifth column. It is as if the shadowy background hides a Fu Manchu-style exotic spy story. Such a spirit would rightly be unacceptable in scholarship on, say, alleged Muslim illiberalism in America, even with the U.S. openly at war with Muslim Iran currently.
Finally, given the article’s underlying polemical ethos, which includes use of my own personal backgrounds and worldview, it would be fair for the author to disclose her own personal backgrounds and worldview as a source of bias, as well as the ideological orientation of institutional support, including funding sources for the blog and program.
In the end, deciding whether to write an opinion piece (with more of a generous sense of humor), or an accurate scholarly analysis (considering for example the theoretical framework of ecosemiotics, which she glosses over in bringing up that aspect of my work) would be a good start for needed revision. Not to mention the need for further research to know that ideas of mine Fisher concluded are innovative, about an Orthodox Christian aspect to the background of American life, are not new. They have been advanced in the past by other better-known Orthodox thinkers, such as the late Metropolitan Anthony Bashir of the Antiochian American Archdiocese, and the prolific writer and prominent Russian priest-martyr Daniel Sysoev.
As published, the article ironically is an example of illiberalism in the deepest and most personal sense—a lack of thoughtful grounding in approaching another culture or another human being, and thus a lack of generosity of heart and failure of true liberalism.
