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

NOTE: I have long hair and have spent years dressed in a "Turkish fashion" enduring appreciating many a hierarchical liturgy. I have never aspired to liturgical innovation or revolution. Still, the following words from Fr Thomas Hopko are worth a reading, dissecting, digesting -- or deleting ...

An Orthodox bishop comes to a congregation in his diocese headed by a presbyter. He is greeted at the church door in the most solemn manner. He is wearing a decorated monastic mantia even though he may have never actually lived a monastic life, and never was, and is not now, under monastic obedience to anyone. His clothing is that of the Turkish period. He is wearing a Turkish judge's robe and hat, covered with a monastic veil.

After entering the church, the bishop is solemnly vested in clothing that was once worn by the Byzantine-Roman emperor. He puts on a sakkos (instead of a phelonion), a mitre and decorated crosses and medallions. He carries a staff, stands on an eagle rug and sits on a throne in the nave where the imperial authority used to sit. He may have long hair, the sign of secular authority in Byzantium that was given to the Christian clerics by the Turks, and later adopted in the Russian Empire.

In this solemn liturgical setting, the local pastor and the servers and singers are nervous and scared. They fear making mistakes that will incur the bishop's wrath. The people, for the most part, wonder what all this is about and why it is at all necessary. Some people enjoy it. Others endure it. Others stay home or go to another church on that day. Almost no one, including the clergy themselves, understand it. At this liturgy, the vesting of the bishop and the entrance with the singing of many hymns and multiple intonations of "Many Years, Master (Eis polla eti, Despota)" and many repetitions of the Trisagion, with many petitions and blessings, goes on for a very long time. The scripture readings are read in ways that make them difficult, sometime even impossible to understand because of language, style of chanting, and noise from a clanging incenser with bells on it. There is no sermon explaining the scripture readings, or if there is, it has little or nothing to do with them. Multiple litanies are chanted, which include expulsions of catechumens who are either not there, or don't leave the gathering if they are. The Eucharistic Canon, which is the very heart and highpoint of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, takes only a few minutes. How long it takes depends on the length of the singing. The bishop rushes through the prayers silently and quickly, if he even reads them at all. The faithful people hear only the ends of the sentences of the prayers which, by themselves, make no sense whatsoever.

During and after the liturgy, the bishop asserts his dignity, power and authority over those "under" him according to his understanding of later Byzantine teachings about "ecclesiastical hierarchies." He explains that he has powers and graces that others don't have. He says that he mediates these powers and graces to his "inferiors," i.e. to presbyters, through deacons and sub-deacons and readers, to the "lay people" who no longer have any Christian ministry whatsoever. All power, authority and grace, he teaches, rests in and is derived from the bishop alone, as it were "personally," by virtue of his ordination and consecration that is then theologically explained and defended in an anti-Protestant, counter-Reformation Roman Catholic manner that entered Orthodoxy after the 16th century. In this view, the priesthood is considered to be "one of the seven sacraments" understood as "visible signs conveying invisible graces" instituted by Christ.

Then, to further explain and enforce all of this, teachings of 2nd and 3rd century church fathers are quoted who, in a completely different setting and context, said striking things about the place and ministry of the bishop in the church. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch will be quoted who said that nothing should be done in the church apart from the bishop who "holds the place of God" in the community, and is "God's icon." Or, as another example, St. Cyprian of Carthage is quoted as saying that the bishop is "another Christ." Teachings about the position, authority and service of the bishop by such 4th, 5th and 6th century saints as Ambrose of Milan, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Great are added to demonstrate the bishop's awesome character.

When all of these things are is mixed together without a proper understanding of their original meaning and purpose, both those that are truly Christian and Orthodox, and those that are from alien religious and cultural sources, we have a marvelous example of what Fr. Georges Florovsky called a "pseudomorphosis." This means that words, teachings, rites, symbols and even clothing that meant one thing in their original context come now to mean something completely different in their new setting. The whole thing is misunderstood and distorted, and the door is open to all sorts of conflict, confusion and chaos.

To complete my example, we can add that Orthodox people with virtually no knowledge of the Bible or Church history enter into the liturgical gathering. Some say, "Hey, this is the modern world. We now have democracy, with freedom, equality, liberty and justice for all women and men. What is going on here anyway?" While others say, "We are Orthodox Christians in a traditional, hierarchal church with sacraments, dogmas and canons. Everything in our church is from the Holy Spirit. We must obey the teachings, keep the traditions, enforce the laws and submit to our leaders." And others don't know what to think or say, including many who read the Bible, say their prayers, participate in the sacraments, take up their crosses and desire with
all their hearts to serve God and their neighbors according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the kind of thing that can happen, and does happen, today, not only in North America, but everywhere on earth where there are Orthodox people. I believe that our very existence as the Orthodox Church depends on our attempt to untangle and understand the elements that make up contemporary church life, and to do something about it. Discovering what that "something" is that we must "do about it" for the Church's fruitful life and mission in the world today depends on our common prayer, ascetical practice, study and discussion. But most of all, it depends on our willingness to face reality, both human and divine, and to do God's will, whatever it may be.

Fr Thomas Hopko
Dean Emeritus
St. Vladimir's Seminary

This excerpt was sent to me via email and taken from this site. I've posted it here not in reference to that situation, but as food for thought. Any comments here should address this excerpt. (If you have comments regarding matters pertaining to something else, they should be directed elsewhere.)
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Shocking, but true: Orthodoxy did not begin with American Converts. Conversion to Orthodoxy did not begin with Americans. And, should the Lord tarry, it shall not end with American Converts.

Face it, some people convert to Orthodoxy in order to get married. These may spend their whole lives working out their salvation piously in their new home.

Others may have converted to Orthodoxy because their ruler said to (e.g., Constantine, Vladimir, the Tsars, etc).

Then there's the rest of us.

As a Convert, it's always a joy to see the zeal and thrill of the newfound Faith in the expressions (written, spoken, action, facial) of new Converts. It's also perfectly normal to see this fade or turn sour -- even poisonous -- later on. An American priest teaching a Catechism Class is usually well aware that many of those shiny faces may soon change -- even leave -- worse yet, they may even stay!

EVOLUTION OF [Many] A CONVERT:
Protestant ... Inquirer ... Catechumen ... Newly-Illumined ... Theologian ... Staretz ... Protestant.

But, thank God, there's keepers.

We're a nutty lot, Converts.

All this is to say, it's never too late ...

Buy My Book (multiple copes).

:)

YIKES! I just discovered my PayPal button is not working. Until it's back operational, individualized copies available by email --
orthodixie at aol dot com.
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Sorry. Two lists in a row. But, couldn't resist ...

A woman came home, screeching her car into the driveway, and ran into the house. She slammed the door and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Honey, pack your bags. I won the lottery!"

The husband said, "Oh my God! What should I pack, beach stuff or mountain stuff?"

"Doesn't matter," she said. "Just get out."


Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is a husband.


A Polish immigrant went to the DMV to apply for a driver's license. First, of course, he had to take an eye sight test. The optician showed him a card with the letters:

'C Z W I X N O S T A C Z.'

"Can you read this?" the optician asked.

"Read it?" the Polish guy replied, "I know the guy."


Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them, "I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent."

"Thank God," said an elderly nun at the back. "I'm so tired of chardonnay."


A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.

Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.

"Careful," he said, "CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD!

You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN

THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are

we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK!

Careful . CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen

to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up!

Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them.

You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt.

USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"

The wife stared at him. "What in the world is wrong with you?

You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?"

The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you

what it feels like when I'm driving."

Thanks to FWD from a parishioner.
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A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca - age 8


"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4


"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4


"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7


"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6


"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6


And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Excerpted from a longer list sent in by blog reg, Doug.
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When you think about it, it really all boils down to cartoons ...

"It’s an especially nice touch to suggest that many traditional Christians are upset about the concert segment in which Madonna hangs on a disco-mirrored crucifix because it contains too much religion. This is something like saying that Muslims were upset about the Danish cartoons because they contained too much religion, as opposed to the fact that they contained religious content that they considered offensive."

tmatt on tomatoes.

"But Western reactions to Muslim "days of anger" have followed a familiar pattern, too. Last winter, some Western newspapers defended their Danish colleagues, even going so far as to reprint the cartoons -- but others, including the Vatican, attacked the Danes for giving offense. Some leading Catholics have now defended the pope -- but others, no doubt including some Danes, have complained that his statement should have been better vetted, or never given at all.

I don't mean that we all need to rush to defend or to analyze this particular sermon; [oops, this one] I leave that to experts on Byzantine theology. But we can all unite in our support for freedom of speech -- surely the pope is allowed to quote from medieval texts -- and of the press. And we can also unite, loudly, in our condemnation of violent, unprovoked attacks on churches, embassies and elderly nuns. By "we" I mean here the White House, the Vatican, the German Greens, the French Foreign Ministry, NATO, Greenpeace, Le Monde and Fox News -- Western institutions of the left, the right and everything in between. True, these principles sound pretty elementary -- "we're pro-free speech and anti-gratuitous violence" -- but in the days since the pope's sermon, I don't feel that I've heard them defended in anything like a unanimous chorus. A lot more time has been spent analyzing what the pontiff meant to say, or should have said, or might have said if he had been given better advice."

More here.

HT: THUNDERSTRUCK


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Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain gave as good a summary as any. When he was once asked where the soul goes when it leaves the body, he answered: “Well, when the watch stops working, it goes to the hands of the watchmaker. In the same way, our soul goes into the hands of God.”

He also said this: “When I see Christians cry because their fathers passed away, I am upset, for they neither believe nor understand that death is simply a journey to life of another kind.”

More.

“I emphatically declare that today’s world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet.

“O, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause.”

-- The final act, a prayer, of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s dramatic address at the United Nations (for which he received an uproar of ... applause).

Talk about it.


Manners first developed in Florence during the Renaissance as a method of setting a person apart as a gentleman, and the fashion was later adopted in Britain. It was manners, according to Dr Colin Gill, a chartered psychologist, that allowed society to slowly begin to move away from behaving, on pure instinct, violently.

He said: "We value manners, not only because they promote good behaviour, but, most importantly, they curb bad behaviour. They are the oil that smoothes our path. People feel that society is more hostile and so may act in a more hostile manner. When someone asks a group to stop making such a noise, he gets stabbed or beaten."

If you please, go here.


The Vatican in recent years has tried to clear away some historical baggage, including a 2001 apology by Pope John Paul II for the medieval Crusades, which are widely seen by Muslims and Orthodox Christians as Western invasions. During a visit the same year to Syria, John Paul also became the first pope to visit a mosque.

Benedict's speech found a sympathetic ear among many in the West. A German theologian, the Rev. Martin Schuck, said any backtrack by the pope would amount to "intellectual surrender" to radical Islam. But a professor of Islamic law at Qatar University, Muhammad Ayash al-Kubaisi, proposed another route: A debate with the pope on the history their faiths. His offer, posted last week on the Web site of the Al-Jazeera television network, contends Christians should study their own turbulent past.

Crusaders in 1099 captured Jerusalem and began wholesale attacks on its population, including Muslims and Jews, historians say. At the same time in other parts of the Muslim world, a golden age had its intellectual hub in Baghdad.

In the early 13th century, Crusaders sacked Constantinople, the ancient center of Greek-led Byzantium, in part to use the plunder to fund more forays into Muslim lands. The Byzantine Empire never fully recovered from the blow.

Story.

Pic source.
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Moscow, September 26, Interfax - Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov), former first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, died at a hospital in Mansonville, Canada, on Monday evening, at the age of 97.

Metropolitan Vitaly's condition deteriorated sharply last week, sources in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia told Interfax.

The late metropolitan was the primate of the ROCOR for many years. He was known as an implacable critic of the Moscow Patriarchate for its obedience to the Soviet authorities, ecumenism, etc. It was under him that the ROCOR began opening its parishes in Russia - the policy that the Church Outside of Russia itself was to admit erroneous.

During his last years Metropolitan Vitaly led his Church only nominally due to his old age. In 2001, the ROCOR Council sent him into retirement, but later he declared the Council invalid and was made head of one of the Church's small parts, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia [V], which continued to recognize him and was to split into three irreconcilable church groups, who pulled out from the ROCOR.

Source.
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The late Mike Royko, longtime columnist for the Chicago Tribune, once told of a practical joke that was played on a man in Madison, Wisconsin. This man and three friends were enjoying a fishing trip at a secluded lake. They fished all day. Every night they went to bed at about 10:00 and got up before dawn for more fishing.

One of them, who we'll call Joe, was the first to his bunk one night. He was exhausted, and was snoring within a few minutes.

Then one of his friends had an idea. He got Joe's wristwatch off the dresser and changed the time to 4:45. Then they all got together and changed their own watches, including the alarm clock, to 4:45. The alarm was set to go off at five o'clock, or just fifteen minutes later. Then the conspirators turned off all the lights, took off their clothes, and went to bed.

Fifteen minutes later when the alarm clock went off, they all got up, shuffled around, and made the grumbly, miserable sounds that people usually make early in the morning. One of them put toast and coffee on. The only truly miserable one, of course, was Joe. He sat on the edge of his bed, shaking his head and moaning. He kept looking at his watch and complaining that he felt like he hadn't gotten any sleep.

"I must be getting old," he said as they dropped anchor and began fishing. Every few minutes, he'd glance at his watch and look at the eastern horizon and say: "What time have you got?" "Five-forty," somebody would say.

"Boy, it's dark," Joe would say. And a little later: "What time have you got? "Six," someone would answer.

Then Joe began to get concerned. "Shouldn't it be getting light soon?" By the time his watch said 6:40, he had stopped fishing. He just sat there staring into the darkness. Finally, his voice cracking in genuine terror, he cried: "I'm telling you, something is wrong! It's not getting light today! It's not getting light!"

"It's the end of the world," his buddies hooted. "Doesn't matter," one of them said, "because the fish aren't biting anyway." That's when Joe caught on. And he took it rather well, although they did have to wrestle an oar out of his hands.

Lacking the original article, many thanks to Ron Newhouse at Daily Devotions for preserving this tale.

In a way, you can hear this same sort of exasperation in Simon Peter's voice from today's Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11) :

[Jesus] was standing by the lake of Gennes'aret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."

Peter and the others had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Now, having listened for a good while to the Lord preach, they were being asked to once again go fishing.

You'll have some of this. That is:

There are times when we feel that we have done all that we can do -- we can't do anymore! And, as it happens, this is often the time that the Lord asks the most of us.

And ... as anyone who has ever done it can attest, this is where the blessing -- the increase -- comes in. Simon Peter basically said, "As you will, Lord." And that made all the difference.

And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb'edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

God certainly doesn't play practical jokes on us. But, there are times when we cry: "Something's wrong! There's no light! There should be light!" When, in reality, it is our perception of things that is askew.

God is not on our time. And this is ever evident when we, though wishing to balk, submit our wills to His. In so doing, in laboring on for the Kingdom, we receive the blessing of obedient servants to His holy will. (Though, most often, not within our own desired time.)

The boat represents the Church and the net is filled, to the breaking point -- to the point that the boat is sinking -- with men (male and female) of all stripes, good and bad. Our job is not to separate the bad from the "keepers" -- but to be "fishers of men" for the Kingdom of God. In obedience, we labour; in His providence, God, the righteous judge, provides the increase.

Yet, we are not appointed to do this alone. Our Lord, truly God and truly Man, chose the 12, the 70, and the many women disciples. He was visited in the Garden of Gethsemene and comforted by an Angel. Aided by Simon of Cyrene, He did not bear His Cross alone.

No, our Lord does not appoint us to this work individually, but collectively. He gives us family, friends, co-workers -- in the Church. (Notice, in today's Gospel passage, they even had to enlist the help of another boat of helpers to assist the catch.)

Let us, fishers of men, labour together for the increase of the Kingdom. When, at times, there seems to be something wrong -- no light; when we have laboured all night and caught nothing -- Let us be mindful of the Good God Who provides the increase to those who love Him, answering His call to do His holy will.
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"Whatever you do, on no account condemn anyone; do not even try to judge whether a person is good or bad, but keep your eyes on that one evil person for whom you must give an account before God - yourself."

- St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, THE ARENA

Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham.
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Osama bin Laden is dead.

Zorastrians are dying, too.

Thanks to Muhammed, many lost their heads.

Here's an example of a head poorly used.
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Madonna (not this one) said:

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

Yes, well ... no.

Story.
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"A recent topic in the news has been the remarks of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg University. Well, to be accurate, his remarks have not been in the news so much as the reaction of the moslem world. We in the west see clearly the irony of moslems who use violence to demonstrate that Islam is not inherently violent! What we westerners, we Catholics, and dare I say we Anglicans do not see clearly is the point that his holiness was trying to make in his brief speech. He was addressing not Islam but Europe and America, and asserting that our failure in the West is the error of secularism. Secularism, of course, is the error of attempting to separate faith from the rest of our lives. Especially in America we face a culture that views religion as a private affair and tries to relegate all religious discourse to private venues. Christians, of course, know better. We know that our relationship to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is not something we can keep sequestered away in some little closet or other out-of-the-way part of our lives. Our faith, if it is to be at all real, must be the compass that guides our actions, the map that charts our course, and the force that sustains our being. The biggest enemy of Christianity, bigger even than the false imaginings of Islam, is secularism. Rather than trying to compartmentalize our lives we should try even harder to ensure that our religion spreads into our work, our study, our friendships."

From Anglo-Catholic Musings -- thanks to FWD from blog reg, Keith.
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"As the world's attention is drawn to events in the war against terrorism, the focus is on disturbing extremism expressed by militant factions of Islam. Reports are filed almost daily on terrorist activities breaking out with alarming regularity in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia.

While in determined pursuit of terrorists responsible for 9/11, the U.S. and its allies find themselves entangled in an ideological confrontation with the Islamic world whose borders transcend national boundaries. As the bulwark of religious freedom, the U.S. still treads carefully, referring to the attack on the supposedly peaceful Muslim religion. Ironically, many Islamic leaders continue to interpret this assault from the West as one against Islam; they traditionally regard non-Muslims as historic enemies anyway with whom they are in a perpetual state of Jihad (armed struggle for the advancement of Islam), according to the Koran. And the U.S. is viewed as one of the remaining infidel strongholds in the world.

This chilling revelation flies in the face of the politically comfortable notion that extremism is the way of only a "few fanatics or fundamentalists." A trip back to the 14-Century history of Islam reveals a record filled with genocidal wars against non-Muslims ... In the brutal Islamization process historical nations and cities in Anatolia lost their names and their heritage. The people living there for centuries ... were destroyed, driven out, or forced into degrading dhimmitude -- a demeaning condition of cultural and religious bondage.

This condition of conquered Christians does allow for an ultimate religious conversion -- from Christians to Muslims ..."

-- Taken from the preface of The Janissary Factor ... in the Name of God, a novel by Steven P. Stamatis.

And now ... an opposing view.
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The following tips are [excerpted] from Mother Pelagia of Lesna Convent, who prefaces them with the remark: "Orthodox families train their children from a very early age to acquire religious habits, in some of which I was myself, as a Protestant, brought up."

1 - Prayers are said morning and evening, either together as a family or individually.

2 - A blessing (grace, we called it) is said by the head of the family before a meal, and a prayer of thanks afterward.

3 - On entering a room where there is an icon, cross yourself before it and say a brief prayer.

4 - When leaving one's dwelling, make the sign of the cross over the door and pray for its protection.

5 - On seeing a priest, abbot or abbess, or even when phoning them or writing to them, always ask their blessing.

6 - Before going to bed, make the sign of the cross over it and pray for protection during sleep.

7 - When you hear of anyone's death, immediately say a prayer for their eternal memory.

8 - If discussing or planning the future say: "As God wills."

9 - If you offend or hurt anyone, say as soon as possible, "Forgive me," always trying to take the blame yourself.

10 - If something turns out well, say "Praise be (to God)."

11 - If something turns out badly, if there is pain, sickness or any kind of trouble, say "Praise be to God for all things," since God is all good and, though we might not understand the purpose of these things, undoubtedly they have been permitted by God.

12 - If you begin some task, say, "God help me," or of someone else's working: "May God help you." (How sad that this expression is so perverted in the modern exclamation "God help you!")

13 - Cross yourself and say a brief prayer before even the shortest journey by car.

14 - When you receive a blessing after prayer, always remember to thank God; it if is a small thing, you may add a prayer of thanksgiving to your daily prayers or make and offering. For matters of greater import, ask a priest [for a special remembrance such as] ... the Thanksgiving Molieben.

But NEVER neglect to give thanks.

Compiled from The Shepherd.
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Question: What was the intended outcome of the Pope's words (quoted or otherwise) on Islam? And, for all Christians, what should now be our response?

GetReligion's got links to links.

Some may have to deal with the outcome more than others.

Did you hear about the new church in Afghanistan?

Are our views on the Muslim-Rage-of-the-Moment forming us or just scaring us?

Then there's this new cartoon controversy.

One last question: How are the Evangelical-Enough-to-work-for-the-Apocalypse-Crowd dealing with this? (I mean, there was a time when they believed the Pope to be playing for the other side.)

Blipverts: A blipvert is a high speed commerical condensed into a few seconds. It becomes embed in the viewers mind. It brings up ratings because it prevents the viewer from changing the channel.

In "Max Headroom," Blipverts are super-compressed TV ads that have the unfortunate side effect of exploding your head.
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Remembrance of wrongs is the consummation of anger, the keeper of sins, hatred of righteousness, ruin of virtues, poison of the soul, worm of the mind, shame of prayer, cessation of supplication, estrangement of love, a nail stuck in the soul, pleasureless feeling cherished in the sweetness of bitterness, continuous sin, unsleeping transgression, hourly malice.
– John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent (LDA), p.87.

Whenever we become obsessed by some past event in which we perceive that we have been wronged, we give the devil ample opportunity to lead us toward greater temptation. We forget that our warfare is not with each other! We are to engage in spiritual warfare against the Enemy of our salvation and his willing hosts, the demons. When we remember wrongs we fall prey to the Father of Lies and engage in combat with our fellow brothers and sisters.

St John of Kronstadt writes:

“The Devil cunningly induces us – instead of irritating us against himself – to notice our neighbors' sins, to make us spiteful and angry with others, and to awaken our contempt towards them, thus keeping us in enmity with our neighbors, and with the Lord God Himself. Therefore, we must despise the sins, the faults themselves, and not our brother who commits them at the Devil’s instigation, through infirmity and habit; we must pity him, and gently and lovingly instruct him, as one who forgets himself, or who is sick, as a prisoner and the slave of his sin. But our animosity, our anger towards the sinner only increases his sickness, oblivion, and spiritual bondage, instead of lessening them; besides this, it make us ourselves like madmen, or sick men, the prisoners of our own passions, and of the Devil, who is the author of them” [My Life in Christ (MLC), p.166].

The victory over this plague, remembrance of wrongs, is true repentance and a sincere struggle to love.

“The forgetting of wrongs is a sign of true repentance. But he who dwells on them and thinks that he is repenting is like a man who thinks he is running while he is really sleeping” [LDA, p.89].

“He who has obtained love has banished revenge; but he who nurses enmities stores up for himself untimely labours” [LDA, p.87].

How true! We can expend a great amount of energy in being, and remaining, mad at someone. Nursing enmities gives birth to sleeplessness, mental and emotional preoccupation, thoughts of evil, and worse. True love, God-pleasing love, bears the sweet fruits of repentance, forgiveness, compassion, and charity.

"True love willingly bears privations, troubles, and labours; endures offenses, humiliations, defeats, sins, and injustices, if they do not harm others; bears patiently and meekly the baseness and malice of others, leaving judgment to the all-seeing God, the righteous Judge, and praying that He may teach those who are darkened by senseless passions” [MLC, p.236] .

May we be vigilant in our repentance, our forgetting of wrongs and “hurt feelings.” Let us put aside our weapons used for mutual destruction and embrace the Love that is Christ in order to do God-pleasing warfare with the Enemy of our salvation.
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I think that all over America, in zip codes blue and red, evangelical megachurches should get organized and have thousands of people pile into church buses and head over to their local NBC affiliates with signs and bullhorns and march around and around in a peaceful, non-violent manner, chanting: “God made you special and he loves you very much! God made you special and he loves you very much! God made you special and he loves you very much!”

What's this, you ask? GO HERE.

(Oh great. Now I've got the song "The Bunny ... the bunny .. Ew, I love the bunny ..." going through my head.)

ALSO: Speaking of Veggie Tales ... Would you say that they're work is a true representation of the the Religion of Peas?
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict's recent pronouncement has many in the Christian world -- and beyond -- up in arms. He said, and I quote: "The Protestant Reformation has split the church." Reaction was swift among Protestant leaders.

Elsewhere ...

"Lyndsay Moseley was no longer inspired by the evangelical Christian faith of her youth. As an environmental activist, she believed that it offered little spiritual support for her work and was overly focused on opposing abortion and gay marriage."Source.
HT: THUNDERSTRUCK

To this, Pope Benedict said, and I quote: "Abortion and gay marriage are STILL wrong! Lyndsay Mosely, grow up!"

The Pope didn't stop there. He also said, and I quote: "People who listen to Hip Hop have more sex, commit more crime." (This was, perhaps, an error. As someone later pointed out to the pontiff, that's actually called dancing. However, he was unbending. Later stating, and I quote: "Hip Hop ain't music!")

The Muslim world was outraged when the holy father went on to say, and I quote: "I am not a Muslim. Never have been a Muslim. Never will be a Muslim!" Source.

"The Pope should have been very careful about his utterances; what he said was nothing but blasphemy," Muslim Personal Law Board Member Kamal Farooqi told the Times of India newspaper. Source.

From the popular "What Would Jesus Do?" lobby came this reply.

Furthermore, the Pope infuriated Muslims, Jews, and PETA by delivering his entire speech in Pig Latin.

I think all of this might actually have happened, and I quote, but I might be mistaken.
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by Fr Alexander Schmemann

On September 14th, for centuries, when the feast of the Elevation of the Cross was celebrated in cathedrals, the bishop would take his place in the center of the church and, surrounded by a great assembly of clergy, would majestically raise the cross high over the crowd and bless the worshippers on all four sides of the church while the choir thundered in response, "Lord have mercy!" This was the celebration of Christian empire, an empire born under the sign of the Cross on that day when Emperor Constantine saw a vision of the Cross high in the sky and heard the words "In this sign conquer ..." This is the feast of Christianity's triumph over kingdoms, cultures and civilizations, the feast of that Christian world which now lies in ruins, still crumbling before our very eyes.

Yes, the solemn, ancient rite will once again be celebrated this year. The choir will still be joyfully singing that "the Cross is the strength of kings, the Cross is the beauty of the universe." But today, the tumultuous metropolis surrounding the church does not participate in that hidden triumph and is completely unconnected to it. Its millions of inhabitants will go on with their normal lives and their usual ups and downs, interests, joys, and sorrows, with no reference whatsoever to the goings-on within the church building. Why then do we keep repeating words about universal triumph, and singing over and over again that the Cross is unconquerable? Sadly, we have to admit that many, many Christians are unable to answer this question. They are accustomed to seeing the church in exile and on the margins of life, exiled from culture, life, schools and from everywhere. Many Christians are content and undisturbed when the authorities contemptuously allow them to 'observe their rites" as long as they are quiet and obedient, and do not interfere in the building of a world where there is no Christ, no faith, and no prayer. Those tired Christians have almost forgotten what Christ said on the night he went to the Cross: "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33).

It seems to me that we continue to celebrate the Elevation of the Cross and repeat ancient words of victory not simply to commemorate an old battle that was won, or to recall a past that no longer exists, but in order to reflect more deeply on the meaning of the word "victory" for Christian faith. It may be that only now, stripped as we are of outward power and glory, government support, untold wealth, and of all apparent symbols of victory, are we capable of understanding that all of this was, perhaps, not genuine victory. Yes, the cross raised above the crowds was in those days covered with gold and silver and adorned with precious stones. Yet neither gold, nor silver, nor precious stones can erase the original meaning of the Cross as an instrument of humiliation, torture, and execution on which a man was nailed, a man rejected by all, gasping from pain and thirst. Do we have the courage to ask ourselves: if all those Christian kingdoms and cultures died, if victory was replaced by defeat, was it not because we Christians became blind to the ultimate meaning and genuine content of Christianity's most important symbol? We decided that gold and silver would be allowed to eclipse this meaning. And we decided as well that God desires our worship of the past.

To honor the Cross, to raise it up, to sing of Christ's victory: does this not mean, above all, to believe in the Crucified One and to believe that the Cross is a sign of staggering defeat? For only because it is a defeat, and only to the measure it is accepted as defeat, does the Cross become victory and triumph. No, Christ did not enter the world to win outward victories. He was offered a kingdom, but refused. And at the very moment of his betrayal to death, He said: "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53). Yet, Christ was never more a king than when He walked to Golgotha carrying his own cross on his shoulders while the hate-filled and mocking crowd surrounded him. His kingship and power were never more obvious than when Pilate brought him before the crowd, dressed in purple, condemned to a criminal's death, a crown of thorns on his head, and Pilate telling the raging mob: "Behold your king." Only here can the whole mystery of Christianity be seen, for Christianity's victory resides within the joyful faith that here, through this rejected, crucified and condemned man, God's love began to illumine the world and a Kingdom was opened which no one has power to shut.

Each of us, however, must accept Christ and receive him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our hope. Otherwise, outward victories are all meaningless. Perhaps we needed this outward defeat of the Christian world. Perhaps we needed poverty and rejection to purge our faith of its earthly pride and of its trust in outward power and victory, to purify our vision of the Cross of Christ, which is raised high above us even when neither we nor the world can see it. In spite of everything, the Cross is still elevated, exalted and triumphant. 'The Cross is the beauty of the universe." For in whatever darkness people find themselves, and however great the outward triumph of evil in this world, the heart still knows and hears the words, "Take courage, I have overcome the world."

[Taken from, "Celebration of Faith" Sermons, Vol. 2, "The Church Year" by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, 1994.]

Stolen, with gratitude, from Jean-Michel.

Oh! And, as promised & lest I forget, Happy Church New Year to Subdeacon Lawrence and all those following the so-called Old Calendar!
May God grant you many years!
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"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.' "

The story.

Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham.
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Houston is known for its hospitals. Like, say, Texas Medical Center. Hospitals have elevators. Houston has lots of -- many, many, many -- elevators.

In the past year, I have become a quick study of elevator-ology. Assuming it's all spiritual warfare, please pardon my diversion to and fro a few floors of logic here -- perhaps even a good word or two -- while I speak of elevators.

Push the button, up or down. And wait. Sometimes you wait a long

long


Long

time ...

to go a couple floors.

That's if you're lucky.

Actually, if you're lucky ...

You might even know WHERE you're going -- And get there in good time.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE HAVE A WINNER!

Many times, if you're like me, you're just winging your way through most of this chaos and, thank God and an over-worked Guardian Angel, you eventually make your destination.

Diversion ...

Back in North Carolina, for 8 years, I volunteered at a local Roman Catholic hospital. This meant that once a month I called on the new, critical, and recommended patients for eight hours. It was a small enough place that I got to know my way around. But, every now and then, I'd have a seemingly long and panic-laden dream wherein I was lost in the bowels of an infinitely large hospital ... and no matter my mapping, moving, and moping ... I was hopelessly lost.

Till I awoke, that is. That's the way the dream always ended, with me waking. That hospital wasn't that big so, hey, just a bad dream.

Aha!

Come back with me to the present moment; a few days ago.
The dream, cleaned up and real, was -- well -- real.

I thought I was on a certain floor and I pushed the elevator car's button accordingly. This took me to a very nice floor, which was wrong nonetheless. Not knowing of my error I wondered around for a few minutes, muttering to myself and looking for a friendly face -- any face -- to no avail. I finally twisted my way back to the elevator and there met a man who, upon inquiry, drove home the fact that I was on the WRONG floor. Well ... yeah! Of course! (It was all so bizarre I wondered if HE were an angel.)

When I finally arrived at the correct one, I hit the floor running. No probs, mate.

But, I remembered the dream. And, upon entering my destination -- the room of a young parishioner -- I related my experience, and the dream, to the parishioner's mom. Which led to her telling me of one of her dreams -- which also involved elevators and hospitals.

Friends, this brings us back, full circle, to the point where you started reading this poor blog post titled, "Elevator-ology."

[One more diversion ... As you probably know, I rarely turn on the TV. But, the other night I did. I poked around to T. D. Jakes (who really can be fine entertainment) and my 4-year old princess, Helen, said: "Dad, he said 'God' -- this is a show about God!" Affirming her, she and I watched for about 5 minutes till she suddenly hopped up and said, "Sorry, Dad ... I've got to get away from all this yelling." Ha! ]

Anyway.

Elevators.

Sometimes, you push the button (let's say the DOWN button) and you wait. You stare. You speak to passers-by. You move out of the way when the UP car releases passengers ...

Now, friends, here is where you might make your first mistake. The elevator may change from UP to DOWN in the same instant. And, if not paying attention, you may miss your flight. Worse still, others may decide to jump on it at the last minute thereby doubling your discomfort about yourself and your place in this, oh, planet.

Fools.

You, of course, hate fools. Those are the ones that hop on the elevator --- whichever, UP or DOWN, direction it's heading -- deciding any direction is better than none. You know the ones, they beckon you to join them justifying it by saying, "Oh, we'll just ride it down and it'll come back up!" (Yes. Well, duh!)

Then again, even fools are right every now and then.

(Don't that make you mad?)

So, anyway, you stand there and wait for the LIGHT or the DING or BOTH. (I've even waited so long that the LIGHT and DING didn't register, among multiple doors, and therefore, missing BOTH, I was the fool who missed the car either way! It's really bad when those who rode it down come back up and stare at you missing the car again. Anyway ...)

The theology part.

Sometimes we are tempted to get on the full car, much like the one pictured above, knowing full well that we should wait and be patient. Sometimes we, foolishly, decide to go DOWN a while assuming we'll be going UP again soon. This is a waste of time. At other times, we miss our opportunity to get on board due to lack of attention, distractions. Then there's the awful mistake of relying on others ... "Fourth floor, please" ... to do the right thing (punch the button) for us. Gee, can that ever be frustrating! Etc.

If you read the above paragraph within the context of our spiritual quest, you get the picture.

Till this point I've failed to mention one scenario that happens:

You -- even a group of people -- stand there waiting on an elevator car only to realize, after 5-10 minutes, that no one has even pushed a button.

In short, when it comes to salvation, it's best to plan your destination, ask assistance of qualified guides, don't waste time, prepare accordingly and ...

well ...

just take the stairs.
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Part One
Part Two
Part Three

In this, our final model on the nature of the Church, we visit the Fourth Gospel, that of St John the Evangelist. This Gospel, due to its doctrinal teachings, is considered the First Gospel (in honour) by the Orthodox Church. Herein we read:

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” [John 20:24-29]

Why did Thomas not see the Risen Lord when the others did? Because he was not part of the assembly -- the Church! We must be part of the Church to experience the Risen Lord. It is in the Church that we not only see, but partake of the Lord’s Body. By partaking of the Body, we grow in the likeness of the Body. How do we see God? Our Lord Himself, in the Beatitudes, says “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Our hearts are purified by the Sacrament of Confession which culminates in the partaking of the Lord’s precious Body and Blood. We long to experience the Risen Lord in our lives. At times we, like Thomas, are perhaps cut off from seeing God in our lives by our hardness of heart. The remedy, as Thomas found out, is to be (re)united with the Body of believers through participation in the life of the Church. The Church is the Lord’s Body. For us to experience the Body, we must be part of it. For us to experience the Resurrection, we must be part of it! We are part of the Body and the Resurrection of Christ through Repentance (Confession), Baptism & Communion.

We find this definition in the Orthodox Study Bible:

CHURCH: The faithful are called out of the world to be the Church the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the New Israel, the ark of salvation, the assembly of the faithful. Through the Church, Christians are united to Christ and to each other. In this community, the believer receives the grace of God through the sacraments and hears the truth of the gospel. This mystical transformation of people into one body in Christ takes place in the Eucharist. Because Christ is the Head of the Church, the Church is a reflection of the Incarnation, with both human and divine qualities [(see 1 Corinthians 1016, 17; Galatians 616; Ephesians 412; 522-32) p.795].

Back when I was a kid, an old announcer used to end his radio program saying, “Don’t stay home from church talking about all the hypocrites who are there ... there’s always room for one more.”

God willing, see you in church!
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Under the new rules, you can be called a hypocrite for upholding old standards of virtue that you don't exemplify perfectly; but you can't be called a hypocrite for sinking into utter moral squalor, as long as you profess to believe there's nothing wrong with it. So the defender of traditional morality is kept constantly on the defensive, since only he can be accused of hypocrisy.

MORE.

Thanks to FWD from Fr. Miguel Grave de Peralta.
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Come, ye faithful, let us bow down before the life-creating Tree, whereon of His own will Christ, the King of glory, stretching forth His hands, hath raised us up to our former blessed state, of which the enemy of old deprived us through pleasure, causing us to be driven out of paradise by God! Come, ye faithful, let us bow down before that by which we have been vouchsafed to crush the heads of the invisible foe! Come, all ye peoples of our fatherland, let us honour the Cross of the Lord with hymns, crying Rejoice, O Cross, thou perfect deliverance of fallen Adam; for in thee do most faithful rulers boast, for through thy power are the Moslem hordes mightily subdued! And now, venerating with fear thee upon whom God was nailed, we Christians render glory, saying O Lord Who wast nailed thereto, have mercy upon us, in that Thou art good and lovest mankind!
-- Hymn from Orthros, Elevation of the Holy Cross

We truly have but one enemy; that is, the enemy of our salvation, the Devil. And, in spiritual warfare, there is no greater weapon than the sign of the Life Giving Cross of Christ. It is the Cross that subdues the enemy! It is the Cross that delivers fallen mankind! It is the Cross that is victorious!

O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory to Orthodox Christians over their adversaries. And by Thy Cross, preserve Thy habitation.
-- Troparion of the Cross

The image above is of St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church with the Twin Towers in the background. The church building was crushed with the collapse of the towers five years ago.
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Click here for the Church Year.

Angels from Heaven invisibly circle the life-bringing Cross in fear, and seeing it now brilliantly shed light-bestowing Grace upon the faithful, amazed they stand and cry to thee such words as these:

Rejoice, O Cross, guardian of the world!
Rejoice, the glory of the Church!
Rejoice, thou that dost bountifully gush forth
with healings!
Rejoice, thou that dost enlighten the ends of
the earth!
Rejoice, wood-fragrant with life, and treasury of
wonders!
Rejoice, fitly-joined, thrice-blessed, and bestower of Grace!

Rejoice, for thou art the divine footstool!
Rejoice, for thou wast ordained for the
worship of all!
Rejoice, bowl of nectar, full to the brim!
Rejoice, torch of the radiance above!
Rejoice, thou through which the creation
is blessed!
Rejoice, thou through the Creator is worshipped!
Rejoice, O Tree most blessed!

O thou thrice-blessed and all-worshipped Cross of Christ, all we the faithful venerate and magnify thee, being joyous at thy divine Exaltation. But as the trophy and unconquered weapon that thou art, by thy Grace, protect, cover, and shelter those who cry to thee:

Rejoice, O Tree most blessed!

Taken from the Akathist Hymn to the Spiritual Ladder, the Precious Cross (Jordanville, 1994).

The image above displays the largest fragment in existence of the True Cross. It is preserved at the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou on Mount Athos.
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Jan Bear keeps us waiting these days, but she's back on the topic of those forced Fox-reporter-Islamic-conversions.

Dr Anthony Esolen ... well, in his own words:

Still, whores are whores, and an Anglican vicar who converts to Hinduism and worships Ganesh the elephant god has planted his household firmly in the red-light district. The head-banging comedy of it all is that the vicar still insists that he is a Christian, and apparently has retained his position in good standing as a man of the cloth. "Swinging helps me love my wife all the more!"

MORE.

Then there's this guy. He claims he's Jesus. No, I mean really. Jesus Christ. THAT Jesus ...
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This 16th century icon, the Korsun Mother, is taken from the Index of Early Christian and Byzantine Image Pages -- a wonderful site!

For most American Orthodox, today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. (Check here for a complete look at the Church year.)

These Orthodox, though they'll wait 13 days to celebrate this Feast, are celebrating an upcoming union ... long in coming. Today, all Orthodox rejoice!


By Fr Alexander Schmemann

The Church's veneration of Mary has always been rooted in her obedience to God, her willing choice to accept a humanly impossible calling. The Orthodox Church has always emphasized Mary's connection to humanity and delighted in her as the best, purest, most sublime fruition of human history and of man's quest for God, for ultimate meaning, for the ultimate content of human life. If in Western Christianity veneration of Mary was centered upon her perpetual virginity, the heart of the Orthodox Christian East's devotion, contemplation, and joyful delight in Mary has always been her Motherhood, her flesh and blood connection to Jesus Christ. The East rejoices that the human role in the divine plan is pivotal.

The Son of God comes to earth, God appears in order to redeem the world, He becomes human to incorporate man into His Divine vocation, but humanity takes part in this. If it is understood that Christ's "co-nature" with us is Christianity's greatest joy and depth, that He is a genuine human being and not some phantom or bodiless apparition, that He is one of us and forever united to us through his humanity, then devotion to Mary also becomes understandable, for she is the one who gave Him His human nature, His flesh and blood. She is the one through whom Christ can always call Himself "The Son of Man."

Son of God, Son of Man... God descending and becoming man so that man could become divine, could become a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), or as the teachers of the Church expressed it, "deified." Precisely here, in this extraordinary revelation of man's authentic nature and calling, is the source of that gratitude and tenderness which cherishes Mary as our link to Christ and, in Him, to God. And nowhere is this reflected more clearly than in the Nativity of the Mother of God. Nothing about this event is mentioned anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. But why should there be? Is there anything remarkable, anything especially unique about the normal birth of a child, a birth like any other? And if the Church began to commemorate the event with a special feast it was not because the birth was somehow unique or miraculous or out of the ordinary; but because on the contrary, the very fact that it is routine discloses something fresh and radiant about everything we call "routine" and ordinary, it gives new depth to the "unremarkable" details of human life. What do we see in the icon of the feast when we look at it with our spiritual eyes? There on a bed lies a woman, Anna according to Church tradition, who has just given birth to a daughter.

Next to her is the child's father, Joachim according to the same tradition. A few women stand by the bed washing the newborn baby for the first time. The most routine, unremarkable event. Or is it? Could it be that the Church is telling us through this icon that every birth, every entrance of a new human being into the world and life is a miracle of miracles, a miracle that explodes all routine, for it marks the start of something unending, the start of a unique, unrepeatable human life, the beginning of a new person. And with each birth the world is itself in some sense created anew and given as a gift to this new human being to be his life, his path, his creation.

This feast therefore is first a general celebration of Man's birth, and we no longer remember the anguish, as the Gospel says, "for joy that a human being is born into the world" (Jn 16:21). Secondly, we now know whose particular birth, whose coming we celebrate: Mary's. We know the uniqueness, the beauty, the grace of precisely this child, her destiny, her meaning for us and for the whole world. And thirdly, we celebrate all who prepared the way for Mary, who contributed to her inheritance of grace and beauty. Today, many people speak of heredity, but only in a negative, enslaving and deterministic sense. The Church believes also in a positive spiritual heredity. How much faith, how much goodness, how many generations of people striving to live by what is high and holy were needed before the tree of human history could bring forth such an exquisite and fragrant flower-the most pure Virgin and All Holy Mother! And therefore the feast of her Nativity is also a celebration of human history, a celebration of faith in man, a celebration of man. Sadly, the inheritance of evil is far more visible and better known.

There is so much evil around us that this faith in man, in his freedom, in the possibility of handing down a radiant inheritance of goodness has almost evaporated and been replaced by cynicism and suspicion... This hostile cynicism and discouraging suspicion are precisely what seduce us to distance ourselves from the Church when it celebrates with such joy and faith this birth of a little girl in whom are concentrated all the goodness, spiritual beauty, harmony and perfection that are the elements of genuine human nature. In and through this newborn girl, Christ-our gift from God, our meeting and encounter with Him-comes to embrace the world. Thus, in celebrating Mary's birth we find ourselves already on the road to Bethlehem, moving toward to the joyful mystery of Mary as the Mother to God.

Taken from "Celebration of Faith" Sermons, Vol. 3, "The Virgin Mary," by the late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, 1995.

Thanks to FWD from Jean-Michel -- especially, again, for THIS WONDERFUL SITE.
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Fr Aris Metrakos of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Columbia, SC -- pictured here (L) with Fr David Hudson (R) -- rarely pulls punches.

This article -- There is an American Orthodoxy-- is a worthy read.

A couple excerpts ...

A myth needs to be debunked. It goes like this: Orthodox unity is years away because there is no such thing as "American Orthodoxy". Call it an ecclesiastical instead of urban legend if you want. It's been in circulation for at least two decades among the Orthodox Christians of the United States and it keeps us frozen in a state of tribalism and territorialism that prevents us from planting Orthodoxy more firmly in America.

This myth is advanced by people who focus on what the Church in the United States is not. Ok, so we don't have a 1500 year-old monastic tradition. It's also true that most of our people have never been to a vigil. And yes, the typical American churchgoer doesn't know Seraphim Rose from Pete Rose.

But to say that these "shortcomings" imply that there is no American Orthodox identity is like saying there is no such thing as American soccer because our fans don't pummel one another and our announcers don't scream "G-O-O-O-A-A-L!"

AND ...

I'm a patriot, but I'll admit that Americans can suffer from hubris. American Orthodox Christians are drowning in it. Most of us know it all -- just ask us!

A choir member of forty years laughs openly at a priest that tries to explain what the "first tone" is not realizing that if she had even the smallest grasp of the relationship between the notes in the ecclesiastical modes, it would take her choir just ten minutes instead of an hour to learn a simple hymn.

A longtime member of the Ladies' group stands up at a meeting and asks, "Where the h--- did Father come up with this fast before Christmas?"

A Sunday School teacher fails to take advantage of a seminar offered at a neighboring parish because she "already knows it all."

A businessman is asked to run for Parish Council because "he has so much to offer the Church" even though he attends Liturgy sporadically, doesn't participate in the sacraments, has no consistent prayer life, and doesn't give sacrificially.

Knowing that you don't know much is a sign of maturity. Do we want to move from adolescence into adulthood? Then we need to swallow our pride and admit that the first step in acquiring an adult faith is authentically uttering, "I don't know."

(Here's the link again.)

Thanks to FWD from a blog reader.
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In one model of “the Church,” we saw obedience, boldness, fear, and awesome wonder. Another model involved forgiveness of debt, hypocrisy, and justice. We continue our study on the nature of the Church with one of our Lord’s most famous stories, that of the Good Samaritan, taken from the Gospel according to St Luke.

Then Jesus answered and said “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you’.” [Luke 10:30-35]

Remembering a concise Orthodox definition of Christ’s mission – “Christ came to do two things: Establish a Church & destroy death” – Which do you see involved here?

ANSWER: This is a MODEL for the Church!

No other parable so perfectly represents the sacramental nature of the Church than that of the Good Samaritan. The wounded man represents fallen humanity. The two men who passed by represent the Law and the Prophets. The Good Samaritan is Christ Himself. The pouring on of oil and wine (Unction) symbolizes healing -- the cleansing of sins. This leads to the inn; the inn is the Church. The two denerii that Christ leaves symbolize the two dominical Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. It is these Sacraments that shall sustain humanity until Christ’s Second Coming.

In our fourth and final model we’ll look at the Church through the eyes of the assembly and a doubting disciple.
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Your Town, USA - Everyone thought Victor Milsner had lost his marbles when he suggested a change of venue for the weekly choir rehearsal. The Court of Palms assisted living center, however, thought his idea brilliant. Since then, the choir has doubled in size and two of the Orthodox lapsed have been reconciled to the Church ... all outside the walls of St Anthony's.

Fr Matthew Swanson says the idea was conceived when he went to take Communion to a parishioner and heard a so-so Country crooner regaling the elderly and ailing with old Country songs such as "Looking For Love in All the Wrong Places," "Swingin," and "White Lightening." "Why in the world do we, the Church, not provide a little more uplifting 'entertainment' for people in the twilight of life?" Swanson thought. "I mean, those Country songs may have meant something to them at one time ... but, really."

After hearing Fr Matt's description of the scene, Dr Milsner, who has directed the choir at St Anthony's for seven years, had an idea: "Why don't we have our weekly rehearsals at Court of Palms?" The retirement center is only three miles from St Anthony's and they even provided the music stands and sound system. "All we needed to do was bring our own voices and music books," Milsner said.

"We love having them here," Court of Palms director Cindy Cromwell said. "We always struggle to provide quality entertainment for our residents. With St Anthony's rehearsing here, we not only provide uplifting entertainment -- but, forgive me, the price is right!"

Word spread quickly that St Athony's was "performing" each week at Court of Palms and before long other area churches asked to do the same. "Well, it evolved into a more complicated endeavor," said Cromwell. "But, complications can be beautiful. Currently there are four churches holding their rehearsals at Court of Palms and several other area assisted living centers have expressed interest."

"None of the residents really mind our stopping, starting, and mistakes. They love having us," St Anthony's choir member Jane Brown said. In fact, her great-aunt, Jamilla, had not been to church in years, ever since her husband's passing. These days, thanks to the novel arrangement, she even sings along with the choir members.

"Sometimes, unfortunately, we let our older members slip through the cracks after they fall away from church attendance. With this new arrangement, we've actually seen several Orthodox residents express interest in being reconciled to the Church," said Fr Matt. He continued, "Perhaps the most surprising development is the growth of the choir. We've doubled in size because folks like the idea of combining outreach, fellowship and practice. What can I say? It's nice -- a blessing for all involved!"

"One side benefit," Milsner added, "is that some folks -- residents and visitors alike -- are experiencing Orthodoxy, through song, for the first time. Though evangelism was not part of the original plan, God uses what works. I believe, as long as we are faithful and working, God will provide the increase."
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Okay, fine ... HAIR IT IS.

Enjoy!



Thanks to FWD from blog reg Constantine.
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