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

I am in a Sunday School class with senior ladies, and one of them related her experience in one of the many nail salons in our area. She was puzzled about the little shrine in the corner of the establishment and asked the class, "now what you reckon that little statue was going to do with that pack of Lance cheese crackers somebody laid in front of it?"

Blog Reg Roxanne commenting on the Hindu George Clooney.
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Granted, we don’t normally think of John the Baptist when we think of HONEYMOON. In fact, we probably don’t think of the Forerunner in any other way than somber … austere … severe.

John the Baptist never shows up on any of those Fantasy Dinner Guest Lists like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Shakespeare, Plato, and Jesus.

First of all there’s the whole “Repent thing” and then there’s the menu … I mean -- hello! -- only locusts and honey?

Be that as it may, St John the Baptist is very much connected with HONEYMOONS and here’s why …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

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The Church of England has turned to Homer Simpson for help with recruiting teenagers.

Clergy are to be advised to set up screens in churches to play extracts from the beer-swilling cartoon character's life.

An unlikely source of holiness

Doh! Understatement!

Youth groups could be asked to think about God's love for humanity after watching Lisa Simpson give a Valentines Day card to the most unpopular boy in her class.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said in the past that he is a fan of the cartoon series.

The number of people under the age of 16 attending worship in the Church of England on a Sunday fell from 180,000 in 2000 to 157,000 in 2005.

Owen Smith, a 24-year-old youth worker at St Margaret's Church in Rainham, Kent, came up with the idea of using the smash hit cartoon show.

He has written a book advising church organisers to screen extracts that will be distributed to churches nationwide later this month.

He said The Simpsons was an "unexpectedly rich" resource for exploring Christian themes and theological concepts.

"This incredibly popular animation engages with everyday issues, from gossip, fighting and sibling rivalry, through to identity issues and citizenship," he said.

A church spokesman added: "Some of the source material might seem a little bit unusual, but the book suggests Biblical passages and group activities which we believe will help see the cartoon from the Christian perspective."

Source

Yes, I'll take Christian Themes and Theological Concepts for a thousand, please ..."

Doh! Wrong show!

Thanks to FWD from Fr Miguel.
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Any journalist erudite enough to use the phrase "sure as heck-fire" is worth reading. Here's the deal.

Kimberly Winston (Religion News Service) writes:

Sinéad O'Connor is not your typical Christian music diva.

Wow! Talk about a lede!

The Irish singer/songwriter has torn up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live, refused to have The Star-Spangled Banner played before a concert, been excommunicated after her "ordination" as a Catholic priest and announced that she was a lesbian — before shortly recanting.

Yet with her soon-to-be-released double album Theology, the Grammy Award-winning O'Connor will attempt to make a foray into the mainstream Christian music market when the album is released June 26 by Koch Records ...

Gulp. Here.

HT: THUNDERSTRUCK


When it comes to Ecumenism -- for which I believe we sorely need a Council -- there's conflicting (even politically competing) voices within the Orthodox Church.

"We are undoubtedly living in a time of world-shaping changes. Events –which are now being directed– are racing along at an incredible rate. Ecumenism is evolving, within the levelling plans of the Globalization that is being imposed by powerful socio-political centers. Nobody really believes any more that Ecumenism can offer a visible solution to the hope for Christian unity.

As Orthodox Christians, we should neither float in the clouds, nor should we lack apprehension. If we truly have a respect for peoples’ lives, if we truly ache for the people of the West, who have been tortured by their religious traditions, as well as for the people of the Orient, who are entrapped in demonic beliefs, we have a duty to remain focused in our Holy Church. We have an obligation to preserve our paternal faith unadulterated, living it authentically in our daily struggle for personal sanctification and theosis. The proper faith and a meticulous way of life will render us worthy witnesses of Orthodoxy and –why not?– worthy of martyrdom, if and when circumstances may demand it…

The persistence in Orthodoxy - or in other words the veridicality of life - and the persistence in the Truth that liberates and saves, is not a form of egoism, fanaticism, or religious intolerance; it is an expression of the universal quality, the love and the philanthropy of the Orthodox Church. And it also comprises the ultimate potential that Orthodoxy can offer, for both a radical spiritual turnabout in the West, but also an outlet for the Orient, to escape from its captivity by false gods."

The above is taken from HERE.

BTW, though not nearly as cool as "sure as heck-fire," FYI veridicality means: The correct perception of an object, that is, in agreement with the object's real properties. Source


Elsewhere, a while back ...

"In a context like the Latin American one, with a religious market characterized by bitter competition, where the churches that proliferate the most are opposed to ecumenism, the congress intends to take advantage of the energy of the Assembly to offer new incentives for churches to get to know and to collaborate with each other," said the congress coordinator, EST ecumenism professor Dr Rudolf Von Sinner.

-- World Council of Churches' (WCC) 9th Assembly. (Feb, 2006)

I shall, out of respect for my age and maturity, refrain from commenting on the ecumenism professor's last name (above).

Here's a peg on which these beginning may hang.

From the same site, here's Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of the Moscow Patriarchate on Ecumenism and the WCC.

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Washington, D.C. - A Turkish court Tuesday declared that the Istanbul-based Orthodox Patriarch is only the head of the city's tiny Greek Orthodox community and not the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians.

While this has no impact on the status of the Patriarch outside Turkey, it strengthens Turkish internal resistance to acknowledging the greater role of the Patriarch and the Orthodox community in Turkey.

"This decision is yet another indication that Turkey has no interest in advancing a fair and balanced approach to freedom of religion," commented Institute on Religion and Public Policy President Joseph K. Grieboski.

Turkey maintains tight controls on the Orthodox community, including rules requiring that patriarchs must be Turkish citizens. This sharply limits the potential pool of candidates to one day succeed Bartholomew. The patriarchate also has pressed Turkey to allow the reopening of a seminary that was forced to close more than two decades ago, which under Turkish law further limits the pool of potential successors to the 67-year-old patriarch.

The court ruled that "The Patriarchate, which was allowed to remain on Turkish soil [emphasis added], is subject to Turkish laws...There is no legal basis for the claims that the Patriarchate is ecumenical."

"No government has the right or the authority to determine the ecclesiology of a religious community," Mr. Grieboski stated. "Both international and European laws are clear that a state cannot interfere in the organizational structure of a faith. Turkey is once again showing that freedom of religion is not a priority or concern, and that it has no true interest in joining the European system."

Press Release from the Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
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(CNSNews.com) - For what is believed to be the first time in its history, the U.S. Senate will on July 12 be opened with a Hindu prayer, the Senate Chaplain's Office confirmed Monday.

For more than 200 years, the Senate has opened each workday with a prayer usually delivered by the Senate Chaplain ...

More.

NewsForum

Doesn't that statue sort of favour George Clooney? Oh brother! Where art thou?!
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Jesus, the new Adam – the “new man” – was born in the city of Bethlehem. The word “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.” The new Adam was born in the House of Bread and laid in a Manger, a feeding trough. Many times in the Gospel (eight times in John Chapter 6, alone), Jesus refers to himself as bread. Traditionally, this is reflected in the hymn Greek Orthodox priests recite as they begin the preparation of the bread for Communion:

Make ready, O Bethlehem, for Eden hath been opened for all. Prepare, O Ephratha, for the tree of life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Virgin; for her womb did appear as a spiritual paradise in which is planted the divine Plant, whereof eating we shall live and not die as Adam. Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of old.

The image that fell of old is that of the old man, our forefather Adam. Our first mother, too, reflected a tarnished image.

A face does not reflect itself in troubled waters. Neither did Eve see God in the mirror of her troubled soul. She was looking at the tree, full of mixed fruit – good and bad. Looking with her confused soul, she no longer saw God as higher than herself. She had abandoned God. God and the devil did not remain in the same regard. There was then no other woman to support her against Satan and his carnal viewpoint. And with these eyes and this new sight, she saw the forbidden fruit as good to eat, pleasant to look at and giving much knowledge. Oh, knowledge not only of good but also of evil! But the outcome of a mixture of good and evil is evil. In place of love all is filled with three desires: lust for bodily pleasure, desire for possessions, and desire for knowledge. Having lost God, she had begun to look for support in things. But the emptiness, caused by draining the abandoned God from the soul, all the world cannot fill.

In the fullness of time, God chose a young maiden in Nazareth to be both bride and mother. The Virgin Mary was deemed worthy of this highest calling by her faithfulness and chastity. Whereas Adam named his wife Eve, the mother of the living; God has made Mary the Mother of All Christians. Whereas all the living are kin to Adam through his blood and sin; all Christians are kin to Christ, the New Adam, through His Blood and faithfulness ...

I thank faithful blog readers for their patience. Having been away from steady blogging for quite some time, it is odd to re-enter the field. Plus, I do so just before a vacation, which makes posting all the more difficult. The above passage is from the rough draft of a (God & publisher willing) new book I've been working on. I'm grateful for all the support shown for last year's One Flew Over the Onion Dome, and I look forward to the challenges that the new work (less funny, but tastes great) shall bring.

God is [always] good!

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Dear family in Christ,

Have you ever wondered why there is not much Orthodox Christian music out there specifically for our children?

While Christian music is plentiful, there is a great need for music that is written especially for our Orthodox youth. As a current school teacher and former Youth Director at my parish, I have found that one of the most effective teachers is MUSIC.

TEACHING CHILDREN is the main purpose of my music, both the “Fruits of the Spirit” CD and the NEW “Celebrate the Feasts” CD.

My mission in producing this music is to teach children and to help them grow in their faith in Christ and their love for His holy Church.

If you have a son or daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild or Godchild, these CD's would make an excellent gift! The cost is only $12.00 per CD and if you or your church bookstore order 10 or more CD's the price is $9.00. There are song books available as well as other resources.

Bishop BASIL of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese has heard and approved all of the original songs on both CD's. The second CD, "Celebrate the Feasts" also includes several feast day troparia sung mostly in English, but includes some Arabic and Greek.

Please e-mail me at gigishadid at yahoo dot com to place an order -- or if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for your time and God bless!

-- Gigi Baba Shadid :o)
GSquare Productions
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The following note is from a blog reader ...

Hi Father,

I thought you and your readers might be interested in the fact that the Anglican Church of Canada voted against same-sex blessing this past synod. The clergy and laity voted in favour but the Bishops voted against thus defeating the motion. However, the Anglican Church did say that same-sex marriage does not go against the creed. This, I thought, was odd.

Wait. Is this in reference to the term homoousious?

Me make joke, of course. Forgive me.

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Orthodox Christianity, thank goodness, doesn’t lend itself too well to bumper sticker theology. Sure, you can see Orthodox Christians with those plastic fishies … or a window decal featuring a Cross. But the more popular version of so-called Christian bumper stickers are all far from Orthodox theology.

There’s the one that says: “Next time you think you’re perfect, try walking on water.”

Talk about snarky! Forget Peter, I always think of St Mary of Egypt when I read that one.

A few years ago you saw these: “Hate is not a family value.” I always wondered how the person sporting that one defined Family … differently than me, I guessed. Then again ...

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

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God being my helper, I plan to turn in a book manuscript for editing this Sunday, June 24th. Other than AFR updates, blogging will resume afterwards.

Prayers coveted.
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I'm in Topeka for the final day of the Parish Life Conference for the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. At this morning's Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, His Grace, Bishop Basil, will ordain David Lewis to the Diaconate -- and next week to the Priesthood -- to serve the Western Rite community of St Peter, Forth Worth. Prayers coveted.

Now for the kooky ...

Remember John Tavener? I've always found his music to be bizarre. Once, after someone loaned me a CD, I gave my review: "If I were you, I'd burn it."

It's nice to be right, even if once in a while.

In recent years he has begun to broaden his spiritual horizons, he tells me over tea in the garden. "The path I follow is still an Orthodox path," he says. "You have to follow a path, otherwise it becomes a little bit new-age, a bit of this, a bit of that ... But I suppose I had a dream vision after a visit from an Apache Indian medicine man. Many people when they've met American Indians have very strong dreams afterwards. I had a kind of vision from the Sufi Frithjof Schuon, who was a believer in the inner transcendent unity of all religions. And he seemed to be giving me permission, in a way, to work musically within other traditions. It wasn't that the Christian thing was failing me in any way, but rather that it enriched it by going into other things, particularly Hinduism and Sufism."

The idea of the eternal feminine is important to Tavener. He tells me about a visionary to whom the Virgin Mary would appear, always naked. I am not sure Pope Benedict would approve. He says Mary "feels closer to me than Christ. I can't explain that - she's much more mysterious because there's so little known about her, yet she seems very active in the world in an extraordinary way."

More ... if you must.

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My beloved sons and flowers of my heart, Hafeeth, Lamy and Jabour, I pray that your days may be long on this earth ... For the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ and my love for you, protect what I'm asking you to do.

Protect your Orthodox religion until the end of your life.

Walk in truth with everybody ...

Study the Holy Bible for the Bible will teach you everything. Keep your lent and prayers and everything concerning the rules and regulations of the Orthodox Church.

Honor your guests ...

Love everybody, especially each one of you ...

Pay my debts and don't hold it against me.

In ending -- walk according to the will of God.

-- Excerpts from the will of Rt Rev'd Shukrallah Shadid, first priest of St Elijah in Oklahoma City. (Stolen from the souvenir program for the 3rd Annual DOWAMA Parish Life Conference hosted by Ss Peter & Paul Church, Topeka, Kansas.)

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This story, sent to me by a parishioner, is everywhere. That's a good thing. Enjoy!

Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal

by Naomi Shihab Nye

“After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.

Well — one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly. Shu dow-a, shu-biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, sho bit se-wee? The minute she heard any words she knew — however poorly used -- she stopped crying. She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late, who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him. We called her son and I spoke with him in English.

I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and would ride next to her — Southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering questions.

She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — out of her bag — and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers — non-alcoholic — and the two little girls for our flight, one African-American, one Mexican-American — ran around serving us all apple juice and lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar, too.

And I noticed my new best friend — by now we were holding hands — had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, this is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in this gate — once the crying of confusion stopped — has seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen, anywhere.

Not everything is lost.


Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her B.A. in English and world religions from Trinity University.

More Bio
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"In my opinion, being in Church for that first Amen is a sign, an indication of one's humility. And where humility is, its opposite is sin. The sin is not disturbing other people. The other people in Church are not the object of our worship. It is rude, to disturb other people. But it is sinful to be so presumptuous and prideful that one can jump in and sing with thousands of Archangels and ten thousands of Angels at one's own whim. We stand before the throne of God, and when we realize that, every other consideration, all our personal likes and dislikes, become secondary."


-- Bishop BASIL, Diocese of Wichita & Mid-America

Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham.

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If you believe firmly that God cares for you, then you do not need to worry about the body, nor need you be concerned about discovering ways how to conduct your life. If, however, you doubt God's care, and want to look after yourself without God, then you are the most miserable person imaginable.

There are people who are continually making clever plans, but who never get down to beginning on them.

Commence every good action wholeheartedly. Do not approach it "with two hearts" (Ben Sira 1 :28). As you travel through life, do not let your heart doubt about the hope that God's grace provides, otherwise your toil will be in vain and the labour of your work will weigh heavily upon you. Rather, have faith in your heart that God is compassionate, and to those who ask Him He gives His grace -- not in accord with our work, but corresponding to the love in our souls and our faith in Him. "As you have believed, so it shall be to you" (Matthew 9:29).

Begin on every action that is for God's sake joyfully.

Just as the sun's rays are sometimes hidden from the earth by thick cloud, so for a while a person may be deprived of spiritual comfort and of grace's brightness: this is caused by the cloud of the passions. Then, all of a sudden, without that person being aware, it is all given back. Just as the surface of the earth rejoices at the rays of the sun when they break through the clouds, so the words of prayer are able to break through to drive the thick cloud of the passions away from the soul.

The person who benefits the poor finds that God takes care of him.

The ladder to the Kingdom is hidden within you, and within your soul. Dive down into your self, away from sin, and there you will find the steps by which you can ascend up.

Anything that is easily found is also easily lost, whereas what is found after much labour will be guarded with vigilance.

Thirst for Jesus, so that He may inebriate you with His love.

Make sure you see to small things, lest otherwise you may push aside important ones.

Divine care surrounds all human beings all the time, but it is only seen by those who have purified themselves from sins and who have God in mind at every moment.

Taken from the The Wisdom of St. Isaac of Nineveh.

HT: Mysticism E-List
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for Mohammed told me so."

A little more than a year ago, the Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding found herself at the doorway of a new world, Islam, and wasn’t quite sure how she got there. As she reflected on her journey, she realized Jesus was her guide. Now both a practicing Muslim and an Episcopal priest, Redding shares her thoughts on how the two faiths inform each other.

“The way I understand Jesus is compatible with Islam,” Redding explains, “and although there are Christians and Muslims who think I must convert from one to the other, the more I go down this path the more excited I am about both Christianity and Islam.”

“We Christians, in struggling to express the beauty and dignity of Jesus and the pattern of life he offers, describe him as the ‘only begotten son of God.’ That’s how wonderful he is to us. But that is not literal,” she continues. “When we say Jesus is the only begotten one, we are saying he’s unique in some way. Islam says the same thing. He’s the only human aside from Adam who is directly created by God, and he’s different from Adam because he has a human mother. So there’s agreement—this person is unique in his relationship to God.” Christianity also says that we are all part of the household of God and in essence brothers and sisters of Jesus. Muslims take the figurative language of “only begotten,” make it concrete and contradict it: God “neither begets nor is begotten.”

“I agree with both because I do want to say that Jesus is unique, and for me, Jesus is my spiritual master,” Redding says. “Muslims say Mohammed is the most perfect. Well, it depends on who you fall in love with. I fell in love with Jesus a long time ago and I’m still in love with Jesus but I’d like to think my relationship with Jesus has matured.”

“We are called to be childlike and yet become adults and fully human beings,” Redding says. “For me to become a human being means to identify solely with the will of God.

Islam gives me the tools to do that. Some of us just need more tools.”

The above is stolen from HERE (where there's more).

There's also mention of this over at MereComments.

I shall reserve comment other than to say 1) I do not believe she is a priest, 2) she is obviously a poor excuse for a Christian, 3) it's unfortunate that she continues ENOW (Episcopalian News of the Weird), 4) on second thought, "conversions" such as this can only benefit our cause in the war on terror.
In that case: Go, Father Ann, go!


This just in from "Mr Here's-Yur-Sign" Louis Farrakhan:

"Even though I am a Muslim -- I don't apologize for that -- I'm also a Christian," he told the crowd at 1210 W. 78th Pl. "Islam considers the Bible a sacred book."

Yes, well ... the devil and his motley band consider the Bible a sacred book.

"A good Muslim is a Christian, and a good Christian is a Muslim," he added later, stressing the common aspects of the faiths. "Whenever Christ's name is mentioned, I feel at home."
Source / Thunderstruck / Image

Welcome home Louis!
Now, for a little tune ... an oldie, but goodie; we call it the Ol' Home Theme Song:

To the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius" ...

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

Now Origen and Arius were quite a clever pair.
Immutable divinity make Logos out of air.
But then one day Saint Nicholas gave Arius a slap--
and told them if they can't recant, they ought to shut their trap!

[chorus] Oh, Superchristological and Homoousiosis...

One Prosopon, two Ousia are in one Hypostasis.
At Chalcedon this formula gave our faith its basis.
You can argue that you don't know what this means,
But don't you go and try to say there's a "Physis" in between!

[chorus] Oh, Superchristological and Homoousiosis...

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Urn diddle diddle um diddle ay

Now freedom and autonomy are something to be praised,
But when it comes to human sin, these words must be rephrased,
For Pelagius was too confident that we could work it out--
And Augustine said *massa damnata* is what it's all about.

[chorus] Oh, Superchristological and Homoousiosis...

Heresies are arguments that you might find attractive,
But just remember in this case the Church is quite reactive.
So play it safe and memorize these words we sing together,
'Cause in the end you'll find, my friend, that we may live forever.

[chorus] Oh, Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathematize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Lyrics by Dan Idzikowski



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When we had our first child – a friend of mine had a good laugh when he observed me thoroughly washing off the pacifier that had fallen from my daughter’s mouth. He, a father of four older children, said: “You know, when you have your first child … they drop their pacie and you boil it before giving it back to them.

The second child … you just rinse it off.

The third child drops the pacifier on the floor and you stick it in your own mouth to clean it before giving it back to them.

My age is the right age, and it increases annually.

Then there’s the so-called Spirit of the Age.

If you're like me, you're often tempted to wish you'd been born in another age -- one with a little less of this, a bit more of that -- leaning toward Virtue, goodness, Andy & Barney; fleeing today's fickle flash, flesh and flunkies.

But, really: Age plays tricks on you.

Take, for instance ...

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.
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Back in January, I set a deadline of June 1st for a book that I'd been writing. When you're in January, June seems a long long way off.

In truth, time flies whether you're having fun or not.

Here it is June 1st and January seems like, well ... so yesterday. In between then and now was house blessings, Lent, Holy Week, Pascha, MedFest and other mucho busyness.

Wait. Did I mention, at least when it comes to writing, laziness?

BUT! I'm delighted to report that I do have a very rough Rough Draft ready. Which means, with a lot of clean up and a little tweaking, I should be back to blogging in a week or so.

Then again ... How long is a so?


Thanks for the prayers.
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