xarchat

E xarchat
F
de l’
uillet
May 2012
n° 45
χριστος ανεστη ! αλιθως ανεστη ! христос воскресе ! воистину воскресе ! Christ is risen ! He is risen indeed ! Christus ist
auferstanden ! Er ist wahrhaft auferstanden ! Christus is opgestaan ! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan ! Cristo e’ risorto ! Veramente e’
risorto ! Kristus är uppstånden! Sannerligen är Han uppstånden ! Kristus er opstanden ! Han er sandelig opstanden! Hristos a
înviat ! Adevarat a înviat ! Kriste agsdga ! Cheshmaritad agsdga ! χριστος
ανεστη ! αλιθως ανεστη ! христос воскресе ! воистину воскресе ! Christ
is risen ! He is risen indeed ! Christus ist auferstanden ! Er ist wahrhaft
auferstanden ! Christus is opgestaan ! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan ! Cristo e’
risorto ! Veramente e’ risorto ! Kristus är uppstånden! Sannerligen är Han
uppstånden ! Kristus er opstanden ! Han er sandelig opstanden! Hristos a
înviat ! Adevarat a înviat ! Kriste agsdga ! Cheshmaritad agsdga !χριστος
ανεστη ! αλιθως ανεστη ! христос воскресе ! воистину воскресе ! Christ
is risen ! He is risen indeed ! Christus ist auferstanden ! Er ist wahrhaft
auferstanden ! Christus is opgestaan ! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan ! Cristo e’
risorto ! Veramente e’ risorto ! Kristus är uppstånden! Sannerligen är Han
uppstånden ! Kristus er opstanden ! Han er sandelig opstanden! Hristos a
înviat ! Adevarat a înviat ! Kriste agsdga ! Cheshmaritad agsdga !χριστος
ανεστη ! αλιθως ανεστη ! христос воскресе ! воистину воскресе ! Christ
is risen ! He is risen indeed ! Christus ist auferstanden ! Er ist wahrhaft
auferstanden ! Christus is opgestaan ! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan ! Cristo e’
risorto ! Veramente e’ risorto ! Kristus är uppstånden! Sannerligen är Han
uppstånden ! Kristus er opstanden ! Han er sandelig opstanden! Hristos a
înviat ! Adevarat a înviat ! Kriste agsdga ! Cheshmaritad agsdga ! χριστος
ανεστη ! αλιθως ανεστη ! христос воскресе ! воистину воскресе ! Christ
is risen ! He is risen indeed ! Christus ist auferstanden ! Er ist wahrhaft
THE EASTER MESSAGE
Dear Fathers,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is Risen!
I
“Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends”(John 15:13)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”(John 3:16)
I have chosen to pick out
Christ
left to His apostles a few
hours before His Passion,
passed on to us by Saint John,
this is because they contain two
key words that relate to the Lord’s
Resurrection: love and life. In fact,
if we are rejoicing on this day in
our families, our parish communities and monasteries, it is because
of the great love that Jesus had for
every one of us and because it opens
to us the Life that He offers us.
f
t h e w o r d s t h at
We all need love, and we are called to life. It is a universal reality,
shared by all men on earth: life without love is meaningless.
We who are Christians must testify to love. We can, of course, talk
about it, but, much more, we must
live it – the most convincing way
of expressing this. It is what the
Lord did: He loved us to the point
of giving His life for us. His death
and Resurrection are the two sides
of the one seal that He set on our
hearts once and for all.
Yes, Easter is a great and lovely
feast, recording as it does a ‘passing’, a crossing; this is the meaning
of the word Pessah in Hebrew. It is
a joyous feast that we are celebrating, for Christ passed victoriously
through death, and this ‘passing’ is
definitive. But let us turn our attention to the fact that, if Christ’s
Resurrection is an event recorded
in history, it is not static or frozen
in time. From that day onwards, the
Lord continues to ‘pass through’
our lives, offering His love to us
Exarchate of Orthodox Parish of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, ecumenical patriarchate
12, rue Daru F-75008 Paris tel. : +33 (0)1 46 22 38 91 - feuillet@exarchat. eu - http://www. exarchat. eu/
editor : Mgr Gabriel — translation : C. Victoroff.
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here on earth and for all eternity. It is at every moment of our daily lives that the Lord holds out His
hand to us, saying: ‘I’m offering you My love if you
want it!’ Let us look at what this means in reality.
When we look at our lives, the lives of all men on
earth, we are tempted to sadness, and we could say
like the writer of Ecclesiastes: All is vanity and vexation of spirit (Eccl. 2:17). So many misfortunes, so much
shattered love! Serious illness, unexpected accidents, old age in which everything is on the decline:
all can exhaust us. Many young people are unsure
about their future and are beset with anguish, sometimes seeking substitutes with no tomorrow.
Faced with these fears, this anguish, we must remember that Great Friday comes before Easter. We
must return in our thoughts to Gethsemane: My
soul is troubled even unto death, and to the Crucifixion:
My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? We will then understand that the Resurrection is not just a simple,
delightful family feast, but is a real surging forth, a
hymn to life and love! If Christ accepted suffering,
humiliation (kenosis), exclusion, rejection, terrible
solitude, abandoning by His apostles and, in the end,
death on the Cross, it is so that, through the mystery
of the Resurrection that followed, we may have no
more fear.
Later, Thomas was to be invited by the Lord to
place his hand in the wound caused by the lance at
Parish of Saints Panteleimon
of Brussels - Belgium
Like
and
the Crucifixion. This gesture was for every one of
us: in touching Christ’s side, the Apostle received,
as a gift, God’s infinite love and an open path to life.
Then our doubts, brought about by our manifold
terrors and tribulations, are transformed into great
hope and an act of faith: My Lord and my God! (Jn 20:28).
Yes, as the Lord said to Thomas, He says to each of
us: ‘I offer you My love and my life if you want them.’
And it is for us that Christ says: Blessed are they that
have not seen but yet have believed! (Jn 20:29).
The Lord’s Resurrection, therefore, reveals to us
the real purpose of the mystery of the Cross: the
supreme love of the Lord Jesus for us, for all men
on earth.
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters,
On this great and resplendent feast, I embrace you
all with great love and great joy! We are now risen
with Christ; we have seen the true light, and it is the
divine Life that henceforth flows in our veins!
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
+ Archbishop Gabriel of Comana, Exarch of the
Ecumenical Patriarch.
Paris, April 2nd/15th 2012
Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Paris
Nicholas
many Orthodox communities in the West, the parish
of Sts Panteleimon and Nicholas in Brussels was founded as a result of the Russian immigration. Its origins
go back to 1920, when a Russian lady working for the
Red Cross in Constantinople, Anastasia KouzmineKaravaiev (nee Selivanoff, 1886-1940), opened a home
for children orphaned or lost in the post revolutionary exodus. Next to the institution a chapel was created,
dedicated to St Panteleimon, which was served by Fr.
Vladimir Feodoroff (1873-1954). In 1923, le home was
transferred from Turkey to Belgium. After a brief time
in Namur and in the suburbs of Liege, it was established,
with the help of philanthropic catholic organisations, in
the Belgian capital in 1925-26.
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The home found
its ultimate location in 1929 in a
little property in
the township of
Etterbeek (one of
nineteen townships
of Brussels, not far
from the “European
District”) consisting
of two separate buildings and a garden:
a spacious villa originally with a little
father Vladimir FEORODOV
tower (overlooking
Tourelle Street) and
a garage where the church was set up (the entrance
is on Demot Street). The place of worship was furnished by the parishioners themselves, most of whom
were the children or the members of the staff of the
home, forming a Russian “family home” with its lessons in catechism, Russian language and history, its
choir, its feasts, the organisation of holiday camps,
etc. The church fell under the diocese of Metropolitan
Euloge, represented in Belgium by his auxiliary,
Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky).
patron of the church. The parish also hosts members
of the “second wave” of the Russian immigration, after the Second World War (“displaced persons” etc.).
People came from all over Belgium and even France
or the Netherlands, to gather in this small but cozy
church.
In the 1960’s and 70’s,
the parish was served by
different priests and another bishop: Bishop Paul
Golychev (1914-79, from
the USSR). The recent
period of the life of the parish is linked to the figure
of Fr. Serge Konovalov
(Archbishop Serge of
Eucarpie, 1941-2003),
who was the rector from
1980 until his death.
Today the parish is
served by Fr Prokhor
Spassky, assisted by Fr
John De Vaere. The services are celebrated in
Arch. Georges (Tarassov)
Slavonic and occasionally
in French. In accordance
with the system of worship in force in Belgium, the
parish is recognized by public authorities. Despite
the gradual disappearance of former parishioners, the
church remains dear to the heart of many, because of
its almost century-old traditions and especially its real
family atmosphere of prayer. Ultimately, it is perhaps
not so surprising that this parish, a priori modest, had
given the archdiocese two primates ...
During the Second World War, the home closed its
doors, and the church became the seat of an “ordinary” parish (Tourelle House was also destroyed after
the war; only the church building remains). After the
departure of Fr. Vladimir to France in 1940, it was
Fr. Georges Tarassov (future Archbishop Georges of
Syracuse, 1893-1981) who was nominated rector, and
stayed there until 1960. In 1946, the church (cathedral) of St Nicholas in Brussels having - under the
protection of Bishop Alexander – chosen obedience to
the Patriarch of Moscow, some discontented faithful Father Serge Model
joined the parish of St Panteleimon, “bringing” with
them St Nicholas of Myra who became the second Parish website: http://www.panteleimon.be
ORDINATIONS
w Archbishop Gabriel was:
w Received the priest in the Archdiocese André Negara. Father André is available to the Dean of Italy and responsible
for caring for a Community training.
w tonsured reader the servant of God Kirill Gribov the 8 avril 2012 in the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky. - Fr.
w elevated to the dignity of Protopresbytre father Anatole Rakovitch (Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky-Paris)
w Given the right to wear the double orarion deacon Alexis Milyutin.
w Nominations :
w deacon Léonid D’hoe was ordained deacon non-holder from the parish of St. George the God-Bearer in Antwerp
(Belgium).
w Higoumen André Berega received his letter off final canonical order to join the Archbishop of Iasi (Patriarch of
Romanian).
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