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

My contribution to The DaVinci Dialogue is now up.

H E R E.
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By God's grace & your prayers, I'm back in Houston. I have a couple more photo-blog installments, this one continues our pilgrimage ...


After Monk's Lagoon, we seven pilgrims headed to St Nilus Island, home of St Nilus Skete -- a dependency of St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood -- to take provisions to the two nuns there: Mothers Nila & Nina.


Our skiff approaches the beautiful beach of St Nilus Island.


Archpriest Chad Hatfield, Dean of St Herman Seminary, was our tour guide. Here, he leads the way (after the photographer, of course).


Another shot of St Nilus beach.


Can you find the St. Nilus of Sora Chapel?


Well, lets walk around to the path ...


This picture is taken from the path leading down the hill, the opposite direction.


Priest & Monastic in Alaskan forest.


The return to the beach, awaiting the boat.


This pic is taken to show the clarity of the water. Can you see the ocean floor? This is probably 4 feet deep.


Nuns waving goodbye to pilgrims.


The water was very choppy on the return trip, clouds were moving in. After a long skiff ride on the sea, St Paul's Harbor is a welcome site.

Later, pics from St Herman Seminary & St Innocent Academy.
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The internet has been down 1/2 the day here in Kodiak ... and, when running, has provided ample frustration. After several attempts to put up the final pics, those that would be first here ... and the method failing, I gave up. Anyway, here's some more from the other day's pilgrimage to Monk's Lagoon.


Here's a pic of the forest leading to the Chapel of Saints Herman and Sergius of Valaam. As beautiful as it may seem, pictures just aren't able to do justice to this amazingly enchanting forest.


This is Ss Sergius & Herman of Valaam Chapel where the body of St Herman used to rest.




This is the place where the body, the relics, of the Saint used to lay.


There is now an image [epitaphios] of St Herman at the former resting place.




Prior to being moved upstairs into the chapel, St Herman's holy body had been buried under the chapel. In other words, the chapel was built over his grave (which, as mentioned in an earlier post, was the Saint's second interment). Today, you can crawl under the building into the small crawl space and reverence the holy spot and, obviously, take a picture. As also mentioned in a previous posting, St Herman's relics are currently enshrined at Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Kodiak. Someday, when there's a sufficient monastic presence and a secure structure, his body will return to Spruce Island and the Ss Sergius & Herman of Valaam Chapel.


Pilgrims returning to the shore ...



... and waiting for the skiff. (Pardon the shadow of my gloved finger at left.)





This is Monk's Rock, out in the midst of the ocean, where St Herman would often go for "retreat."


A closer view of Monk's Rock. See the two eagles sitting up top?


Monk's Rock in the "rear view mirror."


This will be my last posting from Alaska. I return to the Lower 48 tomorrow. However, God willing, by week's end, I'll post pics of St Nilus Island and the women's monastic community there.

Soon to come: a photo report on St Herman Seminary.

Thank you for your prayers.
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Yesterday, March 27th, we were blessed with excellent weather and a relatively calm sea (emphasis on "relatively") as pilgrimage was made to Monk's Lagoon, where St Herman struggled, and to St Nilus Island. Here follows some pics (part one) of the journey.


Here's Fr Chad Hatfield, the Dean of St Herman's Seminary, and Fr Innocent Dresdow, priest-in-charge of Holy Resurrection Cathedral ... along with the skipper of the skiff, Sasha.

This was the view, looking back toward Kodiak, as we left the harbor.

The view on one side of the boat.


Another view frow the skiff.

Headed toward Monk's Lagoon.

Approaching Monk's Lagoon. See the monastic building?

The bell tower from the front entry ...

And, looking back toward the sea.

Here's the beginning of the trail into the forest.

Pilgrims (there were seven of us) making our way into the forest.

The forest ...

This is the house and chapel of Fr Gerasim Schmoltz. Fr Gerasim lived and struggled here for 40 years -- keeping the memory of St Herman alive.

This is the grave of Father Gerasim.

This cross marks the spot where St Herman was originally buried by the orphans (as a priest could not get to the island for 40 days after his death).

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The following pics were taken at the "Mother Church of North America," Holy Resurrection Cathedral, Kodiak, Alaska, on March 23rd.


This is the back side of the Cathedral looking toward the water.


This is the icon of St Herman which adorns the iconostasis just above his holy relics.



This is where the body of St Herman rests. You can read aobut St Herman of Alaska ... H E R E.


Standing before St Herman's relics, I'm holding the hand blessing Cross that the Saint used in his reader services.


The first evening I arrived in Kodiak, I was blessed to attend their weekly Akathist to St Herman ... complete with the Bishop of the Diocese of Alaska (OCA), NIKOLAI, presiding. His Grace even opened the reliquary so that we could reference the body of St Herman.


Here are the clergy, flanking Bishop NIKOLAI, during the Akathist to St Herman. (That's me to the Bishop's left across from the Dean of St Herman Seminary, Archpriest Chad Hatfield.)
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Here are some pics from Alaska. I've found no time to write; I hope to post a more substantial travelogue later. I have included some brief captions beneath these here offered. It snowed all day yesterday, not good for photography.


This is the first pic taken after landing at the Kodiak airport: Women's Bay. Scenes like this one are everywhere.


Looking back toward the direction of the airport, this is Barometer Mountain (if you can see the peak, flights are arriving).



This is St Paul's Harbor, the location of St Herman's Seminary and Holy Resurrection Cathedral (which houses St Herman's relics).



And here you see one of the main sources of industry, fishing, in St Paul's Harbor.



I went on a long walk on Friday to this island park. Yet, even though I was told there were no bears in this park, it was so dense, mysterious, and awesome ... I decided that being a fraidy cat won't half bad.

More pics, especially of the seminary and Cathedral, to come. God willing, water and wind cooperating, we're to take a boat to Spruce Island tomorrow.
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I once saw a bumper sticker that read: "We don't talk Southern because we have to, we talk this way because we can!"

I'm in Alaska -- hoping to blog pics, but my software is acting up at the moment. In the meantime, here's a FWD from blog reg, Keith.

Enjoy!

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is - as in: "Going to town, be back directly."

Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble, is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin!

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece. They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.

Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines.

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.

In the South, 'y'all' is singular....'all y'all" is plural.

Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them. Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" and go your own way.

And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!

And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."

Bless your hearts, y'all have a nice day ...
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God willing, I shall depart for Kodiak, Alaska tomorrow morning,Thursday the 23rd, to lead a Lenten Retreat -- The Two Trees: Passions & Virtues -- this weekend at St Herman Seminary.

This will be my first visit to Alaska and I have no expectations (unless you count awe and wonder).

It is my hope to do a little photo blogging while there, but I'm not sure of Net -- or time -- availability. Otherwise, see y'all next week.

Click HERE for the seminary webpage.

Remember, dear readers, Envy is one of the Passions. :)

I would appreciate your prayers.
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"My God is Mother" Billboard Incenses Orthodox Episcopal Clergy
By David W. Virtue

DETROIT, MI (3/20/2006)-- A billboard erected by the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan which read; "My God is Mother" and "I am an Episcopalian" with a picture of a woman reading a bible, and the diocesan website address, so incensed a group of orthodox clergy that the diocese was forced to bring it down.

The billboard, by its appearance and content so outraged Fr. Steven J. Kelly, SSC, rector of St. John's that he contacted diocesan headquarters and complained bitterly to the bishop. "God is NOT mother!" he told Bishop Wendell N. Gibbs Jr.

A number of other priests also objected to the billboard, and so the bishop and his staff decided, on reflection to tear it down. Wrote Fr. Kelly, "The billboard is coming down ASAP as per Bishop Gibbs request to his communications director" ...

MORE.

Heh heh. I went to seminary with Fr Kelly -- just heard from him recently. May God give him strength.
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We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian. If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance.

Huh?

MORE HERE:
Christian Faces Death for Converting to Christianity

But, of course ...

LONDON, England -- The Anglican Church in Wales has apologized to Muslims after a cartoon satirizing the Prophet Mohammed was printed in its Welsh-language magazine.

Story.

HT News Forum
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Should the Lord tarry, what shall be said of the current day? We have moved beyond "all things are relative" to an age of anarchy. There are even Christians who support a "live and let live" attitude that would have been unimaginable 50 -- even 30 -- years ago.

I sometimes come off as preachy and reactionary -- especially when I lack facts and am consumed with emotion. Given this, I've often reflected the truth in the saying, "You preach most what you most need to learn."

Being mindful of this, my own shortcomings, when I read that New Line Cinema was producing a new movie about the Holy Family -- from a strong feminist perspective -- I had hoped to ignore it. Maybe it would just go away. I mean, what does it have to do with me, or any Christian?

Well, there's the rub. Many Christians, no matter their "brand," participate in one thing on Sunday and a whole different thing Monday through Saturday. By that I mean to say, we live in an age of weak faith and superficial values.

Consider the Body Worlds exhibit. This show is currently on display here in Houston. Guess what? I've spoken with a handful of Christians who've seen it and are raving about it -- a few more who are hoping to go. Call me dense -- maybe even a fuddy-duddy -- but I find this hard to believe. Would this have been the case 30 years ago?

More recently I linked to Dawn Eden's site where it was revealed that Planned Parenthood's Teen Wire was offering advice, from teens, on the best time to lose your virginity. Virginity! Now there's an old-fashioned word.

Which brings me back 'round to the subject of this mild rant.

It is truly a sign of our times that a movie is in the works wherein the Most Holy Mother of God is to be portrayed as a feminist. (At this point, I confess, I paused my typing and filtered through several inappropriate words. Forgive me.)

As someone commented on Amy Welborn's openbook:

For some reason I shudder at the thought of a Hollywood film portraying the Blessed Virgin Mary as a pregnant, confused thirteen year old, manipulated by the old man to whom she is in an arranged marriage (Joseph), with a religious fanatic cousin (Elizabeth), forced to be an illegal immigrant in Egypt. She overcomes all this to be the Queen of Heaven, and first among the disciples of her son. Roll credits.

The film is set to begin production in May and is, of course, set for a December release date. Remember when Madonna released "Like a Virgin" just in time for Christmas, 1984?

Maybe "The Nativity" will reveal a Mary who is comfortable with the revised image of the Rosary prayed by one feminist blogger:

In my meditations over the Rosary, I focus as well on a less famous Annunciation from the predella of Duccio's Maestà in Siena. In this painting there is the presence of darkness, as if mystery were made visible, given a reality, as a tone rather than an idea. Duccio's Mary uses her arm to shield her breasts from the angel's importuning; her hesitation, her reluctance are unmistakable. And the angel keeps his distance, bides his time. He does not impregnate Mary by ravishment, as Zeus impregnated Danaë or Leda in the Greek myths. He waits for her consent. That is why I use this mystery of the Rosary to pray for women who have been coerced by men, whose pregnancies were the result of force, whose consent was not asked for, not waited for. And I also use this mystery to pray for the work of pro-choice Catholics who insist on the primacy of a woman's unequivocal consent in the decision to bear a new life, so that every child will be a child brought to birth with the full willingness of its mother, as Jesus was.

I dunno.

Having suffered through some experimental liturgies in the Episcopal Church, one can only (unfortunately) imagine. But, I'm hard pressed to see how they could feminize this:

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
(Luke 1:46 - 55)

One shudders to think.

But in the age of The Da Vinci Code, Body Worlds, and the like ... as someone said:

Without God, anything is possible!

Thanks to blog reg, Lucas.
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Bubba and Junior were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A blond lady walked by and asked what they were doing. "We're supposed to find the height of the flagpole," said Bubba, "but we don't have a ladder."

The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then she took a tape measure from her pocket, took a measurement & announced, "Eighteen feet, six inches," and walked away.

Junior shook his head and laughed. "Ain't that just like a dumb blonde? We ask for the height, and she gives us the length."

Thanks to FWD from Mom.
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Thanks to FWD from female parishioner, Carmin.
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by Sandro Magister

ROMA, March 9 2006 - The island of Cyprus was the first destination of the "special mission" that the Holy Spirit entrusted to Paul and Barnabas, according to what is written in the Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 13.

On the island they found a Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, "an intelligent man who wanted to hear the word of God and believed, deeply shaken by the teaching of the Lord."

But if Paul and Barnabas were to return to Cyprus today, to the northern part of the island, they would find not the Romans as governors, but the Turks.

And instead of a Christianity being born, they would find a dying Christianity, with the churches and monasteries in ruin, or else transformed into stables, hotels, and mosques ...

The Islamization of the north of the island has been concretized in the destruction of all that was Christian. Yannis Eliades, director of the Byzantine Museum of Nicosia, calculates that 25,000 icons have disappeared from the churches in the zone occupied by the Turks ...


by Luigi Geninazzi

The scourge has left its marks. It has struck Cyprus, the site of the most ancient Christian community on European soil, in its artistic, cultural, and religious treasury: stupendous Byzantine and Romanesque churches, imposing monasteries, mosaics and frescoes of inestimable value. It is a heritage that in the northern part of the island, under Turkish occupation, has been sacked, violated, and destroyed.

The Turkish flag billows on the façade of the church of Agia Paraskevi, in the once Greek Orthodox village of Angastina. A sign says that work is underway to transform it into a mosque. The bell tower, which no longer bears a cross, is a strange minaret with the loudspeaker of the muezzin fixed upon an archway.

Christodoulos, the young archeologist accompanying me, is visibly shaken: "I was baptized here," he says in a voice hoarse with emotion. He is one of the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees who, thirty years ago, lived in the north of the island and were chased out of their homes.

Christodoulos kneels on the spot where he was once baptized and lights a candle. The Turkish construction workers, squatting in front of the apse for their lunch break, look at him curiously: "Every time I come back to this area, it's always worse," he sighs.

Almost the entire artistic patrimony of the Orthodox Church in the territory occupied by the Turks - 520 buildings between churches, chapels, and monasteries - has been sacked, demolished, or disfigured. Only three churches and one monastery, the monastery of Saint Barnabas, which has been turned into a museum, are in a more or less dignified state.

"The ruin is before our eyes, but the European Union prefers to look the other way," the Cypriot foreign minister, George Iacovou, bitterly tells us. "The only hope is that, in the course of negotiations for Turkey's adhesion to the EU, someone might pull out the dossier of shame."

...

I point out to him that most of the mosques in Greek Cypriot territory have been restored, while his government has authorized the transformation of churches into restaurants and hotels, an insult to the sentiment of believers ...

I insist: what do you have to say about the churches that, still today, are being turned into mosques? The Turkish Cypriot functionary spreads his arms wide: "It is an Ottoman custom..."

It as a tradition that, unfortunately, continues. An unsettling calling card for a Turkey that aspires to enter the European club.

Read the whole story, including an interview with Greek Orthodox bishop, Chrisostomos, H E R E.

Thanks to FWD from Fr Miguel Grave de Peralta.
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To the Reverend Clergy of our parishes

Dearly beloved brothers in the Lord,

With this letter, we, the hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, wish to share with you some disturbing observations concerning the destruction of many lives in our nation, as explicit sexual content becomes increasingly available through a variety of technologies ...

HT Orthodoxy Today


In a related item ...

Hey teens! How do you know if you're ready for sex? Here's what your parents' tax dollars (in the hands of Planned Parenthood) say:

Need Advice on When to Lose Your Virginity?

May God have mercy on us and save us.
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The following post, concerning the struggle toward reconciliation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate, was written by the Dean of St John the Baptist Cathedral (ROCOR) in Washington, DC. This is part of the preparations for ROCOR's upcoming All-Diaspora Council in May. It is a long, wise and inspiring article.


How Are We Preparing for the All-Diaspora Council?

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a great people is its ability to get up on its feet after a fall. --V. Kliutchevsky

"We are all children of the Church of Russia …. Let us shun the temptations of open and secret evil which war against us… Let us abstain from anger, judgment, disputes, and divisions that we may be, in the words of the Apostle 'one in spirit and in thought.' (I Corinthians 1: 10). We, the pastors at the Council of Bishops in this jubilee year, are praying for this, understanding all our responsibility for the Church. We are praying for our full unity of mind, in which lies the power and righteousness of the Church…."

Eighteen years since their publication in 1988, those words of the Epistle of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), have not only retained their significance, but now, on the threshold of the IV All-Diaspora Council, have taken on particular relevance and power.

Since the time of the millennial celebration of the Baptism of Rus', we have witnessed events of worldwide dimension, events that have materially affected the lives of all people. The most important of those events was the downfall of atheist communism. By God's providence, in 1991, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the communist regime fell, and the totalitarian Soviet state ceased to exist.

At the time, many in the Church began to consider the question of normalizing relations between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate (MP), relations that had been interrupted in 1927. This was made especially and forcefully evident in the appeal issued by the ROCOR Council of Bishops in 1991, an appeal in which our archpastors succinctly laid out their view of the regulation process:

"Schism can be overcome only with humble prayer, repentance and brotherly love toward all those who fell in the difficult time of persecutions and those currently gone astray... the revival of faith...must begin with our own spiritual renewal, with repentance and the cleansing of ourselves from sinful uncleanness and from self-justification. 'The pure in heart will see God,' i.e. to be cognizant of God and to live in Him, it is essential to purify your thoughts, feelings, and very life…

"We call upon all children of the Orthodox Church to join in this beneficial and grace-filled, pre-conciliar process [emphasis added­ Archpriest VP ] with profound cognizance of their own weaknesses and sinfulness, and hoping in God's mercy and help. The Lord 'remembered us in our low estate' (Psalms 135: 23)."

Thus, 15 years ago ROCOR's archpastors called upon us, the children of the free part of the Russian Church, to join in the pre-conciliar process of rapprochement between the parts of the Russian Church, and to behave toward those freed from the communist yoke with "brotherly love toward all those who fell in the difficult time of persecutions and those currently gone astray... the revival of faith... must begin with our own spiritual renewal, with repentance and the cleansing of ourselves from sinful uncleanness and from self-justification."

Did we then heed those inspired words?

Two years after the ROCOR Bishops' Council of 1991, on July 17, 1993, His Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia , and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church released an Epistle of staggering power. The following is an excerpt from that Epistle:

"With intense prayer and particular pain in our hearts, we remember the sorrowful anniversary… Our people have not repented of the sin of regicide that occurred amid the indifference of the citizens of Russia . As a transgression of both Divine and human law, that sin lies as a most heavy burden upon the soul of the people, upon its moral self-image. And today we, on behalf of the entire Church, on behalf of all its children, those deceased and those living, offer before God and men repentance for this sin. Forgive us, O Lord!

"We call upon our entire people, all of its children, to repent­regardless of their political views or opinions about history, regardless of their attitude toward the idea of monarchy or toward the person and character of the last Russian Emperor. Repentance for the sin committed by our forebears must become for us yet another sign of unity. May this day of sorrow unite us in prayer with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia , and may it engender that spiritual communion with [ROCOR] after which we strive, in our fidelity to the spirit of Christ …" [emphases added­ Archpriest VP ] .

Did we respond to that appeal? Did we believe in the sincerity of what was said?

Unfortunately, instead of being of assistance to the Lord in developing the process of reconciliation, instead of moving toward one another and strengthening mutual trust, both sides allowed themselves to make most unfortunate blunders. On the canonical territory of the MP, ROCOR began to create parallel church organizational structures. With the assistance of the Palestinian authorities, the MP undertook to forcibly wrest churches and chapels from ROCOR.

Of course, one could not have expected the question of establishing Eucharistic Communion with the Church in Russia to be resolved smoothly and immediately. Decades of communist rule left their mark, both in the Homeland and in the Diaspora, on the way of thinking of the Russian people; a way of thinking that can be overcome only with enormous effort.

The process of mutual recognition of the parts of the Russian Church evoked and continues to evoke emotional agitation in a part of the people of ROCOR, and has even led to internal dissension. How can we surmount these disputes? What can we do to help, so that we might assemble at the coming All-Diaspora Council and all, as we pray at the Liturgy, "with one mouth and one heart glorify and hymn Thy most honorable and majestic name: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?"

We must begin with the basics: Not to fashion external peace and unity, but rather to pay attention to fundamental peace, internal peace, to have everyone, individually, take care to make peace with his conscience, i.e. to care after his own peace and harmony in life with the Lord God. In striving for and achieving such peace, we will also be striving to achieve general peace and unity. That is the fundamental, principal, matter, to which general peace and unity will be joined as well; without it, no matter how hard we try, divisions and bickering will persist.

* * *

We all perceive evil outside ourselves, outside the boundaries of our own person, but in ourselves as well. We see that in a mysterious way, evil carries on, right next to the good, in our souls.

Each of us mourns, along with the Apostle,

"[F]or that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I… Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me… the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do… Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me… For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?!" (Romans 7: 15-24).

Each of us knows the internal dichotomy that interferes with our chaste devotion to the Good Shepherd.

But why is it that, having personally experienced that dichotomy, we find it so difficult to entertain the possibility that it exists in others? Why is it so difficult for us to imagine that not everything is going smoothly for others, that they too are doing battle and having inner conflicts?

Why do we constantly fool ourselves, saying that such a combination of good and evil cannot exist in someone else? Why do we often imagine that other people are some solid monoliths, made up of but a single substance? After all, such a groundless preconception interferes with our ability to assess a person and to come to like him for his good qualities, despite his deficiencies.

In our one-sided evaluation, we risk not seeing the forest for the trees, not seeing, for the sins and deficiencies of prominent hierarchs, valuable qualities possessed by an entire believing people. Everywhere and in everything, we are inclined to blame others. We constantly complain about others, but if we were to be in their shoes, would we strive to do service with good will, from the heart (Ephesians 6:6)­honestly and selflessly? Experience shows that in their behavior in life, those who complain are just like those of whom they complain.

Instead of being the Lord's co-workers in the task of attracting all people to join in one single flock in Christ, we stigmatize others. In so doing, while the Lord forgives the thief on the cross, Matthew the publican, and the sinner Mary, we hinder the Lord, whose desire is to forgive all people!

When we throw stones at the women caught in the act of adultery, we forget how, standing in our shoes, Christ once treated her (John 8:7-11).

Muscovite Professor AB Zubov, a man dedicated to the idea of rapprochement between the sundered parts of the Russian Church , wrote,

"You must not recoil from our great Church, but like Christ, join together with the sinner who is thirsting after healing, so that you might save him… The position of 'let's watch and wait, and if you are healed, perhaps we will join with you'­is a morally corrupt position… To wait until we either regain our health or die? Your fathers did not act in this manner. They answered the people's madness by self-sacrificial, spiritual struggle, taking a stand in the ranks of the White movement, to oppose evil. And it seems to me that now a new phase of that battle is beginning, a phase without the material cover of civil war, but in its true aspect of 'unseen warfare' with the world's spirits of malice. And you, your Church, can help us rid ourselves of all those mausoleums and statues, of the hymns and other filth… for you have the holy treasure of the Faith that conquers the evil of our world…"

* * *

For many ROCOR parishioners, Sergianism remains the principal obstacle to reconciliation between the sundered parts of the Russian Church .

Let's speak plainly: Sergianism is a synonym for false witness and is the manifestation of the most extreme servility toward the powerful of this earth.

At the same time, it is essential to categorically state that Sergianism is a tragedy not just for the MP, but for the entire Russian Church , for the Church's servility did not just come out of nowhere.

Secular authorities have meddled in Church matters throughout almost the whole of Christian history. This happened both in the time of the Byzantine Empire , and during Ottoman rule. Moreover, in Holy Russia, the "the sovereign's eye"­the oberprokuror , or chief procurator (often a Mason and atheist), meddled egregiously in Church life.

Let us bring to mind the Russian Church 's 200-year Synodal Period. One can count on one's fingers the number of times in the 18th and 19th centuries that the leadership of the Russian Church dared to raise objections to the Imperial Authorities and stand up in defense of the Church and flock. Members of the Synod, the "Spiritual Collegium," were required to swear the following offensive oath of loyalty to a secular monarch's anti-canonical position as the chief ecclesiastical authority:

"I confess and swear that the ultimate judge of this Spiritual Collegium is the Monarch of All-Russia Himself, our Most All-gracious Sovereign."

Russian hierarchs, of course, understood perfectly well that the "ultimate Judge" could be none other than the Lord; nonetheless, for almost two hundred years, they (with the single exception of Metropolitan Arseny Matseevitch) continued to obediently swear that oath until 1901, when the sovereign, Emperor Nicholas II rescinded it.

Such gross interference by Imperial authorities in the internal life of the Church continued for 200 years. It is quite a sad phenomenon, for it clearly points to a great sickness in our Church, one that was underscored by our visionary writers, and identified by one of them, Dostoyevsky, as "its paralyzed condition." This markedly weakened the Church's influence on Russian society, and laid the groundwork for the tragic events of 1917.

Yes, servility, was, is, and as the result of our sinfulness, unfortunately will be. However, thanks be to God, through the mercy of God there also was, is, and will be, holiness until the end of time. As in the "Synodal" period of Russian Church history, when despite everything, there struggled a multitude of prominent righteous people, so in Soviet times our Church revealed to the world a countless number of New Martyrs and Confessors.

The consequences of Synodal servility toward government powers, and the Sergianism that grew out of it, must be overcome through our common efforts. The Joint Commissions' ability to make material progress in that regard gives reason to hope. The MP and ROCOR Commissions' document "On the relationship between Church and State" cites an important determination of the MP's Jubillee Council of 2000:

"The Church remains loyal to the state, but God's commandment to fulfill the task of salvation in any situation and under any circumstances is above this loyalty... If the authority forces Orthodox believers to apostasize from Christ and His Church and to commit sinful and spiritually harmful actions, the Church should refuse to obey the state."

Another determination regarding Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky's) Declaration is in the Joint Commissions' "Commentary on the Joint Document on the Commissions of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia 'On the Relationship Between Church and State'":

"Today we can say that there is untruth mixed into... the Declaration. The Declaration placed for itself the goal of placing the Church in the proper relationship with the Soviet state. But this relationship­and in the Declaration it was clearly defined as the subjugation of the Church to the interests of government politics­is incorrect from the point of view of the Church."

"The Declaration… was then, and is to this day, a temptation for many children of the Russian Orthodox Church.

"…The rejection of the course of the Russian Church in her relations with the state as reflected in the 'Declaration' opens the path to the fullness of brotherly communion."

* * *

Unfortunately, we do not sufficiently appreciate the importance of Church unity, and we take little care for its confirmation. At the same time, everything in our lives that is most radiant, most joyous, everything that brings joy and comfort to the heart, everything that wreathes our spirit with sacred hope for the future­all this is based in Christian unity. Our strength and our power rest in elevating the Christian spirit and firmly establishing unity.

In her appeal entitled "The Russian Orthodox People Abroad, on the Eve of a Spiritual Podvig," addressed to the coming Fourth All-Diaspora Council, Dr. LA Tkachevksy, a member of ROCOR, correctly speaks of joint action to prayerfully overcome what caused the division of the Russian Church .

"God's will for us perhaps must be fulfilled in the Gospel sense, in that it is love in Christ. In what does it rest? In our repentance.

"The entire Russian Orthodox people in the Homeland and Abroad, symbolically together, shoulder to shoulder, will get on its knees, and will ask the Lord for forgiveness of our sins and that he spare us: for our sins of regicide, for apostasy from Christ. With this act, something else will be accomplished: forgiveness of one another … However, many will say that this is something impossible for people. After all, we see in the world endless, hopeless protraction of hatred, as understanding of forgiveness in Christ has been wiped out! Yet what is impossible for men is accomplished through Christ the Savior. And lo, He gives us, Russian Orthodox people, this gift of grace.

"There is no greater joy for a human being than sincere repentance, there is no greater happiness than forgiving one who just recently was an opponent­that is in fact the heavenly gift of Freedom granted to man by Almighty God, the gift for which the Son of God Himself accepted death on the Cross, i.e. for our salvation, to make possible man's rebirth and transfiguration. Without that, there would be no Christianity…

"The Fourth All-Diaspora Orthodox Council stands before us as an historic milestone­an examination of our Orthodox confession of the Christian Faith…"

If we can manage to endure the test of faith sent us by God, the test of which Dr. Tkachevsky writes, we will, in so doing, also perform a great missionary work, of attracting many people to Christ's Door, where, as Church hymnody states, there will be "the unceasing voice of celebration and endless sweetness of the sight of the ineffable beauty of the Lord's face."

We cannot achieve the slightest measure of success in this holy podvig without the love of Christ. Archpriest Nikolai Deputatov, a good shepherd who labored for many years for the good of the Church, accurately stated:

"Everything in our interrelations comes down to love; without it, nothing has any meaning. Where there is love, the unsatisfied thirst of ambition, greed, and lust for power all calm down. Where there is love, we, knowing the weakness of others, do not lay upon them heavy burdens grievous to be borne (Matthew 23: 4)...

"In our day, there are many tears and much suffering, and the warming power of love is so essential so appealing. By the action of the sun's rays, fogs and putrid vapors dissipate; the air becomes clean and transparent. Likewise in the world of morality, under the influence of love, everything revives, brightens, becomes orderly and in proper proportion."

The 4th All-Diaspora Council should proceed in that spiritual key. God grant that reigning at that Council may be the same spirit of love and true tserkovnost' [churchliness] that attended the 2nd All-Diaspora Council. In that regard reminiscences of PS Lopoukhine, a participant in the 2nd All-Diaspora Council, are instructive:

"The Council would not have been a Council, had we not understood, had we not sensed, that it was not we people, but God's mercy and God's grace that created and conducted that Council. Moreover, had we in fact done everything that was accomplished at the Council, it would not have been a Council, but a convention, and everything would have had an entirely different meaning, for what is precious is the fact that the Church Council proceeded in accord with the Church, according to the will of God...

"We sensed this from the very first day, at the moment when we sang, with fear of God, the prayer, 'Now the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together.' Daring words, and yet at the same time, how much humility is required for us to so daringly pronounce them. Many times over the course of the Council that prayer came to mind… The entire Council, all members of the Council lived through those days with their souls held open to God's grace, and allowing It to lead them. We expressed our points of view, but we did not fight with one another. We defended our ideas, but our souls were open to understanding a different idea, and what was needed for the good of the Church. We expressed our opinions, but were prepared to retract them. This imparted a totally special mood to the Council, a feeling of [harmony with the Church], and we both understood and appreciated it to the end..."

His Beatitude Metropolitan Anastassy once said that Church Council, with participation of the clergy and laity, is "a gathering of the spirit of the people under the banner of the Holy Cross." Let us avail ourselves of the beneficial time of the Holy Quadragesima, Great Lent, and pray that the Fourth All-Diaspora Council might be filled with the power of the Life-giving Cross and the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that together we might establish in our in our hearts and for a long time that salvific burst of feeling, of which PS Lopoukhine, participant in the Second All-Diaspora Council, wrote so simply and with such inspiration. Finally let us pray that the IV All-Diaspora Council be the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

Archpriest Victor Potapov
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Protopresbyter Robert S.Kondratick has been relieved of his service as Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America.

Related stories here.

Gooooooooogle.

Update: Today's Wall Street Journal article.
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Recently, I posted a bishop's take on the Pope's dropping the title "Patriarch of the West" ... in the Comments on that post, I mused that perhaps it was a "trial balloon." Well, the following piece has a whole different take:

From the National Catholic Reporter ...

Without any fanfare, Benedict XVI last week set aside a traditional title of the Roman Pontiff for roughly 1,500 years, "Patriarch of the West." While initial speculation construed the move as a gesture of ecumenical sensitivity to the Orthodox, most experts say the real logic was almost certainly the exact reverse - a rejection of attempts to impose Eastern concepts upon the ecclesiology of the Catholic Church ...

Yet ... the decision did not fall from the clear blue sky. Recent debate on the nature of the papacy has highlighted the question of whether the universal primacy of the pope can accurately be understood on the model of the patriarchs, a concept that comes out of Eastern Christianity.

"My best guess is that this amounts to a refusal on the part of the Vatican of an attempt to put the Petrine primacy into a framework that's not perceived as proper to it," [Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft, an expert on Eastern Christianity at Rome's Oriental Institute] said.

"Calling the pope 'Patriarch of the West' could be seen as an attempt to Orientalize Western ecclesiology," Taft said.

Ecumenical observers also warn that renouncing the title may alarm the Orthodox about a lack of sensitivity for the legitimate autonomy of Eastern traditions. On that score, there are already early indications of negative reaction.

Thanks to FWD from Fr Miguel Grave de Peralta

Yesterday's new item from the Vatican bears witness to the above ...

Vatican City, Mar. 16, 2006 (CNA) - Today, the Vatican released a letter sent by Pope Benedict XVI to Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major Archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, recalling the forced fusion of Catholics into the Orthodox Church by the communist Soviet government in 1946.

The Pope’s message served to mark what he called "the sad events to which the cathedral of St. George at Leopoli was witness, in March of sixty years ago."

In the letter, which was dated February 22nd, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the Holy Father recalled the infamous March 1946 date, during which "a group of prelates meeting in a pseudo-synod which took upon itself the right to represent the Church, made a serious attack against ecclesial unity.”

“Violence against those who remained faithful to the Bishop of Rome intensified,” he wrote, “giving rise to further suffering and forcing the Church to descend once again to the catacombs."

Despite this, the Pope expressed his thanks to God that "the Greek-Catholic Church did not disappear but continued to bear her own witness to the unity, sanctity catholicity and apostolicity of the Church of Christ."


Then there's this, from the Pope's message to Greek Orthodox seminarians:

We must confront the challenges that threaten faith, cultivate the spiritual humus that has nourished Europe for centuries, reaffirm Christian values, promote peace and encounter, even in the most difficult conditions, and deepen those elements of faith and ecclesial life that can lead us to the goal of full communion in truth and in charity, especially now that the official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church as a whole is resuming its journey with renewed vigor.
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A young and nervous bride planning her wedding was increasingly terrified about her upcoming marriage. To calm her nerves, she decided to have a Bible verse which had always brought her comfort (1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; for perfect love casts out fear") engraved on her wedding cake. So she called the caterer and all arrangements were made.

About a week before the wedding, she received a call from the catering company. "Is this really the verse you want on your cake?" they asked. Yes, she confirmed, it was the one she wanted, and after a few more questions they said they would decorate the cake as requested.

The wedding day came, and everything was beautiful ... until the reception, when the bride walked in to find the cake emblazoned with John 4:18: "For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband."

Thanks to FWD from blog reg, Keith.
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Okay y'all, tmatt wants some input on his latest creation ... OrthoFritters.

Here follows an email I sent him after we took the plunge ...

Okay. Did the fritters. Very nice. The wife broiled ours, fried the kids. All went well. Did the "wrap thing" -- added some tahini, along with some dairy-free cole slaw and veggies on the side. (I also put on some asian hot sauce ... whether it needed it or not :)

My wife said she also added some minced dried onion ...

As to the broiling ... She just sprayed a cookie sheet w/ non stick spray and dropped Lg Tablespoons size blobs

Had broiler on and just kept a watch on them ... cooked them about 6" from broiler for 5 min or so.

The first ones she turned over, but didn't really need to. After that she just checked for doneness before taking them out.

Any others experimenting out there?
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What follows are snippets from a long interview with the chief exorcist of the Roman Catholic Church. You can read the whole thing H E R E. Amateur that I am, I was agreeing with much of his statements ... till he got to the part about Harry Potter (below). Still, it's a worthy read.

Are you saying that most of the bishops of the Catholic Church are in a state of mortal sin?

AMORTH: When I was a child, my old parish priest taught me that there were eight Sacraments, the eighth being ignorance. And the eighth sacrament saves more people than the other seven put together. To commit mortal sin implies grave matter but also full and deliberate consent. This failure by many bishops to help is grave matter. However, the bishops are ignorant of this so there is no full and deliberate consent.

How does the Devil go about seducing men and women?

AMORTH: His strategy is monotonous. I have told him so and he admits it … He convinces people that there is no hell, that there is no sin, just one more experience to live. Lust, success and power are the three great passions on which the Devil insists.

How many cases of demonic possession have you come across?

AMORTH: After the first hundred, I stopped counting them.

Are you ever afraid of the Devil?

AMORTH: Afraid of that beast? He’s the one who should be afraid of me because I work in the name of the Lord of the world. He is only an ape of God.

AMORTH: The smoke of Satan gets in everywhere, everywhere. Perhaps we were kept out of the Papal audience because they were afraid that all those exorcists might have cast out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican.

You’re joking, aren’t you?

AMORTH: It might sound like it but I don’t think it is a joke. I have no doubt whatever that the Devil is tempting the upper levels of the Church, above all, just as he tempts every upper level – political and industrial.
"Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil," Father Amorth has been quoted as saying. According to Father Amorth, J.K. Rowling's books make a false distinction between black and white magic. Amorth says that distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."

Again, here's the LINK.
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"Set O Lord, ... a door of enclosure round about my keyboard ...."

A friend sent me this. I realize reading it here is sort of like a TV commercial telling you to dump the Boob Tube. But, some of these may apply ...




Internet Addict Recovery Program

1 - I will have a cup of coffee in the morning and read my newspaper like I
used to, before the Internet.

2 - I will eat breakfast with a knife and fork and not with one hand typing.

3 - I will get dressed before noon.

4 - I will make an attempt to clean the house, wash clothes, and plan dinner
before even thinking of the Internet.

5 - I will sit down and write a letter to those unfortunate few friends and
family that are Internet-deprived.

6 - I will call someone on the phone who I cannot contact via the Internet.

7 - I will read a book ... if I still remember how.

8 - I will listen to those around me and their needs and stop telling them to
turn the TV down so I can hear the music on the Internet.

9 - I will not be tempted during TV commercials to check for email.

10 - I will try and get out of the house at least once a week, if it is
necessary or not.

11 - I will remember that my bank is not forgiving if I forget to balance my
checkbook because I was too busy on the Internet.

12 - Last, but not least, I will remember that I must go to bed sometime ...
and the Internet will always be there tomorrow!

Thanks to FWD from a Southern Belle.
Cartoon pic from the wonderful Flame Warriors.
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"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property -- either as a child, a wife, or a concubine -- must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -- the science against which it had vainly struggled -- the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

The above was stolen from the Comments section of this post; thank to reader, don-o.
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... a 4-minute blast that opens with chipper children scarfing down their McPassion meals, complete with a crown of thorns and round fries that the announcer notes are "shaped just like the Eucharist." Then there's the McLast Supper from Burger King of Kings or the McLoaves and Fish Sticks dinner (all you can eat, while supplies last). The meals come with toys, like the pretend stigmata tattoos, a simulated leather cat of nine tails, Shroud of Turin towelettes, a kid-sized crucifix and the "cool McPassion hammer."

The pitch ends with this call to commerce: "Buy one today! Make Jesus happy! ... Alleluia, God's lovin' it!"

You ready?

Okay.

But, you really ought to read tmatt's article first for it all to make [Christian] sense.

Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger ...

Here it is: The McPassion
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I used to be quite the apocalyptic kid. Growing up, I loved the book of Revelations [sic] and End Time Prophecy Preaching. It kind of messed me up for a while. (Even Hal Lindsey had to write a few more books since the Late Great one.) These days I'm torn between the view that Apocalypticism is Intellectual Laziness and "Watch Out! Here it comes!" This story ushers me into the latter category. By the way, that's real human innards your seeing in the picture at left. They're on display, cadavers that is ... and coming to your town. Your thoughts?

Maranatha!

But, of course, brothers & sisters, there's always hope. Consider this story about a dead body also on display:

Medical experts in the town of Lamia, central Greece, are puzzling over the body of a Greek Orthodox monk that was allegedly found intact 15 years after his burial, the semi-state Athens News Agency (ANA) reported on Monday.

"I believe this to be a sign from God," Bishop Nikolaos of the local prefecture of Fthiotida told a press conference in Lamia. "Even the monk's soft parts are intact," he added.

The story of the deceased monk, Vissarionas Korkoliakos, has raised a media stir following his recent exhumation at Agathonos monastery.

Four local doctors summoned by Church authorities were unable to explain the alleged phenomenon. A fifth expert, an Athens coroner, wrote in his report that he has never seen such a case in his entire career, ANA said.

The church had also requested an opinion from head Athens coroner Philippos Koutsaftis, who declined to examine the body as the monk's death was not crime-related.

Hundreds of faithful are already flocking to the site where the monk's body was disinterred, ANA reported, but the local church is currently advising self-restraint.

"We do not intend to declare (this man) a saint, or to summon people to pray before him," Bishop Nicholaos said.

The monk's body will be placed in isolation in the monastery chapel "to let God speak through the passage of time," the bishop said.

Source.

Thanks to FWDs from Fr Mark Haas and Fr Miguel Grave de Peralta.

UPDATE: Regarding the previous story, Mollie's got more at GetReligion.
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Though sometimes kooky, always hokey, and perpetually sappy (think Katie Couric on some serious steroids), every now and then Pat Robertson deserves a hearing. Why? Because even a broken clock is right twice daily.

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Monday on his live "700 Club" television program that Islam wants to take over the world and is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are "satanic."

After watching a news segment about radical Islam in Europe, Robertson remarked that the outpouring of rage elicited by cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad "just shows the kind of people we're dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with."

He also said that "the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen whether you like it or not, is world domination."

So, I ask you, Orthodox Christian (with some knowledge of Church History), what fault do you find in the above statements?

Story.
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Think ... recycled Protestant liberalism mixed in with "Jesus People"-style hip evangelical rage against authority and Sojourners-style rococo pseudo-Marxism, all through the filter of grunge coffeehouse postmodernism ...
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Bishop Robert F. Waggener will trade his bishop’s mitre for a priest’s biretta in the Western Rite.

Bishop Waggener, who until recently served as bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross, has become the first Continuing Anglican bishop to convert to the Antiochian Orthodox Church’s Western Rite Vicariate ...

Read about it.
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1 ½ cup corn meal
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
5 teaspoons garlic pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 cup corn
2 6 oz. cans crab meat with liquid drained
¾ cup soy milk
Oil for frying

Mix all dry ingredients. Add corn and crab meat and mix well. Add soy milk. The batter should be thick enough to drop from a spoon into hot oil. Heat about ½ inch of oil in frying pan. Fry to a golden brown and drain on paper towel.

Thanks to the Mattingly family (tmatt & co). "With or without crabmeat. Think hush puppies only a bit heavier, to be eaten as a meal in wraps with hot sauce, lettuce, pickle, etc."

UPDATE: tmatt: "I would stress that this was Mach 1, part of an ongoing experiment." Thus, anyone trying it is welcomed to post suggestions in the comments below.


Click below for more Recipes ...

Lenten Appetizers

Lenten Soups

Lenten Sandwiches

Lenten Grub

Lenten Chocolate Pie

Sweet Potato Bars

Lenten Sloppy Joes

Green Bean Salad

and ...

the ever popular ...

Slap Your Grandma (Sea Bean Chowder) !!!
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Discussion on the Pope's dropping the title "Patriarch of the West" continues; check out the links on this piece from This Side of Glory -- and, lifted from the comments on my previous post, here's John's take:

I think it is likely that the decision to drop the title has more to do with [Pope] Benedict's long held and publicly stated conviction in his many writings, that the Western Church is excessively centralized. That it was wrong for Rome to subsume and by increments absorb or suppress the many ancient local rites of the west and effectively force them to adopt the Roman Rite. He has also made it clear that it would be much healthier (in his view) if the West got back to a point where local (perhaps national) churches were semi autonomous within the framework of the One Church. In other words I think he is looking to set the ground work for the creation of something close to what exists in the East. A sort of western arrangement of largely self governing churches united by the shared faith and sacramental communion with the Roman See. But at the same time an arrangement where Rome would be much less involved in running local churches or dictating their customs and rites. It is entirely possible that we may one day have multiple patriarchs in the west with Rome being acknowledged as holding the first place of honor. This could also lead to turning local or national bishops' conferences into Synods, with broad authority to govern their own local churches and appoint their own bishops. Of course for conservative Catholics this may be a source of great concern, given the leanings of some Latin Hierachs. I also sometimes think that Orthodox Christians need to remind ourselves that once in a while the Roman Church may do something that is essentially internal.
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Let us observe a Fast acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is to put away all evil, to control the tongue, to forbear from anger, to abstain from lust, slander, falsehood and perjury. If we renounce these things, then is our fast true and acceptable to God.

Taken from Vespers on the evening of the first day of the Great Fast, Pure Monday.
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A senior citizen in Punta Gorda, Florida bought a brand new Mercedes convertible. He took off down the road, flooring it to 90 mph and enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left on his head.

"This is great," he thought as he roared down I-75. He pushed the pedal to the metal even more. Then he looked in his rear view mirror and saw a highway patrol trooper behind him, blue lights flashing and siren blaring.

"I can get away from him with no problem", thought the man and he pushed the pedal to the floor and flew down the road passing 100 mph... then 110... up to 120 mph!

Then he thought, "What the heck am I doing? I'm too old for this kind of thing." So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the trooper to catch up with him.

The trooper pulled in behind the Mercedes and walked up to the driver's window. After looking at the old man - then at his watch, he said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes and today is Friday. If you can give me a reason that I've never heard before on why you were speeding, I'll let you go."

The man looked at the trooper and answered, "Years ago my wife ran off with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back."

"Sir," the trooper replied, "You have a nice day."
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The Rev. Janet Edwards (middle), pastor emeritus of the Community of Reconciliation Church, prays with the church's interim pastor, Bette J. Moore (left), and the Rev. Linda Lawson before services at the church on Sunday.

Still stumped? Go H E R E for clues.

HT Anglican TK

After a while, ya gotta admit, it makes one a little bonkers -- or is that bongers ... as in Bong Hits for Jesus?

Here's the straight dope.

HT Drudge
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Is Outrage!
Defining blasphemy in our current "world culture."


RC Bps vs. DVC:
Roman Catholic Bishops Fight Back!

"The Da Vinci Code is a mess, a riot of laughable errors and serious misstatements. Almost every page has at least one of each," the bishops wrote on the website Jesusdecoded.com.

HT News Forum


Soulforce: Sodom visits Gomorrah
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by Bishop Hilarion (Alfayaev)*

The Pope’s Title “Patriarch of the West” [has been] Removed.

What Does It Mean for the Orthodox?

(March 6, 2006) The mass media reported that in the new edition of the “Annuario Pontificio” for 2006 the pope’s title “Patriarch of the West” has been dropped. Now the official list of titles includes: “bishop of Rome, vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the prince of the apostles, supreme pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, archbishop and metropolitan of the Roman Province, sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, servant of the servants of God”.

Some analysts saw in this omission the desire to improve the relations with the Orthodox Church. The former prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini is reported to have said that the deletion was a “sign of ecumenical sensitivity” on the part of Pope Benedict. The cardinal said that in the past some people used the title to provoke negative comparisons between the claims of universal jurisdiction by the worldwide “Patriarchate of the West” and the more restricted size and jurisdiction of the traditional Orthodox patriarchates. According to the cardinal, the pope’s gesture “is meant to stimulate the ecumenical journey.”

However, it is not at all clear how the removal of the title could possibly ameliorate Catholic-Orthodox relations. It seems that the omission of the title “Patriarch of the West” is meant to confirm the claim to universal church jurisdiction that is reflected in the pope’s other titles, and if the Orthodox reaction to the gesture will not be positive, it should not be a surprise.

In the Byzantine epoch there were four Eastern Patriarchates: of Constantinople, of Alexandria, of Antioch, and of Jerusalem. The Patriarchate of Rome was considered as “first among equal” in the diptychs up until 1054, when the ecclesiastical relations between East and West were interrupted. Thus, in the West, there was only one Patriarchate of Rome, while in the East there were four Patriarchates. The Patriarchate of the West together with the four Eastern Patriarchates constituted the so-called “pentarchy”.

It is the title “bishop of Rome” that remains then most acceptable for the Orthodox Churches, since it points to the pope’s role as diocesan bishop of the city of Rome. The title “archbishop and metropolitan of the Roman Province” shows that the pope’s jurisdiction includes not only the city of Rome, but also the province. The title “primate of Italy” indicates that the Bishop of Rome is “first among equals” among the bishops of Italy, i.e., using Orthodox language, primate of a Local Church. With this understanding, neither of the three titles would pose any problem for the Orthodox in case of the re-establishment of the Eucharistic communion between East and West.

In this case the pope of Rome could also be considered as the “Patriarch of the West”, i.e. the spiritual leader of all those Christians who do not belong to the ancient “Eastern Patriarchates” or to those Local Orthodox Churches that appeared in the second millennium.

The model of church unity between East and West will be discussed by the Mixed Catholic-Orthodox Theological Commission that will meet after a six-year break in the fall of 2006. It is clear that this model will be hypothetic, since there remain many obstacles, both of dogmatic and of ecclesiological character, for the restoration of the full communion. However, the main obstacle to unity, according to many Orthodox theologians, is the teaching on the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. It is this teaching that will be discussed in the framework of the Mixed Commission.

In this context unacceptable and even scandalous, from the Orthodox point of view, are precisely those titles that remain in the list, i.e. Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church.

According to the Orthodox teaching, Christ has no “vicar” who would govern the universal Church in his name.

The title “successor of the prince of the apostles” refers to the Roman Catholic teaching on the primacy of Peter that was passed on to the Bishop of Rome and that submitted to him the universal Church. This teaching has been criticized in Orthodox polemical literature from Byzantine time onwards.

The title “supreme pontiff” (pontifex maximus) originally belonged to the pagan emperors of Rome. It was not rejected by Emperor Constantine when he converted to Christianity. With relation to the pope of Rome the title “supreme pontiff of the Universal Church” points to the pope’s universal jurisdiction which is not and will never be recognized by the Orthodox Churches. It is precisely this title that should have been dropped first, had the move been motivated by the quest for “ecumenical progress” and desire for amelioration of the Catholic-Orthodox relations.

It is to be hoped that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will publish an official comment on the removal of the title.

His Grace, HILARION (Alfayev), Russian Orthodox Bishop of Vienna and Austria, Locum Tenens for the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary, and Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions in Brussels.

Article was posted here by permission.
You may also visit the bishop's site H E R E.

Apologies to Grace who had previously linked the above article on This Side of Glory.
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It is detestable and dangerous for a wrestler to be slack at the start of a contest, thereby giving proof of his impending defeat to everyone. Let us have a firm beginning to our religious life, for this will help us if a certain slackness comes later. A bold and eager soul will be spurred on by the memory of its first zeal and new wings can then be obtained.

-- St. John Climacus

Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham
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Embarrasing the Angels ...

At the Catholic college, a great one, we were to speak of faith and politics. This, to me, is a very big and complicated subject, and a worthy one. But quickly--I mean within 15 seconds--the talk was only of matters related to sexuality. Soon a person on the panel was yelling, "Raise your hands if you think masturbation is a sin!," and the moderator was asking if African men should use condoms, yes or no. At one point I put my head in my hands. I thought, Have we gone crazy? There are thousands of people in the audience, from children to aged nuns, and this is how we talk, this is the imagery we use, this is our only subject matter?

But of course it is. It is our society's subject matter.

The whole article & lady, too.

HT Anglican TK


Jan Bear is back with an expose on the Positives in the St Ephraim's Prayer.


Many have written about Forgiveness Vespers, but here's newcomer (and fellow parishioner) Symeon with his view.


Mollie on the reporting of South Dakota's new abortion ban ... H E R E.


Want some different coverage and wonderful quotes RE evolution and ID? Poke around this site.

HT Dawn's BlogOn!
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Okay. Let's just say that you are a hard-headed fundie when it comes to God's Creation. Perhaps you run a little blog and often comment on Evolution and such. Your efforts, though fun, often stir others to passionately disagree in the comments. In other words, for a moment, suppose you are me ... and you read this story.

Excerpt:

An extraordinary family who walk on all fours are being hailed as the breakthrough discovery which could shed light on the moment Man first stood upright.

Scientists believe that the five brothers and sisters found in Turkey could hold unique insights into human evolution.

Prof Humphrey said: "However they arrived at this point, we have adult human beings walking like ancestors several million years ago."

HT Drudge

Please, read the article and, no matter your beliefs, see if you can't find some blatant inconsistencies.

Then again, maybe it's just me.
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On this first day of the Great Fast, here's a few articles of note:

On Icons

Adam Slipped His Wife a Fiver

Kite Flying on Lent, Day One.

And, for those not sworn off food entirely today, here's some other ideas.
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As we begin the Great Fast with the Sunday of Forgiveness, I bow down before you, brothers and sisters, and ask, of your charity: forgiveness and prayers.

O Lord and Master of my life,

Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair,

lust of power and idle talk;

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions

and not to judge my brother,

for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.

Amen
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FEARRINGTON, N.C. The Rev. Canon Darwin Kirby Jr., DD., LHD, died February 28, 2006. Born August 6, 1918 in Chicago, Ill., Father Kirby graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1938 from the University of Illinois. He completed the M.A. degree in English literature at Yale in 1940 and graduated from Seabury-Western Seminary in 1944. Ordained to the priesthood in 1944, he served three years as curate at St. Luke's Church, Evanston, Ill., before being elected rector of St. George's Church, Schenectady in 1947, a parish he served 40 years until his retirement in 1987. He moved to Fearrington, N.C., residing there until his death. During his rectorship, St. George's Church became the largest parish in the diocese. A major restoration of the historic church was completed in 1953 by the distinguished architectural firm of Colonial Williamsburg. Fr. Kirby brought over 25 men to the priesthood and, by 1964, the number of communicants had increased 300%. Among the church's many missionary projects were significant outpourings to both Okinawa and Haiti. In the early 1970s, St. George's Episcopal and St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic churches entered into an ecumenical covenant relationship - one of the first in the nation. This historic event was celebrated at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Albany in the presence of both the Roman Catholic and Episcopal bishops of Albany and Michael Ramsey, the 100th archbishop of Canterbury. During the parish's 250th anniversary celebration in 1985, visits were made by the lord bishop of London, the presiding bishop of ECUSA and the bishop of Aberdeen. An updated History of St. George's: Spanning Three Centuries was penned by former Union College President Dr. Harold C. Martin. This great celebration raised more than $500,000 for such projects as a new organ, slate roof, heating plant, major structural and grounds improvements and establishment of ongoing endowment funds for education and missions. A renowned preacher, Fr. Kirby was sought throughout the Anglican Communion. He twice conducted clergy conferences in Australia and represented the presiding bishop at the 75th anniversary of the founding of the church in Papua New Guinea. He also brought numerous leading preachers and laymen to speak at St. George's throughout his tenure. In 1994, a large gathering from here and abroad attended a Solemn Mass in New York City, celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest. On that occasion, a Mission Foundation was established in his name that supports traditional Catholic causes. An honorary canon of the Albany Diocese, he served a long tenure as president of the Standing Committee and was five times a deputy to the church's General Convention. He received honorary doctorates from Seabury-Western Seminary (DD) and Union College, Schenectady (LHD). He served on such varied boards as the Living Church Foundation, the MRI Commission and a trustee of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, the Prayer Book Society and Hoosac School. Father Kirby is survived by a son, Craig Stewart of Schenectady; a daughter, Kristin of San Francisco; two grandchildren, Elizabeth Mary Monroe and Shayne Kirby; and one great-granddaughter, Gabriella Monroe. He was predeceased by his wife, Constance in 1997. A Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass will be celebrated at St. George's Church, Schenectady on Saturday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. The Bishop of Northern Malawi, retired, will celebrate, assisted by former curates of Father Kirby. Clergy attending and processing should vest in cassock, surplice, black stole and biretta. A reception will follow the service. Memorial gifts may be made to The Father Kirby Mission Foundation, c/o St. Mary's Church, 175 Broadway, Amityville, NY 11701. Arrangements are with the Baxter-Andrew Funeral Home, Schenectady and Hall-Wynne & Co. Durham, N.C. For online memorials, click H E R E (under obituaries).

To glimpse the wit of Fr Kirby, go H E R E.
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Here in Texas, the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a big, B I G, deal -- as is barbecued Brisket. So, before the Great Fast, what's an Orthodox parish to do? Here's a few scenes from our annual Country Western Dance (held a few weeks ago) ...

Remember the Blues Brothers? Meet the Black Brothers.
The wife tells me, "Next time you get a gig, get a bigger hat!"

I will mention no names, but suffice it to say that a longtime member of the Antiochian Archdiocese Board of Trustees can sure do the MacarEna!

Line dancing and Future Cowgirls of America.

"What? You lookin' at me?"

Did you know that the MacarEna is a looooong song?

Folks enjoying the delicious Texas BBQ.

"He-e-eY! MacarEna!"

"HOWDY ...

... PARDNER!"
We interrupt this Country Western report to report ... these old geezers (members of the Parish Council) defeated these wonderfully energetic Teen SOYO members in a game of full-court basketball last Sunday at Annunciation Cathedral's gym. Yours truly, in honour of my aging knees, declined the honour of playing. (I mean, somebody's got to take the pictures.)


Meanwhile ... back at the "ranch" ... what are these folks so happy about?

"He-e-eY! MacarEna!"

May God bless you all with a bright and profitable Lent.
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YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

What would happen if you received a letter from God? Would your heart pound? Would your mind race? Would your life change?

With The Message®, Eugene Peterson’s best-selling paraphrase of the Bible, you can join the millions of readers who have experienced God’s Word in the form of a personal message.


Psalm 51
3 I know how bad I've been;
my sins are staring me down.
4 You're the One I've violated, and you've seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
5 I've been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
6 What you're after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7 Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,
scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
8 Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.

‘I wanna put on
My-my-my-my boogie shoes...’

Heh heh ... Serge on the new WORD!

HERE.
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Here's Alan Cooperman's Washington Post update [previous links here] on the OCA Synod special Synod meeting in Syosset.

Leaders of the Orthodox Church in America, facing allegations that they mismanaged millions of dollars, rejected calls for an immediate investigation but promised to follow better accounting procedures in the future.

The 400,000-member denomination has been reeling since October from accusations by its former treasurer, Deacon Eric A. Wheeler. He says that during the late 1990s, its top officials diverted donations from agribusiness magnate Dwayne Andreas, U.S. military chaplains and ordinary parishioners, using some of the money to cover credit card debts and pay sexual blackmail ...

SOURCE.
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A little levity (and I do mean little) for a Friday.

Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church ladies' group bake sale in Tuscaloosa, but she forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets she found a dusty old Angel food cake mix in the back of her kitchen cabinet and quickly made it while drying her hair and dressing and helping her son Bryan pack up for Scout camp. But when Alice took the cake from the oven the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured.

She said, "Oh dear, there's no time to bake another cake." This cake was so important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of new friends. So, being inventive and not wanting anyone to think she was not the perfect woman able to handle all things at all times or that, God forbid, she was not participating in her church's bazaar, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake.

Alice found it in the bathroom -- a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect!

Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the minute it opened at 9:30, and to buy that cake and bring it home.

When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found that the attractive perfect cake had already been sold. Now there could be no way to bring it home and keep the secret.

Amanda grabbed her cell phone and called her Mom. Alice was horrified...she was beside herself. Everyone would know...what would they think? "Oh, my goodness; what shall I ever do?" she wailed! She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed. She would have to move or kill herself! All night Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing their fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.

The next day, Alice promised herself that she would try not to think about the cake and she would attend a fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a friend of a friend and try to have a good time. Alice did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa but having already RSVPed she could not think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old South...and to Alice's horror the CAKE in question was presented for dessert.

Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake, she started to get out of her chair to rush into the kitchen to tell her hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautiful cake!"

Alice, who was still stunned and trying to formulate what words she would use to explain the situation, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."

Alice smiled and thought to herself "There is a God."

Thanks to FWD from blog regular, Keith.
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One of the great characters in Anglican (or any) church life has died. The Rev'd Darwin Kirby, Jr, passed away yesterday in North Carolina. I received a call this morning from a lady in Houston -- of all places -- who was searching for info about Fr Kirby and came across my blog thanks to the following post from last year. (The funeral is scheduled for a week from this Saturday, March 11, at St George, Schenectady.)

Trusting in the Lord's mercy, heaven's about to become a lot more colorful.

May God rest his soul with the Saints ...

A dear friend from Pawleys Island, from a long line of Episcopalians, once commented: "For years I'd wondered where all the colorful characters had gone. After becoming Orthodox, I found them."

The author of the following lines, a life-long Episcopalian, died yesterday. I was taught by one of his former Curates, Fr Charles Henery, and worked for another, Fr Andrew Sloane. Thus I heard many stories about Darwin Kirby. I've also had the pleasure of his company on several occasions and he has been a consistent supporter of my Orthodox missionary efforts over the years.

Last year, I found myself without something to read. I picked up Fr Kirby's autobiographical Jottings - Easily Satisfied with the Best, much to my delight. I'd read it years ago but, during this Fast-Free week before Lent, it was just what the doctor ordered. If you're turned off by colorful characters wearing collars, it's definitely rated PG-13, you may wanna stop reading now. What follows are quotes that made me take note or laugh out loud. They also left me longing for another time and age. Fr Kirby was Rector of St George, Schenectady, NY, for 40 years. May his memory be eternal!

(Oh, and "Cheers!")

In Fr Kirby's reminiscing about a favorite Bishop, I thought of my own, Metropolitan PHILIP:

It is inspiring to be in touch with a man of power, imagination, inflexible determination -- one who uses these gifts, not to bend other men, but to serve and enrich them, to fire them with one's own selfless enthusiasm for a greater effort of intelligence and faith. One breathes a long breath of relief that human nature has capacities in it other than predatory and idiotic ...

Father Yates, the Chaplain of General Seminary, said once in a sermon: "God, in His goodness, reveals Himself variously -- breaking up the great splendor into flashes which our littleness can catch, in a poem, in the vivid phrasing of an idea, in someone's way of believing, or hoping, or loving, or enduring. In some perfection of achievement each one of us knows the insight, the inspiration, if only for a brief hour that shakes our lethargic aims and interests into vibrancy, changing, through enrichment, our very own concept of what life might be. These insights we gather and hold and cherish, for we can not want beauty until we see its concrete constituents and weave them into the pattern of our longing ... until we can say, 'This thing or this has quickened me. And this I want by God's help to be, though the way thereto is by fire and a cross and ashes'."

Well, from what I've said, you can discern that he was not "laid back". People use the phrase, "laid back", today, as if it were a compliment. I often wonder, were the Apostles "laid back"? Do you think so? Is that how the Christian Church was built, by being "laid back"? I think it's an excuse for not doing much or not trying very hard. Some people are so "laid back" that they're laid out!

After receiving his Master's at Yale, Fr Kirby decided to enter the priesthood ...

I went to my father's office to tell him about it, and he said, "I don't give a damn what you do with your life, now get out of here, I'm busy." Well, the moment had come, it had happened at last. What I had hoped for, longed for, prayed for would happen. I was on my way!

Here, he relates a story about Fortescue ...

A story I have always enjoyed ... tells of Fortescue one day at Solemn Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York. He was standing near the rear of the church when an usher came up and said, "You are supposed to kneel down here, sir." Fortescue turned to him and said, "Would you get the hell out of here." And the usher replied, "Excuse me, sir, I didn't know you were Catholic."

On churchmanship, greatness, etc ...

He said that he was a moderate churchman. I often wonder what that means -- like the moderately clean or the moderately honest or the moderately truthful.

I think of Gladstone. Once he turned to his wife, after he had received an honorary degree describing him as a very great man, and he asked his wife, "I wonder how many great men there are?" And she replied, "There's one less than you think there are"

On the retirement of a fellow priest and the question of how much does the clergy depend on the warmth and adulation of the laity:

How much do we depend on it? Don said, "I sure as hell am going to find out! I'll find out what people do on Saturday evening instead of having sweating palms, tossing and turning, and being unable to sleep."

On struggles with the hierarchy ...

He first told me that story of a bishop who was speaking and there was something wrong with the microphone. The bishop said, "There's something wrong with this thing." To which everybody shouted back, "And also with you."

Comments from his pal, Don Henning ...

Speaking of a mutual acquaintance, he said, "He rose rapidly in his own esteem. He's everything he says he is and a great deal more."

And to me when I asked if I looked seventy, Bob said, "Not any more."

And to the comment: "I'd rather commit adultery than have a martini," he remarked, "I didn't know there was a choice; hostess, cancel that order."

From his pal, Bob Robinson, et al ...

Following a social gathering, I remarked to him, "Everyone thought you were almost as charming and amusing as I was." He replied, "How unperceptive some people are."

"Rape," he said, "is a technical term which covers a multitude of acquiescence. And, a summer on the beach makes the Darwinian theory utterly convincing." He said, "When you go to the beach, you learn two of the great verities of life: the most perfect work of art is the human body; and secondly, there aren't any!"

He once said that "... after struggling with reality for forty years, I'm glad to say that I have finally won out."

While he was teaching at Brown University, Paul Thompson, priest and Rector at St Stephen's, Providence, became a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. After this happened, Paul Thompson said to Bob Casey, "It's sad -- since I made this step and had this conversion, so many people don't pay any attention to me; they don't speak to me, they just don't seem to like me any more." Bob Casey replied, "Nonsense, Paul, there are lots of people who never liked you in the first place."

On our modern dilemma, Orthodox take note:

The main thrust if this: once Christians were tortured, burnt, and crucified, but the more the Church was persecuted, the stronger it grew. The enemy's latest weapon is much more effective. Don't destroy Christians, isolate them. Keep them busy talking to each other, so they have no time to speak to the unbelieving world outside. The keener the Christian, the more he or she should be loaded with committees. "If you cannot burn them with fire, burn them with meetings," says the Devil. Perhaps this is the Devil's latest weapon for disarming the church.

On his buddy, "Aunt Alice" ...

Speaking of a mutual acquaintance, I once told her that Martha Anderson had died, and Aunt Alice replied, "What a blessing. At least I hope it is for her; it certainly is for everyone else."

After one of our Wardens had died, she inquired, "How is Mrs Peters bearing up?" I replied, "Oh, very well." To which Aunt Alice responded, "Well, she's had lots of practice."

After her marriage to Hewlett Scudder, she became an Episcopalian. She used to say it was very important to keep the word "Protestant" on the title page of the Prayer Book, because it got so many people in under false pretenses. Suddenly you wake up one day and find you are part of the Catholic Church. She gave away Hewlett's wine cellar after his death, and, after meeting so many High Churchmen and being around so many clergy, she realized what a terrible mistake she had made!

On the subject of drinking (as a matter of fact she drank very little), she commented once, "Well, I'll have another drink since we're all going to drink ourselves to death." I observed to her that I had read that people who become alcoholics usually suffer from a sense of inadequacy and have a very low self-esteem. To which she replied, "You must have found this very reassuring."

Claire Green, a neighbor, had a stroke. I told Aunt Alice, who said, "What a relief, I thought she was losing her mind."

On one occasion she asked me to explain what Our Lord meant when he said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." I tried to explain it as best I could, that for the joy that was set before him, because he was going to redeem the world, and so on. She didn't think much of any of these explanations. She concluded by saying, "I don't think he ever said it."

On the ministry to the sick, et al ...

We all have our great moments in this area. I remember Paul Elmen going to a hospital, and some nurse rushed up and asked if anyone could speak Greek. His wife volunteered Father Elmen for this purpose, but all he could think of in Greek when he got to the patient, who was screaming loudly, was to quote the lines from the Iliad about "rosy-fingered dawn on the mountain top". She then screamed louder than ever!

One individual I visited in the psychiatric section said to me that he only had three problems: money, religion and sex. As I left, I wondered what else there is.

In our dealing with people we are often inclined to think that, at least on certain occasions, we are not appreciated. It's good to remember the old saw that ten per cent over-estimate you, ten per cent under-estimate you, and eighty per cent never think of you at all.

On coping with parish ministry, antagonists, etc ...

Anyone could make many random remarks on running the operation, and, here and there, may provoke an insight or a wry smile. We are all sailing and swimming through the same waters. We are all endeavoring to "cope" and to keep the "show on the road" and to "muddle through". And we are all building the New Jerusalem. It is also true that many an ass has entered Jerusalem!

There are a number of people who may best be described by that old phrase: "Lay Popes." Those are the ones who would like to call the shots and run the parish. And, of course, the only rule you can follow is -- "Don't let the bastards get you down." Usually the person who is so gaited is one who has not been fully happy in his career or his family, and uses the Church as an arena in which to exert authority he could not wield elsewhere.

Such is our fallen nature that we sometimes think that Antichrist is very near. We can usually find three or four candidates alive today. We've all met a number of cads. A cad is nature's failure to produce a gorilla. I am talking about our relation with individuals and not with groups of people, such as the House of Bishops.

Speaking personally, I do not consider people with different opinions from mine as congenital idiots. I do not take it as a personal affront, or consider that they are feeble in intellect or inferior in character -- at least not necessarily. It is true that now and then you run into "a second rate second-rater" -- individuals who like to manipulate others to do their bidding. These are the persons who do not want leadership in their priests. They do not want things to be great. They wish to bring a parish down to a lesser dimension so that they will feel more comfortable and not threatened by excellence.

Don Henning's formula was, "Don't speak ill of the dead, just knock the hell out of them while they're still living."

It was Madame de Stael, I think, who said that "... if we knew all, we would forgive all." If we could understand everything about another person -- his background and his life -- we would forgive him and understand and gradually come to like him. I'm sure that this is the road to take. Sometimes at night, when I am saying my prayers, I end by saying -- "God bless all the people that I don't like and all the people who don't like me." And that covers a mighty multitude.

Amen.
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KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A Knoxville firefighter claims she's being discriminated against because she used to be a man.

Fire Capt. Jamie Faucon has filed a grievance against Knoxville Fire Chief Carlos Perez and her supervisor, Mark Foulkes.

She accuses them of depriving her of a take-home car, of reassigning her and cutting out her overtime because she is a transgendered firefighter.

Faucon also says in her grievance Foulkes used incorrect gender terms when referring to her in conversations.

HT Drudge
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Every year I would go to the service of the Great Canon, and it's quite an experience: the darkened candle-lit church, incense smoke twining overhead, golden light glinting off the icons, and chanters singing the verses to ancient Byzantine melodies. After each verse everyone responds, "Have mercy on me, O God," and bows to touch the ground. It's serious, and timeless, and piercingly beautiful, and kindles humility and a yearning to be healed from all the poison within. In every way it contrasts with the image Christians (often deservedly) have in today's culture. I wanted to make it available to more people.

The Great Canon is part of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, but really, it's part of *every* Christian's tradition; we all go back to first century Jerusalem. The Canon makes more sense when you experience it in context, as part of the continuous flow of Orthodox prayer, liturgy, fasting, and sacraments. But I wanted to offer this introductory taste in hopes that it will leave some readers hungry for more.

Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review asks Frederica Mathewes-Green questions about her new book:


1. What is “the Great Canon of St. Andrew” and what’s so great about it?
2. Who was it written for?
3. Who was St. Andrew?
4. What does St. Mary of Egypt have to do with Andrew and his canon?
5. Who is your book written for?
6. Are there aspects of the Canon that are peculiar to the Eastern Orthodox?
7. Is this the kind of spiritual writing that makes converts, or do you have to be pretty intensely prayerful already to get into it?
8. Can you “read” a book like this?
9. Uh, so “Forty Days,” did you write this FOR Lent?
10. For folks who aren’t into Lent, they might know it as the time when some of their friends don’t drink. Something along those lines. Do you “give up” stuff during Lent? How do you look at the forty days? How do you tend to describe it to the uninitiated?
11. What got you interested enough to write this book?
12. Besides your own book, of course, what will you be reading this Lent?

(FM-G's answers available at subject link -- or here for the lazy.)
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COLUMBIA, SC (March 1, 2006) - The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2006 (S1084) passed the S.C. Senate on a voice vote Wednesday ending an eight-year political battle to overcome Senate opponents who say that recognizing an unborn child as a separate victim of crime is a stepping stone to overturning Roe vs. Wade.

The bill now goes to the SC House. The House has passed the Unborn Victims bill three times in eight years only to have it defeated by extremist pro-abortion senators.

The South Carolina Unborn Victims of Violence Act means that when a criminal attacks a pregnant woman and the unborn child is killed or injured, that child is a separate victim and the criminal can be charged with crimes against two victims.

The state legislation parallels the federal "Laci and Connor's Law," which President George W. Bush signed into law in April of 2004. The federal bill is named in memory of murder victims Laci Peterson and her unborn son Connor.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., strongly supports the SC legislation and recently urged the state senate to pass the bill. He was a primary co-sponsor of the federal bill when he served in the U.S. House.

Thanks to FWD from Paul Witt.
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MONTREAL — In a rare public dissent, 19 Catholic priests have denounced the Vatican's opposition to gay marriage and allowing homosexuals into the priesthood.

The priests said the church was invoking "natural law" to make its case against homosexuality, arguing that slavery was also once considered "natural."

"What we are saying is that human nature is constantly evolving," Claude Lemieux, one of the signatories, told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. "We believe this position is closer to that which is shared by our parishioners."

HT News Forum
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by Bishop KALLISTOS (Ware)

It is no coincidence that on the very threshold of the Great Fast, at Vespers on the Sunday of Forgiveness, there is a special ceremony of mutual reconciliation: for without love towards others there can be no genuine fast. And this love for others should not be limited to formal gestures or to sentimental feelings, but should issue in specific acts of almsgiving. Such was the firm conviction of the early Church. The second-century Shepherd of Hermas insists that the money saved through fasting is to be given to the widow, the orphan and the poor. But almsgiving means more than this. It is to give not only our money but our time, not only what we have but what we are; it is to give a part of ourselves. When we hear the Triodion speak of almsgiving, the word should almost always be taken in this deeper sense. For the mere giving of money can often be a substitute and an evasion, a way of protecting ourselves from closer personal involvement with those in distress. On the other hand, to do nothing more than offer reassuring words of advice to someone crushed by urgent material anxieties is equally an evasion of our responsibilities (see Jas. 2: 16). Bearing in mind the unity already emphasized between man's body and his soul, we seek to offer help on both the material and the spiritual levels at once.

'When thou seest the naked, cover him; and hide not thyself from thine own flesh.' The Eastern liturgical tradition, in common with that of the West, treats Isaiah 58: 3-8 as a basic Lenten text.
So we read in the Triodion:

While fasting with the body, brethren, let us also fast in spirit.
Let us loose every bond of iniquity ;
Let us undo the knots of every contract made by violence;
Let us tear up all unjust agreements;
Let us give bread to the hungry
And welcome to our house the poor who have no roof to cover them,
That we may receive great mercy from Christ our God.

Always in our acts of abstinence we should keep in mind St. Paul's admonition not to condemn others who fast less strictly: 'Let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats' (Rom. 14: 3). Equally, we remember Christ's condemnation of outward display in prayer, fasting or almsgiving (Matt. 6: 1-18). Both these Scriptural passages are often recalled in the Triodion:

Consider well, my soul: dost thou fast? Then despise not thy neighbor.
Dost thou abstain from food? Condemn not thy brother.
Come, let us cleanse ourselves by almsgiving and acts of mercy to the poor,
Not sounding a trumpet or making a show of our charity.
Let not our left hand know what our right hand is doing;
Let not vainglory scatter the fruit of our almsgiving;
But in secret let us call on Him that knows all secrets:
Father, forgive us our trespasses, for Thou lovest mankind.

Thanks to FWD from Fr Mark Mancuso.
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