The Hypocrisy of Međugorje

One thing amazes me about Međugorje. It is a place were the Catholic apparition of Mary to the following persons:

Mirjana Dragicevic
Ivanka Ivanković
Marija Pavlović
Jakov Colo
Vicka Ivanković
Ivan Dragicevic


The children claim that they saw an apparition on the hill Crnica (on the place called Podbrdo); the alleged apparition was a white form with a child in her arms. Surprised and scared, they did not approach. The next day at the same time four of the youths returned, and were later joined by the other two. For several years the six visionaries reported seeing daily apparitions from the Virgin Mary and Medjugorje became crowded with pilgrims. It has been reported that Our Lady of Medjugorje has been appearing daily to three of these visionaries ever since, some say that they have stopped having daily apparitions.



That didn't impressed me though. I am searching in Wikipedia and i found out another one, from the town history itself and read as it shows:

Second World War

In 1941, when Međugorje belonged to the Independent State of Croatia, the Serbian Orthodox Žitomislić Monastery was plundered by the Ustaša, and its refectory was burned down. On 21 June 1941, in the immediate neighborhood of Međugorje, Ustashas buried alive seven Serbian monks from the Žitomislić Monastery. On 4 August 1941, 600 armed Ustasha, led by Ivan Jovanovic Crni from Mostar, committed a massacre in the hamlet of Šurmanci against 559 unarmed Christian Orthodox Serb civilians from the nearby village of Prebilovci. Along with 1,300 Serbs from Čapljina and Mostar, the Serbs from Prebilovci were thrown alive into deep natural pits. Medjugorje is located in the immediate vicinity of the Golubinka pit, the most notorious site of mass execution of Serbs. The massacre led Mostar bishop Alojzije Mišić to write a letter of protest to the Archbishop of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac(Whom John Paul II prayed for in his tomb!). The Communist government of Yugoslavia had the pit containing the bodies sealed with a concrete slab; hence they were only exhumed and reburied at the cemetery of Prebilovci in the neighboring town of Čapljina in 1989.


Whether it is Wikipedia or other independent sources, the Catholic church is making sure that any traces of Orthodoxy is buried. During my change of heart, i managed 1% heart to the Catholic church because that is the religion i grew up as a child. But when i saw about Jasenovac, Ustaše and the ratline, that remaining 1% shattered like bubbles. I felt enraged because that church i grew up was the church that killed Orthodox Serbs for competition and spilling blood on the Sava river for 4 years! What kind of human beings are they?!?! Can't the Catholic church admit to this day about Jasenovac? Pope Francis should know this and since he wants to open the Vatican archives, he should to expose the wrongdoing of the Catholic church in Croatia during WWII and make a public apology!

This is not about me, or anyone but for the Serbian people. The Shame of Međugorje will live on until Pope Francis would dismiss it as a heresy and a made up cause for his predecessors' success. And he should know that if he is doing all he can as a good person, make some changes and that change will be starting at Jasenovac and Međugorje at first!

My Devotion to the Mother of God

On this article, i would open up about why i am praying to the Theotokos's intervention rather than to pray to her directly.

First, who is the Theotokos and is she different from what Roman Catholics think? I would answer, no. Same in name but different Mariology. First of all, the Orthodox way to represent the Bogorodice is not Immaculate, like what most Catholics do. Catholicism is making the Bogorodice as a demi-God and not what the Church fathers included in the seven ecumenical councils. The Orthodox church believes that the Bogorodice died and her body was flown into heaven by the angels and the feast day of the Dormition is August 15. And to know what particular council was held to make sure that the Theotokos should be used is the third one, at Ephesus.

Here is a short overview of the Council at Ephesus:

The use of Theotokos was formally affirmed at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431. The competing view, advocated by Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, was that Mary should be called Christotokos, meaning "Birth-giver of Christ," to restrict her role to the mother of Christ's humanity only and not his divine nature.
Nestorius' opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria, viewed this as dividing Jesus into two distinct persons, the human who was Son of Mary, and the divine who was not. To them, this was unacceptable since by destroying the perfect union of the divine and human natures in Christ, it sabotaged the fullness of the Incarnation and, by extension, the salvation of humanity. The council accepted Cyril's reasoning, affirmed the title Theotokos for Mary, and anathematised Nestorius' view as heresy. (See Nestorianism)
In letters to Nestorius which were afterwards included among the council documents, Cyril explained his doctrine. He noted that "the holy fathers... have ventured to call the holy Virgin Theotokos, not as though the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of their existence from the holy Virgin, but because from her was born his holy body, rationally endowed with a soul, with which [body] the Word was united according to the hypostasis, and is said to have been begotten according to the flesh" (Cyril's second letter to Nestorius).
Explaining his rejection of Nestorius' preferred title for Mary (Christotokos), Cyril wrote: "Confessing the Word to be united with the flesh according to the hypostasis, we worship one Son and Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not divide him into parts and separate man and God as though they were united with each other [only] through a unity of dignity and authority... nor do we name separately Christ the Word from God, and in similar fashion, separately, another Christ from the woman, but we know only one Christ, the Word from God the Father with his own flesh... But we do not say that the Word from God dwelt as in an ordinary human born of the holy virgin... we understand that, when he became flesh, not in the same way as he is said to dwell among the saints do we distinguish the manner of the indwelling; but he was united by nature and not turned into flesh... There is, then, one Christ and Son and Lord, not with the sort of conjunction that a human being might have with God as in a unity of dignity or authority; for equality of honor does not unite natures. For Peter and John were equal to each other in honor, both of them being apostles and holy disciples, but the two were not one. Nor do we understand the manner of conjunction to be one of juxtaposition, for this is insufficient in regard to natural union.... Rather we reject the term 'conjunction' as being inadequate to express the union... [T]he holy virgin gave birth in the flesh to God united with the flesh according to hypostasis, for that reason we call her Theotokos... If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is, in truth, God, and therefore that the holy virgin is Theotokos (for she bore in a fleshly manner the Word from God become flesh), let him be anathema." (Cyril's third letter to Nestorius)

 So, while the Orthodox church strictly follows the third council, the Roman Catholics don't even  respect it and made their own Mariology, seperate from what Cyril of Alexandria did.

Even when i made that step to be an Orthodox Christian, my prayers to the Theotokos's intercession was made much deeper and stronger. Because for myself, a true Christian is nothing without the Theotokos. Whether i pray the prayer to the Theotokos or Bogorodice Djevo, i know God will make a way for me through her prayer's and intercessions.

Here are sample names of the Theotokos:
Greek: Θεοτόκος/Theotókos
(Syriac-Aramaic): ܝܳܠܕܰܬ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ /Yoldath Alloho
Serbian: Bogorodice/Богородице
Russian: Богородица
Romanian: Theotokos
Japanese: 生神女
Arabic: الدة الإله
Georgian: ღვთისმშობლის
Ukrainian: Богородиця

And this is the prayer i am mentioning to during my nightly prayers. It is in Serbian and reads as Bogorodice Djevo.

Latinica

Bogorodice Djevo
Raduj se Blagodatna Marijo,
Gospod je s Tobom;
Blagoslovena si Ti Među ženama
i Blagosloven je Plod utrobe Tvoje,
Jer ci rodila Spasitelja duša naših, AMIN

Ćirilica
Богородице дјево,
радуј се благодатна Маријо,
Господ је с тобом;
благословена си Ти међу женама
и благословен је Плод утробе Твоје,
јер си родила Спаситеља душа наших.
АМИН

My faith

As many of you know, i am still Roman catholic. But i desire to be an Eastern Orthodox Christian. What brings me to that faith is something unsual. It doesn't even concern my current views, making myself a proponent of Christian unity only through the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs.

When i was around grade school, i am reading some almanacs around the letter B. And then some pages were torn or couldn't be recognized by my young eyes. Yet, i came to the page were the Byzantine Empire section was located. It enchanted me when i saw icons of Christ, religious relics, icons and of course, the downfall of Constantinople. It made me become curious more about Christianity. During a holy week, i asked dad what is Eastern orthodox church and he anwsered: ''just another false church''. Yet, i was hungry for the truth. These time, in High School, i am reading something about the byzantine Empire and Greek history. I stumbled upon that faith that made me curious and search for what is the origin of Christianity. Since that day, i wanted to know it till i saw that church was just 30 minutes away from home via a jeep and another 5 minutes for a motorcycle ride. As i went there, i saw that church i longed for, went inside and asked questions amongst the two priests(one returned to Greece) and i felt my faith got revived. When i returned home, i told my older sisters i want to be an Orthodox. It met strong criticism from my family clan(Garcia's of Paranaque descending from Spanish-Filipino through my paternal grandfather and Japanese through my paternal grandmother) especially from my parents when they were able to talk to me via yahoo messenger. Since that day, dad cannot forgive me because he is a strong Roman Catholic and most Filipino Roman catholics think that any Christian sect outside of RC and Mainstream Protestantism is like a cult or nonsense. Since i am optimistic those days, i had many icons blessed, a priest gave me prayer books and he taught me good things and told me to be careful of other things that is why i am aware even on my own family. Yet, when i went to Japan and left my icons and other church paraphernalia there, i thought my faith would get stagnated and if my parents would have a vacation, the will dispose my holy icons of Lazar, Isus Hristos, Bogorodice(Bogorodica Ljeviška) and some incense which they did. Since that day, i am secretive if my plans to pursue what God wants for me to discover.

Currently, i am attending divine liturgies, vespers, matins, complines or simply going there and praying to God for forgiveness and help for my future challenges. I know it will not be a secret one day but when i get that freedom, i will practice my faith to the fullest. I assure everyone.