ORTHODIXIE ... Southern, Orthodox, Convert, Etc.

My friend, Walt, and I moved out to Southern California in the fall of 1983. My plan was to become filthy rich and adorably famous. Walt just wanted to be a waiter. He fulfilled his goal; I did not.

Anyway. His sister had a condo for sale that wasn’t moving and we lived there free of charge. We were both right out of college and owned, well, nothing. Nothing that is, but a huge collection of record albums, a powerful stereo, a decent TV, and some clothes. The condo was unfurnished so we bought two school room napping mats to sleep on. We had no refrigerator; couldn’t afford to have the gas line hooked up – thus, only cold water.

But what did we care? We were striving to live our dreams in Southern California. We were young, stupid, and glorious. We had decided not to find jobs until after about 3 weeks of vacation. (See what I mean?) So we did the touristy things, the beachy things, Hollywood, Malibu, Big Sur, Disney ...

After about a week, we ran out of money.

We both ended up working at Movie Land Wax Museum in Buena Park. Food services ... You know, where all the other soon-to-be-famous people worked.

It would be our first Christmas away from home. A long way away from home. Our families were none too happy about it. We didn’t give it much thought. Both of us were happily agnostic, quasi-new age and complacent. We were sort of looking forward to not being part of that Season Which Must Be Obeyed.

And so we existed ... on Peanut Butter, Löwenbräu, Macaroni & Cheese, and as many free meals as we were able at scarf at work.

In case you’re wondering, I wanted to get into writing for radio and television. My entry stage was to be Stand Up comedy. My dad looked for me, or so he said, each week on Star Search. But that’s a story for another time ...

Christmas approached. Walt and I volunteered to work all the days everyone else was taking off. It was Christmas, but our life was to remain unchanged. Gifts. We were opposed to it all.

Until December 22, 1983.

That was the day a coworker asked if I needed a bed.

The condo had two bedrooms upstairs that, except for the closets, were completely empty. My roommate and I both slept downstairs on those kindergarten mats because (remember young & stupid) that’s where the TV was.

“Yes!” Of course I could use a bed!

I'd decided not to tell Walt ‘cause I knew he’d be jealous. To my surprise he said, “Guess what? I’m getting a bed!” Turns out he’d had the same offer from someone else that same day.

So it was that we arranged a pal with a truck to carry us to get our gifts on December 23rd. On the way to our destinations we passed some discarded furniture in another neighborhood. There was a big black couch ... heave ho! And a nice old recliner ... got that, too.

In one night our Orange County condo ended up with somewhere to sit downstairs and somewhere to sleep upstairs!

We thought it couldn’t get any better.

Christmas Day. The doorbell rang. It was one of our obnoxious neighbors. I say this because he was always the one wanting someone to move their car, turn down the stereo, etc. We had sufficient evidence that he didn’t care for us. Yet he cared enough about his wife to have surprised her with a new refrigerator for Christmas. He wanted to know if we would be interested in their old one.

Christmas 1983, two Southern boys in their twenties sat smoking clove cigarettes and sipping Brandy -- humming fridge in the background, holiday TV in the foreground -- on free furniture in a free condo in Southern California.

Though a far cry from normal, and nowhere near family traditions, in a very, very strange way

it was almost like being home.

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The Transformation of the Mind into the Likeness of Christ
by Professor George Mantzarides
(School of Theology, University of Thessaloniki)

"Having purified thy mind by ascetical struggles on Athos,
O Gregory, thou didst live an Angelic way of life."1

The struggle to purify one's mind (nous) and the effort to ensure its proper orientation usually pass unnoticed in our era, or are regarded as superfluous luxuries that do not concern the simple Christian.

Indeed, those motivated by the spirit of what they suppose to be "practical" Christianity treat such matters as misleading theories that actually divert the believer from his primary task.

Only practical religion, which confines itself to obvious needs and seeks to deal with them immediately, is viewed as authentic Christianity or genuine Orthodoxy.

This is combined, moreover, with man's impatience to see and admire the results of his activities instantaneously, something to which he has been inured by machines, which serve him but which also have such a great influence on his life.

We take great pains to acquire machines, we get around by means of machines, we think with machines, and in the end we become machines ourselves, "in the image and likeness" of the machines that we manufacture. Machines do not have a mind that requires purification and correct orientation.

We forget that we do have to purify our minds and orient them correctly. And machines need our minds purified and correctly oriented, so that they might function properly and not turn against us.

As well, today, when machines dominate our lives more than at any other time, the need to purify and orient our minds correctly is becoming more pressing.

* * *

All of the evil in the world originates from our minds. The mind, furthermore, constitutes the loftiest aspect of our existence. God's creation of man "in His image" is imprinted first and foremost in the mind. The mind is the "mirror" that reflects its Creator.

When the mind of man is directed towards God, it receives Divine Light and itself becomes light. However, when it turns away from God, it loses its light, becomes darkened, and wallows in darkness. It is enslaved to the cares and concerns of this world, is alienated by its tumult and turmoil, and forgets God and itself.

"Be still, and know that I am God,"2 says the Spirit of God through the mouth of the Psalmist. When we come to know Who God is, then we learn also what a true man is.

Just like God, says St. Gregory Palamas, so also the human mind, created "in the image of God," has essence and energy.

The energy of the mind is thought. When a man's mind is darkened, his thought, which wallows in darkness, is held captive by sensations and passions and becomes bestial or demonic. "For, the mind that withdraws from God becomes either bestial or demonic and, having departed from the principles of its nature..., gives itself over to carnal desires and knows no limit to pleasure."3

This is what happened at the fall of man. And it continues to happen with all of Adam's descendants. The fall of the first man dragged all of humanity down with it.

This is why the advent of the New Adam, Christ, was necessary: that He might become the firstfruits of the new creation, the Church. And He gave His commandments, which are the light of the new life that the Faithful are called to live.

* * *

Christ dwells in man through the Mysteries of the Church: Baptism, Chrismation, and the Divine Eucharist. This does not mean that Christ transforms man automatically, in some mechanical way. Man continues to retain his nature.

Christ opens the path of renewal and offers His Grace for man to follow this path of his own free will. If man does not wish to assimilate the Grace of God, if he does not strive to coordinate his will with the will of God and to order his life in accordance with God's commandments. Grace remains infertile.

"[W]e have the mind of Christ,"4 says the Apostle Paul. The Christian, that is, has the mind and the thoughts of Christ.

Just as a mirror, says St. Gregory Palamas, when it receives a ray of the sun, creates its own ray, so also the mind of man, when it receives the Light of Christ, itself becomes light, and radiates this light also to other people.

But in order for a mirror to radiate the sun's light, it must be clean. If it is muddy or blackened, no matter how much light may fall on it, that light is not reflected. The same thing happens with the human mind. When it is darkened or muddy, the light of Christ, the mind of Christ, is not reflected in it.

Sin darkens the mind of man and the passions heap up mud on it. Thus, man lives bereft of God and His Grace. He becomes either bestial or demonic: bestial, by rolling in mud himself; and demonic, by luring others into this mud and becoming a breeding-ground of pollution and destruction.

How much we suffer from these diseases, especially today! How much we make ourselves victims of these diseases!

If we are to correct this unhealthy spiritual condition, we must cleanse and purify our mind. "Having purified his mind by ascetical struggles," St. Gregory became a recipient and herald of the Light of Grace.

Our first priority is to emulate the Saint as assiduously as we can.

* * *

The amendment of the mind, as St. Gregory Palamas teaches, begins with its return to itself. Unless a man detaches the energy of his mind, that is, his thoughts and reasonings, from the passions and sin, unless he becomes calm and returns in repentance to himself and God, he will be unable to find the true wealth that he has received.

In his interpretation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, St. Gregory says that a man's wealth is his mind. When a man deviates into a sinful life, his mind is dissipated and cleaves to the passions. He becomes spiritually famished, and he cannot be saved unless he repents and returns to God.
The repentance and return of our mind to God does not come about through any movement towards infinity. It does not come about even through any movement directed outside ourselves.

It comes about through a return to ourselves. It comes about through the return of the energy of our mind, thought, and reasonings to "the hidden man of the heart."5 It comes about through a personal encounter and union with God, Who abides within us in order to purify our minds and hearts and to make them bright with the light of His Divine glory.

Since we have been Baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity and have been incorporated into the Church of Christ, we have Christ Himself within us.

For this reason, moreover, we bear His Name and are called Christians.
This, however, entails that we behave in a commensurate manner towards Christ and the icons of Christ who are our fellow men.

* * *
In the Gospel passage about the Last Judgment, it is emphasized that the judgment of men by Christ will be based on the love that they have shown towards Him.

At that time, He will say to those on His right hand: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave Me food; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me."6

And to the puzzlement of the righteous as to when they saw Christ hungry and gave Him food, or thirsty and gave Him to drink, or a stranger and sheltered Him, Christ's reply will be: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."7

We find Christ Himself in the person of our neighbor. For this reason, love for our neighbor, which is love for Christ Himself, is of fundamental importance in Christian life.

But Christ, Who is found in the person of our neighbor, is found also in us-in each one of us. And when we forget Him, He knocks on the door of our heart, so that we might open the door for Him to enter and dine with us.8

Christ's food, His drink, His shelter, His clothing, and His rest are to be found in our heart. They are to be found in the place where our mind is supposed to be concentrated.

When we dissipate our mind in passions and amusements, when we exhaust it in worldly cares and wean it away from its spiritual nourishment, when we let it wander homeless in the misery and confusion of a life of sin, we leave the Christ within us hungry and thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned.

And when we do not show love towards Christ, Who knocks on the door of our heart, we naturally do not show love, either, when He approaches us in the person of our neighbor.

* * *
Man's love for God or his neighbor is born or dies within his own heart: in the "hidden man of the heart," where St. Gregory Palamas, like all of the Saints of our Church, concentrated his purified heart.

When the mind of man is drawn away from the passions and sin, when it becomes calm and returns to the heart in prayer and repentance, it encounters Christ and is illumined by His light.

This is why the prayer that is bound up with the gathering of the mind is restricted to just one phrase, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me," so that the mind might not be distracted, but rather, concentrate on the Name of Christ and on beseeching His mercy.

Thus is the sin within a man obliterated and thus Christian life bears fruit. Thus does one accomplish the "life-giving mortification" of his will and thoughts and their incorporation into the boundless horizons of Divine freedom. Thus can he say, with the Apostle Paul: "We have the mind of Christ."

It was from the darkened mind of man that all of the evils in the world began and continue to find being. For this reason, their eradication is possible only with the illumination of the mind by the Light of Christ-by its transformation into the likeness of Christ.

By his ascetic struggles, St. Gregory Palamas realized this inner transformation in his own life, and he calls everyone to such a transformation on the day of his commemoration.

The Saints, says St. Basil the Great, "are set forth as animate icons of a Godly way of life, so that we might emulate their good deeds."9

If we wish to honor the memory of St. Gregory, we are called to emulate his deeds to the best of our ability.

Let us cleanse our minds as much as we can and allow them-as he, too, allowed his-to be guided to God and to be illumined by His uncreated Light.

St. Gregory was very great; we are utterly insignificant. But when we do even the very least that we can, we will be entitled to approach the Saint and say to him:

"As a mind standing before the Primordial Mind, direct our mind to Him, O Father, that we may cry: Rejoice, O Herald of Grace."10

Notes

1. Idiomelon of the Lity.
2. Psalm 45:11 (Septuaginta).
3. Homily 51, §6 (ed. S. Oikonomou), p. 114.
4. I Corinthians 2:16.
5. I St. Peter 3:4.
6. St. Matthew 25:34-36.
7. St. Matthew 25:40.
8. Revelation 3:20.
9. Epistle 2, §3, Patrologia Græca, Vol. XXXII, col. 228C.
10. Kontakion of St. Gregory Palamas.

From a FWD from Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna.


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For what it's worth, Part 3 of the Christmas series [1, 2] shall, God willing, be posted on Monday.

In the meantime, during the Net's holiday downtime, here's some stuff worth a while:

One of my former profs, Dr Peter Toon, on WORSHIP.

On the way to my Grandmother's for Thanksgiving we saw a Baptist Church reader board that proclaimed: "There's no Christmas without Christ." Slippery slope, that, because ... there's no Christmas without MASS either, sic?

And, coming soon to a Sidebar near you, a handy Monastic Directery.

Pax Vobiscum!

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In case you haven't heard, the woman offering the only known version of "Our Lady of the Half Eaten Grilled Cheese Sandwich" on eBay is now $28,000 richer. That pales in comparison to the $70,000 dollars the grub once brought her while gambling at a casino.

Now there's a man claiming to see the face of Jesus on a burnt fish stick. Wanna see it? Go here.

God help me.

In fact, after reading the comments below the above fish story on World's blog ... God help us all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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For Part 1 of this series go here. One way to handle the secularization or, depending on your source, (re)paganization of the Christmas holiday is to become a reactionary. This may not be the best option, but it is a valid one. Everyone's tempted by something. Being a reactionary has never brought me many favors, but we're pals nonetheless.

Back in 1997 our daughter came home from day care and informed us that her class wasn't doing just one Christmas that year. Rather, they were going to be celebrating many holidays. Upon further inquiry we found that her class, she was 3 at the time, was going to be studying Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa -- though there were no practitioners of either of the latter faith traditions in her day care class. We reacted by pulling her out of day care. [The good news is she was home schooled from that point until 4th grade.]

When she was coming of "Santa age," we decided that, though it was the practice of our families, we weren't going to do the Santa thing. Besides, back then we were in the Russian Church Abroad, therefore on the "old calendar," and it didn't make much since. To complicate matters further, our parish was named St Nicholas and we already had a "visit" with presents from our patron each year on his Feast, December 6/19.

The year before last, when my son was 4, we were doing last minute shopping in the mall on December 23rd. As we rested by a fountain, he saw the Mall Santa at a distance and said, "Dad, can I go talk to him?" "Basil, I thought you didn't believe in Santa," I replied. He said, "Dad, I don't. I just wanna go talk to him." I told him to look at how long the line was and reminded him that we didn't have much time and were just sitting there waiting on mom and the girls. When the said party arrived, I no sooner exchanged news with them -- a mere moment, mind you -- when someone asked, "Where's Basil?" Immediately my eyes shot toward the great line of people and, sure enough, there near the back of the 50 people or so was a little four year old boy. So, we let him. I went and waited with him. "No," I told them, "we don't want a picture." He eventually got to sit on the old man's lap. That's about the time their camera/computer equipment broke. As they worked to repair it -- for about 20 minutes -- Basil sat right there and talked to Santa. No harm done, everyone went home satisfied, except maybe the old man.

The following year, on the eve of St Nicholas Feast (new calendar), we were having Vespers in the church. Basil was serving in the altar and he asked if I thought St Nicholas had visited St John's [fellowship hall] Building yet. Having replied that I did not know, and though freezing rain and sleet was falling, he asked if he could go check. I'll never forget the sight of my 5 year old son eagerly and expectantly running up the stairs through inclement weather to peer into a building to see if a Saint had yet visited with presents.

A week later we found ourselves traveling to visit my father on, as we said as kids, "Christmas Eve eve," December 23rd. Our dinner was interrupted by the headlights of a car's arrival. "Who's that?" I asked. My dad said, "I don't know. Basil, go to the door." I was a little uncomfortable with my son being sent to answer a strange door ... when in walked the best looking Santa I had ever seen. I swear to you for a moment I was a kid again. A grown man had a "Miracle on 34th Street" moment. I almost wept. This Santa knew all about my kids. He knew their names -- all our names -- and family trivia. He had wonderful answers to their questions about Rudolph and the other reindeer. His white hair & beard, costume, red cheeks, twinkling eyes ... all came together to make me feel like a cad for ever doubting. When finally he approached me he said, "Howdy cuz" with a wink and a smile. Danged if I wasn't just plain confused from that point on.

[Later in the evening, after Santa's exit, my dad explained to me that the man was indeed a cousin of mine who played Santa during the season.]

Fast forward to 2004. Our oldest, Mary Catherine, is now in the 5th grade in the public school system. Their chorus is going to be performing at area malls during the season. Yet, here we go again, they are going to be singing some winter "holiday songs" -- and some Kwanzaa songs.

To be continued ...

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Faithful reader, Erica, commented that the source for the story of karaoke in church is suspect. But doesn't "Pravda" mean truth? The site is a hoot -- but not recommended for the sober.

Interrupting my series on Christmas, here's some helpful hints on the Feast.

A Dutch study has determined that smoke from candles and incense in church is harmful to your health -- up to 20 times the carcinogens found on the street corner! Poking around the Net netted this related news story from Ireland.

Thanksgiving is just a couple days away and school children may thank anyone, except God. Question: Is it still alright to "thank God it's Friday?"

Dan Rather received a bit of attention on this blog and others with his forged document story (among other things). Now Andy Rooney fesses up ... he also calls Christians ignorant, etc.

Finally ... so you don't believe the Russian Karaoke story? How 'bout this one?

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A pagan feast was causing problems for the Faithful. Therefore the Church in Her wisdom decided to move a Feast of Faith, the Nativity of Christ, to the time of the annual pagan festivities. This is commonly referred to as the Church baptizing a holiday. For a while, at least outwardly, it was effectual. Today? Hardly. Latin reason dictates a "sacrament" to be effectual if there is 1) proper Rite, 2) proper intent, and 3) proper substance. Assuming, as this writer does, that something is again amiss, where did we go wrong? What should we do?

First of all, December 25th (regardless of Julian or Gregorian calendar usage) is not believed to be the actual anniversary of Jesus' birth. The first mention of the Feast being celebrated on December 25th is in the Philocalian Calendar, representing Roman practice, in the year 336. It's listed as: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae. The common belief is that the date was chosen to oppose the feast of Natalis Solis Invicti -- the celebration of the "Sun of Righteousness." [This title will be revisited later.] By the middle of the 5th century the celebration of the Nativity on December 25th had spread to the Eastern churches (though the Church of Jerusalem held to the joint feast of Nativity & Baptism, on January 6th, until the year 549). The Armenian Church still observes January 6th as Christmas Day.

The Christological controversies that raged from the 4th to the 6th centuries -- on the Incarnation and the Person of Christ -- no doubt contributed to the growth of the importance of the Feast.

However, according to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the popular observance of the Feast has always been marked by the joy and revelry formerly associated with the Roman feast of Saturnalia and the other pagan festivals it replaced. We Americans are influenced by the Feast's development within English and German cultures. And ... Charles Dickens.

For children it is a magical time of year. For adults who grew up within the culture noted above, its remembrance holds sway over all other feasts. The lights, the smells, the music, the climate, the trees, the silly outfits, Santa ... there is no escape.

"There is no escape" can be awfulized into a sort of prison. The temptation is to overindulge in food, drink, and debt. The pressures surrounding the season are enormous. Obviously, given the roots of the annual celebration, this is nothing new.

What to do?

To be continued ...

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A temple of the Russian Orthodox Church in the city of Petrozavodsk conducts divine services with the use of computer technologies. One can watch priests on monitors and read prayers in the Russian language. The local eparchy intends to use the know-how for missionary purposes. The clergy plans to attract young people to the church, as well as those people, who find it difficult to attend divine services - prisoners and disabled people.

It was a young priest of the Temple of John the Divine, who put forward the idea to use computer technologies in the church. The idea occurred to him, when he saw several deaf people among the church-goers. The priests of the temple organized the hand-language translation for them during services at first. However, gesture-translators distracted other people's attention in a small church.

Father Konstantin brought a computer to the church and asked "progressive" parishioners to make a special program. After that, deaf people were standing in front of the computer screen during a service, while a non-deaf attendant was using a mouse to click "next" on prayer slides.

It turned out all of a sudden, that deaf people had much more opportunities in comparison with normal parishioners. The texts of the prayers were written in the Russian language, not in the obscure Church Slavonic language. The amount of information on the slides was a lot larger in comparison with what other individuals could hear in the temple.

Father Konstantin is going to hang a big screen in the church so that all parishioners could see it. Computer specialists are currently working on a new program, which will help people read exactly the words that a priest says or a chorus sings during a service. The process will bear some resemblance to karaoke. The screen will be also displaying all actions of a priest.

The Temple of John the Divine is to have its website on the Internet too. Any user will be able to see the services online. The webpage of the church will also hold video-conferences devoted to Orthodox subjects. This service can become rather popular among prisoners and disabled people, who do not have an opportunity to go to the church.

Father Konstantin believes that there is only one field of the Orthodox life, where computer technologies will never be accepted. The Church will never start making computer games based on Gospel stories.

The faithful do not have any aversion to such technical means. "Of course, we use modern means of communication, computers and the Internet. Any technology can be used both for the benefit and to the detriment of the church. Everybody knows about online pornography, or those websites, which stir up religious or ethnic strife. The use of technologies must be linked to the cultural field too. It is very annoying, for example, when cellular phones start ringing during a divine service," Father Vladislav Chaplin from the Moscow Patriarchy said.

There are about 600-700 Russian Orthodox websites on the Internet now. They have been created for missionary and educational purposes: priests answer people's questions and publish their sermons there. Such activity is quite acceptable and desirable. Deacon Andrei Kurayev preaches on the Internet rather actively. The forum on his webpage is one of the most popular religious pages on the Russian Internet.

Natalia Konigina; ©1999-2003 "PRAVDA.Ru" ...FWD from Fr Victor Potapov.

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Especially for the "Jesus-in-the-Tortilla" crowd comes news of ...

"Mary-in-the-Grilled-Cheese."

If you've not already gone to the above link, suffice it to say that 10 years ago a woman fixed a grilled cheese sandwich and, upon taking a bite, found what she determined to be the face of the Virgin Mary staring back at her from the toasted bread. She's now selling it -- the 1/2 sandwich with picture and missing bite -- on eBay. I'm not sure if you heard me or not: She's selling an old used grilled cheese sandwich on eBay !

She claims that over the years it has brought her good luck (e.g., winning $70,000 in a local casino). It's no wonder that Christians are often so poorly portrayed in the Media.

Speaking of which ... word has it that Orthodox Christian Tom Hanks has landed the lead role in the film adaptation of Dan Brown's "DaVinci Code".

Immediate commentary fails me.

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1. Dear God, please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. Amanda

2. Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. Joyce

3. Dear Mr. God, I wish you would not make it so easy for people to come apart. I had to have 3 stitches and a shot. Janet

4. God, I read the bible. What does beget mean? Nobody will tell me. Love, Alison

5. Dear God, how did you know you were God? Who told you? Charlene

6. Dear God, is it true my father won't get in Heaven if he uses his golf words in the house? Anita

7. Dear God, I bet it's very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. Nancy

8. Dear God, I like the story about Noah the best of all of them. You really made up some good ones. I like walking on water, too. Glen

9. Dear God, my Grandpa says you were around when he was a little boy. How far back do you go? Love, Dennis

13. Dear God, how come you did all those miracles in the old days and don't do any now? Billy

14. Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different summer camp this year. Peter

15. Dear God, maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they each had their own rooms. It works out OK with me and my brother. Larry

16. Dear God, I keep waiting for spring, but it never did come yet. What's up? Don't forget. Mark

17. Dear God, my brother told me about how you are born but it just doesn't sound right. What do you say? Marsha

18. Dear God, if you watch in Church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes. Barbara

19. Dear God, is Reverend Coe a friend of yours, or do you Just know him through the business? Donny

20. Dear God, I do not think anybody could be a better God than you. Well, I just want you to know that. I am not just saying that because you are already God. Charles

21. Dear God, it is great the way you always get the stars in the right place. Why can't you do that with the moon? Jeff

22. Dear God, I am doing the best I can. Really. Frank

23. Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday night. That was really cool. Thomas

Stolen from an Orthodox e-list.

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I have just finished reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. I commend it to all who, like me, are tardy in coming to this classic. Of the End Notes, 129 in my edition, the majority are Scriptural references. The dialogues between Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester are a treasure -- almost as good as Scarlet & Rhett in that other classic. I'd been wanting to read Jane Eyre for some time when I found it for under $6, Barnes & Noble edition. This blog offering is definitely of the "Etc" category. But for those who appreciate such things, I've listed some stand-alone quotes below (B&N edition pages in parenthesis; words in brackets are my own). Enjoy!

... he was not quick either of vision or conception ... (3)

While I gazed, it glided up to the ceiling and quivered over my head. I can now conjecture readily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood, a gleam from a lantern, carried by some one across the lawn; but then, prepared as my mind was for horror, shaken as my nerves were for agitation, I thought the swift-darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world. (13)

At last both slept; the fire and the candle went out. For me, the watches of that long night passed in ghastly wakefulness; ear, eye, and mind were alike strained by dread; such dread as only children can feel. (16)

Still I felt that Helen Burns considered things by a light invisible to my eyes. (59)

Sometimes, on a sunny day, it began even to be pleasant and genial; and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps. (82)

It seemed as if, could I but go back to the idea which had last entered my mind as I stood at the window, some inventive suggestion would rise for relief ... (94) ... A kind fairy, in my absence, had surely dropped the required suggestion on my pillow; for as I lay down it came quietly and naturally to my mind ... (95)

It is a very strange sensation to inexperienced youth to feel itself quite alone in the world; cut adrift from every connection, uncertain whether the port to which it is bound can be reached, and prevented by many impediments from returning to that it has quitted. The charm of adventure sweetens the sensation, the glow of pride warms it; but then the throb of fear disturbs it; and fear with me became predominant when half an hour elapsed, and still I was alone. I besought myself to ring the bell. (104)

Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. (123)

[In speaking about her pictures, which Eyre had painted on holiday:] "I had nothing else to do, because it was vacation, and I sat at them from morning till noon, and from noon till night; the length of the midsummer days favored my inclination to apply." (143)

[In answering whether she was satisfied with them:] "Far from it. I was tormented by the contrast between my idea and my handiwork: in each case I had imagined something which I was quite powerless to realize." (143)

"Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life."
-- "Repentance is said to be its cure, sir." (155)

When once more alone, I reviewed the information I had got; looked into my heart, examined its thoughts and feelings, and endeavored to bring back with a strict hand such as had been straying through imagination's boundless and trackless waste into the safe fold of common sense. (183)

[On "trailing":] Genius is said to be self-conscious; I cannot tell whether Miss Ingram was a genius, but she was self-conscious -- remarkably self-conscious, indeed. She entered into a discourse on botany with the gentle Mrs Dent. It seems Mrs Dent had not studied that science, though as she said, she liked flowers, "especially wild ones"; Miss Ingram had, and she ran over its vocabulary with an air. I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance. Her trail might be clever, but it was decidedly not good-natured. (198)

[With jealous eye bent toward observing her love and other ladies:] I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking -- a precious, yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony; a pleasure like what the thirst-perishing man might feel who knows the well to which he has crept is poisoned, yet stoops and drinks divine draughts nevertheless. (200)

[On looking upon her cruel, dying Aunt:] The rain beat strongly against the panes, the wind blew tempestuously. "One lies here," I thought, "who will soon be beyond the war of earthly elements. Whither will that spirit -- now struggling to quit its material tenement -- flit when at length released?" (275)

And then I strangled a new-born agony -- a deformed thing which I could not persuade myself to own and rear -- and ran on. (283)

While arranging my hair, I looked at my face in the glass, and felt it was no longer plain; there was hope in its aspect and life in its color; and my eyes seemed as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple. (298)

[Upon resisting her master's advances:] "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsubstantiated, I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God, sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad -- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation; they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth, so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane, quite insane, with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot." (369)

[Upon setting out for an uncertain destination:] As yet I had not thought; I had only listened, watched, dreaded; now I regained the faculty of reflection. (375)

Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones. (395)

I know no medium; I never in my life have known any medium in my dealings with positive hard characters, antagonistic to my own, between absolute submission and determined revolt. I have always faithfully observed the one, up the very moment of bursting, sometimes with volcanic vehemence, into the other ... (465)

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How's that for understatement of the day?

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Father of Parma priest to be canonized; Communists killed Serbian pastor

It had all the makings of a classic Balkans tragedy. A father survives the Nazis, but is executed for his faith by the Communists. The son, surviving on a young boy's memories of a loving parent, must deny the father publicly lest the same authorities put him to death.

After immigrating to America, the Rev. Vasilije Sokolovic continued to be haunted by all that he did not know of the fate of his father, who was dumped in a shallow grave in an unmarked field in Serbia in 1945. But the longtime pastor of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma never lost faith. And now the remarkable fidelity of a father and son bonded in life and death across six decades is being rewarded.

The Serbian Orthodox Church next May will canonize Sokolovic's father, the Rev. Budimir Sokolovic, as a priest-martyr, entering him into a select pantheon of saints that the church declares led lives so holy that the faithful may pray to them for inspiration and divine protection.

An icon is being made of Sokolovic's father, and Eastern Orthodox Christians around the world will be able to celebrate July 11 as a feast day honoring St. Budimir of Dobrun and 29 other priest-martyrs of World War II.

It is extraordinarily rare for a saint to be a part of the living memory of the church. For a new saint to be the father of a beloved priest in your community is an extraordinary event in the religious life of Northeast Ohio. For one man, it is nothing short of a miracle.

The 66-year-old priest makes the sign of the cross and lets the tears flow as he speaks of the wonder of moving from a lifetime of praying for eternal peace for his father to being able to pray to him in heaven. "He is closer to God," Sokolovic said in an interview at St. Sava. "I'm not anymore sorry for what I suffered all my life. Thank God."

'You are my life'

In 1944, the Rev. Budimir Sokolovic rode into the Serbian village of Milanovac on horseback, scooped up 6-year-old Vasilije and his brother and told them, "You are my life." It is the last memory Vasilije Sokolovic has of his father, who returned to the battlefield during World War II as a spiritual counselor to a Serbian group that fought against the German occupation of Yugoslavia.

The elder Sokolovic lived to see the expulsion of the Nazis, but did not survive the ensuing anti- Communist struggle. He was jailed and later executed sometime in May 1945, his body buried in a field where no one could find it. The sons he left behind were taught by their mother to deny any relation to the priest for fear that they, too, would be killed.

In the Gospel accounts, fear of retribution causes the apostle Peter to deny Jesus three times. Sokolovic understands the pain of the early church leader forced to deny a loved one. As a young conscript, he was asked by an Army sergeant if he knew of a priest named Sokolovic from Bosnia. "I don't know him," Vasilije replied. "I'm from Zagreb." But he followed his father into the seminary, becoming the 42nd generation of Sokolovics to enter the priesthood.

Sokolovic feared revealing his heritage even in the seminary, telling his story only to trusted older priests. He still is overcome with emotion at the memory of priests who knew his father hugging him and giving thanks that he and other members of his family were alive.

A tale of two countries

In 1966, Sokolovic left Yugoslavia under a false name and immigrated to America. He worked in steel mills and construction in Gary, Ind., before he got his first parish in Masontown, Pa., in 1970. He served there for five years and was a pastor in Steubenville for a decade before coming to St. Sava in 1985. He served as pastor of the Parma church until 1999, when he became pastor emeritus.

He never forgot his father

The pain of a boy without a dad became the suffering of a man haunted by not even knowing where his father's body lay. It "was thrown into the ground like a dog, never any prayers." Sokolovic's daughter, Mirjana Damljanovic, remembers that on family trips back to Yugoslavia, her father would put on his liturgical robes and say a memorial service over a patch of ground near where his father was killed. He told his children that his father was a good man, "and a great priest." But Sokolovic struggled to achieve closure, family members said.

It was only after the fall of communism that an open Serbian Orthodox Church could raise up the lives of those who died for their faith during World War II. When a Serbian Church official told him that the Holy Assembly of Bishops approved his father's cause for sainthood, Sokolovic "just burst into tears he was so overcome with joy," his daughter said. In October, he received word that a priest investigator found part of a skull, a wooden cross, myrrh and a prayer book in a field where Budimir Sokolovic was believed to have been murdered. The remains need DNA testing.

The series of events this year seem almost "surreal," said the Parma priest's daughter. Only two years ago, Sokolovic suffered a stroke and at one point slipped into a coma. Today, he is writing the hymns to be sung on his father's feast day, and "he lives now with a real mission," said his wife, Zorine. Added his daughter: "It's kind of a closure that he never had."

Saying goodbye

Catholic and Orthodox faithful pray that departed loved ones go to heaven, but it is only in the cases of saints that the church speaks definitively of an individual's place in the afterlife. Before the canonization ceremony in May, Sokolovic will say one last memorial service for his father in the area where his father was believed to have been buried. The boy who grew up afraid to tell anyone "who I am, who my father was" has lived to see his father achieve sainthood. "The great suffering," Zorine Sokolovic said, "led to great glory in the end."

Sunday, November 14, 2004; David Briggs, Plain Dealer Religion Reporter

CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

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WASHINGTON - Communion has been the subject of some recent high-profile debates, ranging from calls to deny the sacrament to then Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to a decision to revoke the first Communion of an 8-year-old girl Roman Catholic girl because she ingested a non-wheat wafer.

The reality is that the meaning of Communion and the way it is practiced have been sources of dispute since the early centuries of Christianity. Those debates continue but rarely reach the national stage because they involve often-subtle changes made by church hierarchies or conflicts within individual congregations.

Yet such discussions are important because they go to the heart of the Christian faith, say clergy and denominational officials. They affect the way believers perceive and take part in one of the most sacred events in Christian history: the meal Jesus shared with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. And they affect efforts to foster unity among Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians and end theological and liturgical disputes that have created deep divisions in Christianity.

For those with a goal of unity, success could be far in the future, with Communion practices becoming more diverse as congregations search for new ways to accommodate the lifestyles and sensibilities of their members.

Juleen Turnage, spokeswoman for the Assemblies of God, said some megachurches in her denomination - including her own 6,000-member church - have found it unwieldy to offer Communion during packed Sunday morning services and now do so only during the lesser-attended Sunday night services.

``It's a matter of practicality,'' she said.

John Revell, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, said many churches now use Communion kits, which consist of a wafer and a small plastic cup of grape juice. The prepackaged kits, which are passed through the pews on cardboard instead of silver trays, make breaking up crackers and filling hundreds of tiny glasses - and washing them afterward - a thing of the past.

The United Methodist Church passed a resolution at its general conference in May urging congregations to shed generations of tradition by offering Communion weekly rather than monthly. The effort is to ``reshape the focus on Communion by urging people to celebrate the Eucharist more often,'' said denomination spokesman Stephen Drachler.

Moving toward weekly Communion also has been a goal of many Lutherans for more than 30 years, said the Rev. Michael Burk, director of worship for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. One reason was the adoption of a book of worship in 1978 that placed more emphasis on Communion; another is the church's use of a common lectionary developed in recent years by Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders, he said.

And the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been moving slowly from monthly to weekly Communion, said the Rev. Joseph Small, director of the church's office of theology and worship. Small said he knows of at least 400 Presbyterian churches, out of about 8,000, that offer Communion weekly.

A more evident change among Presbyterians, whose Reformation forebears rejected many Catholic Communion practices, has been an increase in the number of congregations that prefer taking Communion at the altar rail rather than in the pews, Small said. Many now use wine instead of grape juice and prefer the method of intinction, in which a piece of bread is dipped into a common chalice, then consumed.

One thing that hasn't changed for most Protestants is their rejection of transubstantiation, the Catholic teaching that the elements - bread and wine - are transformed during the Eucharist into the body and blood of Jesus and remain so. In the Roman Catholic Church, any leftover wine must be consumed by the priest, and the leftover hosts or wafers must be kept in a receptacle known as a tabernacle.

Burk said Evangelical Lutherans believe that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, but only for that meal. Any leftovers are ``bread that was used in Holy Communion,'' not thebody and blood of Jesus, he said.

But most Protestants view the bread and wine as a symbol of Jesus' presence, placing less emphasis on the elements' physical makeup and more on the communal sharing of bread and wine (or grape juice). For some, monthly Communion isn't merely adequate but preferred. The Rev. Ronald Braxton, pastor of Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, said that African Methodist Episcopalians believe that Communion is a ``renewal of our relationship with the Savior,'' not a ``physical taking of Christ into our body.''

``The way we live our lives, the way we execute our faith every day is our participation in Christ,'' he said. That means daily prayer, meditation, Bible study and weekly worship with other believers. Taking Communion is important, but once a month is sufficient, he said.

Braxton's denomination was drawn into the fray over Kerry's Communion practices when the nominee took Communion on Palm Sunday at Charles Street AME Church in Boston. Some Catholic leaders and pundits criticized Kerry, a Roman Catholic, for taking part in a Protestant ritual.

Monsignor James Moroney, executive director of office of liturgy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church generally does not condone the participation of Catholics in non-Catholic Communion, but he said it's a matter of degree of theological difference and a decision to be made by the local bishop.

``If a Catholic goes to an Orthodox Church and receives Holy Communion, are we concerned with that? No,'' Moroney said. ``If he went to a Baptist church, that would be considered inappropriate.''

The greater outcry involving Kerry concerned several Catholic bishops' statements in the spring that they would not offer Communion to Kerry because he supports a woman's right to abortion. A majority of American Catholics support abortion rights, and many were outraged at the suggestion that Kerry was guilty of a ``serious sin'' - the primary reason for a priest refusing to give Communion. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement that the decision to refuse Communion was the prerogative of each bishop, not a matter of national policy.

A few months ago, some Catholics were upset that the bishop of the Diocese of Trenton in New Jersey declared invalid the first Communion of Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman. The 8-year-old has celiac sprue disease, a digestive disorder that prevented her from consuming the wheat wafers required by the church. Her priest gave her a rice wafer, and the bishop revoked the Communion.

Moroney said the church does insist on the use of unleavened wafers but understands that thousands of Catholics suffer from celiac sprue disease. It offers alternatives, including a recently developed wafer that is 0.01 percent wheat and the use of only wine in Holy Communion.

Although both elements must be consecrated and consumed by the priest during Mass, the taking of one element - bread or wine - is sufficient for lay communicants, he said. Moroney said reuniting disparate branches of Christianity would be impossible without a common doctrine of Communion.

November 13, 2004; BY THE WASHINGTON POST; Thanks to FWD from Fr Peter Alban Heers.

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The following is from Dr Maria Khoury:

Dearly Beloved in Christ our Savior,

I send you many greetings from our small village of Taybeh in the middle of Biblical Judea where we as Christian people are still trying to survive and exist and in non violent ways resisting the agenda and the Israeli Occupation to create a hundred percent Jewish homeland in historic Palestine by choking us up with hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements.

In the last five years nothing has changed in our lives being literally prisoners in an open area. The unemployment is still over 50% because if organizations do not bring projects into our area there is simply no work for the local people. The Latin Church is very active in creating jobs. I see the Orthodox Christian presence constantly diminishing.

We are waiting moment by moment to see the news of the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and what that means for all of us on the ground. As much as Mr. Arafat might be corrupt or a questionable leader, I cannot help but personally respect him for the many years of steadfast resistance and efforts to bring liberty to the Palestinian people. For me he is the lesser of all evil that exists in Palestine. I can only pray for a moderate democratic government when he is gone. He fought when he had to fight, he negotiated when he had to make peace and he stayed steadfast in the struggle when he was captured. People here love him and he was the legitimately elected Palestinian president who was a symbol of the Palestinian struggle. He is literally a local icon. I feel sad that he will not die in his beloved homeland.

As a Christian person, I always felt safe and great comfort in knowing and seeing that Arafat’s closest advisors were also Christian and well trusted by him. Mr. Nabil Abuderneih who often is the spokesman for Arafat has been on his side at most critical times during the last four years along with Mr. Ramzi Khoury, both are Christian.

Before the Israelis confined Arafat to his Ramallah compound he always showed up at the Orthodox Christmas celebration in Bethlehem as well as the Western Christmas celebration. This attendance alone gave me great hope that as the mother of Palestinian Christian children, they would have a future living as Christians in the Holy Land. Since our Christian community is small, we are very concerned about maintaining our witness for Christ in such a precious and sacred land made holy by Christ himself.

Although Arafat’s wife is very young and such a marriage between a Muslim and a Christian is strictly forbidden in the culture and accepted only among royalty, this fact also that Ms. Suha Taweel Arafat was born an Orthodox Christian gave us great hope that Arafat’s government and policies were inclusive of Christians and Muslims in creating a free Palestine. We felt we had a place with Arafat…

The Heads of all Christian Churches in Jerusalem met at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and made a public statement yesterday upholding President Arafat in their prayers together with the Palestinian leadership and Palestinian people. They expressed the hope that a fence of unity and common purpose be maintained at this critical time by all the Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) and that the peace process continues.

Please keep us in your prayers too for we have so many days of unknowing ahead. May our Lord have mercy in the land of His Holy Resurrection!

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Here's a story about Planned Parenthood teaching MANDATORY sex ed classes in a Florida school system. (The article actually uses the word "dicey" -- which, when you think about it, strikes a morbid pun within a PP context.)
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We seem to have lost sight of the fact that we are supposed to have a separation between church and state in this country. There are large numbers of people in the U.S. who just voted for President Bush as a result of his perceived Christian values. The only problem is that our forefathers had the foresight to see that this was a country founded on diversity and that religion had no place in government. Therefore, those who voted for Bush because of his religious ideology, should consider moving to another country where they don't have our pesky Constitution to get in the way of their ruler legislating morality based on his personal faith. In short, it's un-American to want a president (or any elected official) who is pushing a particular religious agenda, even if it is an agenda with which you agree. This nation's founders had the foresight to realize that people of different faiths needed to be respected, but our current administration and half the voters seem to have forgotten this crucial fact. I respect all faiths and believe in God, but keep you faith our of U.S. politics or find somewhere else to live.

The above entry appeared in yesterday's Letters to the Editor section of the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper.

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I don’t pretend to speak for the entire transphobic community, but my own strong belief is that transphobia is not a matter of choice. I was born this way, and there is nothing “wrong” with it. We are all children of God, and labels don’t mean anything anyway. I very deeply respect Diane’s belief that he is a woman, which is his constitutional right as an American, but when he tries to legislate that belief on others by having the government legally certify him as a woman, I draw the line. That judgment must be left to each of us.

-- Joe Sobran

Props to GetReligion commments.

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Fr John Shaw, a Russian Orthodox priest in Milwaukee, writes:

The other day, I received a colorful ad packet from the National Geographic Magazine. I only took a good look at it today.

"Introducing GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGION: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk".

"Christianity: Journey from Pasture to Imperial City."

" 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life'."

"During his lifetime, Jesus ventured no more than 25 miles from his birthplace. Yet his teachings and example encircled the globe, led to the establishment of the church in Rome, and created a faith practiced today by some 950 million believers, making it the world's largest religion."

"How, then, did the seat of Christendom move from the pastoral sheep-grazed slopes of the fertile Middle East to the imperial city of Rome? What is the history of the Vatican CIty, the world's smallest state and official seat of the Catholic Church?"

"What events led a breakaway set of believers to form the Eastern Orthodox Church?"

'Moving farther inside the pages of GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGION, you'll stand on the banks of the River Jordan, note its remarkably ordinary character, and come to appreciate the extraordinary events and personalities that gave it meaning as a holy place. Become mesmerized before shrines in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built above a cave that contained the manger where Jesus was born. And you'll behold the magnificence of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with its 176 storytelling stained glass windows and 2,000 stone figures."

JRS: Note that I have quoted their entire passage about Christianity, as it appears in the mailing (there is no mention of Protestantism in it).

The letter is signed by one "Nina Hoffman, Executive Vice President".

The reason I think the above is worthy of note, is that this is exactly the same misinformation about the Orthodox Church that most English-language books used to contain decades ago.

Mailings, and books, like those described above, *should* evoke a flood of Orthodox believers' complaints to the editors.

Yet, instead of going to defend Orthodoxy against external, non-Orthodox ignorance and misrepresentation, most of our "apologetic efforts and energy" have to be diverted elsewhere, due to Orthodox attacking Orthodox.

Taken from the Orthodox List.

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Various "options" are offered in the way of Christian morality on an array of burning issues: the sanctity of marriage, gay marriage, promiscuity, euthanasia, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and the list goes on. Some people spend time remembering sadly the golden age of Christianity. Modernity looks as if it is an inhospitable time for the Church. Time for retrenchment and defensive actions are called for. But the Triune God says ...

Karl bumps into his guardian angel?

The Nativity Fast is upon us. Here's some recipes (you may wanna skip the introduction and scroll down) ... and a handy fasting calendar for quick reference.

Finally, a diagram which truly shows the difference between men & women. Or I guess you could call it the gender gap.

Arlen Specter ... ghost of future present.

Tax dollars teaching kids masturbation. Lord have mercy. Before you give your money to United Way, don't just fall for their disclaimer on abortion support, think about everything else your dollars will provide through that umbrella org. Better yet, give the money to your church.

Speaking of which ...

I don't care what people wear to church. I just don't want to see their underwear.
Paraphrased from Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Read more ...

Finally, if you have any questions ... ask Fr Vasiliy.

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As Touchstone's Mere Comments blog links are currently inactive, I've taken the liberty of posting one of their issues here ...

On the way to work today I saw another one of those billboards that have been bothering me of late. This one merely showed the buttocks of a woman, slightly, ever so slightly covered with the barest of a bikini bottom, backside facing the viewer. I have no idea what they were selling. Maybe a radio station or low mortgage rates.

I am not sure I understand why, other than the money motive, it is acceptable to treat women's bodies as objects in public, why it's ok to reinforce this degrading message to 13 and 14-year old boys as they speed down the highway sitting in their parents' cars.

Through these public displays and through the movie rating system now in place, our society is telling teenage (and younger) boys that women are essentially sex objects and that's not only ok, but it's how we want them to think of women. Just look at the billboards and the sexual content of so-called “PG-13” movies.

How did we come to this mainstreaming of what used to be pornography? And, we may as well throw in the mainstreaming of what is even nowadays considered pornography. I don't think I have been in any hotel in the past decade that doesn't provide “adult” movies for pay, and these are (otherwise) respectable hotels.

Of course most of it comes down to money that can be made by catering to “mature” clientele (a misnomer if ever there was one). The money can be made by CEOs and their companies from a distance, and that's what is all the more appealing. They can sell trash, indeed, toxins, without having to look at what they're doing.

Think of it this way: how comfortable would any of these hotel CEOs be selling Hustler in the lobbies of their hotels? Let them stand behind the registration desk and say, "Would you like Debbie Does Dallas" or a copy of Hustler to take with you, sir?" It's not only the modern porn user have the comfort of anonymity while surfing porn sites on his computer at home or watching a porn movie in a hotel room, but also the executives of these same hotels can stand behind the scenes and not be personally involved in the porn sales, but later can still count the money in the bank.

Then consider what is censored: Christmas religious messages in public schools (we now have “Jingle Elf parades” and “Winter Funfest Concerts.”) So I have to ask, what kind of country removes Nativity scenes from public parks but allows for freedom of porn such that any 13-year-old riding in a car with his parents has to either close his eyes or look at deliberately provocative billboards that tell him that essentially women are sex objects and that sex is not exclusively for marriage? Our kids dare not be exposed to the “Babe Lying in a Manger” in a public place, but naked babes must be viewed by kids wherever and whenever some man seeking to enlarge his bank account wants them to?

—James Kushiner

As I said on the eve of the election ... we just keep rollin & rollin.

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The following comment was posted on WORLD's blog following his death ...

It is very quiet in Jordan (jimu, we aren't in Palestine, but Jordan, 75% of the population is Palestinian), people have been anticipating the news of his death, which calms down tempers and keeps the "passionate rage" at a minimum. I think this was part of the plan in keeping him alive (as well as God's mercy to allow him another chance to repent. My mom, a hardened Planned Parenthood nurse who was responsible for many more deaths than Arafat, did come to Christ on her death bed).

There is an interim leader chosen. Schools and government offices are closed, and people are distracted by the fact that Ramadan probably ends tomorrow and all the preparations keeps their emotions elsewhere. We didn't get any warnings from the US Embassy, there are no military patrols.

But keep praying. Most of my Palestinian friends saw Arafat as old school and too corrupt to do much. They have been waiting for this as a chance to start new.

It is very quiet in Jordan (jimu, we aren't in Palestine, but Jordan, 75% of the population is Palestinian), people have been anticipating the news of his death, which calms down tempers and keeps the "passionate rage" at a minimum. I think this was part of the plan in keeping him alive (as well as God's mercy to allow him another chance to repent. My mom, a hardened Planned Parenthood nurse who was responsible for many more deaths than Arafat, did come to Christ on her death bed).

There is an interim leader chosen. Schools and government offices are closed, and people are distracted by the fact that Ramadan probably ends tomorrow and all the preparations keeps their emotions elsewhere. We didn't get any warnings from the US Embassy, there are no military patrols.

But keep praying. Most of my Palestinian friends saw Arafat as old school and too corrupt to do much. They have been waiting for this as a chance to start new.

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Time to dust off the ol' prayer rope ...

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I have been receiving questions from folks (Episcopalians & others, here & abroad) about possible conversions to Orthodoxy. Glory to God for all things! That being said, you can't get there from here. By that I mean, forget the Internet and get thee to church. An Orthodox Church.

Several have asked, "Should I join the OCA or the Antiochian Archdiocese?" Good question. I was a recently ordained Episcopal priest when I wrote the same handwritten note to the OCA Metropolitan and the AA Metropolitan. After the introduction, it said something like: "I'm about the burst. I have to become Orthodox. I also believe there's a need for an English speaking Orthodox mission here in the Asheville area. What should I do?"

The Antiochians replied in 4 days. I've yet to hear from the OCA. However, OCA clergy were most helpful in our establishing that Mission ... Archimandrite Damian of Ascension Monastery [then OCA], Fr Peter Smith [then] of Holy Apostles & [then] Deacon Thomas Moore, Fr John Townsend [then] of St Mary of Egypt (OCA), Fr David Tillman up in Ohio, [then] Subdeacon Michael Bock, [then] Reader Mark Mancuso and many others. It was a cooperative era. It was a time of great excitement. We all worked together. I have a picture from a bishop's visit to our store front mission back in 1995 which includes a host of clergy and future clergy (OCA, AA, ROCOR, JP). But at that moment, that night, we were all working together. I even have a picture of a visit from [the then AA] Fr Seraphim Stephens and his Subdeacon Onouphry Keith. [Fr Onouphry is now the ROCOR priest of the mission I started.] I hope to soon write a piece titled, "Back When Orthodoxy Was Fun".

With an outro like that, one seeking Orthodoxy might be discouraged. Don't be. Your experience will be different. And, all in all, it is always glorious. Faithfulness, obedience, perseverance, and repentance bears good fruit. Regardless of the hurdles, your sins, the attacks of the enemy ... If you are seeking Salvation, the True Faith, the Church ... it is here.

Come and see.


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An Episcopal priest who, with his wife, faced discipline from the church after the couple's leadership of local Druids became public has resigned from his Downingtown church. The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time.

(c) 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to alert reader, Mary, for the FWD.

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Despite the almost endless lists of sects that fill fat telephone directories, the options for contemporary Protestants in North America boil down to essentially two. One may either attend a theologically conservative church where members have some knowledge of the Bible and attempt to apply biblical principles in their daily lives but whose Sunday worship will be disjointed, informal, even painfully irreverent; or join a mainline congregation that may have reverent, formal, even traditional worship but also (and here's the rub) members and a pastor who are utterly clueless theologically, if not actually opposed to orthodox Christianity.

-- From the latest issue of Touchstone [Nov.2004]; a book review by Gillis J. Harp on A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship by Michael Horton.
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Lord Jesus, I beseech Thy forgiveness for the unworthy way in which I have so often dared to offer Thy Sacrifice at Thy holy Altar. I have served at Thine Altar with distractions, with a lack of conviction, with guilty thoughts, and with a divided will. I have deserved, indeed I shall always deserve, to be struck down on the spot by fire from heaven. Send that fire, Lord; for I willingly accept even that it destroy me, if beforehand it can kindle and purify my heart. I have no other refuge than the Chalice which holds Thy holy and precious Blood. I presume to drink from that Chalice. Consume me, O Lord. Let nothing of the old, sinful man remain within me. If I am concerned with myself alone, I drink to mine own judgment and condemnation. If it is Thou whom I contemplate -- Thou upon the Cross -- then I receive, trembling, yet with hope, the holy and precious Blood which flows from Thy saving wounds. And Lord, however unworthy I may be, I beseech Thee to accept those who receive from my hands Thy holy, precious, and immaculate Body and Blood. Receive them unto Thyself for their salvation, O Lord, and grant that they may carry within themselves, far beyond our parish and community, and to all those whose lives they touch, the fruits of peace and love that flow forth from Thy Eucharistic side. O my Redeemer, forgive and sanctify me. Amen.
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You've really gotta visit this cartoon. Even Episcopalians gotta laugh.

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Thanks to Aristibule for the above link.
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Jim Brown and Jenni Parker, Agape Press

November 2, 2004

A leading conservative Anglican minister in the United States says he is "deeply saddened and outraged" that a pagan Eucharist is being promoted by leaders of the Episcopal Church USA.

Last week, Christianity Today reported that the ECUSA was promoting pagan religious rites directed toward pagan deities through its Office of Women's Ministries. The magazine noted that the office's website had featured a druid liturgy submitted by a female Episcopal minister from Pennsylvania, which urged women to make raisin cakes to the "Queen of Heaven." The article also called attention to the equally non-biblical "Liturgy for Divorce" featured on the site.

David Roseberry is the rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas, the most highly attended Episcopal church in the United States. He says the "Women's Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine," written by Episcopal rector Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, is essentially liturgizing the Da Vinci Code. And although the pagan rite has been removed from the Episcopal Church's official Internet site, the conservative Anglican minister describes the denomination's apparent promotion of the pagan liturgy, however brief, as "a travesty and a tragedy."

Roseberry calls the pagan liturgical service offered up by the church's administrative offices in New York is an "embarrassment" to the denomination. "There are individuals in the Episcopal Church who are way left of center," he asserts, "and indeed, [they are] outside of the boundaries of what you'd call Christian. And, unfortunately, they have positions of influence in our leadership."

The Texas clergyman believes recent trends toward blurring or crossing the lines of biblical doctrine and ignoring established church practice have created an atmosphere of increasing lawlessness in the Episcopal Church. As a result, he feels some liberal denominational figures in positions of power tend to exploit the situation.

"If the Episcopal Church does not have any boundaries or any discipline," Roseberry warns, "then it really will believe anything, and its leadership at the hierarchical level, the main office in New York, will promote just about anything that they have a personal interest in."

It would appear to the conservative rector that there are ideas among the church leaders in New York that are clearly at odds with biblically orthodox Christianity. "And obviously," he says, "somebody up there has a very deep personal interest in feminism and Druidism and pagan religions."

The Episcopal Church's Response

Ruppe-Melnyk and her bishop, Charles Bennison, both declined interviews with American Family Radio News concerning the "Women's Eucharist." However, the Episcopal Church's director of women's ministries, Margaret Rose, assured AFR that the Episcopal Church "neither promotes idol worship nor the worship of pagan deities."

But Rose criticized Christianity Today's initial report on the liturgy, characterizing the report as a "hate article." Her office has issued a statement in response, noting, "There is quite a difference in presenting resources for people's interest and enlightenment and promoting resources as official claims of the Episcopal Church. Only General Convention has this authority."

The Women's Ministries director contends that in order for women to move from mere representation to true inclusion in the Episcopal Church and beyond, the church must find ways to embrace the experiences of women pastorally, ritually, and liturgically. Toward this objective, her office has been working to develop and offer woman-affirming materials for use by individuals and groups in the church.

Rose points out that the "Women's Eucharist" was sent "in good faith" as a response to a recent call for resources from the Women's Ministries Office, and was only removed from its website when the office discovered that the material was copyright protected.

Christianity Today's Weblog has since pointed out that the pagan material was indeed lifted from a rite of Tuatha de Brighid, a modern druid clan. However, CT notes, the liturgy was not plagiarized, since that rite was written for Tuatha de Brighid by Ruppe-Melnyk, the same Episcopalian minister who submitted it as a feminist Eucharist to the Episcopal Church.

© 2004, Agape Press; © Copyright 2002, Crosswalk.com. All rights reserved.
Thanks for FWD from Fr Victor Potapov.

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I worked in Radio for about 9 years before going to seminary. That fact, regardless of whatever else I do in life, gets the most positive reaction out of many folks -- particularly youth. These days, when recounting "past lives", I may just leave out the part about once being an Episcopal priest. Believe me, I was never part of anything like this ...

Terry Mattingly

"There is so much to report, from the work of the Episcopal priest named Bill Melnyk, who is the same person as the Druid leader Oakwyse, and his neo-pagan partner Glispa, who is also the Rev. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk -- the woman who helped steer the feminist Eucharistic rite onto the Episcopal website in the first place. And the roots of some of these rites run back to their work with the modern druid clan called Tuatha de Brighid and perhaps, via some raisin cakes (it's a long story) to the ancient goddess Asherah, the female counterpart to Baal."

There's more.

For gluttons, there's gobs more at Classical Anglican (thanks for the plug, btw).
A shout out to fellow former Episcopalian, Mary S., for links.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx

"It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember." - Eugene McCarthy

"If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." - H. L. Mencken

Stolen from Wicked Thoughts (Caveat Lector).
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Help the afflicted. Comfort those in sorrow. You who are strong, help the weak. You who are rich, help the poor. You who stand upright, help the fallen and the crushed. You who are joyful, comfort those in sadness. You who enjoy all good fortune, help those who have met with disaster. Give something to God in thanksgiving that you are of those who can give help, not of those who stand and wait for it; that you have no need to look to another's hands, but that others must look to yours. Grow rich, not only in substance, but also in piety; not only in good but also in virtue; or rather, only virtue. Be more honored than your neighbor, by showing more compassion. Be as God to the unfortunate, by imitating the mercy of God. For in nothing do we draw close to God as in doing good to man. Though God does the greater things, the man the less; yet each, I believe, according to his capacity. He made man; and when man was undone, He remakes him. Never despise fallen man ... never refuse to do good to those who have need of you ... Give help. Help others to live. Give food, clothing, medicine, apply remedies to the afflicted, bind up their wounds, ask about their misfortunes, speak with them of patience and forbearance, come close to them; you will not be harmed, you will not contract their affliction (i.e., leprosy), even though the timid believe this, misled by foolish talk ... Have confidence! Let compassion overcome your timidity; the fear of God your softness. Let the love of your fellow man rise above promptings of self love. Do not turn away your face from him, as from something terrible, something fearful, to be shunned and disowned. He is your own member, though his calamity has deformed him. The poor man have been left to you as to God; though you should pass by ever proud in spirit. Perhaps I have shamed you, saying these things to you. But I have set before you the rule of the love of your neighbor; even should those who are hostile turn you away from accepting it. Whoever journeys on the sea is close to ship-wreck; the nearer, the more boldly he navigates.
-- St John Chrysostom

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The prophet Isaiah tells us that we should not, as some think, love only our own people; rather we should say to those who hate and curse you, "You are our brothers!" And the Gospel also simply says, "Love those who hate and curse you."
-- Theophilus of Antioch

God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
-- St Augustine

This is the rule of the most perfect Christianity ... CARING FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR. Indeed, even though you fast, or sleep on hard ground, or even suffer unto death, yet take no thought for your neighbor, you have done nothing great; despite what you have done, you still stand far from this model of a perfect Christian.
-- St John Chrysostom

And as we by our prayers vanquish all demons who stir up war, and lead to the violation of oaths, and disturb the peace, we in this way are much more helpful to the kings than those who go into the field to fight for them. And we do take our part in public affairs, when along with righteous prayers we join in self-denying exercises and meditations, which teach us to despise pleasures, and not be led away by them. And none fight better for the king than we do. We do not indeed fight under him, although he requires it; but we fight on his behalf, forming a special army -- and army of piety -- by offering our prayers to God.
-- Origen

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Regarding my article, Gay ... But Not Funny, a recent commenter stated:

Churches have every right to state their views on sexual morality. Nevertheless, the question is whether in a pluralistic democracy, should we legislate how people conduct their private interpersonal relationships by criminalizing gay conduct? If so, we must then also make non-biblical divorce and remarriage illegal and prosecute extra-marital sexual behavior.

Legalizing gay marriage is a little different, of course, but the question must be taken outside the conduct of what the religious ideal of marriage is.

Some view any consumption of alcohol a sin. Should this belief dictate that we return to Prohibition or vote on banning its sale?

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Kinda ...

The three priests [listed below] elected for the sacred episcopacy at the Fall Meeting of the Local Archdiocesan Synod of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America will be consecrated on December 3rd, 4th and 5th in Damascus at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (al-Mariamiyeh). At this time it is not known which Bishop Elect will be consecrated on which day.

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