Vassula receives Holy Communion for the first time

Discussion in 'Video Blogs' started by davidtlig, May 19, 2016.

  1. padraig

    padraig Powers

    David neither God nor Vassula are served by this kind of post.

    I am honestly surprised at you. I thought you were better than this.
     
  2. Julia

    Julia Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

    Last edited: Jun 15, 2016
  3. Teresa

    Teresa New Member

    I read a bio of Vassula at http://www.pseudomystica.info/tligbiography.htm that caused me to decide to stay away from her. I was shocked at the video posted here but even more shocked at some of her history. She supposedly received messages from Jesus through something like automatic writing but, even though she says they were from God, she THREW THEM AWAY. Who would do that???
     
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  4. Julia

    Julia Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

    Myrna from Damascus has hundreds of Priests and many Bishops supporting her.

     
  5. davidtlig

    davidtlig Guest

    [​IMG]

    As this is a thread about Vassula, please allow me to mention that Vassula and Myrna have known each other for many years. On a True Life in God pilgrimage to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan in 2005 (which I attended), Myrna came to see Vassula in our hotel. The photo above is of that meeting. Myrna is most definitely the 'genuine article' The missions of both Vassula and Myrna are fundamentally the same - Christian Unity.

    http://www.tligpilgrimages.org/lebanon.html
     
  6. Mac

    Mac "To Jesus, through Mary"

    That rules Myrna out then.(y)
     
  7. andree

    andree Powers

    I am aware of one more person who appears to have a mission for unity: Sevim Altingagoglu, an orthodox Turk living in France. There is an article here about it in English, which is not very complete but there isn't much in English about it.

    The icon that started weaping oil in her home was offered by a Lebanese priest and she is called Our Lady of Light (Notre Dame de la Lumière). The church authorities were notified, investigated the was an official communiqué by the Archbishop on the subject asking that the manifestation be respected in a calm & prayerful way in keeping with the orthodox liturgy. Sevim has also received locutions, has seen Our Lady, and Christ. She was offered an icon of Our Lady of Soufanieh, which also started to exude oil and then, oil exuded from her hands & face also, hence the link with Myrna & the mission of unity.

    There are many signs for us coming from the eastern churches & messengers.:

    Vassula is Greek, born in Egypt, belongs to the Greek Orthodox. Her date of birth, January 18, is relevant to her mission since it is the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

    Myrna is Syrian catholic, married to an orthodox.

    The Altingagoglu couple live in France but are from the Antioch region and are part of the the Orthodox church.

    Wasn't there also a recent case of an icon exuding oil in Chicago during lent in a Greek Orthodox church?

    I would not be surprised if others have similar mission, which includes a lot of suffering, was also given to others in other countries that we're not aware of.
     
  8. Harper

    Harper Guest

    As we are returning to Vassula and her mission, let me post this story about a failed attempt by Vassula and her followers to co-opt the Cathedral in Los Angeles. What's striking is both Roman Catholic and Orthodox agreed immediately to withdraw when they discovered a so-called ecumenical conference was actually a Vassula gathering.

    NOTE:
    *The Catholic spokesman claimed material misrepresentation of the facts when the conference was booked.

    *Vassula's interests were represented by a public relations firm. This reminds me of her trademarking her name and launching repeated lawsuits to force one critical website out of business.

    *Photos of people together does not prove they have the same supernatural mission (Mother Teresa went to the White House and had her photo taken with Hillary Clinton)

    Vassula Ryden conference canceled

    L.A. Cathedral Disinvites Christian Unity Event

    By Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer
    January 24, 2006

    The Roman Catholic cathedral of Los Angeles on Monday rescinded its invitation to hold a Christian unity conference later this month after concluding that the principal speaker was to be a controversial self-proclaimed mystic who claimed to speak directly with God, Jesus and Mary.

    In a letter to the sponsors, Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, said that what had been represented by sponsors as a Christian unity conference had turned out to be largely a forum for Vassula Ryden, a Greek Orthodox laywoman who has attracted worldwide attention with her reports of sacred conversations.

    At the same time, a leading Greek Orthodox priest said Monday he previously had also pulled out of the Jan. 28 conference. "Everything is very suspect. That's all I'm going to say," said the Very Rev. John Bakas, dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles.

    A publicist for the conference said a second Greek Orthodox priest, from Brooklyn, had also decided not to attend.

    Kostelnik said the decision to withdraw the cathedral's invitation to play host to the conference was "final and not subject to change." He said that the meeting was turning into something different than originally proposed. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, had earlier agreed to offer welcoming remarks at the conference but now approved the withdrawal, Kostelnik said.

    Kostelnik also returned a $3,000 donation to the cathedral and a $200 deposit for food service.

    His letter, faxed to event sponsors Monday, caught them and their public relations firm by surprise. Claire Mansour, one of the sponsors, said she did not know if she and her husband, Antoine Y. Mansour, a general surgeon, could find another location to hold the conference in time. A full-page advertisement had already appeared in Tidings, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Press releases were also distributed, saying that Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders would discuss "a new era of relations" among them.

    "To me this is a betrayal by my church," she said, referring to the withdrawal of the invitation by the Roman Catholic cathedral.

    The meeting was to have been under the auspices of Ryden's "True Life in God" organization and sponsored by the New Jerusalem Foundation, headed by the Mansours, who live in Beverly Hills. They have long supported Ryden and were associated with her Los Angeles appearance in 1995.

    Antoine Mansour, in a handwritten Oct. 7 letter to Kostelnik, assured the pastor that Ryden's writings "have been cleared by the Vatican."

    But Kostelnik wrote Monday that Mansour's assurance was "a serious misrepresentation of the current Vatican view of Ms. Ryden's speeches and writings." He said 1995 and 1996 Vatican statements cautioning Catholics against following Ryden remained "in full force."

    "The 1995 statement cautioned Catholics that Ms. Ryden's 'revelations' were merely the result of private meditations and contained doctrinal errors. It also advised bishops not to provide any opportunity in their dioceses for the dissemination of her ideas," Kostelnik wrote.

    "In short, it is my belief and that of Cardinal Mahony that instead of a Christian unity conference where all participants have an equal opportunity to share and speak, what is now taking its place is a Vassula Ryden conference," Kostelnik wrote.

    During an appearance in Los Angeles in 1995, Ryden told an audience at the Los Angeles Convention Center that Jesus joked with her as she ate ravenously.

    "Finally," she told the audience, "he asked, 'Is it good?' And I said, "Yes, Jesus. Thank you.' There was nothing wrong, so I continued eating. After a while he said, 'Don't you want me to bless it?' "

    Her current website, http://www.tlig.org , quotes Jesus as addressing her as "My Vassula" and tells her he was giving her his lamp to remove spiritual darkness from the world.

    Critics have challenged the authenticity of Vassula's supposed messages from God because she has changed some of them over time. Vassula, who was in Washington, D.C., and could not be reached for comment Monday, told The Times in a 1995 interview that God gave her permission to make such changes. She said it was possible for a perfect God to regret something he said, just as he regretted creating a race that would fall from grace.

    Claire Mansour said Monday that the Los Angeles archdiocese "had all the information" about the conference for months, including Ryden's appearance.

    "It was very clear. We didn't hide anything," she said, adding that she had expected a full house at the 3,000-seat cathedral.

    But she said God had the "final word" on the matter.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 15, 2016
  9. "By their fruits ye shall know them"
     
  10. andree

    andree Powers

    Amen.
     
  11. Harper

    Harper Guest

    The Archbishop in Lipa is also a vocal public supporter of Vassula Ryden. Perhaps this is another reason the CDF decided to move very quickly to clamp down on his move to take over and authorize the alleged Lipa apparitions. (I'm cross-posting this on the Lipa thread.)

    IF TRUE, these allegations certainly throw more light on the concerns the CDF and many, many others have over Vassula Ryden's work. Keep in mind, this 2008 trip was made shortly after the 2007 Notification signed by Cardinal Levada, which restated the earlier negative ruling of Cardinal Ratzinger.


    Vassula Ryden’s trip to The Philippines – May 2008
    (http://www.tlig.org/en/news/2008-09-24/2081/ )



    During this trip, Mrs Ryden was received by the President of the Philippines, who is a well-known reader and supporter of TLIG, and was the “special guest” of the Charismatic community’s annual Pentecost celebration in Cebu. Vassula also visited Archbishop Arguelles, who gave the Imprimatur to the TLIG books. Two comments:


    1. Although Mrs Ryden has many supporters in The Philippines, she does not have the support of Episcopal conference. Indeed, in the official website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the 1995 Notification is one of the few documents present in the pages belonging to the Conference’s Commission on the Doctrine of the Faith (http://www.cbcponline.net/doctrine_faith/for_info.html ).

    1. The Imprimatur granted by Archbishop Arguelles to Vassula’s books is based on an “illegal” nihil obstat given by Bishop Felix Toppo of India. In a recent interview made available on-line through the official TLIG video website, Bishop Toppo reveals that when Vassula asked him to give the nihil obstat to the TLIG messages, he consulted a famous canonist who clearly told him thataccording to Canon Law he “could not do it”.

    In fact, when I submitted the same question last year to the Vicar General of my own diocese (*), he told me that since there was a valid Notification in force from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), one could not approve of any gesture going against that clear position of the Apostolic See.


    Since both Bishop Toppo and Bishop Arguelles are long-time supporters of Mrs Ryden, and given the circumstances in which the nihil obstat and Imprimatur were given (see: http://www.pseudomystica.info/tlignihilobstat.htm ), it is obvious that they are abusive. Their scope is not to protect the faithful from wrong doctrines, but to facilitate the promotion of Vassula’s books among the Catholic faithful, in spite and in contempt of the warnings issued by the CDF, which include a negative doctrinal judgement. This way of proceeding is frequent among TLIG followers, including members of the clergy, who are often put by Mrs Ryden in a position where they have to choose between her and their Church.


    (*) He is also the diocese’s Censor, i.e. the person appointed by the Bishop to examine before publication those writings which are subject to the Church’s supervision.

    This is from a website dedicated to exposing issues with Vassula Ryden and her movement, http://www.pseudomystica.info
     
  12. davidtlig

    davidtlig Guest

    Well, as our friend Harper is back on his mission to try and discredit Vassula in any way he can, allow me to post this interview with Vassula from 2002 which was made in the Philippines. Vassula describes very well and in a very relaxed way how everything began.

     
  13. Harper

    Harper Guest

    No "mission." Still many unanswered questions, though.

    To whom does Vassula owe earthly obedience? What church does she belong to? Who is her bishop?

    When the CDF under Cardinal Levada in 2007 reaffirmed an earlier negative judgment on her writings, she published an open letter saying Levada was "confused" and citing alleged "mistakes." Did she similarly publish an open letter when the Greek Orthodox Church denounced her? Did she call out the Church of Cyprus, which labeled her a heretic?

    The only fruits I see from her followers here on MOG is a tendency to launch personal attacks against anyone who questions Vassula.
     
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  14. davidtlig

    davidtlig Guest

    I keep seeing this accusation. Could you quote one of my 'personal attacks' so that I can apologisz for it?

    No good fruits, Mr Harper? Try reading some:

    There are 10 collections of testimonies of lay people at: http://www.davidtlig.org.uk/fruit1.html

    Testimonies of religious: http://www.davidtlig.org.uk/fruitclergy.html

    More recent testimonies: http://www.tlig.net/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=3
     
  15. I have observed this tendency and I have commented on it before: those who still support unapproved/condemned messages use power-driven arguments to try to convince others.
    I experienced this first hand with the Bayside groups. "You were going to suffer in Hell if you didn't believe and follow. The Bishop did not investigate fully before he condemned the messages. It's okay to believe because the Bishop was not completely informed."
    What I see here with Vassula is almost the same thing. There are threats involved in the messages and somehow, no one in authority in the Catholic/Orthodox hierarchy can see the "truth."
     
  16. Harper

    Harper Guest

    David,

    It's Ms. Harper. Easy to find if you click on my name. I'll let it go this time:cautious: but in the future...

    Material from your website simply cannot hold the same weight as official declarations. Below is one from 2011, published in Rorate Caeli. It is particularly important because the Ecumenical Patriarch is First Hierarch of the Church.

    So, among the fruits this document cites are the defrocking of an Orthodox priest who concelebrated a Mass in an event under the influence of Vassula. The only unity she has sparked is condemnation by those authorized to speak officially for Roman Catholic and Orthodox faiths.

    "Patriarchate of Constantinople denounces Vassula Ryden

    "Yesterday, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople issued a strongly-worded decree denouncing Vassula Ryden and her works, excluding her supporters from (Orthodox) communion, and warning people from spreading her teachings her lest they incur canonical censures. An initial English translation of the new decree can be found here; the original decree is on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. The relevant portion is as follows:
    In this spirit, and for the beneficial protection of our pious Orthodox plenitude from dangerous spiritual confusion, who do not know well matters underlying the risk of delusion, rejects from the Mother Church Vasiliki Paraskevis Pentaki - Ryden, widely known as a "Vassula", and her organization founded under the title "True Life In God" which rashly and frivolously proposes teachings based on the supposed "direct dialogue between her and the Founder of the Church Jesus Christ our Lord", and those conquered by her and the supporters of "True Life In God", which deviate arbitrarily from the God-given teaching of the Church, but also scandalize the Orthodox phronema of pious believers.
    Hence, we call upon the proponents of these unacceptable innovations and the supporters who maintain them, who henceforth are not admitted to ecclesiastical communion, not only to not be involved in the pastoral work of the local Holy Metropolis, but also to not preach their novel teachings, to prevent the appropriate sanctions under the Holy Canons."

    This comes a few months after the Romanian Orthodox Church defrocked one of its priests for concelebrating with a Roman Catholic priest, in an event that came about under the influence of Vassula Ryden. (See this and this for Rorate Caeli's posts on that incident, and this post on another website reporting on the rejection of the priest's appeal of his punishment.)
    Vassula continues to enjoy support from some Roman Catholic priests and bishops despite repeated Vatican warnings against her teachings. Hopefully this support will soon disappear..."
    Posted by Augustinus at 3/17/2011 02:22:00 AM
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 15, 2016
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  17. Harper

    Harper Guest

    The apology is owed to Julia.

    "davidtlig said:

    Oh dear Julia, is your discernment SO poor that you feel you can make that kind of comment.
    You say the messages are so "full of threats". Try to be honest with yourself and admit you have read probably 0.15% of the messages of True Life in God.
    And you are a believer in Medjugorje. Do not the views of Fr Petar and Fr Jozo make you just a little uncertain of yourself?

    David neither God nor Vassula are served by this kind of post."

    Padraig:
    David neither God nor Vassula are served by this kind of post.
    I am honestly surprised at you. I thought you were better than this.
     
  18. davidtlig

    davidtlig Guest

    Ok, if this is viewed as an 'attack' on Julia then I apologize but it just seemed like an observation to me. She also referred to threats which made her want to vomit which stuck me as rather more 'aggressive' than anything I may have written. Are you able to provide any other 'threat' that I might have made?
     
  19. Harper

    Harper Guest

    Church of Cyprus declaration. I like the clarity and solemnity of the Orthodox documents. They do cut to the point.

    CHURCH OF CYPRUS
    Synodical Committee for
    Matters of Heresy
    Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus
    13 January 2012.

    ANNOUNCEMENT

    Topic: The heretical positions of Vassiliki (Vassula) Pendakis-Ryden.

    Over the last few days Vassula Ryden has been appearing in the media, giving lectures and trying to come into contact with bishops and priests, giving the impression that she presents and teaches the Orthodox Christian faith. In reality, her teachings are heretical, and her claims that she communicates directly with Christ are fantastical and outside of the spirit of the experience of the our Church.

    Seeing that she tries, not only in Cyprus, to present herself as Orthodox and that she possesses certificates of Orthodoxy from bishops, we cite the Ecumenical Patriarchate's explicit announcement regarding this matter, so that Orthodox Christians may know exactly what it pertains to: (Click here)

    Source (greek): http://www.churchofcyprus.org.cy/article.php?articleID=2129

    Translated by the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator
     
  20. Harper

    Harper Guest

    Perhaps Padraig can explain.

    Back to work. I have to earn a living.
     

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