June 2018 archive

Hartford Courant 6/1/2018

Dear Sir,

Coming Soon! Red and Blue ‘LOCK HER UP’ and Blue ‘My President and Proud of it!’ includes picture of Pres. Trump. Bumper stickers. 3″ x 10 “, $5 per. See me at sgmihalyjr@att.net.

The Awakener

4.10.2018

There is much to be proud of in our parish. Our God, each other, the deep history of our faith, the traditions, our parents, ancestors and youth. One aspect of Orthodoxy that a friend of mine recently said is that is quite remarkable how our faith has remained unchanged over the centuries. We not only have a history that is consistent in is beliefs, it’s true to Christ, hence the term ‘Orthodox.’ Filled with tradition and religious significance in each and every aspect of our faith, it has been the only real anchor in the Christian world despite numerous distractions and changes by denominations.

Our parish, St. John the Baptist, now filled with many nationalities, was founded by a group of immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. Referred to as Carpatho-Russia, Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpatho-Ruthenia, this area has been conquered and ruled by many nations including Hungary, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, the Ukraine and Poland. Because of the constant tumult, life for a Rusyn was not easy. Keeping our language, cultural traditions, religious practices such as a Slavic liturgy and married clergy was a struggle depending on who and what was the latest opposing power trying to coerce the population into national subservience. It took a great struggle by strong personalities to resist and pave a way forward for our ancestors. One of these personalities was a Greek Catholic priest by the name of Aleksander Dukhnovich.

Aleksander Vasilyevich Dukhnovich was a priest, poet, writer, pedagogue, and social activist. Born on April 24, 1803 Dukhnovich and who passed away on March 30, 1865, Dukhnovich would become known as the ‘Awakener of the Rusyn people.’ As much as William Shakespeare is identified as English, Ralph Waldo Emerson as American and Homer as Greek, Dukhnovich is Rusyn. Shakespeare gave us his sonnets, Romeo and Juliet, King Kear and other writings all of which are regularly studied by students, Dukhnovich writings were not meant for entertainment nor have they been shared in most if any schools except maybe in Slovakia or other areas close to the Carpathians. Dukhnovich’s poems were inspirational and spoke of the strength of his Rusyn nationality identity, culture, homeland, people, family and faith. His was a voice of rebellion and pride, a rebirth of an ancient Slavic people who’d been repressed by surrounding cultures.

Over the years Rusyn culture has been buried beneath Ukrainian, Polish and Hungarian influences which almost ended the Rusyn language and traditions. Dukhnovich would have none of this and while fighting for a separate Rusyn identity he was imprisoned under the Hungarian government. It was here, while in prison, Dukhnovich would write his most famous poem, one my father would often recite to his sons with his own brand of Rusyn passion – ‘Ja Rusyn Byl, jesm y budu’ or ‘I was, am and will remain a Rusyn.’ It is this stubborn determination and national pride that burned in Dukhnovich’s soul and much the same passion my grandfather Rev. Joseph Mihaly had for his heritage as he fought for our church and its people in the 1930’s and beyond. ‘Ja Rusyn Byl’ would become the Rusyn national anthem. With writers, priests and other leaders adding to the cause, an independent Rusyn culture endured and was finally recognized.

It is from this history that our church was culturally born, that and the strength of our Orthodox Christian faith of which our people, the founders of this church, fought to establish here starting in Bridgeport and then moving to other towns. For us it was on Broadbridge Avenue in Stratford. In the early days of our parish, nationalities could be generally translated into different Christian denominations – The Irish to Protestantism or Catholicism, English – Episcopalian, Germans – Lutheran, Spanish and French – Catholic, etc. Today, our faith is much more faith centered in the sense that Orthodoxy is cross cultural with the focus not so much on one culture, but on one’s Orthodox faith. You don’t have to be Rusyn to go to an Orthodox church that has roots in Carpatho-Russia or any other nation like Greece, Albania or Romania among others. Such a development has actually opened the doors wider to God making us all true brothers and sisters in Christ. What bonded and guided nations and villages of homogenous peoples, now bonds us as individuals and a Christian family no matter our cultural or historical differences so long as we abide by the shared Creed of Orthodox Christianity.

And yes, I am a Rusyn, an American and an Orthodox Christian and I’m proud of them all.

The Story

6.6.2018

When I was in 9^th grade I remember taking a 3×5 piece of brass plate and cutting it into the shape of an Orthodox cross compete with the short cross bar above the main beam and a slanted bar underneath. At the top, I drilled a small enough hole to fit a chain through and placed it around my neck. It was a combination of middle school shop class and pride in my Orthodox faith taught me by my family that helped me create this one of a kind religious emblem. Not many kids had crosses that I remember back then, at least not triple bar crosses hung around their neck. About 2 ½ inches long and 1 ½ inches wide it was difficult to miss as it hung from my teenage neck and was often the topic of discussion in school as fellow students would ask me what the bars meant. I took careful attention to tell ‘the story.’

Most people who asked were very curious as to what those other bars were that made this cross so different that most others they’d seen before. For a moment my friends were focused on something other than rock music, sports or the latest gossip. It was a moment in time that seemed to stop as all eyes and ears were held still, waiting with baited attention to explain these curiosities.

There was the regular cross, I’d start, with the cross beam and long bar we all know. Above the main beam, though, was a shorter bar upon which was written in, I believe Judaic, ‘King of the Jews’ or ‘INRI’, a phrase written to mock Jesus as he lay bloodily nailed through his arms and feet high atop Mount Golgotha or ‘the Place of the Skull.’ For me the term ‘INRI’ is blazoned in my mind as it is inscribed on the large wooden cross behind the altar in our church on Broadbridge Avenue. As a child, I believe it was my grandfather who taught me the meaning and the rest of the story. ‘Pa Pa’, as I called him, Father Joseph to everyone else, had a way of gently explaining things which I would remember for the rest of my life.

That was just the first part though. The other bar, I continued had two meanings. One, I said, was that there were two thieves on either side of Christ. One on the left and one on the right. The one on the right ridiculed Christ saying, according to Luke 23:39;

“If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him saying “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive due reward of our deeds, but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

It was here I’d emphasize the message that if you believe in Christ you will go to heaven and if you don’t, you’ll go to hell. A simple message.

The other meaning of the slanted bar came last, a testament to the unwavering faith of a believer who himself faced the barbarity of Rome’s soldiers. St. Andrew, the patron saint of the Slav’s, was captured and sentenced to death by crucifixion. When faced with being crucified on a cross like Christ, he said he wasn’t worthy and asked to have the bar slanted.

I don’t think many expected the explanation to be in such detail, but it was and regularly left the questioner speechless. I don’t think many people really know the story, at least, this one and the meaning of the triple bars that decorate and celebrate so much of the Orthodox Church and her faith. Triple bar crosses are seen in many places especially in church and many of our homes, but also on television especially when the news shows us pictures of Moscow’s St. Basil’ cathedral, but how many really know the significance of the triple bar crosses that augment the onion domes of that magnificent church or other churches for that matter? For most, they are busy symbols without specific meaning or mention. I hope the story has in some way has changed that.

For me, I prefer a simple silver cross 2 inches by 1 ½ that hangs from my neck. Nothing fancy, just a quiet testament to the love and faith Christ had and has for all of us. Others like gold crosses, larger, smaller and there are many different styles to choose from, but whenever I tell the story I am transported back to my childhood as I stood and watched my grandfather serve during lent. It was usually a Friday, the end of the week where as one of the altar boys I’d hand him a container of incense and with a silver spoon he’d drop a few crystalline grains on a slowly burning piece of charcoal as he sang our heartfelt Slavic melodies and prayed so sincerely, while glancing up at the icons of saints and God above. As he got older, I could see increasing exhaustion in my grandfather’s face, but I could also see his undying faith. This was especially true on Good Friday as he read from the gospel describing Christ’s march up Mount Golgotha to His crucifixion, death and, soon to be, resurrection.

A I listened to my grandfather I could see Christ’s blood drip down from His sweat laden forehead as He struggled with the weight of the large wooden cross pressing heavily on his whipped and bleeding back. No story, no reading was more dramatic than that my grandfather made that night for it was a part of the very core of our Christian belief; The struggle, the fight, the superhuman, but very human drive to complete His father’s task. What a price to pay, what a burden to bear, what a sacrifice to make so we could enter His Kingdom.

I believe that the story of the meaning of the Orthodox cross tells us much more. It describes in detail what Christ suffered for us. It is an amazing story and one that purposely doesn’t fit into today’s secular world where everything we want is convenient and painless and at our fingertips. Most importantly, it puts into perspective so much we need to know.

A Christian’s View of Hunting
by Serge Mihaly
3/15/2018

It was during one of Father Peter’s house blessing visits that we started to talk sharing the usual catching up of a parishioner with this family priest. We spoke a bit a lot of things, but one seemed to catch his ear and he asked me to write about it. So, I am.

I love nature, the woods, the smell of falls fallen and moistened leaves, the colors of different trees, a wild rippling brook and the many creatures that live in it. I am always mesmerized by the delicate little birds that flutter and land on the many twigs and branches above the ground. Cardinals, Juncos, Starlings, Robins, Red-Bellied and Downy woodpeckers, brown headed cowbirds and an occasional Grackle or two. The thought of how delicate each creature was, how they survived, despite temperatures well below zero has always intrigued me. Chickadees are 1/10 the size of my fist yet they jump here and there swinging their heads in little darting motions looking for any semblance of danger or food. I can barely stay outside a minute in the winter and these little birds stay out all day and night. Amazing. I marvel at how God protects them and has provided the necessary ingredients for survival and procreation. It reminds me of the Bible passage Matthew 6:26 that says ‘Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?’ The passage makes me realize that in the seemingly complicated world of nature, God’s hand is always there guiding and providing what is needed despite our fears and insecurities.

My love of nature is more than just an ephemeral one though. I love the ruggedness of it, the independence it demands and the freedom it offers. I also love the peace found there, a silent and soothing rhapsody of warmth and continuity, something rarely found in modern society. It is this same peace I find when I hunt. I’ve have taken white-tail deer, black bear, a caribous, rabbits and pheasants. I’ve hunted in Alaska, Canada, Connecticut, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania finding peace and relaxation in all. Bishop Orestes Chornock introduced my father to hunting and hence, my father to me and my brothers. With it came a deep and abiding love of nature, of man’s evolving place within the natural world and the realization that we have a natural responsibility to care for it. One might argue, how could you kill something you love? This is a good question, and one I have wrestled with many times.

If anything, I believe an ethical hunter, especially a Christian, appreciates life as much if not more than the average non-hunter. While most people eat meat, fish or poultry, most Americans only see the end product of their food. They do not slaughter the animal and prepare it for market. The hunter knows the entire process and participates in it. He or she knows the cost of that hamburger, in this case a venison burger or steak – an animals life. We study game every time we enter the woods fascinated by the habits and ways of nature’s wild creatures. In Genesis, after God made man it says ‘He blessed them; and God said to them, ”Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth an subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” As gifts from God we have a responsibility to handle them with care which draws right into my thinking on hunting.

Taking a life is a very serious and solemn act, something that hits at the very heart of a Christian. Life is precious, all life. It is because of this that as a hunter, Christians know the practical aspects of taking game, that herds too large damage other species by over browsing and eliminating certain plants that another creature would normally eat stressing the entire ecosystem. In times of overpopulation with fewer available food sources, animals become weak, open to disease and in many cases causes death by starvation or predation. Die offs can be dramatic sometimes even threatening entire herds and, in rare cases, species. Ethical science directed Hunting serves to reduce the size of various animal populations keeping them in line with the available browse. But, how does all this apply to a Christian?

If we understand that the creatures we harvest are gifts from God, which they are, then we must value them. Beyond this, too, we understand that it is our duty to dispatch them with the greatest of speed and least amount of pain. This is why we sight in our rifles and bows. To not do so is lazy and unethical and can cause unnecessary pain and suffering. There is no joy in the act of killing, maybe satisfaction in a good, fair hunt and accurate shot, but no joy. I’ve taken deer and know firsthand that the creature I brought home was created by God, that it served its purpose in life and I was blesses enough to enjoy its unique existence. Each creature has a role to play. While some are destined to live, feed and breed others are destined to be food for another creature like a coyote, wolf, bear or, yes, man.

If we can consider the animals of the woods with such care and concern, how much more ought we apply to our fellow Christians and strangers we meet? We can go through life respecting each other acting like Christ would want us to or not. The choice is up to us.