Akathist by Mykhayl

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(STAND:)

VIII REFORMERS AND UNIONS… 121-135 (999)
MEDITATION 8

(CHANTER:)
A mother nurtures her brood to grow strong and healthy within a co – working family unit. Sometimes these individuals selfishly strike out * on their own hurting those who love them. The governess covet is the driving muse behind such exposés. * For true education is not the acquisition of learning but retraining of the knowledge we are comfortable with.

CHANT 8

(CLERGY:)

Attention! A reading from Saint Matthew:

(ALL:)
Glory be to you O Lord glory be to You
Alleluia, alleluia!

(CLERGY:)
(Jesus answered:) “ You will indeed drink of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with; * but to sit at My right hand and My left is not Mine to give, * but is for those for whom it is prepared for by My Father.” (Matt 20:23)

(ALL:)
Glory be to you Our God glory be to You
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

(MAY SIT IF FATIGUED)
(ALL:)
121 Rejoice to ponder concerns about imposing rubrics on another monastery * as the Thesis of Luther are reprinted throughout the power struggling Holy Roman Empire,

Meanwhile Slavonic publications in Krakow are burned as is the Reverend Father Jan Hus himself in Constance. * Yet when German Lutheran publications arrive they are merely banned, banded and shelved (1520).

122 Rejoice in the hope as the first printing in Lviv happens * as it ushers in new thinking for a new century (1575),

The “CONFESSION OF ORTHODOX FAITH” catechism by Kyiv metropolitan Saint Petro Mohyla is reprinted * in German, Greek, Latin, Polish, Slavonic and many others languages (1675).

123 Rejoice in the face of bewilderment as developments with the Papacy are initiated * to see what considerations or concessions the Ruthenian church may expect,

The Orthodox Church of Ruthenia goes into union with the Catholic Church of Rome, * both retaining their own laws, customs, tradition and clerical status as equals, on paper (1595).

124 Rejoice even though amazed that the Greek churches originally embraced the Roman church as brothers * until the Saltine with the Tsar decided a divided Christendom was colonially advantageous (1595).

Claiming fidelity these many true churches are sleeping with archaic empires, * in reality giving birth to fraternal mutable births of Orthodox, Greco Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Protestant denominations (1596).

125 Rejoice as an academic examination of church unity proceeds rather than negative catty chatter. * Although the arguments are presented objectively at the Brest seminar they are presented to segregated conclaves.

A house divided cannot stand as Ukrainian institutions are systematically circumvented for training in Muscovite fashion * of ecclesiastical rubrics, translation and sacred music rather than political sciences (1750-1825).

126 Rejoice despite wonderment as Constantinople and Moscow turn their backs on the union, * leaving the Ruthenian church holding the bag.

Ever pontificating while sitting on tarnished imperial gilded laurels you can not claim to be the solution * if you are part of the problem perpetually point out others delusions.

127 Rejoice with fulfillment as the Kossack Knights secure Ukrainian orthodox apostolic succession * from the holy land through the hands of Saint Theophan, the patriarch of Jerusalem once more enfolds. (Kyiv 1626, / Chersoneses 451)

Jesuit learning centers are established and imitated through Ruthenia * while an Eastern Christian college is based in Rome at Saints Sergius and Bacchus complex (1639).

128 Rejoice and observe that after the Tarter retreat from mother Kyiv * the Kossack Knights pledge custodianship of theses fortresses of orthodoxy (1599),

As soon as you let a forest encroach upon your lands * there’s bound to be tree sprites mysteriously dabble.

129 Rejoice despite the gossamer aspirations of Russian Patriarch Nikon * in using a “Return to Orthodoxy” scheme in order to consolidate control not canonical truths.

In reality imitating chauvinistic Roman uniformity in order to assure a smooth transition * into the final Rome, from now patronizing Istanbul to supercilious Moscow (1666).

130 Rejoice noting in the ancestral old believer’s ways * as in the clockwise flow of exterior processions and the twice singing of the alleluia,

While crossing oneself only using the two fingers for the duo natures of Christ for tracing the cross * as had our equal to the apostles Saints Cyril, Methodius, Volodymyr and Oil’ha.

131 Rejoice in assurance as Catholic and as Orthodox churches both pledge peaceful coexistence in the Sejm (Polish senate) * and the Kossack Knights pledges to defend all Christians within their grasp (1684).

Meanwhile Romanoff tolerance was only for the state controlled church, abolishing all other * Greco Catholic, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox or Old Believers as political threats. (Polotsk 1830).

132 Rejoice with resolve for the initial cries for social justice * came from and by and for the common man himself (1735),

If the slower you go the farther you get the organized intelligentsia’s Society of Saints Cyril and Methodius * should have made an indelible inroad into our time (1845).

133 Rejoice prayerfully patient as the liquidation of the “old ritual” is halted * by the Austro – Hungarian Empress Maria – Theresa (1740-80)

Her son Joseph II (the Second) passes a Tolerance Law for religious freedom * abolishing the 4th Lateran Council’s 9th Constitution of 1215 (twelve fifteen).

134 Rejoice however frustrated by Tsarina Catherine the Second concurring * with Tsar Peter the First that “Ukraine never was, is not now, nor ever will be…”

In order to pay for Napoleon’s defeat and the grandeur of a new Russia (Catherine) the Second continues * the liquidation of the Kossack knights and Greco Catholic Church as initiated by (Peter) the First (1813).

135 Rejoice as the first Greco Catholic saint, the martyred Archbishop Josaphut (Josaphat) is added to the Latin’s international calendar, * promoted by the church of Poland his relics were enshrined in Vienna (1623 / 1867).

As the atheist U S S R (communist) Army invaded, the U S (free) Army evacuated these relics hidden under a bed of coal. * Trucked into the Vatican where Saint Josaphut (Josaphat) is publicly enshrined beneath Saint Basil’s alter (1949 / 63).