Director – Pascal Laugier

Cast – Morjana Alaoui, Mylene Jampanoi, Catherine Begin, Isabelle Chasse

Release Year – 2008

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Here’s a French horror film that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008 and really grabbed positive buzz that quickly snowballed this film into being one of the most talked about 2008 horror films. Not to mention that this film was only screened twice at the Cannes Film Festival! After hearing this buzz myself through my horror information channels I use, I decided I definitely had to see this film. After viewing “Martyrs” I do have to agree with basically very critique I’ve read about this film, everyone loves it!

The film begins with one of our leads, Lucie, escaping from a secluded warehouse and running frantically through the streets in hardly any clothing, and with visible blood and bruises adorning her body. Fast forward a little bit and she is being taken care of in a center for neglected and abused children. She makes friends with another little girl at the center named Anna. Anna is Lucie’s strength and shoulder to cry on, and is doing what she can to help authorities find out who abused Lucie. We are then introduced to the notion that there is a strange, demon creature who is following Lucie everywhere she goes, attacking her and tormenting her just like she was before she escaped her captors.

Fast forward 15 years later and the girls are out on their own. Lucie is out for revenge against those who tormented her in that lonely warehouse 15 years ago. Although she does technically get her revenge against those horrid people, she then gets Anna involved in the story behind her former captors, which is much, much bigger than they imagined. Anna is then thrown into the dark reality of what the people behind the abuse and kidnappings are all about. It is a sinister hierarchy of people with a goal in mind, a goal that they will need Anna in order to accomplish.

This film goes where most other films do not have the guts or the strength to go to. We see our two stars pushed to the very brink of sanity with the things they have to go through in this film. How on earth Lucie made it even one year with that demon thing following her is beyond me. Just wait until you see what I’m talking about…you wont be disappointed. This film takes off pretty quickly, with us seeing some intense stuff pretty early on into the movie. This film doesn’t shy away from the gore and brutality whatsoever. What I really enjoyed about the gore in this film is that it is “necessary” for the story of this film. Lots of times we see films with lots of gore, and its cool, but its pretty much thrown in there to please the fans who want to see it(like me!). With “Martyrs”, the gore we see in this film has everything to do with the plot and the movie. The story would not be able to develop into what it is at the end of the film without the gore and abuse that we see these girls go through. This is one of the more original films I’ve seen this year, and I really enjoyed how they were able to put all this great stuff into a film that we really haven’t seen before. Sure we have seen “torture” porn films like “Saw” and “Hostel”, but this film goes beyond that and has an original story not really having to do with murder like the films I just mentioned.

What happened with the story of this film kind of reminds me of what happened with “The Strangers”. The first half of the film is fast paced and scary, and the second half really changes the direction of the film in a way I(and fans alike) really did not like. The second half of this film is not bad whatsoever, it is actually a really interesting series of events involving the story behind why Lucie was kidnapped and abused. However, I would have preferred that the film finish off with the way it started, just downright terrifying and full of action and emotion. The film did slow down in the second half, but it was not to the point where it is so slow that it is boring. It simply felt slow due to the fact that the first half was so fast paced. Other than that I really have no complaints with this film, and I really do not consider it a “complaint”, because it was not a “bad” idea to finish the last half of the film the way they did. The second half was still interesting, and hey…maybe some of you will prefer it finishes the way that it did.

Overall, this is definitely one of the very best horror films of 2008, and quite possibly the best French horror film we’ve been given so far.

Rating: 9/10

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs. Many will no doubt draw parallels with the Holy Innocents of our age. So let’s stop and reflect together in two posts. If one were to accept the definition of personhood given by our Culture of Death, these Innocents barely qualified, as they had no real substantive accomplishments or contributions to society. But their deaths purposed their lives in ways greater than John the Baptist’s. Their slaughter, their collective sacrifice was the first public heralding of Jesus as the Messiah, the King of Kings. So terrified was Satan of this coming, that he entered Herod’s heart and preyed on his vanity and fear, that he sought the only remedy his rebellion against God will admit-Death.

The loss of so many in our day to abortion similarly is not a meaningless sacrifice. These Innocents too, in their collective sacrifice, act as heralds. Their sacrifice proclaims the sanctity of a single human life. The proclamation of that sanctity underscores the purpose of the Incarnation. The Messiah Himself tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who would leave the entire flock to seek out the one lost sheep. He tells us that there is more rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner than there is over ninety-nine righteous men giving praise.

These innocents, though their lives have been short, thunder at us to regain our sanity, to reclaim our dignity, and in so doing realize their great potential. They are our advocates before the Father, their prayers especially for their mothers’ and fathers’ healing and wholeness. They echo Jesus’ prayer on the cross to forgive us, for we know not what we do. Most truly do not know.

On this feast, we do well to pray with and for those mothers and fathers, rejoicing with those who have come to embrace of the Gospel of Life and who now labor together in the pro-life movement. To hear a single witness has been the most profound experience for me. My prayerful best wishes this day to all mothers and fathers in Silent No More, Rachel’s Vineyard and all other related ministries. You have been towers of strength and inspiration for this one scientist. My decision to place my scientific career on a pro-life advocacy trajectory has been in no small measure the fruit of your witness. May God Bless You, and those parents whose similar embrace of the Gospel of life we pray is not too far distant.

New Hieromartyr St Hilarion Troitsky (1886-1929), the scroll that he holds reads, “Without the Church there is no salvation”.

According to the holy Fathers…, a heretical doctrine is a virus, a poison that leads to spiritual infection and results in spiritual death… The Latinising Orthodox Ecumenists are waiting for the day when the mind-set (phronema) of Orthodox peoples will have become sufficiently blunted to be ready to accept such a diabolic betrayal of the Faith.

New Hieromartyr St Hilarion Troitsky

The Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christian Communities

On Monday, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the New Hieromartyr St Hilarion Troitsky, whose relics rest in Moscow, in the Sretensky Monastery. Our ANN correspondent visited the monastery and found out that people come there and appeal to the saint for help. The monks of the monastery declined to tell us what particular needs the saint fulfilled; they asked us to consult the official website of their monastery.

However, we found only one note. It was about the healing of a nearly blind woman. She said that because her vision had badly deteriorated, she could not read price tags in the store, and could only trim her nails by feeling them. Then, this woman went to the relics of the martyr and asked him to pray to the Lord to return her eyesight. In the evening, arriving at her dacha, she picked up the Orthodox calendar, and, suddenly, without spectacles, clearly saw the writing on the page.

The female employees of the church at the Sretensky Monastery were more talkative. One of them told our ANN correspondent, “St Hilarion sends help to all who need it, but, only if our desires don’t conflict with God’s Will. We sometimes ask for unprofitable things, and that’s not God’s Will. One of my friends had a very bad headache, it was really bad, so, she took it to the saint”.

However, the saint helps not only those who are sick. A Muscovite woman told our ANN correspondent, “At some point I ceased to find any point in my work. I don’t remember whether I came to the relics of St Hilarion because of this specifically, or I just went because of things generally. However, when I left the monastery, I had a very happy feeling… I felt that I was starting a new and better life. That feeling lasted for several days. I’d say that it was maybe a week later that someone called me and offered me a new and more interesting job, and I really started to live a better life”.

Hieromartyr St Hilarion Troitsky, Archbishop of Vereisk, is one of the Assembly of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. He was born in 1886 in Tula Guberniya in the family of a village priest. Hieromartyr Hilarion received a kandidatura in theology at Moscow Theological Academy, and, then, became a professor of theology. All told, he devoted about ten years to theological work. He took monastic vows, when he was 27 years old, and, shortly thereafter, he became inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy.

In 1919, the Bolsheviks imprisoned St Hilarion in the Butyrki. From his cell, he wrote to relatives, “I remain in good spirits, I am settled down here for as long as is necessary. Here, I even feel better, I’ve put on weight, and, physically, I feel very good”. His first imprisonment lasted two months. In 1920, the saint was consecrated the Bishop of Vereisk and, then, was appointed abbot of the Sretensky Monastery. From then on, with regularity, he began to serve two services daily. In the time between them, he received visitors. About this time, St Hilarion wrote, “I feel like a prisoner chained to his wheelbarrow… but, I still live. I not only have no free days, there are no free hours when I might do what I wish, for I must do what is necessary in a hurry”.

Vladyki Hilarion’s vigorous church work and his assistance to Patriarch Tikhon was the cause of a new arrest, which occurred in 1922. As a result, he was exiled for a year to Arkhangelsk. In 1923, he returned to Moscow and became an archbishop. A few months later, the authorities arrested him and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment for “spreading false rumours and propaganda against the Soviet state under the banner of religion”. When St Hilarion landed on Solovki, he said, “We’ll never leave here alive”. At Solovki, Vladyki was a lumberjack, a watchman, and fisherman.

In 1925, he was transferred to Yaroslavl prison, housed in a separate cell, was allowed to read any book, write and send letters after the authorities censored them. In Yaroslavl, twice, he talked with Yevgeni Tuchkov, who was one of the most notorious persecutors of the Church in the GPU. Tuchkov proposed to Vladyki that he join the [Living Church] schism, promising that if he did this, he would gain freedom and become a Metropolitan. Tuchkov flattered St Hilarion, saying that Moscow loved him, and then, Tuchkov threatened St Hilarion, “How much time did you do on Solovki? Three years? For Hilarion, three years? So few?” However, St Hilarion flatly refused to go into schism.

Then, he went back to Solovki. Before half a year was up, in November 1926, when Vladyki’s sentence was almost complete, they gave him another three years in Solovki. In 1929, Vladyki Hilarion received a sentence of three years exile in Kazakhstan. As he was seriously ill with typhus, the authorities pulled him off the prisoner transport and took him to Leningrad. He died on 28 December 1929 in a Leningrad prison hospital. That night, his relatives received his crudely made wooden coffin. It was difficult to recognise Bishop Hilarion, for a gaunt old man with a shaven head lay in the coffin. That was in spite of the fact that New Hieromartyr St Hilarion was only 43 years old.

27 December 2009

Alla Tuchkova

ANN News

http://www.annews.ru/news/detail.php?ID=204666

Editor’s Note:

I had been wondering on what to do about the OCA situation. I had been letting it lie until the burial of Bishop Job on Saturday, 26 December. This piece decided me. I must continue to write and speak out… I shall not face what St Hilarion faced, that’s certain. The worst that the autocephalist fanatics can do is to call me names, air my dirty linen, and do their best to blacken my name. They cannot hurt or harm me in any way.

One of St Hilarion’s works that is a necessary read is The Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christian Communities. You can download it in audio form at the link below:

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/the-unity-of-the-church.aspx

I would advise Mr Munday of Nashotah House to read the above piece. Then, he shall realise that JP and Hatfield committed an abomination in Orthodox terms by penning an agreement with him. I would advise all decent Orthodox that JP and Hatfield have invited the heresiarch Rowan Williams to speak at SVS. Recall the quote from St Hilarion at the head of this article, a heretical doctrine is a virus, a poison that leads to spiritual infection and results in spiritual death. This means that the open invitation of Rowan Williams is a free admission by JP and Hatfield that they no longer embrace the Orthodox faith and that they no longer care that they scandalise the faithful.

You may not be able to stop them… true enough. However (as Chuckcha the Wise would say)… “You send no money, they have no power”. So far, people have been sitting on their hands… it has led to two Syosset apparatchiki hitting the pavement. Keep it up… they’re not only running out of excuses, they’re running out of cash.

Pray for us, Holy Hilarion the New Martyr! Petition Our Lord Christ that we may see a united Russian Orthodox Church in our land! God wills it!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Sunday 27 December 2009

Albany NY

The Colosseum

I already blogged on the Christian martyrs venerated in the Colosseum, and pointed out that there is no evidence that Christians were killed on that terrible place. The evidence, in fact, suggests the opposite. No Medieval list of martyrdom sites mentions the Colosseum. There is actually more evidence of Jewish martyrdoms: the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a) mentions an emperor ordering a rabbi to be thrown into an arena full of wild animals. It’s not much, but more than we can say about Christian martyrs.

Yet, you will not find a Jewish memorial in the Colosseum, and not because our Talmudic scene deals with an amphitheater, not the amphitheater of Rome. The reason is much more profound.

Christians will go to the places where people have been killed and say their prayers, believing that God will hear them. The Omnipresent is also present where atrocities have taken place. To some extent, secular people share this idea: even though they will not say a prayer, they erect monuments on crime scenes. In Rome, the memorial of the Fosse Ardeatine massacre is a case in point.

This is not the way Jews look at things. Places like the Colosseum are somehow outside the realm of God’s goodness. This means that there are better places to say your prayers, and even if we had absolute certainty that out rabbi faced martyrdom in the Colosseum, there would still not be a Jewish monument. The locations of the horrors are not the place of worship, and are best abandoned.

I am not saying that this view is better than the Christian/secular view. Nor do I think that we should abandon the Colosseum altogether. Yet, the Roman archaeological authorities, who have always been able to present their many treasures in an often beautiful fashion, ought to be capable of creating a more dignified atmosphere at the Colosseum – without shouting tourist guides, without exceptionally amateurish reenactors, without souvenir shops. Unfortunately, the only thing I’ve heard from the tourist authorities, a proposal to organize gladiatorial contests in the Colosseum again, was singularly revolting. Rome should be capable of inventing something better.

There will always be an England if St. George lives in our memories! Hip, hip, up the Raj. St. George slays the dragon and all is right when chivalry and courage Rule Britannia. You might have guessed that St. George is the patron Saint of England. He is also the patron Saint of Germany, Portugal, Greece, Canada, the Boy Scouts and many more things.

In keeping with the Knight of Swords archetype, or Mr. Harum-Scarum as I call him, George can be seen to be rushing in, hacking dragons to death, when all he’s really got in front of him is a minor worm that could be handled with a more reasoned approach. Between the black and white is grey, between enormous and tiny, is middling small. It does remind me of Imperial Britain and her attitude toward the colonies and natives.

There is no solid historical documentation of George’s life, but after years of trying to sort it out and either verify or disprove his existence, the Catholic Church is saying that somebody lived and died. He was a martyr, and he was referred to as a good man, but the legend of the dragon was a Medieval invention apparently. George was simply a Christian man, possibly a soldier in the Roman army at Lydda, who came to be persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian in this region of Palestine around the 3rd or 4th century A.D. He was thus tortured and beheaded for his faith.

Other accounts say Diocletian was a friend of his father, an army official, and that’s why George was accepted into the army, and eventually rose to the position of Tribune in the imperial guard, where he directly clashed with Diocletian’s bias against soldiers in the Roman army who were Christian. He objected and couldn’t be persuaded to change his mind and was martyred. I’m skeptical of this enlargement of legend and personal ties to Diocletian. They say George died at Nicomedia, but this seems to be another legend. That there was a martyr who clashed with Diocletian or Dadianus (a local administrator) and was killed at Nicomedia is true, but he is not verified to be George. Diocletian himself would not have been scampering about in remote army camps in the provinces, chatting to mere soldiers about their faith, family friend or not. This story wasn’t even related to the cult of George at Lydda until much later.

People like to embellish a good story.

That wasn’t enough for Medieval literature and someone in the 12th century decided to really romanticize George. It was then written that George came to a town where a dragon was eating two people a day and the King’s daughter was next up in the lottery of townspeople to be sacrificed. So George killed the dragon and rescued the daughter. The banner with the red cross was given to him by the town and some stories say he converted the town to Christianity using the cross on the banner. This red cross is the base for the flag of Great Britain and seems to owe its birth to the Crusades rather than George, but why not throw it all into the mix? Give that guy in the scriptorium a bit more to fill up that page of vellum and paint some chopped up pieces of George’s flesh flowing with milk for marginalia and we’ve got a book, by George.

Does every story have to be bigger and better with shiny doodads, desperate maidens, cruel family friends, and dragons in it? The Patron Saint of Excessive Embellishment seems more interesting to me as he was, a dusty Roman in an out of the way place who happened to have the wrong ideas for the time and suffered terribly for it.

In the cards I have here, there are three in the Golden Tarot of the Tsar. XI Strength and the 6 of Wands refer to the dragon legend and George’s triumph there, and the 8 of Swords refers to his martyrdom and great suffering which I find moving since we so rarely hear of this aspect of his life. The playing card has a beautiful painting from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris from a French illuminated manuscript, again showcasing the dragon legend. Interestingly, St. George on the XI Strength card in the Golden Tarot of the Tsar is about intelligence dominating brutality, common sense and self-control, which is opposite to what we often think of with the Knight of Swords, a point that author Robert Place emphasizes in his text for the Tarot of the Saints.

The Feast of Stephen is today. So yesterday’s song, in a way, belongs to today. I was going to tell you about the feast, and how it got started, but one fellow has already done such a good job that I leave it to him.

So, for you curious ones, here is all about the Feast of Stephen, as well as other Christmas lore.

Something for the weekend and the feast of Saint Stephen, the first of the glorious line of martyrs for Christ.  Good King Wenceslas has always been one of my favorite Christmas Hymns.  We see in this hymn how the love of Christ in the breast of the King translates into immediate and personal action on his behalf to aid the poor man.  The winter storm are the adversities of life that deter so many of us from good works.  Following boldly in the footsteps of the saints can allow us to conquer all obstacles in our path to carrying out  that prime command of Christ:  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The video above is my favorite of the three I have posted, replete with images of Saint King Wenceslas.  However, the Irish Rovers add their own Celtic lilt.

And the last video is a truly majestic rendition of this noble hymn.

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath’ring winter fuel

“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

St. Stephen

Feast Day of St. Stephen, First Martyr

Stephen, one of the seven deacons chosen by the Apostles amongst the most pious and holy disciples to help them, received from them mission to organize the meals where the poor were fed in common.  St. Stephen was renowned for his virtues and worked such great wonders and signs among the people that the Jews from five different synagogues became alarmed and summoned him before the Sanhedrin.  The Jews stoned this holy deacon, who invoked our Lord, saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit…Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”  His name is inscribed in the Canon of the Mass.

- From The Roman Catholic Missal, 1962

Collect

Dan obis, quaesumus, Domine, imitari quod colimus; ut discamus et inimicos diligere; quia ejus natalitia celebramus, qui novit etiam pro persecutoribus exorare Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum Qui tecum vivit et regnat.

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so to imitate what we revere, that we may learn to love even our enemies: for we celebrate the heavenly Birthday of him who knew how to pray for his very persecutors to our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.

Epistle (Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59)

St. Stephen, stoned by the Jews, asked pardon for his persecutors.

In those days Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people.  Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen.  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke. Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed with their teeth at him.  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.  And they crying out with a loud voice stopped their ears and with one accord ran violently upon him.  And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul.  And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.  And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.

Gospel (Mt. 23:34-29)

Jesus had upbraided the Jews for having killed and stoned the prophets.  Our Lord foretold to the Apostles their martyrdom for His name’s sake.  The Jews fulfilled the words of the Savior, and Stephen is the first of the witnesses of Christ.

At that time Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: Behold I send to you prophets and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.  Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.  Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?  Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate.  For I say to you, you shall not see Me henceforth till you say: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.

The hallway where Fr Aleksandr Filippov was murdered

This brutal murder shocked the residents of sleepy rural Podolsk. On Tuesday evening, around 21.00, Orthodox priest Aleksandr Filippov returned home from Moscow from a meeting of the local clergy. At the entrance, he stumbled into a bunch of drunks. They warmed themselves and drank beer straight from the bottle. Then, one of the drunks unzipped and peed right at the priest’s apartment. Fr Alexander was furious and made a sharp remark. He pushed his way through them, came to his door, and knocked. When his wife Yelena opened the door, the thugs shot the priest in the back.

Yelena was crying as she spoke to us. “I just couldn’t understand what happened. My husband suddenly fell onto the wall, and I dragged him into the hall. Those who shot him immediately took off like the wind. For about five minutes, he was still breathing a little. Then, he died in my arms and right before our daughters. It turned out that the crooks got him right in the heart…”

Literally, within minutes, the cops were on the scene. Neighbours say that, at other times, the police didn’t respond and didn’t hustle the yobs out of the building. Yet, this time, such speed…

Natalia, a resident in the same wing (“02”) of the building, said, “We heard a commotion, and, a moment later, the terrible cries of our neighbour below.. It surprised us that the cops arrived so quickly”.

Looking at the painted fire extinguishers on the wall and the beer bottles scattered on the floor, I asked, “Do you often see drunks hanging out here?”

She sighed, “We’ve resigned ourselves to that. When it’s hot, the alkies and the teenagers hang out on the street and drink. As soon as it gets cold, they head for the entrances. We don’t have an intercom on our front door. It’s not a scandal to anybody, so, to keep out of harm’s way, we lay low in the evenings. You’d best look out or they’ll smash a bottle over your head. Fr Aleksandr had enough of it, so, he said something. He paid for that”.

Matushka Yelena Recognised the Murderer

That very same evening, the cops nicked the murderer. It was midnight when the cops brought 39-year-old local resident Oleg Shekhov to the Podolsk UVD (police station), where the grieving widow and her daughters were still giving their testimony to the detectives. When Shekhov passed by her, Matushka Yelena immediately recognised him as the murderer of her husband. At the homes of his friends, 35-year-old Vladimir Mitrofanov and 28-year-old Alexei Abramov, investigators found a Saiga shotgun and a IZh-79-9TM starter’s pistol converted to fire actual bullets. Shekhov used the pistol to shoot the priest.

The sobered-up perps said in justification that they were near Fr Aleksandr’s entrance to deal with the cohabitating girlfriend of one of them. They said that she was continually making life hard for them. They wanted a showdown with her, so, they packed a gun.

The detectives said to us, “After he shot [the priest], the suspect Shekhov picked up the spent cartridge case and fled the scene. By the bye, he’s already been tried for murder, but, he only did two years for it. Now, he faces up to 15 years in prison”.

He Healed Drunks

Yesterday, people spent the whole day praying for the soul of Fr Aleksandr in a little church in the village of Satino-Russkoye, 15 kilometres (9.32 miles) from Podolsk. The murdered priest was the rector here, in the church of the Ascension of our Lord. Two of the shaken parishioners, Yelena and Nadezhda, said to us, “Batiushka came to our village from the cathedral in Podolsk in 1996. Back then, it seemed impossible that we could restore the church. The Soviets had turned it into a warehouse for storing manure”.

Fr Aleksandr Filippov served the first liturgy here outdoors in the open air because it was impossible to hold a service inside the church. He pledged that he would restore the church building even though he had no experience in construction and restoration.

The locals remembered, “He just walked through the village, he asked the assembled men what to do. They restored the bell tower, and, after that, the church itself. Many of our men, who used to be drunken sots before, went to Fr Aleksandr, now, they carry icons. Would you believe it? On Christmas and Easter, the peasants didn’t guzzle vodka, but, they went to services to celebrate!”

Since then, every Saturday, Fr Aleksandr began to meet with those who couldn’t defeat drunkenness. Candles burned continually before the icons of the martyr St Boniface and the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Cup”, before which supplicants traditionally pray for deliverance from addictions. People believed in this priest and it helped.

Wiping away tears, Fr Oleg, the Dean of the Podolsk district, told our KP correspondent, “Every week, he went to a drug treatment clinic a few kilometres from his church. He talked with the patients, and he healed them. He wanted to build a small chapel and go more often to visit the sick, for he believed in their healing. However, in the end, it turned out that he himself suffered from drunken louts”.

With the approval of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Fr Aleksandr Filippov shall be buried near his church. He shall lie near his mother and brother, who died several years ago.

His youngest daughter, Sashenka, was born sickly and is in need of regular treatment by doctors. The Patriarchate promised us that it would not leave the orphaned family of Fr Aleksandr in the lurch.

24 December 2009

Rinat Nizamov

Комсомольская Правда (Komsomolskaya Pravda: Komsomol Truth)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=10783

In front of MARTYRS’ at

3855 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL.  

Facing the stage, front door

entrance there on the left.

Exterior of Ascension church in the village of Satino-Russkoye in Podolsk raion in Moscow oblast, where Fr Aleksandr Filippov was rector.

Here is a link for a video in Russian, for those with facility in that language:

http://life.ru/news/7529

******

Another murder of a priest, this time, the rector of a parish in Podolsk raion near Moscow, is a serious warning to society, sources in the MP said. “Human reason is just numbed by such evil, when someone becomes a victim of blatant outright anger. Everyone should reflect on the events of recent months very seriously”, Vladimir Legoida, the head of the Synodal Information Department, told Interfax-Religion. This was in comment on the murder of 39-year-old Archpriest Aleksandr Filippov, rector of Ascension church in the village of Satino-Russkoye in the Moscow suburbs. On Tuesday night, thugs shot Fr Aleksandr in the heart at the entrance to his house. He had criticised several people for urinating at the entrance of his house, and, in response, they shot him. Mr Legoida told us that a special group of investigators was on the crime scene shortly after the incident, and that they were helping to assist the family of the deceased. Fr Aleksandr left a wife and three daughters. “Of course, everybody in the Church will now pray for the soul of Fr Aleksandr. It’s terrible to realise that someone killed a man, orphaned his children, and destroyed his family out of pointless spite“, he said.

For his part, Hieromonk Filipp Ryabykh, the deputy head of the MP Department for External Church Relations, believed, “Another terrible event has happened in Russia. In this case, it indicates that the social relations have deteriorated so badly that people are not able to respond in a normal and civilised way to the comments of others. It’s significant that a priest was involved in this situation. In modern Russia, the clergy and active laity fight indifference. They show active citizenship and seek to improve our lives, to make it more beautiful and brighter”, Fr Filipp said to our Interfax-Religion correspondent. He went on to say, “However, as a result, it appears that such attempts and desires meet with resistance, and, moreover, can result in death for these people”.

Ascension Church in the village of Satin-Russkoye, where the murdered Archpriest Aleksandr Filippov was rector, has wonderworking icons that can heal alcoholism and drug addiction. Every Saturday, Fr Aleksandr served a molieben before the icons of the Mother of God “of Akhtyrsky” and Martyr St Boniface to bless holy water and pray for healing people of the ills of alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking, and other passions, a spokesman for the Moscow diocese told Interfax. The first wooden church in the village was built in 1627. However, it repeatedly burnt down, and the present stone building was built in the early 19^th century. In Soviet times, the church suffered the usual fate. It was closed in 1941, the church property was confiscated, and the building was used as a warehouse. In July 1996, Fr Alexander became rector, and, on 18 August of that year, the church held its first service.

Exterior of the crime scene on 25 Narodnaya Street

Yevgeni Gildeyev, the Head of Information and Public Relations of the Moscow oblast GUVD (criminal police), told Interfax that the killing of the priest resulted in a hot pursuit. “We detained two suspects, a local resident born in 1974 and a resident of Vladimir oblast born in 1981”, he said. According to Mr Gildeyev, the killing, according to preliminary information, was a senseless and loutish act. “The detainees were intoxicated”, he added.

Fr Aleksandr Filippov was killed by a gunshot wound to the back from a pistol, a source in the police told Interfax on Wednesday. The murderer shot the priest in the back in front of his house. His wife and daughter “immediately closed the entrance door, and, this, possibly, may have saved their lives”, he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Investigation Committee at the RF Procurator’s Office announced that the killing of Fr Aleksandr was a murder. “Within hours, investigators in collaboration with beat cops managed to uncover a cowardly crime”, SKP spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday to Interfax. “We established the circumstances of the murder, the suspects, and who witnessed the crime. Consequently, police arrested Oleg Shekhov, born in 1970, who had previously been convicted and served time for murder. At approximately 21.00 on the evening of 22 December, an unknown vagrant came to the entrance of the house on the street in Podolsk in Moscow oblast. He fired at Fr Aleksandr, who came out of his house to upbraid a group of drunks who were violating public order. Fr Aleksandr died from the resulting gunshot wound on the spot. The assailant picked up the spent case, and, together with friends, fled the scene. Trying to divert suspicion from himself, the man who shot the priest tossed the murder weapon in a friend’s car”, he said. The SKP RF of Moscow oblast has opened an official investigation into the murder of the priest. The investigation is continuing.

On Wednesday, the annual meeting of the Moscow diocesan clergy in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour began with the singing of “Eternal Memory” for Archpriest Aleksandr Filippov, killed overnight in Podolsk. “I would like to ask us to start our meeting with a proclamation of ‘Eternal Memory’”, Patriarch Kirill said to the assembled representatives of the clergy, and, after these words, personally intoned the Eternal Memory “for the newly-reposed murdered Archpriest Aleksandr”. After that, the more than a thousand priests gathered in the hall rose from their seats and sang the Canticles for the Reposed. Patriarch Kirill called the deceased Fr Aleksandr “a bright man who was not indifferent to human degradation, as his duty demanded”.

Interior of Ascension church in Satin-Russkoye, Podolsk raion, Moscow oblast

Patriarch Kirill thinks that the recently murdered Frs Daniil Sysoev and Aleksandr Filippov are exemplars for all Orthodox pastors. “These priests died a martyr’s death; they should be our heroic exemplars. They proved their faithfulness to the Lord not only in their lives, but, also, through their deaths”, His Holiness said on Wednesday at the conclusion of his speech at the annual meeting of the Moscow diocesan clergy in the conference centre at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. He expressed his conviction that “the vast majority of those sitting in this room are willing to do the same”. He drew an analogy by comparing pre-revolutionary times with the years of [the Soviet era], when there were many martyrs in the ranks of the Russian Orthodox clergy. In the words of the patriarch, many of the priests and bishops who, throughout their lives, had withstood attacks from the liberal intelligentsia completed their lives as martyrs. “Please, God, grant that all of us should, in word and deed, through our life and death, demonstrate our loyalty to Him to whom we have dedicated their lives, our Lord Jesus Christ”, Patriarch Kirill said.

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias expressed his condolences in connection with the murder of Archpriest Aleksandr Filippov. “What has happened can not be described simply as mere chance. A tragic series of crimes in recent months raises questions about the diabolical malice that the enemy of mankind manages to sow in the hearts of men”, in the words of His Holiness’ condolences, published on Wednesday on the MP official website. According to patriarch Kirill, “We cannot consider any society where such crimes occur as mentally healthy. The causes of this moral illness are associated with the distortion of true concepts of good and evil, with a shift in values toward egotism, selfishness, and indifference. Our best people give their lives in confronting this anger and indifference; their keen sense of justice leads them to courageously and sincerely stand up to it,” the condolences say. The patriarch called on the Church to pray for the soul of the reposed priest and expressed hope that “a speedy investigation into the incident would lead to the triumph of justice”. He also asked God “to give us all the strength to survive such incidents, to strengthen our faith, to prevent further multiplication of evil, and to hold back the triumph of immorality and lawlessness”.

The place in the corridor of 25 Narodnaya Street where Fr Aleksandr Filippov was murdered

The Podolsk city court indicted the suspect Oleg Shekhov in the murder of Archpriest Aleksandr Filippov, and ordered him held without bail, Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the RF SKP, told Interfax on Wednesday. “Currently, we’re searching Shekhov’s apartment. We confiscated a shotgun, cartridges, knives, and an electric cattle prod”, he said. According to Mr Markin, investigators are conducting forensic and ballistic tests of the evidence and are questioning witnesses. The court is opening criminal proceedings in connection with the murder of Fr Aleksandr because it is a crime under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code (murder).

According to the SKP RF, last night, police found the body of the priest with a gunshot wound to the chest in the corridor of an apartment at 25 Narodnaya Street in Podolsk. As Mr Markin told us, during an inspection of the crime scene police found cigarette butts, fingerprints, and a bullet of 9 mm calibre in the entrance of the house. “As the result of an intelligently-planned and well-designed search operation, we arrested a 38-year-old resident of Podolsk, Oleg Shekhov, on suspicion of murder, a man who was previously convicted of murder”, he said.

Mr Markin went on to say that, on the previous evening, Oleg Shekhov and two friends went into the entrance of 25 Narodnaya Street in Podolsk to “take care of” his cohabiting girlfriend, because she had complained about them. “The men were drunk and creating a public nuisance. At that time, Fr Aleksandr stepped into the entrance and made a remark to Shekhov. In response, Shekhov insulted the priest, and, precisely when the priest opened the front door of the apartment, he shot at him with a pistol. Shekhov then picked up the spent cartridge case and, together with his friends, fled the scene”, he said. Furthermore, on his way home, Shekhov telephoned an acquaintance and suggested that they meet. “Whilst they were drinking vodka, Shekhov, knowing that his friend’s car lacked an alarm, went out and tossed his pistol in the glove compartment of the car. Shekhov’s weapon was a starter’s pistol altered to fire live ammunition”, Mr Markin told us.

23 December 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33474

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33476

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33477

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33479

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33483

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33489

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33492

She gazed at the lost garden
Light rays dazzled our sight

We saw the green glory of paradise
Embrace her, above a pavilion of stars

Paradisal roots sprinkling
Drops of love on Palestine

Her gentle angelic hands
Sowing whispering hope

After a long mourning
Our hearts find refuge

A symphony of roses planted on
The agonized skin of Palestine

She is the witness of suffering,
martyrs… dark al-Naqba night

Promise of garden’s return
O Rose! Angel of Palestine

A Sample Life and friends, family, and fans had a great experience at Martyrs’ last Thursday thanks to the great stage crew, booking agents, bartender, and of course, Nate and His Kite and Black Umbrella Brigade.

The show began at 9:00pm with A Sample Life taking the stage. The set list was as follows:
Sample Knock Life
When Life Just Sucks
Tyouesday
Come to Gardenshine
Hey You
Get Up
Rockin Your Christmas Home
Strong Like You
Composition 8
Taurine
(If you haven’t listened to Rockin’ Your Christmas Home yet, do so here!)

Photos by Britton and video by Dave Abrams. Check back soon for footage!

The band would like to thank all involved for creating a musically memorable night and for sharing their amazing energy on and off-stage.

An unusual exhibition opened in the small Belgian town of Groot-Bijgaarden in the municipality of Dilbeek (in the Flemish province of Vlaams-Brabant) just outside Brussels. The exhibition Magnificent Christmas of Tsar Nikolai II opened in the precincts of a magnificent castle of the seventeenth century. A collection of dresses and uniforms of the imperial era, and state awards, original documents, and valuable items from that time are the basis of the display devoted to the last Russian Emperor. Support from the EU’s Russian Heritage Preservation Fund in Brussels funded the showing of these rare items. Of particular interest to visitors are reproductions of photographs of the imperial family, and there are life-size wax statues of Tsar Nikolai II, his wife Empress Aleksandra, and Tsarevich Aleksei provided by the St Petersburg Wax Museum. Another thought-provoking aspect of the presentation is the rare film from the documentary archives of the Romanov family.

A miniature reproduction copy of the Winter Palace recaptures the atmosphere of the imperial era, with figures representing Nikolai II and his wife at the main entrance giving Christmas greetings to the people of St Petersburg. In addition, the visitor sees a slice of life from the Russia of that time depicted in models of the interior of a peasant’s hut and a village bath. There is also information posted concerning reproductions of [Russian genre scenes] painted by the famous “romantic” artist, Boris Kustodiev.

Cédric Pelgrimmes de Bigard, the owner (he is a descendant of the founders) of the castle in Groot-Bijgaarden, shared his impressions of the event with our audience on Voice of Russia World Service. He said, “We are glad that you find this event interesting and informative, and we are pleased that we had the chance to host this exhibition. You see, the history of Russia and Belgium share a deep connection. Our castle [here in Groot-Bijgaarden] has great historical significance. Perhaps, its majesty and splendour is the best backdrop for an event dedicated to the Romanov imperial family”.

Many people from Belgium and neighbouring countries have come to view the artifacts on display at the Magnificent Christmas of Tsar Nikolai II, which is due to run until 17 January 2010.

18 December 2009

Aleksandr Shishlo

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2009/12/18/3084291.html

St. Stephen

Sunday, December 20 – 4^th Sunday in Advent

St. Dominic of Silos (1073), Abbot, Patron Saint of Captives (Historical)

Sts. Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, Old Testament Patriarchs (Historical)

Monday, December 21

St. Peter Canisius (1597), Priest, Doctor of the Church (New)

St. Thomas (1^st Century), Apostle, Martyr, Baptized the Magi (Traditional)

Tuesday, December 22

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1917), Virgin, Religious Sister, Foundress of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Patroness of Immigrants (Traditional)

Sts. Chaeremon & Ischyrion (3^rd Century), Martyrs (Historical)

Wednesday, December 23

St. John of Kanty (John Cantius) (1473), Priest, Patron Saint of Poland (New)

St. Yvo of Chartres (1115), Bishop (Historical)

St. Servulus (590), Beggar (Historical)

Thursday, December 24 – Vigil of Christmas

Sts. Adam & Eve (First Age of the World) (Historical)

St. Adele (1137), Widow (Historical)

Friday, December 25 – The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ – Holy Day of Obligation

St. Anastasia (304), Martyr (Traditional)

Saturday, December 26 – Second Day in the Octave of Christmas

St. Stephen (35), the First Martyr, Patron Saint of Stonemasons (New, Traditional)

The Ignorant and Superstitious

It’s a shame so many are so ignorant and superstitious at the start of the 21^st Century.  We, as a species, thought so well of ourselves – technologically transcendent, having come so far from the primitive days of ancient Egyptian ritual – but we’re still beset by competing, often violent myths, most of them trailing up out of the deep dark bowels of imagination, the legacy of long-dead ignorant, superstitious zealots.  They contest with one another like gladiators in the arena.  It’s kill, or be killed.  The message of tolerance within most of them is swamped by fanaticism and vengeance.

It’s also true that few people relish being told that their lives are entirely informed by a fantasy.  If not that, what? The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle applied to the universe of the mind?  Life is chaotic in beginning, progress, and end.  Only change is constant.  Random elements always transform what was thought to be solid and immutable.  Religion attempts parental reassurance of the night-frightened child.  However, if a child is encouraged to grow up, to take responsibility for his/her own life and actions – given careful nurture and good information – that child will become a fully contributing self-actualizing adult worth knowing.  He/she will grow up with the tools needed to deal successfully with life.  They won’t need a fable to lean upon for they shall have the truth (which is so much better).  If one regards the earth as if it were as close to heaven as one is likely to get, one might actually take better care of it.

No Guarantee of Heaven.

We have no guarantee of heaven (even if you believe evidently – there’s a gyp).  There is no proof of an afterlife.  The only testimony we have is anonymous, contradictory, and inconsistent; miracles – supposedly the most important evidence – entirely undocumented.  Despite an ardent desire to believe in life beyond the grave, the only things we know, for sure, are that we’re on earth now, and we shall die.  Anyone who pretends to know more is a liar or a fool, and not to be trusted, or solicited for advice.  Do not give them your wallet.

Now we can sit and take it (oppression, war, hunger, etc.), or we can work to make things better right now where we are.  There’s no need for god to command good works, because any nit knows that a clean room is better than a dirty one.  There’s no need to renounce god, either, because who do you think gave you the weird brain you have?  Whomever, I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to use it to blind ourselves in order to live more comfortably in our own filth with the deceit of a wished-for hereafter.  What about morality, you ask?  What about it?  God placed a compass within us.  We call it the “conscience;” religion isn’t necessary to activate it.  Perhaps natural selection programmed us for a conscience as a survival tool; people “fighting for the right” often triumph in all sorts of otherwise impossible situations.

Do good, feel good; do bad, feel bad.  There’s a physiological response: eyes squint when we’re sinners, widen when we’re angels.  The change in light affects psyche.  Say it doesn’t.  On sadly too frequent occasions a conscience is on the blink, warped, or absent altogether.  Ted Bundy, or George W. Bush.  Bad and good acts are self-identifying.  We instinctively know which is which.  Ghandi said, “there is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness.”  Poverty is the worst form of violence – global corporate trade agreements not withstanding.  Bad is pain; good is love.  Make love, not war.  Gibbon wrote, “Let the gods vindicate their own honor.” War is especially bad in a religious cause, because it’s a hypocritical denial and suppression of god’s compass by those supposed to know better.

Reason is a gift.

Reason is god’s gift, if ever there was one; it is a sin not to use it. The brain was given to us to reason our way through the universe as revealed by the architecture of the spheres.  So it has always been, without myths, but where we did not know, or see, or understand that sacred architecture, we may invent it, and that’s the birth of religion: born in ignorance via superstition driven by fear of the unknown and death.  Religion inevitably segregates and stigmatizes: “I have the truth and I’ll kill anyone who disagrees with me.”

People have to study religion; it is not a natural phenomenon.  Religions all have definitive books “inspired by god,” but written, edited, altered, and abused by secretive anonymous self-interested men.  If you don’t know the history, you can’t understand the problem.  The con man dangles a prize while he picks your pocket.  Resist those who purport to decide what’s best for you and force you to remain a child in need of parental guidance – “god,” as interpreted by priest, mullah, rabbi, yogi, preacher, etc. is a controlling device, a harness for the oxen.  God frees, religion enslaves.  God is truth; religion is fiction.

Wake everyone up.

Okay, since we can’t wake everyone up and most don’t appear to want to be awakened for whatever reason, what can we do that’s of any positive merit to relieve the world’s beleaguered and highly endangered condition?

That is the question.

Lives lived with certainty are suddenly suspect.  People unsure of themselves: they wonder, are we who we think we are? Or is it all about to change? Is there a future? Is that future unremittingly grim and bleak, with only a fool’s paradise winking at the end as a promissory note in a fat preacher’s eye?

Every generation has lived with a sense of its own end, mortality pure and simple; and, the desire to see the whole world end when one personally ends is understandable; a childish, “If I can’t have it, no one can.” It’s also a nag reaffirming one’s own “rightness” within the general “wrongness” of the world.  Again, a childish desire, “Somebody must pay.”  Ergo, there must be a terrible omnipotent tax collector with a ruthless collection policy to force painful restitution for the evil done us in this too, too brief life.

Understanding begets me nothing very substantial in a materialistic way.  The human swarm scurries on raping and looting, feeding and breeding, insensitive, often insensate, short-lived, short-willed, and short-sighted.  Few want to know – actually know.  It’s such a sad state of affairs of entirely no consequence.  That’s the rub: all the caring and sharing, alarm, confusion, and concern are for nothing – “sound and fury signifying nothing.” Our (most of us) cosmic yearning for eternity is the laughingstock of the entire universe.  Just for an instant is this fleeting hour, a brief candle swiftly snuffed out.  Understanding begets me nothing very useful in an eternal sort of way.  I must “believe” (so they say, but they don’t really know, they hope and call it belief: a special form of hope, farther than wish, and creatively virtual, with physio-chemical self-delusion to thrill, bemuse, corrupt, and convince that what is imagined is real).

Blinded by prejudice.

I hate religion.  All religion.  Religion is mind enslavement.  Even our scholars are blinded by its prejudice in their lives.  Vision is clouded by illusion.  You might not have listened to my ideas, if I hadn’t sand-bagged you, gradually drawing you deeper and deeper into my mystery, unraveling religion as we go.  Taking you all the way back to see its very mundane roots.

Human beings evidently need to believe in a higher power as an instrument of survival, both temporal and eternal, in order to be all they can be.  The fact that we do it in gang, or tribal faction is a function of biology and anthropology.  Religion persists in a realm of barbarous ignorance, primitive superstition, and primeval community; as we gathered closer around the fire, and night beasts howled in the stormy dark.  There is little division between witch doctor and priest.  The religious promisers and promise keepers have given us chaos and destruction.  Their gift to the world that suffered them is nothing less than planetary death.  Surely, only an idiot depends on prayer when he’s in real need.

What of god or gods?

But what of god or gods? Believe in one, believe in all; believe in one’s self as one cell in the divine, purposeful, or useful, short-lived, or not.  “How do you know that you’re god?” the butler asked the lord.  “Because when I’m talking to god,” the lord replied, “I discover that I’m actually talking to myself.”

What is the value of human survival?  Why does it matter?  To whom does it matter?  Does it serve any particular end?  How does one know?  It may matter to you and me personally, but it may not matter at all cosmically.

The purpose of life is life.  The meaning of life is life.  All the rest is what we make of it.  It is only what we will it to be, or are willing to accept.

CHIEF SEALTH: It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days.  They will not be many.  A few more moons; a few more winters – and not one of the descendents of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours.  But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people?  Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, and regret is useless.  Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the white man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny.  We may be brothers after all.  We will see.  – Chief Sealth, addressing a treaty negotiating party, 1855.

Is it time yet?  Keep on keepin’ on.  j

Today we celebrate The Departure of St. Poemen the Confessor.

St. Poemen was a servant of the Living Lord before and during the reign of Constantine. He was from the village of Bani-Khaseeb of the district of El-Ashmonen. St. Poemen was a man known for his honesty and righteousness.

Early on in his life he was a steward to a rich man and his wife. They loved him and trusted him greatly. As life progressed he become frustrated with the vanity and materialistic world he was apart of. St. Poemen resigned from his job and departed to live the monastic life.

After his asceticism (training) he felt the call to serve the Lord in a land called Ansena. This was a area of great martyrdom. St. Poemen gratefully accepted this call to the red crown of death, and joined forces with the Christians in Ansena.

St. Poemen was tortured severely. He was beaten, and smashed under a large stone wheel. Finally some of his limbs were cut or pulled off. During all of this the Lord strengthened him. It is said that his body was restored.

While St. Poeman was in prison Constantine the righteous became the Emperor. All who were imprisoned for their faith and devotion for Jesus son of God were released from their bondage.

In the prison Jesus came to St. Poeman. He told him to make known to all Christians in prison that the Lord counted them with the martyrs. They were to be called the confessors.

After prison St Poeman resided in a monetary outside of El-Ashmonen. He was given the healing. Sometime later the Empress of Rome became sick with a terminal illness. Word of St. Poeman’s ability to heal the sick traveled and the Empress came to him.

When St. Poeman was asked to meet with her he had no interest. He said “What have I to do with the kings of the earth.” The other brothers pleaded with him, and he finally consented to meet with her. When she saw him she immediately bowed down at his feet. She was anointed and instantly healed by the power of St. Poeman’s prayer.

Prayer
Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to You. Allow your healing hand to heal me. Touch my soul with Your compassion for others. Touch my heart with Your courage and infinite love for all. Touch my mind with Your wisdom, that my mouth may always proclaim Your praise. Teach me to reach out to You in my need, and help me to lead others to You by my example. Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring me health in body and spirit that I may serve You with all my strength. Touch gently this life which You have created, I ask this St. Poeman the Confessor to intercede on my behalf, and I pray in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever amen.

MARTYRS

Ah, ya gotta give it to the French, when they go out to make a genre film, they really go all out. Oh, sure, Asian horror will give you the viscera, some guts and goo thrown around and lots of violence that will flip your lid but for all out body bangin’ mind screws you need to head to France. Oh, dear France, how could my brethren be so cruel to you and your foods (American Fries, really?) when you are so wonderfully cruel to the rest of the world through films?

A young girl is lucky to escape with her life from an isolated industrial complex where she was being held captive and mercilessly abused but, while the cuts and bruises will heal, the deepest damage will never be fixed. So begins MARTYRS, a film that doesn’t show its whole hand until the film is half over but, when you begin to see all the cards you will start to see how much damage was done to that young girl in the beginning of the film. Unflinchingly cruel, the film begins as an examination of sanity and becomes one of faith, and along that path we see how large a part pain plays in all of it. To reveal much of the plot is to take away from a film that is about the experience, but rest assured, this is a horror film, in every sense.

This is a film where the fact that it is a horror film does not hamper the film but which serves as the way to tell a dark story of obsession and faith. The direction is strong here, as is the acting, though the cruelty of the film will turn many off. I admit that the way the film plays out wasn’t the most satisfying but see that this was the best way to convey that the characters don’t know exactly what they are involved with, and how bad things really are. Unlike too many horror films nothing is easy here, nothing is spoon fed to you, and the end isn’t something that is walked away from but which is discussed. The film’s violence is over the top, and the scenes of torture could surely have been cut but, again, for impact, we see a lot of things that we may not enjoy seeing. This is not a film about enjoyment though, this is a film about dark, ugly, bitter truth, and as such, it may not be something you fully enjoy, but that is not to say you will not like it. I am not even sure how much I liked the film but it is haunting, and it is scary, and it works in the same way that a film like HOSTEL works in that it shows you a side of human nature we don’t like to see, don’t like to examine, and which most would prefer to dub torture porn.

Friends, torture and porn are not terms which go together, torture porn is a made up term to describe very violent, very dark, very nasty movies in which torture takes place. And while some people will ‘get off’ on the torture scenes in the same way that kids used to flock to the true gore movies, generally, I don’t know anyone that gets much out of seeing people tortured, in movies or otherwise. Thus, it is a BS term to describe a trend in recent films, like dubbing movies with masked killers ’slasher’ films.

Just saying.

Will you like MARTYRS? Hmm. It is a very good film, a very disturbing film, and an engaging film, but you like JURASSIC PARK, you fear movies like MARTYRS. You fear them because there is enough truth in them to make them all the more disturbing. Well made, and watchable, but not something you watch on a whim.

8 out of 10

St. Adelaide

Sunday, December 13 – 3^rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday

St. Lucy (304), Virgin, Martyr, Patron Saint of the Blind

St. Odilia (702), Virgin, Patron Saint of Alsace, invoked against blindness (Historical)

Monday, December 14

Sts. Nicasius, Bishop and Eutropia, his sister (5^th Century) (Historical)

St. Venantius Fortunatus (605), Bishop (Historical)

Tuesday, December 15

St. Christiana (Nino) (4^th Century), Virgin, Abbess of Georgia (Asia) (Historical)

Wednesday, December 16 – Ember Wednesday in Advent

St. Eusebius of Vercelli (371), Bishop, Martyr

St. Adelaide (999), Queen of Italy, Patron Saint of Large Families (Historical)

Sts. Ananias, Azarius & Misael (7^th Century, BC), Companions of Daniel (Historical)

Thursday, December 17

St. Olympias (410) Widow (Historical)

St. Lazarus (1^st Century), whom our Lord raised from the dead, brother of Sts. Martha & Mary Magdalen (Historical)

Friday, December 18 – Ember Friday in Advent

St. Gatian (3^rd Century), Bishop of Tours (Historical)

Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (c. 1 BC) (Historical)

Saturday, December 19 – Ember Saturday in Advent

Blessed Urban V (1370), Pope (Historical)

St. Lucy

December 13 – Third Sunday of Advent, Feast Day of St. Lucy

On this day the Church urges us to gladness in the middle of this time of expectation and penance.  The coming of Jesus approaches more and more.  St. John, the holy precursor, announces to the Jews the coming of the Savior.  “The Savior,” he says to them, “lives already among us, though unknown.  He will soon appear openly.”  Now is the time for fervent prayers and for imploring Jesus to remain with us by His mercy.  Let us prepare the way for Him by repentance and penance and by a worthy reception of the Sacraments.  All the prayers of this Mass are filled with what the Church wishes our souls to possess at the approach of the Savior.

Aurem tuam quasumus, Domine, precibus nostris accommoda: et mentis nostrae tenebras, gratia tuae visitationis illustra: Qui vivis et regnas.

Incline Thine ear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to our petitions: and, by the grace of Thy visitation, enlighten the darkness of our minds: Who livest and reignest.

Epistle (Phil. 4:4-7)

“The Lord is nigh” says St. Paul, “rejoice in the Lord.”  May our faith and hope in Jesus Christ our Lord always increase!

Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say, rejoice.  Let you modesty be known to all men.  The Lord is nigh.  Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel (Jn. 1:19-28)

St. John, the Precursor of our Lord, announces the coming of the Messias, tells of His Majesty and greatness, and effaces himself before Him, for “he gives testimony of the true Light, Who is Jesus.”

At that time the Jews sent from Jerusalem Priests and Levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou?  And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.  And they asked him: What then?  Art thou Elias?  And he said: I am not.  Art thou the prophet?  And he answered: No.  They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us?  What sayest thou of thyself?  He said: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.  And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees.  And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?  John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.  The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.  These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.