Compilation by St. Bishop Theophan, the Recluse of Vysha
St. Gregory of Nyssa:
“Who would give me dove’s wings?” – said the psalmist David (Ps. 54:7). I dare to say the same: who would give me those wings, so that I could raise my mind to the height of these words, and, leaving the earth, pass through the air, reach the stars and see all their beauty, but without stopping and to them, beyond all that is movable and changeable, to reach the constant nature, the immovable power, guiding and sustaining all that has being; all that depends on the ineffable will of God’s Wisdom. Moving mentally away from that which is changeable and perverse, I will for the first time be able to unite mentally with the Immutable and the Unchangeable, and with the closest name, by saying: Father!”.
St. Cyprian of Carthage:
“Oh, what a condescension towards us, what an abundance of favor and kindness from the Lord, when He allows us, when performing the prayer before the face of God, to call God the Father, and to call ourselves sons of God, just as Christ is the Son of God! None of us would dare to use that name in prayer if He Himself had not allowed us to pray in this way.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem:
“In the prayer that the Savior taught us through His disciples, we name God the Father with a clear conscience, saying: “Our Father!”. How great is God’s humanity! Those who have fallen away from Him and who have reached the extreme limit in evil are given such a communion in grace that they call Him Father: Our Father!”.
St. John Chrysostom:
“Father ours! Oh, what extraordinary philanthropy! What a high honor! In what words shall I give thanks to the Sender of these goods? See, beloved, the nothingness of your nature and mine, look into its origin – in this earth, dust, mud, clay, ashes, because we are created from the earth and finally decay into the earth. And when you imagine this, marvel at the unfathomable wealth of God’s great goodness to us, by which you are commanded to call Him Father, earthly – Heavenly, mortal – Immortal, perishable – Incorruptible, temporal – Eternal, yesterday and before, existing ages ago’.
Augustine:
“In every petition, the favor of the petitioner is first sought, and then the substance of the petition is stated. A favor is usually requested with praise of the one from whom it is requested, which is placed at the beginning of the request. In this sense, the Lord also commanded us at the beginning of the prayer to exclaim: “Our Father!”. In the Scriptures there are many expressions through which the praise of God is expressed, but we do not find a prescription for Israel to be addressed as “Our Father!”. Indeed, the prophets called God the Father of the Israelites, for example: “I brought up and raised sons, but they rebelled against me” (Is. 1:2); “If I am a father, where is the honor to Me?” (Mal. 1:6). The prophets called God thus, apparently to expose the Israelites that they did not want to be sons of God because they had committed sins. The prophets themselves did not dare to address God as the Father, since they were still in the position of slaves, although they were destined for sonship, as the apostle says: “the heir, while he is young, is not distinguished by anything from a slave” (Gal. 4:1). This right is given to the new Israel – to the Christians; they are destined to be children of God (cf. John 1:12), and they have received the spirit of sonship, which is why they exclaim: Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15)”.
Tertullian:
“The Lord often called God our Father, he even commanded us not to call anyone on earth Father except the One whom we have in heaven (cf. Matt. 23:9). Thus, by addressing these words in prayer, we fulfill the commandment. Blessed are those who know God their Father. The name of God the Father has not been revealed to anyone before – even the questioner Moses was told another name of God, while it is revealed to us in the Son. The very name Son already leads to the new name of God – the name Father. But He also spoke directly: “I have come in the name of the Father” (John 5:43), and again: “Father, glorify Your name” (John 12:28), and even more clearly: “I have revealed Your name to men ” (John 17:6)”.
St. John Cassian the Roman:
“The Lord’s Prayer presupposes in the person who prays the most exalted and most perfect state, which is expressed in the contemplation of the One God and in ardent love for Him, and in which our mind, permeated by this love, converses with God in the closest communion and with special sincerity, as with his Father. The words of the prayer suggest to us that we should diligently long for the attainment of such a state. “Our Father!” – if in such a way God, the Lord of the universe, with His own mouth confesses His Father, then at the same time He also confesses the following: that we have been completely raised from a state of slavery to a state of adopted children of God.
St. Theophylact, archbishop. Bulgarian:
“Christ’s disciples competed with John’s disciples and wanted to learn how to pray. The Savior does not reject their desire and teaches them to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven – notice the power of prayer! It immediately elevates you to the sublime, and inasmuch as you call God the Father, you convince yourself to make every effort not to lose the likeness of the Father, but to resemble Him. The word “Father” shows you with what goods you have been honored by becoming a son of God”.
St. Simeon of Thessaloniki:
“Father ours! – Because He is our Creator, who brought us from non-being into being, and because by grace He is our Father through the Son, by nature He became like us”.
St. Tikhon Zadonsky:
“From the words “Our Father!” we learn that God is the true Father of Christians and they are “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). Therefore, as our Father, we should confidently call upon Him, as the children of carnal parents call upon them and extend their hands to them in every need.”
Note: St. Theophan, the Recluse of Vysha (January 10, 1815 – January 6, 1894) is celebrated on January 10 (January 23 old style) and on June 16 (Transferring the relics of St. Theophan).
Recent advancements in the genome editing technology field have enabled scientists to manipulate genomic sequences rapidly and efficiently. Despite revolutionary progress in this area, several challenges remain. Existing gene editing technologies like CRISPR-cas9, base editors and prime editors have great potential. Still, existing delivery technologies cannot deliver gene editing technologies to many target tissues and cell types in sufficient quantities, which hinders clinical applications. While some cell types, like hepatocytes in the liver, have many delivery technologies capable of delivering genome editors, many other organs and cell types are harder to reach.
The Challenge is a three-phase competition:
In Phase 1, Participants will be asked to submit a proposal describing their proposed solution and how it will address the requirements for one of the Target Areas. Participants may submit proposed solutions to both Target Areas but must do so with separate proposals that independently address each Target Area’s requirements. Up to ten proposals judged to meet the best requirements will each be awarded up to $75,000. Additional prizes of $50,000 may be awarded to additional meritorious solutions based on the Judging Criteria.
In Phase 2, Participants must submit data from studies that demonstrate delivery and editing performance and describe their methodology, technology, and how their solution addresses the Challenge criteria. Participation in Phase 1 is not a requirement for participation in Phase 2; however, it is strongly encouraged. Up to 10 winners of Phase 2 will be each awarded $250,000 and will be eligible to compete in Phase 3. Only Phase 2 winners will be eligible to participate in Phase 3.
Phase 3 is separated into Phase 3a and Phase 3b; all participants must submit solutions for Phase 3a to be eligible to participate in Phase 3b. For Phase 3a, Participants must submit all required information showing that their technology is ready for large animal testing through NIH-supported independent evaluation and can solve the requirements for one of the Target Areas.
Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 12:00 AM EET, January 11, 2025.
Drought is ravaging communities in Afar, Amhara, Tigray and Oromia, as well as the Southern and South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region.
Severe water shortages, dried pastures and reduced harvests are impacting millions of people and livestock, with reports of food insecurity and rising malnutrition.
Among those who are particularly vulnerable are people affected by the two-year conflict in Tigray, which ended in 2022, the UN and the authorities said in a joint statement on Thursday.
More than six million people are already receiving food and cash across affected areas, but huge gaps remain, OCHA warned.
The number of critically food insecure people will continue to grow over the next few months, reaching a peak of 10.8 million during the lean season from July through September, according to a recent joint assessment by the government and humanitarian partners.
Malnutrition rates in parts of Afar, Amhara and Tigray and other regions have already surpassed globally recognized crisis thresholds, but currently do not reflect famine-like conditions.
“While the situation in many of these areas is already alarming, there is an opportunity to avert a serious humanitarian catastrophe through additional funding to urgently scale up and sustain response efforts,” OCHA said.
Peacekeepers injured in attack on UN helicopter in DR Congo
Two South African peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, in an attack on a UN helicopter in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Friday.
The helicopter from the UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, was carrying out a medical evacuation when it came under fire from presumed members of the M23 armed group in the Karuba region, located in Masisi territory, North Kivu province.
The helicopter was able to land safely in the provincial capital, Goma, and the peacekeepers received medical treatment.
MONUSCO chief Bintou Keita, strongly condemned the attack, which comes almost a year after a similar incident caused the death of a South African peacekeeper.
The UN Mission will spare no effort, in cooperation with the Congolese authorities, to bring the perpetrators to justice, she said.
The head of UN Peacekeeping deplored the attack in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
He said that UN “blue helmets” should not be targeted.
Ukraine: Top UN aid official condemns deadly attack on aid workers
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine has condemned a deadly attack on aid workers in the south of the country.
Two French citizens volunteering with a Swiss non-governmental organization were killed and three other foreigners injured in a Russian drone strike in the Kherson region on Thursday, according to media reports.
“I am shocked to hear that their vehicles were attacked in a manner similar to a tragic incident in Chasiv Yar town in the east of Ukraine just a week ago, when a humanitarian vehicle was hit and an aid worker injured,” Denise Brown said in a statement on Friday.
Last year, 50 aid workers were killed or injured in Ukraine, including 11 who died in the line of duty.
Ms. Brown said that “this repeated pattern of attacks appears to have intensified” since the beginning of the year, as five aid workers were injured in January alone.
“This comes at a time when people in frontline areas are facing an extremely dire humanitarian situation with Russia’s invasion impacting every aspect of their daily lives,” she added.
Despite the challenges and insecurity, humanitarians continue to deliver aid in Ukraine.
The UN reported that on Friday, an inter-agency convoy delivered three trucks of humanitarian supplies to the residents of frontline communities in the Kharkiv area.
The items included hygiene kits, thermal blankets, sleeping bags, kitchen sets, evacuation kits and construction materials to repair damaged homes.
Concluding a 10-day visit to the country, Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem noted that a woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK, and one in four women there will experience some form of domestic violence in her lifetime.
“Entrenched patriarchy at almost every level of society, combined with a rise in misogyny that permeates the physical and online world, is denying thousands of women and girls across the UK the right to live in safety, free from fear and violence,” she said in a statement summarizing her preliminary findings and observations.
Ms. Alsalem acknowledged the robust legal framework for promoting gender equality, including the Equality Act 2010 and other legislation that applies across the UK, noting that this framework is complemented by important legislation and policies in the devolved regions, referring to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
She said the UK has been a leader in strengthening its legal framework to address current and emerging forms of violence against women and girls, including coercive control, digitally facilitated violence and stalking, as well as improving access to justice.
“Many countries will look to the UK for inspiration, as well as examples of innovation and good practice on how to make life safer for women and girls, and accountability for crimes committed against them,” she added.
Translate policy into action
However, the Special Rapporteur noted that a number of realities undermine the UK’s ability to realise the full potential of its legislation and policies on violence against women.
They include the dilution of the link between these policies and the UK’s international human rights obligations; a general critical discourse and positioning on human rights, particularly in relation to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees; and the fragmentation of policies on male violence against women and girls across devolved and non-devolved areas.
“The UK can do more to translate its political recognition of the scale of violence against women and girls into action,” she said, before offering several recommendations, such as bringing together all legislative and programmatic strands of intervention on the issue, upgrading and formalising responsibility for discrimination and violence against women and girls in government, and anchoring it in human rights commitments.
Grassroots groups struggling
Ms. Alsalem expressed concern about how grassroots organisations and specialised frontline service providers working with women and girls are struggling to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, both foreign and national, who fall through the cracks and are not covered by statutory service providers.
These groups “are struggling to survive in an increasingly challenging context of rising living costs, a deepening housing crisis and a critical lack of funding,” she said.
“The situation of NGOs working on gender equality and violence against women and girls has reached a crisis point and is simply untenable,” she added, urging the UK authorities to restore predictable and adequate funding to frontline organisations.
Ms. Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Independent experts who receive mandates from the Council are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.
Russian clergy and believers have published an open appeal to the authorities in Russia calling for the body of politician Alexei Navalny to be handed over to his family.
The text of the address is published on the website of the Orthodox project “Peace for all”. The authors of the address emphasize that Navalny was not only an opposition politician, but also an Orthodox Christian.
The open address was signed by priests and people of faith. So far, there are nearly three hundred signatures and their collection continues online here.
The appeal calls on the authorities to show mercy and compassion to the mother, wife, children and relatives of Alexei Navalny.
Here is the full text of the letter:
“We call on you to hand over the body of politician Alexei Navalny to the family, so that his mother, other family members and like-minded people can say goodbye to him and give him a Christian burial.” This is not only their wish and legal right, but also a duty to God for each deceased.
Alexei Navalny was not only an opposition politician, but also a man of faith, an Orthodox Christian. We urge you to respect his memory.
Do not cloud the tragedy of his death by refusing such a simple and human request. Remember that everyone is equal before God. The refusal to hand over Navalny’s body to his family will be seen as a manifestation of cruelty and inhumanity. This decision could lead to even greater tension in society. We urge you not to go down this path.
Show mercy and compassion to his mother, wife, children and loved ones. Every person deserves a humane burial. Even Pontius Pilate, who decided on the execution of Christ for fear of being disloyal to the emperor: “if you let Him go, you are not Caesar’s friend (John 19:12), did not put any obstacles to handing over the Savior’s body for His burial . Be not more cruel than Pilate. Make the right decision.”
Alexei Navalny died suddenly on February 16 in a Russian prison beyond the Arctic Circle, where he was transferred at the beginning of the year. Investigators investigating the opposition politician’s death said they would not release his body to relatives for another two weeks as it was sent for a “chemical examination”. Navalny’s sympathizers believe that he was murdered and that his body was hidden in order to erase “traces of the murder”. Human rights activists in Russia express the opinion that the body of a politician is not being returned to his relatives and with the intention of delaying his burial, as the Russian authorities fear that it will become a starting point for serious protest actions on the eve of the presidential elections in the country. which will take place from March 15 to 17 this year. In Russia, the arrests of people who present flowers in memory of the murdered opposition politician continue.
Earlier, the human rights project OVD-Info, created to help those detained during the anti-government rallies, also opened a petition demanding that Navalny’s body be handed over to his relatives. So far, the petition has been signed by more than 80,000 people.
Source: Appeal to the authorities of the Russian Federation by Orthodox clergy and laymen
By filling out this form, I consent to the publication of my name under an open letter at the address: https://www.mir-vsem.info/post/navalny
Renewable energy from windfarms. Image Credit: Karsten Würth/Unsplash
In a featured comment publication for Nature Energy, researchers – including from the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the Oxford Smith School at the University of Oxford – outline the challenges facing policymakers working with traditional economic modelling across the public and industrial sectors.
The paper calls for a shift from narrow cost-benefit analysis and modelling based on economic equilibrium, towards models which capture the dynamics of the transition and represent policy ideas in real detail. These capabilities are required to match the policies governments are actually designing and implementing now, such as the ETS in China, offshore wind auctions in the UK, and the Inflation Reduction Act in the US.
Lead author Dr Pete Barbrook-Johnson, a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford, said that the global policy conversation had shifted, bringing with it a different set of requirements for economic modellers.
‘We’ve been working with partners in China, India, Brazil, the UK, and Europe to explore what kind of modelling support they need to understand the energy transition.
‘What they tell us is that they really need models that allow them to capture the detail of policies to understand what their impacts might be and how the energy transition might unfold. We have been developing these capabilities for a few years, and this cohort of new models is now maturing.
‘But, we must acknowledge what is required is a new type of modelling that’s not been established and used in lots of places, so we need to do more to expand and learn from the promising work that’s already out there. In this paper, we explore what we what we need to do, things like invest in new teams, work with partners in more countries, and collect more detailed economic data to match the details of the models,’ Dr Barbrook-Johnson said.
‘Traditional economics has failed us by providing, so far, mostly bad advice. We’re trying to remedy that by developing a whole new style of models based on a different set of principles that does a better job of explaining empirical facts and that can better guide us through the transition.
‘This paper lays out a kind of manifesto for what can be done, including talking about the successes we’ve had in the EEIST project, where we gave examples of models that we think are doing a significantly better job than others.
‘Among other things we’ve shown that the energy transition is going to happen much faster than people have been realising as the costs of renewable energy are going to drop lower than fossil fuels on a purely economic basis. We need new economic modelling to support this. We still need some government support for technologies like green hydrogen that are needed to provide storage,’ Professor Farmer said.
Emergency response rooms are finding innovative approaches to providing rapid assistance to millions facing war in Sudan.
Teams of volunteer medical staff, engineers and other emergency experts across the country are addressing civilian needs amid the current bout of violence and insecurity stemming from clashes with rival military forces in April 2023.
So far, ERRs have reached more than four million civilians, bucking bureaucracy and finding innovative solutions.
UN News met with three young volunteers who visited UN Headquarters in New York to attend meetings with officials and actors in the humanitarian field.
The goal is simple: reach those facing the risk of death, famine, disease and difficulty obtaining drinking water, electricity and communication services.
Needs are great, they said. The ongoing conflict has led to the departure of humanitarian agencies, collapse of state institutions and interruption of basic services in large parts of the country amid soaring civilian casualties and large-scale displacement.
More than 7.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety within and outside Sudan.
Operating in states across the country, ERRs function like a “local emergency government”.
Youth-led emergency response rooms expanded after the outbreak of war in Sudan to fill the vacuum created by the departure of international humanitarian organizations.
‘Filling a vacuum’
After the outbreak of war, Hanin Ahmed, a young Sudanese activist with a master’s degree in gender and specializing in peace and conflict, founded an emergency room in the Omdurman area with one of her colleagues.
She and her colleagues visited UN Headquarters to, among other things, shed light on the Sudan issue, which she said does not receive enough attention despite the catastrophic deterioration of the situation on the ground.
“We are united by humanitarian work and the sense of responding to the repercussions of war and helping people,” she told UN News.
The emergency rooms contribute to filling part of the vacuum left behind when international humanitarian organizations left, Ms. Ahmed explained.
Each initiative enjoys intense community participation by young people of all political orientations, she said, highlighting some of their success stories, from assisting victims of sexual violence to providing pathways to safety.
“Through our youth networks and our personal relationships, we were able to open safe corridors to evacuate citizens from neighbourhoods under attack and take them to shelter centres,” Ms. Ahmed said.
“We are proud of that.”
“But, we face theft and are exposed,” she said. “Young people are targeted, arrested and killed while they work in very difficult conditions.”
A simple, practical structure ‘away from bureaucracy’
Youth-led emergency responders are helping communities in the face of war.
The efforts expanded after the war broke out in April.
“We tried to find a simple and practical structure to carry out tasks, away from bureaucracy,” he said. “So far, we have been able to provide food, electricity, water and protection services to nearly four million people in Darfur and Khartoum.”
Where there is a need, ERRs take action. Unstable electricity services are addressed by volunteers carrying out maintenance operations.
Amid spreading violence, emergency rooms have so far been able to evacuate about 12,000 people, including more than 800 from the Al-Fitaihab area in Omdurman in December, Mr. Al-Ebaid said.
Children and women queue to collect clean and safe water in Zalingei town in central Darfur.
‘An emergency local government’
Darfur emergency rooms coordinator AbuZar Othman said these initiatives amount to “a local emergency government” that seeks to provide continuous humanitarian services managed by Sudanese men and women “in order to build solidarity that preserves our social fabric and dignity and covers our needs”.
Hanin Ahmed (left) and Muhammad Al-Ebaid work in emergency response rooms in Sudan.
Pointing to the enormous suffering that people in Darfur have been experiencing due to the armed conflicts since 2003 through the current war, he said violations against civilians “have risen to being described as crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing, leaving behind an extremely complex humanitarian, economic and social reality”.
At a time when the war is expanding alongside intertwined challenges, he said establishing emergency rooms in four states is a decisive step towards providing the necessary support and rapid response to citizens’ needs.
From the spread of weapons to ethnic tensions, Mr. Othman said the challenges are broad, including addressing the ongoing agricultural and grazing sector crises, interruptions of communications networks and a lack of health services.
Finding innovative solutions
At UN Headquarters, the three volunteers called on the international community to recognize emergency rooms as an actor in the humanitarian field and provide support to them.
“We are trying to adapt to all the challenges that exist and find innovative solutions to them, but we still need development, and we need a strong system that is compatible with all these challenges,” Ms. Ahmed said.
“We in emergency rooms cannot cover all the needs in conflict areas, therefore, we ask the international community and international organizations to shed light on the Sudanese issue and to put pressure to silence the sound of guns, protect civilians and provide more support to help those affected by the war.”
Fast facts
What are emergency response rooms (ERRs)?
Informal community-led initiatives in Sudan
Driven by local actors, including growing numbers of youth
Mobilized during the COVID-19 pandemic
Expanded following the outbreak of war in 2023
Rapid responders to urgent needs
Providers of essential humanitarian services to affected populations
Briefing journalists in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric cited the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, which said the damage had occurred after a water filtering station was hit.
The city had a pre-war population of 220,000 people, now reduced to 90,000.
The attacks also caused civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure on both sides of the frontlines, according to both the Ukrainian Government and Russian-installed authorities in the occupied territory east of Kramatorsk.
“On the humanitarian response, aid organizations immediately delivered assistance, including emergency repair materials, to communities on the Ukrainian side of the frontline”, said Mr. Dujarric.
And humanitarians provided aid to the front-line town of Kurakhove, which has been impacted by 10 years of hostilities, following Russia’s initial annexation of territory in 2014.
The aid consisted of 13 tonnes of medical and hygiene supplies, including for people with disabilities, and other supplies to support civilians whose access to basic services is severely disrupted, the Spokesperson added.
Afghanistan: More than $400 million needed for post-earthquake recovery
A staggering $402.9 million will be needed to support recovery and reconstruction efforts in western Afghanistan following the devastating earthquakes last year, according to a UN-backed report published on Wednesday.
More than 1,500 people were killed, and 2,600 were injured, in the series of earthquakes which struck Herat province on 7, 11 and 15 October 2023.
People living in Herat Province, Afghanistan, are coming to terms with the devastation caused to property by the earthquake.
The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report– published by the UN together with the World Bank, the European Union, and the Asian Development Bank – surveyed nine districts, covering some 2.2 million people.
It highlights the scale of the disaster, which caused direct physical damage up to $217 million and losses reaching nearly $80 million.
Housing was the most severely affected sector and represents 41 percent of the total recovery needs, or $164.4 million. Nearly 50,000 homes were damaged in the earthquakes, with 13,516 being completely destroyed.
Education followed in second place, and the report noted that 180,000 students and 4,390 teachers currently face disruptions. Meanwhile, the agriculture sector, which accounts for the majority of jobs and income in the affected areas, has suffered considerable setbacks.
The assessment revealed that over 275,000 people were affected, including pregnant women, infants, and people with severe disabilities.
The earthquakes hit vulnerable communities with limited resilience to handle multiple shocks. Herat is among provinces hosting the largest numbers of Afghans who have been internally displaced due to conflict and drought, resulting in severe impacts on access to services, land, and shelter which has only worsened.
The report stressed the need to transition from immediate humanitarian aid to long-term recovery, prioritizing strategies for building community resilience, service restoration, earthquake-safe housing, social protection, and access to basic services.
US companies dump ‘forever chemicals’ with impunity: UN experts
In the United States, the DuPont and Chemours chemical companies are dumping toxic so-called “forever chemicals” into the local environment, completely disregarding the rights and well being of residents along the lower Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
That’s according to a group of nine independent UN human rights experts, who released a statement on Wednesday warning of the dangerous effects from the chemicals, commonly referred to as PFAs, or polyfluoroalkyl substances, and said members of impacted communities have reportedly been denied access to clean and safe water for decades.
PFAs come from products such as shampoo, nail polish and the synthetic coating on carpets or fabrics.
They are known as forever chemicals because they do not easily degrade in nature and can cause harm for decades, even centuries.
Even though the companies are aware of the toxic impact of PFAs, they continue to discharge them, the experts said.
They also raised alarm over exports of PFAs and hazardous waste from the Netherlands to the United States, in apparent breach of international law.
Inadequate and insufficient
The experts said enforcement and remediation measures have been inadequate where legal action has been taken against the two companies.
“Health and environmental regulators in the United States have fallen short in their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses, including providing the public – particularly affected communities in North Carolina – with the type and amount of information necessary to prevent harm and seek reparation,” the experts said.
The UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts have raised these concerns with the US Government, which has yet to reply.
Special Rapporteurs and other experts work on a voluntary basis and do not receive a salary, serving entirely in their individual capacity.
Multilingual education, a useful tool for tackling learning crisis
Finally, Wednesday is International Mother Language Day, and education, science and culture agency UNESCO is calling on all countries to pursue a policy of multilingual education.
That’s because it’s key to fighting the current global learning crisis, having produced positive results in the past.
According to a recent agency study, children are more likely to start reading earlier when they are taught in their mother tongue during the earliest school years.
Lessons from Africa
Proof can be found across Africa. The continent has the world’s highest linguistic diversity, but only one in five children are taught their mother tongue.
To change that, Mozambique expanded bilingual learning to a quarter of its schools, and children are already performing around 15 per cent better in basic reading and mathematics, UNESCO said.
While people communicate in more than 6,700 languages around the world, 40 per cent of them are threatened with extinction in the long term, due to falling numbers of speakers.
By Natalya Trauberg (interview given in the fall of 2008 given to Elena Borisova and Darja Litvak), <a href=”http://expert.ru/expert/2009/19/hristianstvo_eto_neudobno/”>Expert No. 19(657), May 18, 2009</a>
To be a Christian means to give up oneself in favor of one’s neighbor. This has nothing to do with a particular denomination, but depends only on the personal choice of a person and therefore is unlikely to become a mass phenomenon.
Natalia Trauberg is an outstanding translator from English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. The man who revealed to the Russian reader the Christian thinker Gilbert Chesterton, the apologist Clive Lewis, the evangelical plays of Dorothy Sayers, the sad Graham Greene, the meek Wodehouse, the children’s Paul Gallico and Frances Burnett. In England, Trauberg was called “Madame Chesterton”. In Russia, she was the nun Joanna, a member of the board of the Bible Society and the editorial board of the magazine “Foreign Literature”, broadcast on radio “Sofia” and “Radonezh”, taught at the Biblical-Theological Institute of St. Apostle Andrew.
Natalia Leonidovna loved to talk about what Chesterton called “simply Christianity”: not about retreating into the “piety of the holy fathers,” but about Christian life and Christian feelings here and now, in those circumstances and in the place where we are placed. About Chesterton and Sayers, she once wrote: “There was nothing in them that turns one away from “religious life” – neither gravity, nor sweetness, nor intolerance. And now, when the “Pharisees’ leaven” is again gaining strength, their voice is very important, it will outweigh much.” Today these words can fully be attributed to her and her voice.
It so happened that Natalia Trauberg gave one of her last interviews to Expert magazine.
Natalia Leonidovna, against the background of the spiritual crisis experienced by humanity, many are waiting for the revival of Christianity. Moreover, it is believed that everything will begin in Russia, since it is Russian Orthodoxy that contains the fullness of Christianity throughout the world. What do you think about it?
It seems to me that talking about the coincidence of Russianness and Orthodoxy is a humiliation of the Divine and Eternal. And if we begin to argue that Russian Christianity is the most important thing in the world, then we have big problems that call us into question as Christians. As for revivals… They never happened in history. There were some relatively large appeals. Once a certain number of people thought that nothing good was coming out of the world, and followed Anthony the Great to escape into the desert, although Christ, we note, spent only forty days in the desert… In the 12th century, when the mendicant monks came, many suddenly They felt that their life was somehow at odds with the Gospel, and they began to set up separate islands, monasteries, so that it would be in accordance with the Gospel. Then they think again: something is wrong. And they decide to try not in the desert, not in a monastery, but in the world to live close to the Gospel, but fenced off from the world with vows. However, this does not greatly affect society.
In the 70s in the Soviet Union, a lot of people went to church, not to mention the 90s. What is this if not an attempt at revival?
In the 70s, the intelligentsia, so to speak, came to the church. And when she “converted,” one could notice that not only did she not show Christian qualities, but, as it turned out, she also stopped showing intellectual qualities.
What does it mean – intelligent?
Which remotely reproduce something Christian: to be delicate, tolerant, not to grab yourself, not to tear off another’s head, and so on… What is a worldly way of life? This is “I want”, “desire”, what in the Gospel is called “lust”, “concupiscence”. And a worldly person simply lives as he wants. So here it is. In the early 70s, a number of people who had read Berdyaev or Averintsev began to go to church. But what do you think? They behave as before, as they want: pushing the crowd apart, pushing everyone aside. They almost tear Averintsev to pieces at his first lecture, although in this lecture he talks about simple gospel things: meekness and patience. And they, pushing each other away: “Me! I want a piece of Averintsev!” Of course, you can realize all this and repent. But how many people have you seen who came to repent not only for drinking or committing adultery? To repent of adultery is welcome, this is the only sin that they remember and realized, which, however, does not prevent them from leaving their wife later… And that a much greater sin is to be proud, important, intolerant and dry with people, to scare away, to be rude…
It seems that the Gospel also says very strictly about adultery of spouses?
It’s been said. But not the entire Gospel is devoted to this. There is one amazing conversation when the apostles cannot accept the words of Christ that two should become one flesh. They ask: how is this possible? Is this impossible for humans? And the Savior reveals this secret to them, says that real marriage is an absolute union, and adds very mercifully: “Whoever can accommodate, let him accommodate.” That is, whoever can understand will understand. So they turned everything upside down and even made a law in Catholic countries that you cannot get divorced. But try to make a law that you can’t yell. But Christ speaks about this much earlier: “He who is angry with his brother in vain is subject to judgment.”
What if it’s not in vain, but to the point?
I am not a good biblical scholar, but I am sure that the word “in vain” here is an interpolation. Christ did not pronounce it. It generally removes the whole problem, because anyone who gets angry and yells is sure that they are not doing it in vain. But it is said that if “your brother sins against you, reprove him between you and him alone.” Alone. Politely and carefully, as you would like to be exposed. And if the person did not hear, did not want to hear, “…then take one or two brothers” and talk to him again. And finally, if he did not listen to them, then he will be like a “pagan and a publican” to you.
That is, as an enemy?
No. This means: let him be like a person who does not understand this type of conversation. And then you step aside and give space to God. This phrase – “make room for God” – is repeated in Scripture with enviable frequency. But how many people have you seen who heard these words? How many people have we seen who came to church and realized: “I am empty, I have nothing but stupidity, boasting, desires and the desire to assert myself… Lord, how do you tolerate this? Help me improve!” After all, the essence of Christianity is that it turns the whole person upside down. There is a word that comes from Greek “metanoia” – a change of thinking. When everything that is considered important in the world – luck, talent, wealth, one’s good qualities – ceases to be valuable. Any psychologist will tell you: believe in yourself. And in church you are nobody. No one, but very beloved. There a person, like a prodigal son, turns to his father – to God. He comes to him to receive forgiveness and some kind of presence, at least in his father’s yard. His father, poor in spirit, bows down to him, cries and lets him go forward.
So what is the meaning of the expression “poor in spirit”?
Well, yes. Everyone thinks: how could this be? But no matter how you interpret it, it all comes down to the fact that they have nothing. A worldly person always has something: my talent, my kindness, my courage. But these have nothing: they depend on God for everything. They become like children. But not because children are beautiful, pure creatures, as some psychologists claim, but because the child is completely helpless. He does not exist without his father, he will not be able to eat, he will not learn to speak. And the poor in spirit are like that. Coming to Christianity means that a certain number of people will live a life that is impossible from a worldly point of view. Of course, it will also happen that a person will continue to do what is typical for us, pathetic, unhappy and funny. He can get drunk like a gray horse. You may fall in love at the wrong time. In general, everything human in him will remain. But he will have to count his actions and thoughts from Christ. And if a person accepted it, opened not only his heart, but also his mind, then conversion to Christianity occurred.
Partisanship instead of love
Most Christians know about the existence of different faiths, some are interested in canonical differences. Does this matter to the daily life of a Christian?
I think no. Otherwise, it turns out that when we came to church, we simply came to a new institution. Yes, it is beautiful, yes, there is wonderful singing there. But it is very dangerous when they say: they say, I love such and such a church, because they sing well there… It would be better if they kept quiet, honestly, because Christ never sang anywhere. When people come to church, they find themselves in an institution where everything is the other way around.
This is ideal. And in fact?
In fact, this is very common today: ours is yours. Who is cooler – Catholics or Orthodox? Or maybe schismatics. Followers of Father Alexander Men or Father Georgy Kochetkov. Everything is divided into tiny batches. For some, Russia is an icon of Christ, for others, on the contrary, it is not an icon. It’s also common among many of us, isn’t it? I took communion, went out into the street, and I despise everyone who hasn’t joined the church. But we went out to those to whom the Savior sent us. He called us not slaves, but friends. And if for the sake of ideas, convictions and interest we begin to spread rot on those who do not live according to our “law”, then we are not Christians, really. Or there is an article by Semyon Frank, where he talks about the beauty of Orthodox churches: yes, we saw a world of wondrous beauty and loved it very much, and realized that this is the most important thing in the world, but there are people around us who do not understand this. And there is a danger that we will begin to fight them. And we, unfortunately, are moving in this direction. For example, the story of the miracle of the Holy Fire. To think that we, Orthodox Christians, are the best, because only for us, on our Easter, the Holy Fire appears, and for everyone else – fuck, this is amazing! It turns out that people born, say, in France, where there is Catholicism, are rejected from God. From God, who says that a Christian must, like the sun to man, shine on the right and the wrong! What does all this have to do with the Good News? And what is this if not party games?
Essentially, is this hypocrisy?
Yes. But if Christ did not forgive anyone, then only the “self-righteous,” that is, the Pharisees. You cannot build a life according to the Gospel using the law: it doesn’t fit, this is not Euclidean geometry. And we also have delight in the power of God. But why? There are plenty of such religions. Any pagan religion admires the power of God, magic. Alexander Schmemann writes, yes, maybe they wrote before, that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal connection with Christ. But what’s going on? Here are young guys, smiling, talking, going to communion… And behind them are old women with chopsticks, after surgery. And it wouldn’t even occur to the guys to miss the grandmothers. And this is right after the liturgy, where once again everything was said! I didn’t go to take communion several times out of anger at it all. And then on radio “Radonezh”, which is usually on Sunday, she told listeners: “Guys, today I didn’t take communion because of you.” Because you look, and already in your soul something is happening that, not only to take communion, but also to be ashamed to look at church. Communion is not a magical act. This is the Last Supper, and if you came to celebrate with Him the now eternally celebrated evening before His death, then try to hear at least one thing that Christ added to the Old Testament and which turned everything upside down: “…love one another, as I have loved you… »
The commonly quoted phrase is “Don’t do what you don’t want to do.”
Yes, love for every good person means this golden rule. Quite reasonable: don’t do this and you will be saved. The Old Testament matrix, which was later taken over by Islam. And Christian love is a heartbreaking pity. You may not like the person at all. He may be absolutely disgusting to you. But you understand that, besides God, he, like you, has no protection. How often do we see such pity even in our church environment? Unfortunately, even this environment in our country is still most often unpleasant. Even the word “love” itself is already compromised in it. Threatening the girls with hellfire for having abortions, the priest says: “And the main thing is love…” When you hear this, even with complete non-resistance, there is a desire to take a good club and…
Isn’t abortion evil?
Evil. But they are deeply private things. And if the main Christian activity is the fight against abortion, then there is some charm in this – in the original understanding of the word. Suppose some girl wanted love, like any normal person, and found herself in a situation in which it was difficult to give birth. And the priest tells her that if she dies during the abortion, she will immediately go to hell. And she stamps her feet and shouts: “I won’t go to any of your churches!” And he’s doing the right thing by stomping. Well, come on, Christian, go ban abortions and scare the hell out of the girls who have heard that there is nothing higher than falling in love and that you can’t refuse anyone because it’s old-fashioned, or un-Christian, or whatever. It’s terrible, but Catholics have such habits…
What about the Orthodox?
We have more on the other side: they ask whether it is possible to keep dogs in a house where icons hang, and one of the main topics is fasting. Some strange pagan things. I remember when I was just starting to broadcast on a small church radio channel, they asked me a question: “Please tell me, is it a big sin if I eat before the star on Christmas Eve?” I almost burst into tears then on the air and talked for two hours about what we are talking about now.
Deny yourself
So what can we do here?
But there’s nothing so scary about it. When we didn’t have the concept of sin for so long, and then we began to accept anything as sin except self-love, “the ability to live,” self-will, confidence in our righteousness and perseverance, we need to start all over again. Many had to start over. And whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. Here, for example, is Blessed Augustine, a great saint. He was smart, he was famous, he had a wonderful career, if we measure it in our terms. But life became difficult for him, which is very typical.
What does it mean: it became difficult for Augustine to live?
This is when you begin to realize that something is wrong. Nowadays people relieve this feeling by going to a beautiful church and listening to beautiful singing. True, then they most often begin to hate it all or become hypocrites, never having heard what Christ said. But this was not the case with Augustine. A friend came to him and said: “Look, Augustine, even though we are scientists, we live like two fools. We are looking for wisdom, and everything is not there.” Augustine became very excited and ran out into the garden. And I heard from somewhere: “Take it and read it!” It seems that this boy was shouting to someone on the street. And Augustine heard that it was for him. He ran into the room and opened the Gospel. And I came across the message of Paul, on the words: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts.” Simple phrases: deny yourself and take up the cross, and don’t turn concerns about yourself into your idiotic desires, and understand that the most important worldly law in the world – to do what my head or, I don’t know what else, wants – is not for a Christian doesn’t matter. These words completely changed Augustine.
Everything seems to be simple. But why does a person so rarely manage to deny himself?
Christianity is actually very uncomfortable. Well, let’s say they let someone be the boss, and he must think that it is very difficult to behave like a Christian in such a situation. How much wisdom he needs! How much kindness is needed! He must think of everyone as of himself, and ideally, as Christ does of people. He must put himself in the place of everyone who walks under him and take care of him. Or, I remember, they asked why, when I had such an opportunity, I did not emigrate. I answered: “Because it would kill my parents. They would not dare to leave and would remain here, old, sick and lonely.” And we have a similar choice at every step. For example, someone from above flooded your apartment, and he doesn’t have the money to compensate you for the repairs… You can sue him or start arguing with him and thereby poison his life. Or you can leave everything as is, and then, if the opportunity arises, do the repairs yourself. You can also give up your turn… Be quiet, not important… Don’t be offended… Very simple things. And the miracle of rebirth will happen gradually. God honored man with freedom, and only we ourselves, of our own free will, can break. And then Christ will do everything. We just need, as Lewis wrote, not to be afraid to open the armor in which we are shackled and let Him into our hearts. This attempt alone completely changes life and gives it value, meaning and joy. And when the Apostle Paul said “Rejoice always!”, he meant just such joy – at the highest heights of the spirit.
He also said “weep with those who weep”…
The thing is that only those who know how to cry can rejoice. Shares their sorrows and sorrows with those who cry and does not run away from suffering. Christ says that those who mourn are blessed. Blessed means happy and have all the fullness of life. And His promises are not heavenly, but earthly. Yes, the suffering is terrible. However, when people suffer, Christ offers: “Come to Me, all you who suffer and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.” But with one condition: take My yoke upon you and you will find rest for your souls. And the person really finds peace. Moreover, there is deep peace, and it’s not at all like he will walk around like he’s frozen: he just begins to live not in vanity, not in disarray. And then the state of the Kingdom of God comes here and now. And maybe, having learned it, we can help others too. And here is a very important thing. Christianity is not a means of salvation. A Christian is not the one being saved, but the one who saves.
That is, he should preach and help his neighbor?
Not only. Most importantly, he introduces a tiny element of a different type of life into the world. My godmother, my nanny, introduced such an element. And I will never be able to forget that I saw such a person and knew him. She was very close to the Gospel. A penniless servant, she lived as a perfect Christian. She never did harm to anyone, never said an offensive word. I remember only once… I was still little, my parents went somewhere, and I wrote letters to them every day, as we agreed. And one woman who was visiting us looks at this and says: “Well, how to deal with a child’s sense of duty? Never, baby, do anything you don’t want to do. And you will be a happy person.” And then my nanny turned pale and said: “Please forgive us. You have your own home, we have ours.” So once in my entire life I heard a harsh word from her.
Were your family, parents, different?
My grandmother, Marya Petrovna, also never raised her voice. She left the school where she worked as a teacher because there she had to say anti-religious things. While grandfather was alive, she walked around him like a real lady: in a hat and a formal coat. And then she moved in with us. And it was not easy for her, a very tough person, apparently by type, with us, careless people. Here is my mother, her daughter, here is her unmarried husband, a film director and a bohemian in general… My grandmother never said that he was a Jew, because a normal Christian cannot be an anti-Semite. And how much she suffered with me! I, a seventeen-year-old cretin who didn’t go to school, went to university and there I almost went crazy with delight, success, falling in love… And if you remember all the stupid things I did! I fell in love and stole my grandfather’s wedding ring, believing that the great feelings I felt gave me the right to stuff this ring with cotton wool, put it on my finger and walk around with it. The nanny would probably have said more softly, but the grandmother would have said harshly: “Don’t do this. Nonsense.”
And is this tough?
For her – very much. And my mother, in order for me to dress more fashionably than I thought possible after my grandmother’s and nanny’s upbringing, could bang my head against the wall to prove something to me. But she, tormented by the bohemian life, also alien to her due to her upbringing, which she, however, was forced to lead, cannot be judged. And she always believed that she had to dissuade me from faith, since I was ruining myself. Even Messinga invited me to bring me to my senses. No, she didn’t fight Christianity, she just understood that it would be hard for her daughter. And not because we lived in the Soviet Union, where they declared that there was no God. In any century, parents try to dissuade their children from Christianity.
Even in Christian families?
Well, for example, Anthony the Great, St. Theodosius, Catherine of Siena, Francis of Assisi… All four stories have Christian parents. And all about the fact that all children are people like people, and my child is a cretin. Theodosius does not want to dress as smartly as his class should, and devotes a lot of energy and time to good deeds. Catherine takes care of the sick and poor every day, sleeping for an hour a day, instead of going out with her friends and taking care of the house. Francis refuses a cheerful life and his father’s inheritance… Such things have always been considered abnormal. Well, now, when the concepts of “success”, “career”, “luck” have practically become a measure of happiness, even more so. The pull of the world is very strong. This almost never happens: “stand on your head,” according to Chesterton, and live like that.
What is the point in all this if only a few become Christians?
But nothing massive was envisaged. It was not by chance that Christ spoke such words: “leaven”, “salt”. Such tiny measurements. But they change everything, they change your whole life. Keep the peace. They hold any family, even one where they have reached absolute disgrace: somewhere, someone, with some kind of prayers, with some kind of feat. There, a whole world of this strange at first glance opens up: when it’s easy, do it, when it’s difficult, talk, when it’s impossible, pray. And it works.
And also humility, with the help of which only one can overcome the evil that triumphs around.
Illustration: Iconographic type “Healing a demoniac sleepwalker”
The Russian bookstore Megamarket was sent a list of books to be removed from sale due to “LGBT propaganda”. Journalist Alexander Plyushchev published a list of 257 titles on his Telegram channel, writes The Moscow Times.
The list includes not only literary novelties, but also classics. For example, the store should remove from its website advertisements for the books “Netochka Nezvanova” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Pyrrhus” by Plato, “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio, “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf, “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust and “It” by Stephen King.
Among those prohibited for sale are works by other world classics – Stefan Zweig, Andre Gide, Yukio Mishima, Patti Smith and Julio Cortázar, as well as contemporary authors such as Haruki Murakami and Victoria Tokareva.
Plyushchev does not specify who specifically insisted on the removal of the books of all these authors from sale. “Megamarket” is owned by Sberbank (85%), M. Video-Eldorado (10%), as well as the founder of M.Video and goods.ru (5%).
In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning LGBT propaganda, pedophilia and gender reassignment. Liability for breaking the law applies to persons of any age. Previously, LGBT propaganda was prohibited only among minors.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the “international public LGBT movement”, which does not exist, to be extremist and banned in Russia. According to the court decision, “participants in the movement are united by the presence of certain morals, customs and traditions (for example, gay parades), … a specific language (the use of potentially feminine words, such as leader, director, author, psychologist). “
The court believes that the “LGBT movement” can distort children’s understanding of traditional values and has a destructive ideological impact on Russians.
The “movement” has become a threat to Russia’s national interests and the demographic situation, the Supreme Court of Russia wrote in its decision. It is said that to achieve this, the LGBT movement uses propaganda – putting LGBT symbols on toys, clothes, producing special literature and holding events near schools and children’s libraries.
Illustration: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Portrait by Vasily Perov c. 1872
