Father Josiah

Father Josiah

On The Great Cause of Our Sorrows

This is the cause of all evils: the ignorance of the Scriptures. We go into battle without arms, and how ought we to come off safe?

St. John Chrysostom, Homily IX on Colossians.

Protect Your Children In the Public Schools This Next Week from School Events Honoring Harvey Milk

http://savecalifornia.com/video/video_player.php?file=ProtectKidsFromHarveyMilkDay.xml

Since 2009 California has dedicated May 22nd as “Harvey Milk Day” honoring a one-time San Francisco Supervisor who was assassinated in 1978. Mr. Milk was a pervert, a sexual abuser of teenage boys, and a liar. He was a miserable failure of a businessman, served only 11 months as a city supervisor, and was not able to maintain personal friendships for very long. Why in the world would anyone honor him with his own special day? He was openly homosexual, that is the reason, and in his 11 months as supervisor in San Francisco got an gay rights ordinance passed. Now our California public schools are called upon to hold commemorative exercises honoring his life and vision. What vision is that? The LGBT activist vision. Take note parents, and if your children are in the public schools call the schools, find out what they intend to do to “honor” Mr. Milk, express your dissatisfication, and pull your children out so they do not participate in honoring this godless man.

Can a Fable of Pan-Orthodoxy Become a Reality – Interesting Article in the National Herald

http://www.thenationalherald.com/article/54912

St. Andrew Summer Book Club

St. Andrew Church hosts monthly book club beginning in June. Join us for fellowship and fruitful discussions of Orthodox and Classic literature. Awards to be given at the end of the year for our dedicated readers! Wednesday, June 13th at 5pm in the Fellowship Hall: Group 1: 3rd – 6th grade “The Pilgrim’s Progress” / Group 2: 7th-12th grade “The Way of a Pilgrim”

Contact: Angela Nicolaou boudouva@yahoo.com (714) 488-0714

Special Visit to St. Andrew Church of Fr. Peter Heers and Presentation on the Life of Elder Paisios the Athonite

Fr. Peter Alban Heers is the rector of the parish of the Holy Prophet Elias in Petrokerasa, a small village in the mountains outside of Thessalonica, Greece. He is the founder and current head of Uncut Mountain Press, and is a podcaster on Ancient Faith Radio. He podcast is entitled Postcards from Greece. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the Theological School of the University of Thessalonica, where he has also completed is undergraduate studies and Masters degree in Dogmatic Theology. Fr. Peter’s visit coincides with the publication of the long-awaited and definitive biography of Elder Paisios the Athonite. This book will be available for purchase during Fr. Peter’s visit to the parish. Fr. Peter will speak at St. Andrew parish on Saturday evening, May 19th, following Great Vespers. The title of his talk will be “The Message of Elder Paisios for the Orthodox Christians in America” 

Father Josiah

We Don’t Pick and Choose which of the Lord’s Laws We Keep 

“Dreadful is the pride whereby we sit in judgment on the Lawgiver, approving some of His laws, while rejecting others.”

St. Basil the Great, Long Rules

Pray for President Obama for He has again endorsed Evil

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577394332545729926.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Special Visit to St. Andrew Church of Fr. Peter Heers and Presentation on the Life of Elder Paisios the Athonite

Fr. Peter Alban Heers is the rector of the parish of the Holy Prophet Elias in Petrokerasa, a small village in the mountains outside of Thessalonica, Greece. He is the founder and current head of Uncut Mountain Press, and is a podcaster on Ancient Faith Radio. He podcast is entitled Postcards from Greece. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the Theological School of the University of Thessalonica, where he has also completed is undergraduate studies and Masters degree in Dogmatic Theology. Fr. Peter’s visit coincides with the publication of the long-awaited and definitive biography of Elder Paisios the Athonite. This book will be available for purchase during Fr. Peter’s visit to the parish. Fr. Peter will speak at St. Andrew parish on Saturday evening, May 19th, following Great Vespers. The title of his talk will be “The Message of Elder Paisios for the Orthodox Christians in America”

Update on our Father Daniel Meyer Family in PA

Here are some recent pics of the family. Nonna just turned 5, Macarius turned 3 last month, and Paul is about to start walking. Presb. Elizabeth has been putting alot of time into gathering homeschooling resources and is getting ready for her second year teaching Nonna. She has also recently taken up sewing and continues to make creative craft projects for the kids and others.

Way to Go Survivors!

The 2012 Earth Fair Day in San Diego will long be remembered by 3 young men from St. Andrew Parish. They spent 5 hours standing with the Survivors Ministry in proclamation that the horror of abortion must be exposed for all the world to see. Withstanding mockings, cursings and an occasion high five, Derek Henkes, Gregory Roum and William Saba (CAN YOU SAY “STUDLY MONSTERS?”) stood behind graphic signs that told the tragic story of what happens when sexual license and personal irresponsibility have governmental approval and the lives of innocent babies are no longer cherished. Survivors tours the country exposing this evil. We had the opportunity to meet Brianna and Christina who were arrested in Jackson, MS, for merely standing on a sidewalk outside of a high school handing out literature about abortion. They withstood hours of being in a holding tank with scores of men.  Survivors holds a pro-life boot camp each summer in southern California. Youth from across America come to learn how to effectively argue the pro-life message via demonstrations and picketing. Thousands of lives have been changed by their efforts and hundreds of known babies have been saved.  – summary from St. Andrew Parishioner, Kirk Beck 

Father Josiah

Mid-Pentecost

Keeping the Lord’s Commandments Constitues Being A True Human Being: Are We True Men or False and Painted Men?

This is the constitutive and characteristic property of man, that is, that he keeps the commandments of the Lord, and this is what makes a man truly a man; whoever transgresses the commandments of the Lord is not a true man but a false man, just as a painted man is.”

St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on Job

North Carolina Passes a Constitutional Amendment to Ban Homosexual Marriage

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/north-carolina-votes-on-same-sex-marriage-amendment-with-support-strong-for-ban/2012/05/08/gIQAnaCpBU_story.html

St. Andrew Youth Brave San Diego “Earth Day” Fair to Witness on Behalf of Unborn Children

Father Josiah

Embracing God’s Commandments in Our Lives By Force of Will

It is necessary at the beginning of the struggle, to fulfill the holy commandments of God with a certain forcefulness of will, so that the Good Lord, seeing our intent and effort, will send down upon us a ready will to serve His glorious purposes with exceeding delight. For it is the Lord Who maketh ready the will, so that we might unceasingly do what is good with great joy. For then shall we truly feel that it is God Which worketh in you both to will and to do, of His good pleasure.

St. Diadochos of Photiki, Ascetical Discourse

That which may appear difficult and hard-going at the beginning in keeping the commandments becomes in time sweet and delightful

The Blasphemy Our Children Are Being Indoctrinated With In Public Schools

Here Mr. Savage, the White House endorsed Anti-Bullying Spokesmen, calls the Bible full of “bulls….”, and many other choice words. See for yourself how vulgar and aggressively anti-Christian the secularist agenda is. The one good thing about this video clip is to see the youth walking out on Mr. Savage in the middle of his speech. I told my children that the only thing better would have been if they first stood up and denounced him, and demanded of the school principal that the man be sent packing on the spot.

http://www.nomblog.com/22269/

Our Grandmothers Have Saved the Church Many Times!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rinm3h1Ibcc

Major Construction Work on the 215 Freeway This Weekend- Beware and Take Note

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/friday-34272-san-bernardino.html

Prayer Request

Please remember our parish council chair, Mrs. Lucy Hanna, who is recovering from extensive spinal surgery at San Antonio Hospital in Upland. The surgeons are pleased, but Lucy has a lot of rehab to do. God be with her.

Father Josiah

The Commandments of the Lord are Life

Solomon said, “He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall perish” (Prov. 19:16)…All of the Lord’s commandments are necessary, since they are life, and true and eternal life, as the Lord said to that young man: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ just as eternal life is necessary for for a man, so likewise the keeping of Christ’s commandments, whereby he obrtains eternal life, is neceessary for him.”

St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, On Christian Morality

White House Endorsed Anti-Bullying Bully- Dan Savage attacks the Bible

From the Family Research Council Website

Turns out, the biggest bully is the man leading the anti-bullying campaign. For the thousands of high schoolers at Dan Savage’s speech in April, It Didn’t Get Better–at least not for Christians. Savage, whose anti-bullying videos are a favorite of the President’s and Hollywood , used his platform in Seattle as an opportunity to humiliate students and curse faith. The tirade was so fiercely personal and vulgar, students said, that it reduced some girls to tears. “…[W]e can learn to ignore the [expletive] in the Bible about gay people,” Savage said, before launching into a three-minute lashing of Christianity–during which several students got up and walked out.

When Savage was finished, he told the crowd, “You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I’m done beating up the Bible,” he said. “It’s funny to someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how [expletive] people react when you push back.” Teachers were stunned. “It took a real dark, hostile turn…” said Rick Tuttle. His class “felt that they were attacked… a very pointed, direct attack on one particular group of students. It’s amazing that we go to an anti-bullying speech, and one group of students is picked on in particular with harsh, profane language.” Savage has apologized for the anti-gay slur he hurled at kids (irony alert) but claims that his speech is being “spun” as an attack on Christianity…The conference sponsor, National Scholastic Press Association, was so taken aback that it issued a public statement distancing itself from the remarks. “This is not what our organizations expected. In his attempt to denounce bullying, Mr. Savage belittled the faith of others–an action that we do not support. Ridicule of others’ faith has no place in our programs, any more than ridicule of the LGBT community would.” How the sponsors could not have expected this is beyond me. Savage’s presentation was not an anomaly. Maybe, like so many schools, they saw the White House’s endorsement and thought he was safe. But what did organizers expect to gain by inviting a self-described “sex therapist” to address a room full of children? Their error in judgment was painfully obvious in the first five minutes of Savage’s speech when he described how his “husband” looked in a Speedo and told teenagers that they would have to “pry him off his partner” if he were on stage. Then, of course, there’s the matter of germ warfare. This is a man so mentally unstable that he infiltrated Gary Bauer’s campaign office in 2000 and licked the doorknobs to infect people with his flu. “The front door, office doors, even a bathroom door. When that was done, I started in on the staplers, phones and computer keyboards. Then I stood in the kitchen and licked the rims of all the clean coffee cups drying in the rack.” And this is who the President trusts with his anti-bullying campaign? A grown man who, when he isn’t busy engaging in bioterrorism, attacks children? It’s beyond irresponsible. As I told Mike Huckabee during an interview yesterday, the White House has given Savage a platform through his “It Gets Better” campaign to be an apostle of division and intolerance. By lending him that legitimacy, he’s gaining access to schools across America for what is ultimately a one-sided, hate-filled assault on free speech. And in the end, it’s the children who suffer. People like Dan Savage are putting so much attention on homosexuality that it’s actually preventing us from dealing with the real problems of bullying. Even liberal surveys show that ” students are more often bullied, called names, or harassed because of ‘the way they look or their body size’ than because of their sexual orientation.” FRC is strongly opposed to bullying for any reason. And I would extend an invitation to any reasonable person to sit down and have a civil discussion about how we can create a safe and positive environment for all children–one free of the harassment and abuse Savage encourages.

President Harry Truman and How Quickly America Is Changing!

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House. The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there. When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year. After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them. When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.” Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.” As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food. Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale (cf. Illinois ). Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!

Inland Empire Religious Constituency

The Catholic church is demographically dominant with over 1,000,000 congregants. The Catholic Church is followed by the Mormons, Southern Baptists, and then Seventh Day Adventists in that order.

For more details see

http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-religion-headlines/20120501-religion-catholic-church-dominant-in-inland-area.ece

The Association of Religion Data Archives upon which the newspaper article is based is found here:

http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/rcms2010.asp?U=40140&T=metro&Y=2010&S=family

Thanks to Subdeacon Polycarp Anderson for these links.

New Class!…New Class! to start soon….

 

“Do This and You Shall Live!”

An Exposition of the Ten Commandments for the 21st Century

 

A new 10 week course in the St. John Chrysostom Catechetical School on Wednesday nights will begin tonight Wednesday, May 2nd. Mark your calendar and invite a friend!

 

Father Josiah

On Procrastination and Delay in the Spiritual Life

Nothing doth so turn our life upside down as delay and procrastination in our good works  –   St. John Chrysostom

Pray for Chen Guangcheng, Freedom Activist in China – from the Family Research Council

An annual meeting of two world superpowers now hangs on the fate of one brave Chinese man. After 20 months of torture and malnourishment, blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped his home under the cover of darkness Sunday and made it 370 miles to Beijing, where he is believed to be under U.S. protection. The “self-taught” attorney has been a favorite target of Chinese authorities for his crusade to expose the brutal sterilizations and forced abortions suffered by village women under the country’s one-child policy.

After surviving four years in prison on bogus charges, Chen was released and kept under house arrest for the last year and a half with his wife, mother, and six-year-old child. But the savagery didn’t stop. In a video released from Chen’s secret location, the activist worries that while he is safe, his fears for his family are “only deepening.” “My wife, mother, and children are still in evil hands. They have been persecuting my family for a long time, and my escape would only prompt them into a mode of revenge.”

Those closest to him should know. The attorneys who represented Chen in 2005 were “regularly beaten and intimidated” for their role in defending him. Equally horrific, the Wall Street Journal notes, “Some of the women he helped were forced to submit to abortions after the local government took family members hostage.” Since his disappearance, local officials have raised the level of their brutality, reports confirm, “storming the house” in the middle of the night to attack the family left behind. “They broke into my house and more than a dozen men assaulted my wife. They pinned her down and wrapped her in a comforter, beating and kicking her for hours,” Ch en says of earlier raids.

For the Obama administration, the incident could not have come at a worse time. Secretary Hillary Clinton was already scheduled to be in Beijing on Thursday for economic talks, which will almost certainly be put aside until the two nations can reach an agreement over Chen’s release. While the global reaction has been severe, China isn’t the only country that has to worry about its reputation. As recently as November, Secretary Clinton scolded Chinese officials for their human rights abuses–which, regrettably, the Obama administration helps make possible. Just this year, American taxpayers funneled $35 million to the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization that openly supports policies that Chen has sacrificed his safety fighting.

Now that the U.S. and China are in an uncomfortable showdown over Chen’s treatment, the spotlight will soon be on the administration’s policy. If Secretary Clinton tries to sidestep the issue, it puts the world’s greatest defender of freedom in an awkward position. On the other hand, if the administration tries to speak about Chen’s human rights, it would have to renounce the repressive policies that America has indirectly funded. There is no greater test of our country’s sincerity. If, as his friend Bob Yu writes, Chen’s desire is to stay in China “and fight to the end for the freedom of his family,” then it’s up to the global community to serve as a united front against China’s crimes of inhumanity. In the United States, that starts by defunding groups who aid and abet them. Is President Obama willing to take that stand? As Chen’s underground network says, “If a blind person can break out of the darkness to freedom, then everyone can.”

Visitation for our ailing brother Andrew Nova

Many of our parishioners know that our dear brother, Andrew Nova, is suffering from the debilitating effects of advanced cancer. Several weeks ago one of his tumors collapsed his lung, and many tumors are causing his body distress in many places. His spirit is strong and he thanks God for all things – but, brothers and sisters, this is an important time for Andrew (and Photini his wife) to know of our love, prayers and concern. Please sign up to bring a savory meal and visit with our brother, Andrew Nova. “Pastas are always a winner” (no coconut or tofu). Andrew has treatments on Wednesday, so he is unavailable for visits that day. We are arranging a calendar of visits so that Andrew and Photini have food and a visit every other day. If you would like to participate – please do! – please contact parish secretary, Rachel Kirkendall at kirkensmall@gmail.com or call the church office 951-369-0309 and get scheduled on the visitation calendar.

New Class!…New Class! to start soon….

 

“Do This and You Shall Live!”

An Exposition of the Ten Commandments for the 21st Century

 

A new 10 week course in the St. John Chrysostom Catechetical School on Wednesday nights will begin tomorrow Wednesday, May 2nd. Mark your calendar and invite a friend!

 

Father Josiah

The Devil, the Tyrant of This World, Has Been Trampled Upon

The locus of the devil’s authority is the aerial realm, as the Apostle himself says, ‘according to the prince of the power of the air’…you should know that Scripture customarily calls the air ‘heaven as in the birds of the air, and ‘they mount up to the heavens,’ that is, they are elevated high in the air. For this reason, the Lord ‘beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,’ that is, as having fallen away from his proper realm and down to earth, to be trodden on by those who hope in Christ…For his evil tyranny has been cast out.

St. Basil the Great, Homily 9, That God is the Not the Author of Evils

Last Sunday the Russian Orthodox Church held a special prayer service/show of force in light of what Patriarch Kyrill sees as a flood of attacks against him personally and the Church – a Moleben in defense of the faith, desecrated shrines, the Church and its good name:

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2177938.

The Exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians Could Leave the Holy Land without a Christian Population

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

The Great California Exodus – A Summary of Horrendous Governance

http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577340531861056966.html?mod=hp_opinion&mg=reno64-wsj

New Class!…New Class! to start soon….

 

“Do This and You Shall Live!”

An Exposition of the Ten Commandments for the 21st Century

 

A new 10 week course in the St. John Chrysostom Catechetical School on Wednesday nights will begin Wednesday, May 2nd. Mark your calendar and invite a friend!

 

Father Josiah

Rejecting Distracting Thoughts as a Fruit of Holy Pascha  

Aposticha from Matins This Morning

Is This the Most Beautiful Orthodox Church in the World?

For photos and videos of its recent consecration go to…

http://www.aoiusa.org/blog/2012/04/is-this-the-most-beautiful-orthodox-church-in-the-world/

Hutchinson, Kansas Proposing to Force Churches to Perform Same-Sex Ceremonies – And Legislating Immorality Continues…

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/proposed-kansas-rule-may-force-churches-to-host-same-sex-ceremonies/

The Exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians Could Leave the Holy Land without a Christian Population

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

The Great California Exodus – A Summary of Horrendous Governance

http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577340531861056966.html?mod=hp_opinion&mg=reno64-wsj

THANK YOU UK MP GOFREY BLOOM – WHAT A SHOCK – A BIT OF COMMON SENSE IN GOVERNMENT !

http://sorisomail.com/email/238743/o-politico-que-representa-realmente-a-populacao.html

New Class!…New Class! to start soon….

 

“Do This and You Shall Live!”

An Exposition of the Ten Commandments for the 21st Century

 

A new 10 week course in the St. John Chrysostom Catechetical School on Wednesday nights will begin Wednesday, May 2nd. Mark your calendar and invite a friend!

 

Father Josiah