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

With the New Year 2011, here's a look back at some stranger moments of 2010 on ...

The Orthodixie Podcast.

I don't sing too much, though you could rightly say my singing is too much!

It all began when I went bar hopping with Jesus ...

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.
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"Her womb did appear as a spiritual paradise wherein is planted the divine plant whereof eating we shall live and not die as Adam."

This hymn honors the Feast, our struggle, our Mother, and our God. Fashioned from the side of the man, Adam, the mother of all the living, Eve, bore the fruit of death to all mankind. Fashioned within the womb of the woman -- the New Eve -- Mary bears the Fruit of Life to the same.

Brothers and Sisters, Paradise has been opened for all -- the gates of Hell eventually being trampled down by the fruit of her womb, the Son of God. Christ is born, raising the image that fell of old. This Fruit, this Day, the Son of Mary, God in human flesh, is laid in a feeding trough ... to be food for all.

Christ is Born!
Glorify Him!

This icon, along with a host of wonderful images of the Nativity ... found HERE.

Wishing you all a holy Christmas, good health & many years!

-- Fr Joseph

A re-post from 2006.
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Yes, that's me ... the one with the chapeau.

A long, long time ago in a North Carolina far, far away.

I guess it was meant to be, Texas and all.

Anyway ...

Thanks to all who sent in their funniest Christmas stories.

We have a winner three winners!

The most amazing part is when a two year old -- TWO YEAR OLD -- Erin Learned recites A Visit From St Nicholas -- aka 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Enjoy!

Between now and Dec. 31, every gift to Ancient Faith Radio will be matched by the Virginia H. Farah Foundation until we reach our $52,000 goal for the month of December! What a great opportunity to demonstrate your support for AFR and see your gift maximized! All gifts are tax deductible. HERE.
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O Come, All Ye Faithful — the Byzantine remix version.

Gotta hear it ...

Here.
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Send me your funniest Christmas Story!

Top prize: $4.0,00 dollars *
*According to my Nigerian pen pal!

Seriously, you could win:

THIS

Entries must be received by Noon, Wednesday - December 22nd. Those wishing to remain anonymous should so indicate.

Send your funniest Christmas Story to:

orthodixie at aol dot com

"Winners" will be sent a free download code for the audio book, We Came, We Saw, We Converted - The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America via return email on December 23rd; the podcast will debut on December 24th.

If you enjoy Ancient Faith Radio, say thanks!

Those who do not enjoy AFR, are still welcomed to donate; offer of $4.0,00 not available in all states; if you are over 50 please check with your doctor to see if he would like a copy; certain restrictions may apply; avoid where prohibited. (I just had to say that, none of it is true ...except the contest and the audio book giveaway.)
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You know how, every year, there’s always that certain someone on your gift-giving list – someone that either has everything (and why should you have to buy them something) – or they’re just so difficult to buy for (I mean, not like you’re a hater or anything) – or, well, let’s face it:

Christmas is just a snowball’s throw away and you just thought SHA-ZAM! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT WHO-ZEE-WAT! Now what am I gonna do?!

Well, have no fear. That’s what I’m here for …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

For details on how you can win a free copy of the audio version of We Came, We Saw, We Converted - The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America ... go HERE!
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Thanks to the good folks at Conciliar Press, I have some more free downloads of the audio book, We Came, We Saw, We Converted - The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America to give away.

Send me, via email, your funniest Christmas Story!

All stories chosen will be included in a special episode of the Orthodixie Podcast to be aired on Ancient Faith Radio beginning Christmas Eve!

The audio version of the book, WC, WS, WC will make the perfect addition to the "stocking" of that special someone (you know, the one who's hard to buy for ... and you might as well get them something for free!).

Entries must be received by Noon, Wednesday - December 22nd. Those wishing to remain anonymous should so indicate. (You may, of course, change the names to protect the foolish, including your own.) Make it short, make it long -- just make sure it's appropriate and humorous for the AFR audience.

Send your funniest Christmas Story to:

orthodixie at aol dot com

And be sure to tune in to the Orthodixie Podcast beginning December 24th on Ancient Faith Radio.

Authors of stories included in the podcast will be sent a free download code for the audio book, We Came, We Saw, We Converted - The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America via return email on Christmas Adam (December 23rd) -- just in time for last minute Christmas giving!

Oh -- and if you enjoy Ancient Faith Radio, please take a moment to say thanks!
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The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America (formerly known as the Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America) is one of twelve bishops’ assemblies which have been established in different geographical regions throughout the world. It is made up of all the active, canonical Orthodox bishops of North and Central America, of every jurisdiction.

Check out the new site.

Updates and additions will continue to be made to the several web pages which comprise the site, so check back frequently!
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I've been holding on to this one for a while; thanks to tmatt for the notice.

In the words of Sarah:

My dress was a wonderful, and sanity preserving, find at a local thrift store. My first (any only!) time in a bridal salon I was wearing an old sweater and pants covered in paint (I was on my way back from work when I spotted the place and thought I could just sneak in and look around. But I’m self employed as an interior painter and thus was not really dressed for a ‘salon’…). I walked in the door, felt immediately judged for my lack of shamncy apparel, took one loop around the room looking for ANYTHING under $1000, found not even one, and left in a hurry. Thrift stores here I come! A bit of looking and$30 (!!!) later I had a lovely simple dress with no frills, and straps, which I accented with a jacket I found online, and a belt I made to showcase the beautiful broach given to my by mother-in-law (old and blue at the same time).

* * *

Our cake was a gift from a lady who, in a previous career, worked at a bakery. She is a master, as the enormous confection she created proves. Notice the strange writing on it? That would be Elvish, yes as in the fictional language Tolkien invented for his Elves in Lord of the Rings ...

Read it all, with pics, here.
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Former Evangelicals who convert to Orthodoxy are often painted with such a broad brush -- seen as such peculiar fruit -- that even the likes of a St Herman of Alaska (Happy Feast) might not understand.

For those painted with such baggage (even a small "checked" bag), Community of Grace - An Orthodox Christian Year in Alaska serves to vividly remind of the how & why many Americans found and, through it all, stay in the Church.

Having been a part, temporarily, of the Antiochian Orthodox Evangelical Mission when first received into the Church, and having later visited Alaska, I found many personal connections with this story. For American Orthodox Converts with a somewhat similar story, Community of Grace should prove refreshingly poignant. For those without such history, the book provides an educational snapshot of the sometimes peculiarly pious beings that populate Orthodox churches in America.

But it is the shared struggles, joys and pains of Orthodox Christians in intentional community that only those who have been there can write and, thanks to Mary Alice Cook, all of us may reap. Paint it as fruit, put it in your bag.

Life in Alaska is hard; living in [Christian] community is harder.

Yet, Grace abounds!
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Houston has a goodly share of beggars and bridges. Most of the beggars – forgive me this – look the part, at home, if you will, under a bridge.

[The family pictured here was only camping, not homeless.]

Some, however, do raise an eyebrow and serve to tempt:

“Why, he looks perfectly able and healthy – why can’t he get a job?!”

That one looked like Santa Claus.

Wha-?

I said, “That one looked like Santa Claus!”

Did you see him?

Then I realized I was talking to myself; it’d been one of those kinda weeks.

Sigh.

I was on my way home for the Advent Paraklesis service at church when, while turning left under a bridge, I spotted what looked to be Santa … begging.

“Now, wait a minute,” I thought!

He was holding a cardboard poster with some writing on it – but, thanks to the cold rain, I couldn’t quite make it out.

Hmmph. Not tonight, buddy! I didn’t give him anything. I mean, heck, he’s SANTA! What does one give Santa for Christmas?

Weird.

I just drove on past, making my way toward the highway …

My last glance caught a twinkle in his eye and a bit of smile on his lips and ...

Y’all, his sign read NEED BEER.

What is this world coming to?

I squeezed in between ...


The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.
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I totally stole this from that wonderfully funny Steve, the author of 2010's Funniest Blog Award. Congrats!
(No, really.)



Thanks to FWD from Erin.
Other hat tips available at that other blog.
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Today being the Orthodox Feast of the Conception of the Theotokos (and yesterday, having been the Roman Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception) -- here's a re-post from a couple years back:

We love Mary so much we made her blond! Don't gasp, there is a tradition within the West of the Virgin Mary being honored with blond hair.

(Image: the altar St Mary, Grove Park, Asheville, North Carolina.)

Yesterday [10/2006], a blog commenter first posted a quote of mine, then responded, and repeated the process. He's referring to this old post. New comments follow ...

ME: "In short, Orthodox believe that Mary was conceived just as any other is conceived; the Immaculate Conception is not a 'dogma' of the Orthodox Church."

COMMENTER: I, too, believe that Mary was conceived in the same way as other people. Such is the teaching of the Catholic Church. However, we don't believe that Mary inherited alienation from God as other people do. The difference is in the effects of conception, not in how it came about.

Now, Orthodox tell me that Mary was conceived in a state of alienation from God. However, they celebrate her conception and birth. Why would you celebrate her conception and birth, if she wasn't already a saint (thus no alienation from God present within her)? This appears like a contradiction to me.

ME: "Perhaps I am misunderstanding your use of 'grace.'"

COMMENTER: By "grace" here, I mean no more than the presence of God in the soul of Mary at her conception, allowing her to be in union with God (or "born again") from the first moment of her existence.

In poking around for a reply, I actually came upon some statements from a Roman Catholic priest that said, and I paraphrase: "But wait! We love the Blessed Virgin so much -- The Immaculate Conception has to be true!"

And that's fine. It's just not Orthodox.

From other sources ...

Why don't Orthodox believe in the Immaculate Conception?

Mary (like all of us) was born mortal as a result of the Fall, but without Adam's guilt. But for Roman Catholics, a "special" birth for Mary was necessary so that Christ could be born to a spotless vessel. So the Immaculate Conception is a natural consequence of the Augustinian doctrine of Original Sin in the West, but is not needed in Orthodoxy to explain how mortal Mary could have given birth to her All-Holy Son.

Source [link broken]


We can refer to Mary as "immaculate" in the sense that her obedience to God was so marked that she may rightly be declared as pure as any sinner might be. Her holiness has never been matched or exceeded. However, we do not believe in the Immaculate Conception as understood in Catholicism. We do not believe that she had to be herself conceived free from any taint of original sin. Our objection, substantially has to do with St. Augustine's characterisation of original sin. As Bishop Kallistos has observed (also John Meyendorff and other Orthodox theologians) ... if we believed what St. Augustine taught about original sin then the Immaculate Conception would be a logical outworking of that in terms of Mary's holiness and obedience. However, since we do not believe that original sin is transmitted sexually, conception is irrelevant to this issue.

Source


While I would love to be able to fully answer your question, it is far beyond the scope of an e-mail, especially because full understanding of the Orthodox position, based on the tenor of your question, on the Virgin Mary requires a thorough explanation of some of the secondary issues to which you refer, such as original sin, the Immaculate Conception, supernatural grace, etc. As such, I would highly recommend that you meet in person with the parish priest at the Orthodox Church you have been visiting -- he will no doubt be glad to answer the question at some depth.

I can say, in short, that the Orthodox Church believes that Mary, as a human being, could indeed have sinned, but chose not to. In the Roman Catholic understanding, it seems that Mary, who according to Roman doctrine had been exempted from the guilt of original sin [the Orthodox do not accept that humans share the guilt of the first sin but, rather, only the consequences] before all eternity, and thus could not have sinned. This is where the complexity comes in on a number of levels and which puts your question beyond the scope of an e-mail.

Source


Even Patriarch Bartholomew:

In consequence, according to the Orthodox faith, Mary the All-holy Mother of God was not conceived exempt from the corruption of original sin, but loved God above of all things and obeyed his commandments, and thus was sanctified by God through Jesus Christ who incarnated himself of her. She obeyed Him like one of the faithful, and addressed herself to Him with a Mother's trust. Her holiness and purity were not blemished by the corruption, handed on to her by original sin as to every man, precisely because she was reborn in Christ like all the saints, sanctified above every saint.

Her reinstatement in the condition prior to the Fall did not necessarily take place at the moment of her conception. We believe that it happened afterwards, as consequence of the progress in her of the action of the uncreated divine grace through the visit of the Holy Spirit, which brought about the conception of the Lord within her, purifying her from every stain.

As already said, original sin weighs on the descendants of Adam and of Eve as corruption, and not as legal responsibility or moral stain. The sin brought hereditary corruption and not a hereditary legal responsibility or a hereditary moral stain. In consequence the All-holy participated in the hereditary corruption, like all mankind, but with her love for God and her purity -- understood as an imperturbable and unhesitating dedication of her love to God alone -- she succeeded, through the grace of God, in sanctifying herself in Christ and making herself worthy of becoming the house of God, as God wants all us human beings to become. Therefore we in the Orthodox Church honor the All-holy Mother of God above all the saints, albeit we don't accept the new dogma of her Immaculate Conception. The non-acceptance of this dogma in no way diminishes our love and veneration of the All-holy Mother of God.

Source

Then, the comments regarding the above quote on OrthodoxyToday get really interesting. Here's a few ...

Fr Hans Jacobse:

Fr. Thomas,

Actually the Patriarch is correct since the Immaculate Conception relies solely on Augustinian anthropology. The doctrine doesn't make sense otherwise. In fact, if you look at the theological rationale behind the doctrine at the time it was dogmatized, you find Augustinian thinking. The inheritability of "original guilt" is precisely why the "special grace" was necessary -- according to Catholic thought.

Again, Fr Jacobse:

The Immaculate Conception confers the salfivic "merits" of Christ onto Mary at the point of her conception to remove the "stain" of original sin. It's a cosmic transaction that takes place before the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. See: The Catholic Encyclopedia.

This is Augustinian juridical soteriology, pure and simple.

Sadly -- and I've even met Roman Catholics who believe this -- many misunderstand and think the term "Immaculate Conception" refers to our Lord's birth. Wait! Come to think of it, I've got a Catholic icon of the Crucifixion whereon our Lord sports a blond mane. Hmmm.

[Here's the original posting -- with comments.]

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A catholic priest, rabbi and Buddhist monk walked into a new burger joint in Chelsea today to bless the place.

Read more.

Hundreds of criminals are to be given four days a year off prison work - to celebrate pagan festivals.

Prison governors have been issued with a list of eight annual pagan holidays and told pagan inmates can choose four to celebrate.

The festivals include Imbolc - The Festival of the Lactating Sheep - which falls on February 1 ...

The number of prisoners declaring themselves as pagan has tripled in six years to 366 last year.

Worshipers are allowed to keep tarot cards, a hoodless robe and a twig to use as a wand in their cell.

They can also keep incense, a piece of jewelery and rune stones.

Skyclad, or naked worship, is banned.

Read more.

Then, there's the absolutely awful (you've been warned):

Whoops! The video is now password protected. Sorry. (Well, kinda.)



The latter thanks to courtesy of tmatt.
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By Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos

I suspect that the custom of decorating a tree at Christmas time is not simply a custom which came to us from the West and which we should replace with other more Orthodox customs. To be sure, I have not gone into the history of the Christmas tree and where it originated, but I think that it is connected with the Christmas feast and its true meaning.



First, it is not unrelated to the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah:
 "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (Is. 11:1). St. Cosmas the Poet had this prophecy in mind when he wrote of Christ as the blossom which rose up out of the Virgin stem from the stump of Jesse. The root is Jesse, David’s father, the rod is King David, the flower which came from the root and the rod is the Theotokos. And the fruit which came forth from the flower of the Panagia is Christ. Holy Scripture presents this wonderfully. Thus the Christmas tree can remind us of the genealogical tree of Christ as Man, the love of God, but also the successive purifications of the Forefathers of Christ. At the top is the star which is the God-Man (Theanthropos) Christ.



Then, the Christmas tree reminds us of the tree of knowledge as well as the tree of life, but especially the latter. It underlines clearly the truth that Christ is the tree of life and that we cannot live or fulfill the purpose of our existence unless we taste of this tree, "the producer of life". Christmas cannot be conceived without Holy Communion. And of course as for Holy Communion it is not possible to partake of deification in Christ without having conquered the devil when we found ourselves faced with temptation relative to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where our freedom is tried. 

We rejoice and celebrate, because "the Tree of Life blossomed from the Virgin in the cave".


Excerpt from the book titled The Feasts of the Lord: An Introduction to the 12 Feasts and Orthodox Christology, 1993.

This post stolen from John Sanidopolous (thanks!); thanks to FWD from the wife, Susie Sobchak, and Vasiliki Oldziey.

Image Source
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Thanks to Linda Lintz.
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I'm pretty agnostic about this one ...



Thanks to Ron Ford.
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