The Morning Offering

The Rise of
Religious Fascism 

Patriarch Kirill and Pope Shenouda

And the Polarization of East and West

The hard-line Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has won 36.6 percent of the vote in recent Egyptian elections. The even harder-line Salafist party, Al-Nour, won 24.4 percent. The coalition of liberal, social-democratic, and secular parties, the Egyptian Bloc was able to garner only 13.4 percent of the vote. The forces of sharia and jihad have won by a landslide.

Theocratic by design, the Muslim Brotherhood has stated as it's creed, “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.’’ Furthermore, Abdel Moneim el-Shahat, a Salafist sheik and Nour Party candidate, has demanded that society make sharia law obligatory, creating  an Egypt, as he explained in a public debate, with “citizenship restricted by Islamic sharia, freedom restricted by Islamic sharia, equality restricted by Islamic sharia.’’

It would now seem that the persecution of the minority Coptic Orthodox Christians, already under heavy threat with attacks on bishops and priests, the murdering of innocent citizens, and the burning of churches and attacks on monasteries, will escalate on a massive level. With over a hundred thousand Coptic Christians having fled to the West since the beginning of the "Arab Spring", there is little evidence that the Egyptian army will be able, or willing, to protect the Coptic minority, who number only ten percent of the population.

Like it or not, we have entered World War III, a war that is being waged between two civilizations, Islam verses the West. Please join me in praying for the safety and well-being of our Coptic Orthodox brothers and sisters. Pray also for our Western nations, including the United States, where we are seeing increased violence in our own streets as more and more of the unemployed and disenfranchised are turning out in total frustration over the failure of our Western economic institutions, corporate greed, and the loss of our middle class.

This world has entered a very dangerous period of decline, and this is no time for Christians to give in to discouragement and despair. We Christians must take the lead with courage, faith, and hope. We must be the peacemakers, working for peace and justice for all. We must speak out to our nations leaders, asking that we return to our nations religious roots, not giving in to the fascism that can enter a society, just as it did during World War II in Germany, Italy and Japan. The potential is in all of us, during difficult times such as these. We must guard our hearts, just as we guard our borders. We must pray for peace within our hearts in order to bring peace to our world.

With love in Christ,

Abbot Tryphon

Wednesday December 7, 2011 / November 24, 2011

26^th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Nativity Fast. Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

Afterfeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple.
Great-martyr Mercurius of Caesarea in Cappadocia (259).
Great-martyr Catherine of Alexandria (305).
Hieromartyr Mercurius of Smolensk (1238).
Venerable Mercurius, the Faster of the Kievan Caves, far caves (14th C).
New Hieromartyr Eugraphus (1919).
New Hieromartyrs Eugine and Michael priests, Virgin-martyr Anysia (1937).
New Hieromartyrs Alexander, Alexis, John, Cornelius, and Metrophanes priests (1937).
Martyrs Augusta (Faustina) the Empress, Porphyrius, and 200 soldiers at Alexandria with Great-martyr Catherine (305).
Venerable Mastridia of Alexandria (1060).
Venerable Simon, abbot of Soiga Monastery (Vologda) (1561).
Martyr Philothea of Romania (1060).
St. Gregory, founder of the monastery of the Golden Rock in Pontus.
Martyr Alexander at Corinth (4th C).
Venerable Luke, steward of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
St. Hermogenes, bishop of Agrigentum (ca. 260).
Venerable Romanus of Bordeaux (382), and Venerable Protasius, hermit of Auvergne (6th c.) (Gaul).
Venerable Portianus of Arthone (527) (Gaul).
St. Minver, virgin of Cornwall.
Maryrs Philemenus, Christopher, Eugene, Procopius, and another Christopher (Greek).
Martyr Chrysogenes and Monk-martyr Mark Triglinos (Greek).
Hieromartyrs Clement, pope of Rome (101), and Peter, archbishop of Alexandria (311) (Greek).
St. Malchus of Chalcis in Syria (5th c.).
St. Nicodemus the Younger of Philokalos in Thessalonica (ca. 1305).

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1 Timothy 1:18-20

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸ This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹ having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, ²⁰ of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 2:8-15

 

Men and Women in the Church

⁸ I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; ⁹ in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, ¹⁰ but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. ¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. ¹² And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. ¹⁵ Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Luke 18:26-30

 

²⁶ And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
²⁸ Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
²⁹ So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

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