Sophia - Melkite Eparchy of Newton

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Melkite Saints and FathersSaint Cyril of Jerusalem:Catechism and Christian Faithby David BertainaTThis issue of Sophia is dedicatedto the time of Holy Week andPascha. As I scanned our festalcalendar for a saint to write about, myeyes were immediately drawn to 18March. Since I was looking for a saintconnected to the Holy Land during thetime of Pascha, I thought that no saintcould fit the need better than SaintCyril of Jerusalem. Why is Cyril appropriatefor now? Cyril was the Bishop ofJerusalem and in charge of educatingall of the catechumens as they preparedfor baptism, chrismation and Eucharistat Pascha. Even better, we have hiswritings which teach us a lot about histheology. But Cyril’s life is much morethan the life of a theology teacher.Cyril lived from about AD 315-386.He died on 18 March 386, which iswhy his feast is celebrated on this day.Not much is known about Cyril’syouth, but we can assume that he wasprobably born in Palestine at CaesareaMaritima and he must have been anintelligent thinker who was noticed byChristian leaders. He decided tobecome a deacon at Jerusalem and wasordained by Macarius, the Bishop ofJerusalem, in AD 335. About ten yearslater at the age of about thirty, Cyrilbecame a priest at the hands of the newbishop Maximus. While he always supportedpeace and reconciliation amongChristians, he was vocally critical ofArianism. For this, Cyril was sent awayto exile in Parsus, as his metropolitan,Acacius, favored Arianism, and wasalsojealous of Cyril due to the fact thatCyril See of Jerusalem was promoted inhonor at the Council of Nicea, The followingyear he returned, but again wassent into exile the next year. Finally hewas able to remain in Jerusalem asbishop from AD 367 until his death inAD 386. One of the most importantevents he participated in during thisperiod of his life was the Council ofConstantinople (381) which confirmedthe acceptance of the term homooussiosfor describing the status of Jesus Christ.During his time as the Bishop ofJerusalem, Cyril instructed thousandsof catechumens in the Christian life asthey went through Lent and receivedBaptism, Chrismation and Eucharist atthe Church of the Resurrection (HolySepulchre in the west). Cyril taughtthat the day of resurrection was alreadyprefigured by God in the coming of thespring: “At what season does theSavior rise?…Our Salvation then tookplace when the flowers appeared, andthe pruning has come. A garden wasthe place of His Burial, and a vine thatwhich was planted there, and He said,‘I am the vine!’”We know most about Cyril throughhis writings that have come down tous. Cyril wrote down his CatecheticalLectures, which were the talks he gaveto people preparing for baptism. Wealso have the MystagogicalCatecheses, in which Cyril instructsthe newly baptized Christians aboutthe meaning of the Creed, theEucharist and other Christian doctrines.Apparently his teachings havebeen popular enough today that peoplehave made audio books of his lectures(http://audiofreemp3books.com/authors/st-cyril-of-jerusalem.html). You cannow listen to Cyril on your iPod!There are twenty-three catecheticallectures which Cyril probably gavewhile he was still a priest in 348. In hisvery first words, Cyril encourages thecatechumens to confess Christ in theirheart and their actions with severalcitations from Holy Scripture:“Disciples of the New Testamentand partakers of the mysteries of Christ,as yet by calling only, but before long bygrace also, make you a new heart and anew spirit (Ezekiel 18:31), that theremay be gladness among the inhabitantsof heaven: for if over one sinner thatrepents there is joy, according to theGospel (Luke 15:7), how much moreshall the salvation of so many soulsmove the inhabitants of heaven to gladness.As you have entered upon a goodand most glorious path, run with reverencethe race of godliness. For the OnlybegottenSon of God is present here mostready to redeem you, saying, Come untoMe all that labour and are heavy laden,and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)You that are clothed with the rough garmentof your offences, who are boundwith the cords of your own sins, hear thevoice of the Prophet saying, Wash you,make you clean, put away your iniquitiesfrom before My eyes (Isaiah 1:16): thatthe choir of Angels may chant over you,Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,and whose sins are covered. Youwho have just lighted the torches of faith,guard them carefully in your handsunquenched; that He, who openedParadise to the robber on account of hisfaith on this all-holy Golgotha, may grantto you to sing the bridal song.”As you can see above, Cyril’s lifewas permeated with the HolyScriptures, and his Christ-centered spiritualityis worthy of emulation today.As Christians celebrating the resurrectionof our Lord God and Savior JesusChrist, we should recall Cyril’s lecturesand rededicate our lives to Christ just asthe catechumens did in Jerusalem sixteenhundred years ago and just as catechumensdo today in our churches. Weare always in need of instruction – concerningthe Holy Scriptures, concerningour Divine Liturgy, and concerningthe meaning of our Melkite Christianfaith. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem providesus with a wonderful opportunity torediscover and deepen our faith. Youcan take advantage of this by reading orlistening to his catechetical lectures,which are available for your readingpleasure at: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3101.htm.As Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and allChristians remind us: Christ is Risen!Al-Masihu Qam! †Dr. David Bertaina is Assistant Professor ofHistory at the University of Illinois at Springfield.30 SOPHIA • Winter 2008
The Holy Grail of Reprogramming:ANew Era forStem Cells?The following article was first publishedin Making Sense Out of BioethicsColumn #030 on December 1, 2007. It isbeing reprinted with permission.TThe recent discovery that regularold garden-variety skin cells canbe converted into highly flexible(pluripotent) stem cells has rocked thescientific world. Two papers, one by aJapanese group, and another by anAmerican group, have announced agenetic technique that produces stemcells without destroying (or using) anyhuman embryos. In other words, thekind of stem cell usually obtained bydestroying embryos appears to beavailable another way. All that isrequired is to transfer four genes intothe skin cells, triggering them to convertinto pluripotent stem cells. It hasbeen called “biological alchemy,”something like turning lead into gold.Many are hailing “cellular reprogramming”as a breakthrough of epic proportions,the stuff that Nobel prizes aremade of, a kind of Holy Grail in biomedicalresearch.As important as this advance mayprove to be scientifically, it may beeven more important to the ethical discussion.It offers a possible solution toa longstanding ethical impasse and aunique opportunity to declare a pause,maybe even a truce in the stem cellwars, given that the source of thesecells is ethically pristine and uncomplicated.As one stem cell researcher putit recently, if the new method producesequally potent cells, as it has been toutedto do, “the whole field is going tocompletely change. People working onethics will have to find something newto worry about.” Thus, science itselfmay have devised a clever way to healthe wound it opened back in 1998when human embryos began to besought out and destroyed for their stemcells. Dr. James Thomson (whose 1998work ignited the controversy, and whoalso published one of the new breakthroughpapers) acknowledged justsuch a possibility in comments toreporters: “Ten years of turmoil andnow this nice ending.” Whether thisnice ending will actually play outby Fr. Tad Pacholczykremains to be seen, but a discovery ofthis magnitude, coupled with a strongethical vision, certainly has the potentialto move us beyond the contentiousmoral quagmire of destroying humanembryos.Change never comes easily, however,and before we can really change, weneed to see the reasons why we shouldchange. Each of us is, incredibly, anembryo who has grown up. This biologicalfact stares researchers in theface every time they choose to “disaggregate”a human embryo with theirown bare hands. It makes manyresearchers edgy, touching them onsome deeper level of their being. Itmakes many Americans queasy andeager to find alternatives. Dr.Thomson, who has overseen thedestruction of numerous embryonichumans himself, had the honesty toacknowledge this fact in comments hemade to the New York Times recently:“If human embryonic stem cellresearch does not make you at least alittle bit uncomfortable, you have notthought about it enough.”Reprogramming eliminates these ethicalconcerns even as it offers a highlypractical and straightforward techniquefor obtaining pluripotent stem cells. AsDr. Thomson himselfput it, “Any basicmicrobiology lab can doit, and it’s cheap andquick.” Reprogrammingis also important becauseit provides analternative approach to“therapeutic cloning,” acomplex and immoral procedureused to obtain patient-specificstem cells. Reprogrammingprovides patient-specific stem cells aswell, but without using women’s eggs,without killing embryos, and withoutcrossing moral lines.The sheer practicality of thenew reprogramming approach,coupled with its ethical advantages,really make it a nobrainer.Yet despite all theseadvantages, a number ofvoices can be heard arguingthat the bio-industrial-complexemerging around destructivehuman embryo research must besafeguarded and expanded. There areat least three reasons for this.First, the financial investment thathas already been made in this arena issignificant, especially considering certainstate initiatives like Proposition 71in California which devote large sumsof state taxpayer money to pursueresearch that depends on humanembryo destruction. Once large sumsof money are involved, ethics oftenbecomes the first casualty.Second, some of the scientists whoadvocate the destruction of humanembryos have never really taken themoral concerns very seriously becausethe creed they subscribe to is the socalled“scientific imperative,” namely,that science must go forward, as if itwere the highest good. It must be ableto do whatever it wants, wherever itwants, whenever it wants, and nobodyshould be pushing ethical viewpointsto limit what researchers do. That, ofcourse, is a completely untenable positionbecause we regulate what scientistsdo all the time. The very mechanismby which we disperse federalmoney puts all kinds of checks andbalances on what researchers can doContinued on page 32Making Sense out of BioethicsWinter 2008 • SOPHIA 31
Page 1 and 2: Volume 38, Number 2 • Winter 2008
Page 3 and 4: Pascha:The Season for Inner Transfo
Page 5 and 6: TThe 2007 New England RegionalAdult
Page 7 and 8: TThe year 2007 marked the 100thanni
Page 9: OOur Lady of the Cedars SundaySchoo
Page 12 and 13: News from Around the EparchyParish
Page 14 and 15: News from Around the EparchyAReflec
Page 16 and 17: NAMYIt is Between You and Godby Mar
Page 18 and 19: Blessed are the PeacemakersMelkite
Page 23 and 24: PROPOSED WORKSHOPSTHEME: GLORIFY GO
Page 25 and 26: HHow are today’s people stayingne
Page 27 and 28: activities of the entire Church.”
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Page 33 and 34: MMost of us grow up beingexposed to
Page 35 and 36: prayerbook. Most days, I say thepra
Page 37 and 38: dictory position towards homosexual
Page 39 and 40: The following article is the arabic

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