LOTS Students Looking Old Manuscripts in Carolina Rediviva Library

Together with the class from Greek Exegesis we were in the library of Uppsala University-Carolina Rediviva. There we learned about fascinating, ancient manuscripts on Koine Greek.

Dr.Anders Gerdmar, Dean of Theology in Livets Ord Theological Seminary, and Associate Professor in the Uppsala University, instructs us how to use all resources of the library, in which about 9 million books, to contribute to our own assignments and other papers.

Have you ever saw the real researcher? Here, if you take a carefull look, you will see one among the heap of books, who is busy with his research. :D

Books in Greek, 12th-13th century. Mostly, the Gospels and the Bibles. Its pages made of parchment (a stiff, thin, flat material made from the prepared skin of an animal, usually a sheep or goat, and used as a durable writing surface in ancient and medieval times).

This is a collection of sermons for the liturgy for a year. 13th century.

First time in my life I saw and touched the ancient books with parchment pages. Scribes, who wrote those kinds of books, usually, at the end they wrote: "Thanks be to God that this work is accomplished!" :) We can imagine those poor men seating there with the candle as only source of light and doing their art work, writing with their own hand those thick books, often for years.

This is a Will of a man, who lived in 1 sentury A.D. in Egypt. The Will is written in the scroll of Papyrus, on ancient Greek language.

This is illustration from the Gospel of Luke, 12th century. Background is made of gold. It is stunning!

In the end we shared experiences and discussed our assignments at the cup of coffee. God is Good!

 

Visit to the Syrian Orthodox Church in Stockholm

 

2Tim 2:22 …follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

 

Sunday was a special day.  With a group of students from the Theological Seminary "Word of Life", we went to Stockholm to visit the Syrian Orthodox Church. It was a friendly visit for fellowship, to get acquainted with history, culture and the doctrines of the Syrian Orthodox Church.

Syrian Orthodox Church in Stockholm belong to the Patriarchate of Antioch, and I've noticed it  differs from the Russian Orthodox Church in many ways.

 

First of all, the decoration of the Church. Everything is much easier. Secondly, the Church has the benches, and during the liturgy all believers sitting down and standing up.

 

Thirdly, what inspired me most, this is the sermon, in which Bishop called Orthodox believers develop their prayer life, without which it is impossible to know God, and the Holiness without which no one will see God. 

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In Kharkiv (Ukraine) several Churches gathered together to pray and demonstrate their Unity.

 

There is a great power in unity. This was the request, apostle Paul turned to the Corinthian church with: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10) 

Pastor Valeriy (“New Life”) opened “The Evening of Unity” along with the “Word of Life” worship group.

December 18, 2009 is the date when different churches of Kharkov for the first time united in common prayer to influence the history and life of our wonderful city.

Pastor Valeriy greets all the participants from different churches.

Unity was the main topic at the meeting. This is a magnificent event when pastors and people from different churches fulfill God’s word: they get together to be united in one spirit, in one mind and in one prayer to our Lord. This brings such a great joy to His heart!

The “Word of Life” worship group leads all the participants in praise and worship.

Practically all the Concert Hall “Ukraina” was filled with people. The songs of praise and worship flowed in unity and power. Hearts were overwhelmed with amazing feelings.

Praise and Worship.

Pastor Paul Sharudin from "Word of Life" Church preached about the importance of unity, edifying those who have come.

We need to maintain unity. 

The key points of the sermon were based on the Ephesians 4:1-4: if we want to walk in our calling, we must preserve unity not only inside our churches but also with other churches that function in our city. Unity is biblical. It pleases God.

God wants us to be one with Him.  God wants us to be one with each other.

The ecumenical alliance is important not because it can be profitable for us. But because division is harmful to our calling and brings confusion to our society. The Great Commandment cannot be fulfilled without functional unity. When the body of Christ functions as one, Holy Spirit can manifest Himself and our society will see the glory of God.

Let us not compete with one another but join our hands as brothers and sisters who form one body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are called to love our brothers, and not only those who think like we do, act like we do or love what we do. We have one Lord, one Father, one faith, one baptism, and one hope.

John 17:21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, {are} in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 

The sermon was followed by a prayer for the unity of churches so that the world could believe. Pastors took turns to say prayers, and there were no “yours” or “ours”. There were “We” united in one Body of Jesus Christ.

Pastor of “Victory in Christ” Church leads the prayer.

 

Also prayers for Israel were brought up. The atmosphere was amazing . We enjoyed short messages and small “surprises” such as Jewish songs and dances.

Dancing team of Chuguyev Christian Church

We were unanimous not only in prayer but also in congratulations with the ancient Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Melodious Hanukkah songs under the accompaniment of the accordion, performed exclusively in the Jewish language, brought us real pleasure.

Messianic community of Kharkiv

Performance of Messianic community of Kharkiv

The pastor of the Messianic community Alexandr Sereda told about the history of Hanukkah holiday.

God bless Israel!

A lot of prayers were said about various spheres of life and ministry, including prayers about government and forthcoming presidential elections.

 

Pastor Vlad Kalin

This meeting was really great and it is of great historical significance. Everyone was filled with the message of unity and love between brothers and sisters.

Prayer for authorities, principals and forthcoming elections.

The Unity Meeting was finished by pastor Valeriy who invited all the pastors to the stage and, Pastor Peter Kovalenko led prayer, releasing blessings over the assembly and over all churches of the city.

Pastors are on the stage to pray together for the churches.

The pastor of Kharkiv Christian Church, Peter Kovalenko.

Pastor Peter leads the prayer of blessing for the churches.

Pastors praying.

We do one work on this Earth for the Kingdom of God and this issue of unity is really important. So in spite of differences between churches in teachings, names and places of their meetings we should bring good fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ and into eternity.

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Hip Hop Festival In "Word of Life" Kharkiv (Ukraine)

12 December, in Kharkiv, nightclub “Hi-Fi” held annual Hip Hop Festival "Message 4 Streets"!



Although, in the same time in the city were couple similar events, plus important football game between FC "Metallist" and FC "Dnepr" ("Metallist won 3:2), regardless that many young people gathered together to listen to Christian Hip Hop!



The atmosphere was wonderful! One of the Club workers, who prepared perfect cappuccino with chocolate and cinnamon, expressed his impressions when he was asked: "Does today's event differs somehow from those that usually are in your club?"



-Oh, Yes, of course it is different! Recently in our Club was a RAP party, and it was so weak organized in compare with your, nobody knew who will perform after whom, all show was improvising by the way, and so on! You have a good organization, sound, MC was good prepared, and that was cool in general!



-Well, it is Christian event!
-Yes, I realized that!

"Jesus People" group from Word of Life were the best!Their song “Oh, God forgive for all that I’ve done”, remains popular and touches the hearts of young people. Here is this song in their performance.





Before the end of the Festival, after performance and short sermon, the main voice of “Gospel people” group lead people in prayer of repentance.



And now we have a lot to do to help those who came on our “after party”! So! Show will go on! Praise the Lord!

An interesting Quiz

How would you respond in this situation?

1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2. The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their four children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

3. A white man raped 13-year-old black girl and she’s now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he is upset. Would you recommend abortion?

If your answer is “YES” for all four cases than:

In the first case you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists and reformers in the 19th century!

In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven!

In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer.

If you said YES to the fourth case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!

God is the author of life, and He has given every single individual supreme value. Each life – whether inside or outside the womb- should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be.
When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry.