The Morning Offering

Pussy Riot Revisited

Pussy Riot Women Vow
No More Scandalous Performances

 
After their release in March 2014, the two jailed members of Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot will no longer do performances such as the February 2012 show at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior that earned them their two-year sentences, one of them said on Monday.

"We've paid attention to the fact that, as it turns out, since 2013 this has been a criminal offense, and we've repeatedly heard opinions from people whom we take seriously. This is basically the reason why we wouldn't go to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior again - or, unquestionably, to any other church for that matter," Maria Alyokhina said in a live program on Russia's Rossiya television. She ruled out the possibility of her doing anything she knew to be a criminal offense.

In February 2012, five members of the all-women band came to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, put on masks and performed what has been dubbed as a "punk prayer." Footage with the show was posted on the Internet.

For secularized Westerners, this whole sordid performance was reduced to nothing more than free speech, totally missing the significance to the Russian people that Christ the Saviour Cathedral was rebuilt as a memorial to those who lost their lives under the suppression of Joseph Stalin's reign of terror, and the fact that Stalin had ordered the imploding of the original cathedral. Thus, the desecration of such a monument to the resurrection of the Church, after seventy years of communist suppression, was a particularly terrible affront to Believers.

The only comparison that could have been made in the United States, would have been if such a "performance" had been held in a Islamic or Jewish house of worship, which, as we all know, would have brought down the full impact of the law, and would have been seen as a hate crime. In this post-Christian era of the United States, any such action against a church would have been seen as nothing more than free speech, and perhaps simply trespassing.

In August that year, a court in Moscow convicted three of the five musicians - Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich of "hooliganism" and sentenced them to two years in a standard penal colony. In October, the Moscow City Court released Samutsevich on parole. Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are to be released in March 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement in which he said, "I feel sorry for them not because they found themselves in detention facilities, though there is nothing good in it, I feel sorry for them that they have reached such a state and that they have began scandalous behavior, which in my point of view humiliates the dignity of women."

Let us all pray for the full and true repentance of these women, that they find Christ, and come to realize how their sacrilegious actions have hurt and offended so many of their fellow countrymen.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

P.S. I'm sorry my blog article is so late being posted, but I've been suffering from a terrible case of the flu, for the past three days.

Photo: Our first snow of the season.

Friday December 20, 2013 / December 7, 2013

26^th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Nativity (St. Philip's Fast). By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (397).
Venerable Nilus, monk, of Stolben Island (1554).
Venerable Anthony, abbot of Siya Monastery (Novgorod) (1556).
New Hieromartyr Sergius (1917).
New Hieromartyr Antonius priest, Hieromartyr Andronic (1918).
St. Ambrosius confessor, bishop of Kamenets-Podolsk (1932).
New Hieromartyrs Sergius, Michael and Sergius priests, Nicephore deacon and Hieromartyr Galaction, Martyr John (1937).
New Hieromartyrs Peter and Basil priests (1941).
Venerable John, faster of St. Sabbas' monastery.
Martyr Athenodorus of Mesopotamia (304).
Venerable Paul the Obedient.
"Seligersk" (Vladimirsk) Icon of the Mother of God.
Venerable Gregory the Silent of Serbia, founder of Grigoriou Monastery, Mt. Athos (1405) (Greek). Venerable John, faster of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).
Venerable Ignatius, monk, near Blachernae (Greek).
St. Bassa of Jerusalem, abbess (5th c.).
St. Philothea of Turnovo (1060), whose relics are in Arges, Romania.
St. Diuma, bishop of the Mercians and Middle Anglians.
Martyr Neophytus (Greek).
Martyr Dometius (Greek).
Martyrs Isidore, Acepsimas and Leo (Greek).

You can read the life of the saint by clicking on the highlighted name.

THANKS to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Donations can be made directly to the monastery through PayPal, or you may send donations to:
All-Merciful Saviour Monastery PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420 USA

The Scripture Readings for the Day

1 Timothy 4:4-8

⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; ⁵ for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

A Good Servant of Jesus Christ

⁶ If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. ⁷ But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. ⁸ For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

1 Timothy 4:16

¹⁶ Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Luke 21:37-22:8

³⁷ And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. ³⁸ Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. ² And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.
³ Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. ⁴ So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. ⁵ And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. ⁶ So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

Jesus and His Disciples Prepare the Passover

⁷ Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. ⁸ And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

Luke 21:37-22:8

³⁷ And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. ³⁸ Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. ² And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.
³ Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. ⁴ So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. ⁵ And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. ⁶ So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

Jesus and His Disciples Prepare the Passover

⁷ Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. ⁸ And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

 I invite my readers to listen to my
Ancient Faith Radio podcasts:
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/morningoffering