Christian Persecution

Archbishop Kyrill Protests Against California Ban on Church Singing

Archbishop Kyrill Protests Against California Ban on Church Singing A brave and faithful Orthodox archbishop speaks out against California’s scandalous ban on singing in houses of worship. He provides the entire Church and all the other bishops with a great example of how a faithful shepherd protects his sheep and fights back against tyranny. AXIOS!

“For it is a commandment of the Lord not to be silent at a time when the Faith is in jeopardy. Speak, Scripture says, and hold not thy peace.” ~ St. Theodore the Studite

Open Letter to The Honourable Gavin Newsom, Governor of California from His Eminence Kyrill Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America in light of the decree issued by the Governor of California that forbids choral singing in churches. (July 8, 2020)
+KYRILL, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America (ROCOR)

Your Excellency,

I hereby express my protest against the recent prohibition of liturgical singing in houses of worship, which is an infringement of the rights and religious freedoms of the clergy and faithful of the Western American Diocese of the Russian Diaspora, the other Local Orthodox Churches, performing their ministry in this state, as well as other religious bodies. [Read more…]

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Know Your Enemy: Undeniable Truths About the Left and Communism

Communists hate liberty and America. Know Your Enemy: Undeniable Truths About the Left and Communism Leftists love Marxism and therefore hate liberty and hate America. … Never give up, never lose hope, never lose faith and stand in the strength of Almighty God.
by Dex Bahr –
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”— Sun Tzu

Freedom-loving, patriotic Americans need to take a deep breath, calm down and accurately assess the current cultural and political situation in the country. It is time to stop reacting to what the left does and instead focus on some undeniable truths about our enemies. Victory only comes after finding your opponents’ weaknesses and exploiting them, but such flaws cannot be found without honest and careful study. This is how patriots fight. [Read more…]

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The Stars and Stripes Forever – Stand Up to Marxist Evil Threatening America

The Stars and Stripes Forever – Stand Up to Marxist Evil Threatening Americaby Abbot Tryphon –
Stand up to those who would destroy our nation’s heritage.

Earlier today it was announced that the statue of Christopher Columbus that has long stood before the state capital in Columbus, Ohio, has been removed. But what really shocked me was hearing that they are now considering changing the name of their city, seeing Christopher Columbus as responsible for the genocide of indigenous peoples.

That we Americans are allowing ANTIFA Marxists to dictate the destruction of national symbols of our history is unbelievable. That there are leftists demanding the removal of the presidential images on Mt. Rushmore, the toppling of statues, not only of Confederacy, but even of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, all in the name of social justice, is appalling to me. The fact that some of these Marxists have even gone so far as to demand all images of Jesus Christ, and His Holy Mother, be destroyed as symbols of white supremacy, is beyond belief. [Read more…]

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Destruction of Western Civilization – Nihilism, Nietzsche, and the Anti-Christian Crisis

Western culture and civilization are rooted in Christianity. Remove Christianity and the foundations crumble to dust.by Wen Wryte –
Western culture and civilization are rooted in Christianity. Remove Christianity and the foundations crumble to dust. Which is exactly what we are seeing today as nihilism pervades our culture and society.

Nihilism is now a pervasive feature of Western society. Friedrich Nietzsche gave us the formulation of nihilism that is now commonly accepted: a sentiment that nothing really matters, and that there is no point in life. In the most extreme manifestations, life itself is considered worthless.

Passive nihilism consists of simply withdrawing from life-affirming activities (this was Nietzsche’s verdict on Schopenhauer’s pessimistic philosophy). It is demonstrated in the hopelessness and despair of those seemingly condemned to a life constrained by adverse circumstances or their own lack of imagination or resourcefulness. Some go further than resignation — for example, the slow suicide of opioid addicts attests to the life-denying motivations of passive nihilism. [Read more…]

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Hundreds of California Churches Plan to Open May 31, Not Asking for Permission

Hundreds of California Churches Plan to Open May 31 - Not Asking for PermissionBrave and inspiring leadership from our Protestant brethren. Christians can be safe, loving, and faithful, without being lukewarm or fearful.

by Heather Sells –
Nearly 500 California pastors are preparing to open their doors on Sunday, May 31st — whether or not they have guidance from the state.

“The churches are not asking for permission,” said Bob Tyler, a religious freedom attorney advising the pastors. “The governor is sitting here as a dictator, trumping the Constitution and is kind of hanging on to this state of emergency for as long as he can hold it.”

“We’ll give the governor an opportunity to amend his order,” said Tyler. “If he doesn’t, these pastors have told me that they’re committed to opening regardless of what the governor decides.” [Read more…]

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Closing Orthodox Churches is Unjustified Offense Against God

Georgian Church Closing Orthodox Churches is Unjustified Offense Against GodHoly Synod of the Orthodox Church of Georgia –
The Georgian Patriarchate issued a strong statement, both reiterating its call for the faithful to follow necessary sanitary guidelines and responding to those who are attacking the Church’s ancient practices.

In many places where services have continued and the faithful have continued to partake of Holy Communion, those who are ill-disposed to the holy Orthodox faith, including amongst media representatives, are loudly attacking the Church and its hierarchs, accusing them of putting people in danger, such as in Serbia and Ukraine, Romania, and in Georgia as well, as testified to by yesterday’s statement from the Georgian Church.

While calling on the faithful to observe heightened sanitary practices,the Georgian Patriarchate asserts strongly that a ban on Church attendance is an unjustified offense against God, [Read more…]

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Islamicization of Public Education Continues Apace

Islamicization of Public Education Continues Apaceby Fr. Mario Alexis Portella –
This is not just a violation of the First Amendment but an ongoing, albeit subtle, diffusion of Islam in our Western society.

On October 15, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition presented by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to hear Wood v. Arnold, a case brought by Caleigh Wood, a Christian student in the 11th grade at La Plata High School in Maryland. Wood refused to take part in a school exercise she felt would deny her faith “by making a written profession of the Muslim conversion prayer known as the shahada—‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’.” The TMLC argues the school violated the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Speech clauses when it ordered Wood to do an assignment that she could not complete without violating her Christian beliefs; the teacher then gave her a failing grade. [Read more…]

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Isabella Chow: Christian Courage Stands Up to LGBT Tyranny at Berkeley

Isabella Chow: Christian Courage Stands Up to LGBT Tyranny at Berkeleyby Jennifer Davis –
As a parent of an Orthodox Christian teenager and frequent counselor of other Christian teens, it’s encouraging to see Christian women like Isabella Chow take a courageous stand against the LGBT tyranny so prevalent in our time. Chow refused to bow down to aggressive LGBT tactics meant to silence her voice and force her to resign for refusing to endorse the LGBT agenda.

“To the surprise of exactly no one who pays attention to the totalitarianism of the LGBT movement, and of diversity culture in general, it is no longer enough to dissent from public orthodoxy. You must affirm it — or be destroyed,” remarks Rod Dreher, the Orthodox Christian senior editor of The American Conservative, regarding the unjustified attack of the LGBT fanatics on Isabella Chow. [Read more…]

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The Challenge of Defending the Normal

The Challenge of Defending the Normalby Dale Ahlquist –
It is normal to believe in God. It is normal to believe that a family is composed of a father, mother, and children.

We continue to reel from the blows dealt by the Culture of Death. The attack on life, and particularly on the family, that institution which is the incubator and nourisher of life, continues relentlessly. Our states and our courts have now given the name of “marriage” to a fundamentally unnatural and barren relationship that was once unmentionable in polite company. Being pummeled like this can be disorienting, and even good people are starting to talk like they’ve been hit in the head too many times.

We have let ourselves get cornered. But we can change the momentum in this fight. It starts by taking control of the conversation, and not being controlled by buzz words [Read more…]

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Christians Must Witness Their Faith, Speak Up, and Resist Evil

St. Paisios the Athonite by St. Paisios the Athonite –
If Christians don’t begin to witness their faith, to resist evil, then the destroyers will become even more insolent. But today’s Christians are no warriors. If the Church keeps silent, to avoid conflict with the government, if the metropolitans are silent, if the monks hold their peace, then who will speak up?

The spirit of lukewarmness reigns. There’s no manliness at all! We’ve been spoiled for good! How does God still tolerate us? Today’s generation is the generation of indifference. There are no warriors The majority are fit only for parades.

Godlessness and blasphemy are allowed to appear on television. And the Church is silent and doesn’t excommunicate the blasphemers. And they need to be excommunicated. What are they waiting for? Let’s not wait for someone else to pull the snake out from its hole so that we can live in peace.

They’re silent out of indifference. What’s bad is that even people who’ve got something inside have begun to grow cool, saying: “Can I really do anything to change the situation?” We have to witness our faith with boldness, because if we continue to be silent we’ll have to answer in the end. [Read more…]

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