"Shred" auditorium

Am I the only one who sees Shredder in this "beautiful" bandshell?

Courting these days

"...do you know the new way of courting?" ... "No," replied Princess Mary. "To please Moscow girls nowadays one has to be melancholy."
...
...She adopted the tone of one who has suffered a great disappointment, like a girl who has either lost the man she loved or been cruelly deceived by him. Though nothing of the kind had happened to her she was regarded in that light, and had even herself come to believe that she had suffered much in life. ... Boris, entered more deeply into Julia's melancholy, and with these she had prolonged conversations in private on the vanity of all worldly things, and to them she showed her albums filled with mournful sketches, maxims, and verses. ... Boris sketched two trees in the album and wrote: "Rustic trees, your dark branches shed gloom and melancholy upon me." On another page he drew a tomb, and wrote: "Death gives relief and death is peaceful. Ah! from suffering there is no other refuge." Julia said this was charming. "There is something so enchanting in the smile of melancholy," she said to Boris, repeating word for word a passage she had copied from a book. "It is a ray of light in the darkness, a shade between sadness and despair, showing the possibility of consolation." In reply Boris wrote these lines: "Poisonous nourishment of a too sensitive soul, Thou, without whom happiness would for me be impossible, Tender melancholy, ah, come to console me, Come to calm the torments of my gloomy retreat, And mingle a secret sweetness With these tears that I feel to be flowing." ...For Boris, Julia played most doleful nocturnes on her harp. Boris read Poor Liza aloud to her, and more than once interrupted the reading because of the emotions that choked him. Meeting at large gatherings Julia and Boris looked on one another as the only souls who understood one another in a world of indifferent people.
Leo Tolstoy

Let your women keep silence in the churches...

...for it is not permitted unto them to speak (1 Cor. 14:34). So the other day I was talking with a certain friend of mine and she brought up, once again, all the emotions and interpersonal politics she has encountered being in and of the choir at her Church. Having my own fair exposure to such "choral emotions", even as recently as on the feast of the Nativity!, I realized that maybe this verse of St. Paul is addressing this same issue in the choirs of yore?

Christmas with the convicts

At last the holidays arrived. On Christmas Eve very few convicts went out to work. A few went to the sewing sheds and the workshops; the rest of the men merely attended the work detail, and although they were assigned to various locations, almost all of them, either singly or in groups, went straight back to the prison, and after dinner no one left it at all. Even during the morning the majority of the convicts went about exclusively on their own business, and not on official tasks: some busied themselves with the illicit provision of vodka and the ordering of new supplies; others to see friends of both sexes, or to collect before the holiday the small amounts of money owing to them for work done earlier in the year. Baklushin and the men who were taking part in the stage show went to see certain acquaintances, mostly in the officers' detachment, and to obtain necessary costumes. Some men walked around looking preoccupied and fussed simply because others did, and although some, for example, had no prospects of getting any money from anywhere, they non the less acted as though they were indeed about to get some; in short, everyone seemed to be expecting some sort of a change to take place on the following day, something out of the ordinary. Towards evening the veterans who had gone to the market to do the convicts' errands came back laden with many different kinds of things to eat: beef, sucking-pigs, even geese. Many of the convicts, even the most plain-living and thrifty ones, who saved up their copecks all year round, considered it their duty to spare no expense on this occasion and to celebrate the end of the fast in a proper manner. The day that would come tomorrow was a real holiday, which the convicts could not be deprived of – it was formally recognized by law. A convict could not be sent out to work on this day; there were only three such days in the year.

And really, who can tell how many memories must have stirred in the souls of these outcasts as they rose to meet such a day! The days of the great feasts are sharply imprinted on the memory of the common people, beginning in childhood. These are the days when they rest from their strenuous labours, days when families gather together. In prison they must have been remembered with torment and anguish. Respect for the solemn feast even acquired a certain ritual majesty among the convicts; there was little merrymaking, everyone was serious and seemingly preoccupied with something, although many had practically nothing at all to do. But even the idlers and the merrymakers tried to preserve a certain air of importance ... It was if laughter had been forbidden. The prevailing mood was one of a certain exaggerated puctiliousness and irritable impatience, and any man who did anything to disturb this general atmosphere, even accidentally, would be set upon with shouts and curses by the others, as if he had aroused their anger by not having sufficient respect for the holy feast. This mood of the convicts was remarkable, and could even be quite moving. In addition to his inborn sense of reverence for the great day, each convict had an unconcious feeling that by observing this feast he was in some way coming into contact with the whole world, that consequently he ws not altogether an outcast, a lost man, a severed limb, and that as it was in the world of men, so it was in prison. They felt this; it was obvious and understandable.

Akim Akimych too was very busy preparing for the holiday, He had no family memories, for he had grown up as an orphan in a house belonging to strangers and had begun an arduous military service from the age of fifteen: there had been no particular happiness in his life, because he had always lived it with such regularity and monotony, afraid to stray even by a hair's breadth from the particularly religious, either, since probity had apparently swallowed up all his other human endowments and attributes, his passions and desires, good and bad. Consequently he was preparing to greet the solemn day without fuss or agitation, without being troubled by any anguished and entirely futile memories, but with a quiet, methodical probity which was exactly as great as was necessary for the execution of his duties and the performance of a ritual that had been established for once and for all. In general, he was not one to give matters much reflection. It seemed that he never bothered his head about the meaning of any fact; but once rules were explained to him, he would carry them out with religious exactitude. If tomorrow he had been required to do the exact opposite, he would have done it with precisely the same obedience and thoroughness. Once, once only in his life had he attempted to live according to his own perceptions – and had ended up in prison. The lesson had not been lost on him. And although fate had decreed that he should not have even the slightest understanding of what it was he had been found guilty of, he had none the less deduced from his adventure one saving maxin: never under any circumstances to use his reason, since this was 'no business of his mind', as the convicts expressed it among themselves. In his blind devotion to ritual, he even regarded his Christmas sucking-pig, which he had stuffed with buckwheat porridge and roasted (with his own hands, for he knew how it was done), with a kind of anticipatory respect, as if this were no ordinary sucking-pig, which one could buy and roast any time one liked, but a special, Christmas one. It is possible that he had been used from childhood onwards to seeing a sucking-pig on the table when Christmad Day came round, and I am convinced that if even once he had missed his taste of sucking-pig on that day he would have been left for the rest of his life with a nagging sense of quilt at not having done his duty. Until the holiday arrived he went around in an old jacket and a pair of old trousers, which although they were quite respectably darned were none the less threadbare. It now transpired that he had carefully preserved in his locked box the new suit of jacket and trousers which had been issued to him about four months previously, and had not touched it, smiling at the thought of how he would put it on for the first time when it was Christmas. And that was what he did. On Christmas Eve he took out the new suit, unfolded it, examined it, gave it a brush, blew the dust off it and, when he had attended to all this, tried it on. The suit fitted him perfectly, it turned out; everything was as it should be, the jacket buttoned all the way to the top, the collar, as if it were made of cardboard, propped his chin up high; the jacket was even drawn in at the waist, reminding one of a military uniform, and Akim Akimych fairly beamed with pleasure, turning from side to side, not without a certain dash and swagger, in front of his tiny looking-glass, the rim of which he had once, long ago, in a moment of idlenes, decorated with a border of gold paper. There was only one little hook on the jacket collar which did not seem to be in quite the right position. Taking note of this, Akim Akimych decided to move the hook; this he did, tried the jacket on again, and this time everything seemed fine. Then he folded the garments once more and hid them in his locked box with his mind at ease until the next day. His head was shaven in the approved manner; but as he viewed himself attentively in the looking-glass, he noticed that his head did not appear to be entirely smooth on top; a few little tufts of hair were just visible, and he went straight of to 'the major' to have himself shaved properly and according to the regulations. Although noone was going to inspect him the following day, he had himself shaved, purely in order to satisfy his conscience, so as to have carried out all his Christmas duties. A reverence for buttons, epaulettes and stripes had been indelibly impressed upon his mind from childhood onwards as a kind of unquestionable obligation, and upon his heart as an image of the highest degree of beauty a decent man could attain to. When he had set everything to rights, as the head convict in the barrack he gave orders for hay to be brought in, and carefully supervised the spreading of it over the floor. The same was done in the other barrcks. For some unknown reason hay was always spread on the barrack floors at Christmas. Then, when he had completed his labours, Akim Akimych said his prayers, lay down on his camp bed and immediately fell into a peaceful slumber like that of a young infant; so as to wake up as early as possible in the morning. All the convicts acted in exactly the same manner, however. In all the barracks the men went to bed far earlier than they usually did. Their usual evening occupations were neglected; no one even mentioned maydans. Everyone was waiting for the morning that followed.

At last it arrived. Early, before it was light, as soon as reveille had been sounded on the drum, the barracks were unlocked and the duty sergeant wished them all a merry Christmas. The men did likewise, replying in a friendly, affectionate tone. After hurriedly saying their prayers, Akim Akimych and a lot of other men whose geese and sucking-pigs were cooking in the kitchen rushed off to see what was being done to them, how they were being roasted, where they were being put, and so on. Through the small, snow-and-ice-encrusted windows of our hut we could see out across the darkness to where in all six ovens of both kitchens brights fires were burning, having been kindled well before dawn. Convicts were already poking about the courtyard in the dark, wearing their sheepskin coats aither arm-in-sleese or thrown carelessly over their shoulders; they were all swiftly heading for the kitched. There were some, however, only a very few, it must be admitted, who had already managed to pay a visit to the 'barmen'. These were the most impatient ones. In general, all the men behaved in a decent manner, peaceably and with a decorum that was somehow unusual for them. None of their usual quarrels and bad language were to be heard. They all knew that it was a day of great importance, a religious holiday of the first magnitude. There were some who went round the other barracks to give their greetings to men from their part of the country. Something akin to friendliness made its appearance. I will observe in passing that friendliness was something one hardly ever saw among the convicts: I allude not to any general spirit of friendliness – that was even less in evidence – but simply to the private friendship of one convict with another. This was something almost completely absent in the prison, and it was a remarkable feature of our life: things are different in freedom. All the men in the prison, with very few exceptions, were callous and sour in their dealings with each other, and this was a form of behaviour that had been accepted and established once and for all. I also left the barrack; it was just beginning to get lights; the stars were growing faint; a thin, frosty mist was rising into the air. The kitchen chimneys were emitting columns of smoke. Some of the convicts I met as I walked withed me a merry Christmas spontaneously and with real affection. I thanked them and responded in kind. Some of them were men who until now had not said a work to me all during the past month.

Right outside the kitched I was accosted by a convict from the military barrack, his sheepskin coat thrown over his shoulders. He saw me from halfway across the yard, and shouted to me: 'Aleksandr Petrovich! Aleksandr Petrovich!' He was on his way to the kitchen and in a hurry. I stopped and waited for him. He was a round-faced lad with a quiet expression in his eyes, he was very untalkative with everyone, and had not said a single word to me or paid me the slightest attention since I had entered the prison; I did not even know his name. He ran up to me breathlessly and stood right in from of me, staring at me with a meanngless, yet somehow blissful smile on his face.

'What do you want?' I asked him, not without astonishment, in view of the fact that he was standing and staring, smiling at me with all his might, yet not having started up any sort of conversation with me.

'Well, I mean, it's Christmas...' He muttered and, having surmised that there was nothing more to talk about, he left me and rapidly set off for the kitchen.

I will observe, incidentally, that we never had any close of dealings with one another after this, and hardly said a word to one another for all the rest of my time in the prison.

Around the blazing ovens in the kitchen there was a great deal of bustle and jostling, quite a crowd. Each man was looking after what was his; the cooks were getting on with the preparation of the prison food, for dinner would be eaten earlier than usual today. No one had begun to eatyet, however; although some would have liked to, they disisted out of a sense of decorum in the presence of others. A priest was expected, and only after his visit would the breaking of the fast begin. In the meanwhile it was sstill not quite lights, when outside the prison gate the corporal's summoning cry began to ring out: 'Cooks!' These cries rang out practically every minute and continued for almost two hours. The cooks were needed to receive the gifts of food which had been broughts to the prison from every quarter of the town. The food arrived in enormous quantities in the form of kalatches, bread, curd tarts, pastried, buns, blintzes and other fancy confections. I don't believe there was one merchant or artisan housewife in all the town who had not sent some of her baking as a Christmas present for the 'unfortunates', the convicts. Some of this charity was extremely generous – there were fancy loaves made of the finest flour, sent in large quantities. Some of it was very meagre – a half-copeck kalatch and two rye buns with a thin smearing of sour cream on them: this was the gift of pauper to pauper, from the last there was to spare. Everything was accepted with equal gratitude, without respect of gifts and donors. As they accepted the gifts, the convicts took off their hats, bowed, wished the donor a merry Christmas and took the offering back to the kitchen. When heaps of bakeries had accumulated, the head convicts from each barrack were sent for, and they distributed all the items equally among the barracks. There was no quarrelling, no bad language; the distribution was done fairly and equitably. Our barrack's share was divided up in the barack itself by Akim Akimych and another convict, who made the division and distributed the bakeries to each convict personally. There was not the slightest objection, not the slightest envy; everyone was pleased with what he got; there was not even any suspicion that the offerings might have been hidden or unevenly distributed. When he had seen to his business in the kitchen, Akim Akimych proceeded to his investiture; he dressed with the greatest of decorum and solemnity, not leaving one hook unfastened, and when he had finished he at once began to pray in earnest. He spent quite a long time in prayer. Many convicts, the elderly ones for the most part, were already standing in prayer. The younger convicts did not pray much: some of them might cross themselves when they got up in the morning, but that was all, even on a feast day. When he had finished praying, Akim Akimych came up to me and rather solemnly wished me a merry Christmas. I at once invited him to have tea with me, and he offered to share his sucking-pig with me. After a bit Petrov, too, came running up to me to wish me season's greetings. It seemed he had had a few drinks already, and though he was out of breath when he came running up to me, he did not say much, but merely stood in front of me for a short while and soon went off in the diretion of the kitchen. In the military barrack the men were making preparations to receive the priest. This barrack was designed differntly from the rest: in it the plank bed extended around the walls, and not into the middle of the room, as in all the other barracks, so that it was the only room in the prison that was not cluttered up in the middle. It had probably been designed in this way so that all the convicts could be mustered here if necessary. A small table, covered with a clean towel, had been placed in the centre of the room; an icon had been placed on the table, and a lamp lit. At last the priest arrived with the cross and the holy water. After he had prayed and sung the liturgy in front of the icon, he stood before the convicts, and they came forward to kiss the cross with genuine reverence. Then the priest went round all the barracks, sprinkling them with holy water. In the kitched he praised our prison bread, which was renowned for its fine taste in the town, and the convicts immediately expressed a desire to have two freshly baked loaves sent to him; a veteren was immediately charged with this task. The convicts escourted the cross out of the prison as reverently as they had received in among them. Almost immediately aftarwards, the Major and the prison governor arrived. The governor was liked and even respected by the men. He made the rounds of all the barracks accompanied by the Major, wished each man a merry Christmas, went into the kitchen and tried the prison soup. The soup was delicious; almost a pound of beef per convict had been added to it. In addition, millet porridge had been prepared and the men could have as much butter as they wanted. Thwn he had seen the governor off, the Major gave orders for the meal to begin...

We began to eat. Akim Akimych's sucking-pig was done to a turn. I don't know how it was, but immediately after the Major's departure, about five minutes after he had gone, there suddenly seemed to be an unusually large number of drunken convicts. Yet only five minutes earlier, nearly all the men had been completely sober. There were a lot of glowing, beaming faces. Balalaikas were produced. The little Pole with the violin was already following around some reveller who had hired him for the whole day to saw out lively dance-tunes for him. The conversation was growing noisier and more drunken. But the meal passed off without any serious desturbances. Everyone was full. Many of the older and moore sedate concicts went away to sleep, as did Akim Akimych, in the apparent assumption that this was what one always did after dinner on a major holiday.

...

Meanwhile it had begun to get dark. Sadness, depression and stupor began to show painfully through the drunkenness and merrymaking. A man who had been laughing an hour ago was now sobbing to himself somewhere, having drunk more than he could manage. Others had already contrived to get into a couple of fights. Yet others, pale and hardly able to stand, staggered about the barracks, picking quarrels with anybody they met. The very same men whose initial intoxication had been of the least provicative kind now looked in vain for friends in order to lay bare their souls to them and sob out their drunken misery. All this pathetic crowd had wanted to have a good time, to spend the holiday in high spirits and good humour. Yet God, how dreary and dismal the day was for nearly everyone. Everyone spent it looking as though they had been disappointed in some hope.

...

At last the claustrophobic day was at an end. The convicts fell asleep heavily on the plank bed. They talked and raved in their sleep even more than on other nights. Here and there men still sat at maydans. The long-awaited holiday was over. Tomorrow would be an ordinary day, with work again...

Fyodor Dostoevsky. The House of the Dead

On the Nativity

'Spiritual light,' sometimes combined with spiritual 'warmth' and 'fragrance,' is in fact the reasonable intuition we have been seeking, the intuition that includes the series of its own groundings. It is perfect beauty as the synthesis of absolute concrete givenness and absolute reasonable justifiedness. Spiritual light is the light of the Trihypostatic Divinity Itself, the Divine essence, which is not only given, but also self-given. Spiritual light is the 'light of reason,' the light that started to shine for the world at the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, as is sung in the Christmas troparion:

Thy birth, O Christ our God,
has shed upon the world the light of reason …

Spiritual light is the 'Light of Christ' that illuminates everyone. Spiritual light is the 'mental light' that makes 'the soul vigilant before Thee,' God, as the Holy Church tells us. It is the light of God’s love, about which we pray:

With love illuminate me, I pray
that I may see Thee, Word of God

Spiritual light is the light whose seeing constitutes the contemplation of God and therefore our salvation, the salvation of us who cannot be without God. Does not the Orthodox believer pray: 'Save me with Thy illumination'?
St. Pavel (Florensky)


Nativity Sermon of St. John Chrysostom

I behold a new and wondrous mystery!

My ears resound to the shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but loudly chanting a heavenly hymn!

The angels sing!

The archangels blend their voices in harmony!

The cherubim resound their joyful praise!

The Seraphim exalt His glory!

All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead herein... on earth and man in heaven. He who is above now, for our salvation, dwells here below; and we, who were lowly, are exalted by divine mercy!

Today Bethlehem resembles heaven, hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices and, in place of the sun, witnessing the rising of the Sun of Justice!

Ask not how this is accomplished, for where God wills, the order of nature is overturned. For He willed He had the powers He descended. He saved. All things move in obedience to God.

Today He Who Is, is born ! And He Who Is becomes what He was not! For when He was God, He became man-while not relinquishing the Godhead that is His...

And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him angels, nor archangels, nor thrones, nor dominions, nor powers, nor principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.

Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His incarnation has He ceased being God. And behold kings have come, that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven; Women, that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of childbirth into joy; Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin...

Infants, that they may adore Him who became a little child, so that out of the mouths of infants He might perfect praise; Children, to the Child who raised up martyrs through the rage of Herod; Men, to Him who became man that He might heal the miseries of His servants;

Shepherds, to the Good Shepherd who was laid down His life for His sheep;

Priests, to Him who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek;

Servants, to Him who took upon Himself the form of a servant, that He might bless our stewardship with the reward of freedom (Philippians 2:7);

Fishermen, to the Fisher of humanity;

Publicans, to Him who from among them named a chosen evangelist;

Sinful women, to Him who exposed His feet to the tears of the repentant woman;

And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they may look upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Since, therefore, all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice! I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival! But I take my part, not plucking the harp nor with the music of the pipes nor holding a torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ!
For this is all my hope!

This is my life!

This is my salvation!

This is my pipe, my harp!

And bearing it I come, and having from its power received the gift of speech, I too, with the angels and shepherds, sing:

'Glory to God in the Highest! and on earth peace to men of good will!'

I can

Here, in the West, culture has long ago become an object of consumption, a consumer property. What does culture mean for them? Culture is what I can have. As a result of my being free. And what does it mean free? — I am free to have what everyone here has. Does culture exist in the West? It does. Thus I can and I have the right to use it. And what does it mean: I can? Well, just — physically, pragmatically — I can.
Andrei Tarkovsky

Be fruitful and multiply.

...young couples should keep God's commandments without deviation and have many children. Those who refrain from having more than two children are transgressors of God's commandment which says Be fruitful, and multiply (Gen. 1:28), since they being two individuals bring two children into the world and do not increase the population. Increase, that is, from zero population. The Lord is clear, and His commandment in this case is twofold. First He said 'be fruitful' and then He said 'multiply.' So, whichever couples have four children fulfill the first commandment, that is, 'be fruitful.' Whichever ones, again, have five or more please God, because they fulfill both of His commandments, both to be 'fruitful' and to 'multiply.'
Fr. Anthimos of St. Anne's Skete

Another kind of salvation is offered.

It is not to flee our land by sea, saving our despicable worldly goods, but, saving our souls, not going out of the state, each of us ought to save himself in the very heart of the state. It is on the ship of his position and service that each of us ought now escape the whirlpool, our eyes fixed on the Divine pilot. Even he who is not in the service now ought to join the service and grasp his position as a drowning man grasps his plank, without which no one will be saved. Each of us ought now to serve, not as he would have served in old Russia, but as he would in the celestial state, the head of which is Christ himself, and this is why we ought to fulfill all our obligations in the same way as Christ and no other has commanded, whoever may be the authorities over us, those equal to and surrounding us, as well as those below and under us. And certainly this is not the moment to pay attention to any slights to our vanity and self-love which may be inflicted on us by whomsoever it might be—let us remember only that our obligations are undertaken by the grace of Christ, and this is why they ought to be fulfilled as Christ and no other has commanded. Only by this means can each of us now be saved. And ill luck will befall him who does not reflect on this now. His intelligence will be dimmed, his thoughts will become clouded, he will find no corner where he may hide from his fears. Remember the darkness of Egypt, produced with so much strength by King Solomon when the Lord, wishing to punish only the Egyptians, sent mysterious and incomprehensible fears upon them. Blind night enveloped them suddenly in broad daylight; frightful forms were raised up before them on all sides; sinister scarecrows with dismal faces came before their fascinated eyes; a dread which had no need or iron chains locked them all and deprived them of all sense, all movement, they lost all their strength, only fear remained. This happened only to those whom the Lord had punished. The others, during this time, saw no terrors; for them it was day and light.

See that the same thing does not happen to you. Rather, pray and implore God that He make you understand that you ought to be in your position and in it accomplish everything in accordance with the law of Christ. This is now no joke. Before becoming confused because of the disorders surrounding us, it would be well for each of us to look into his own soul. Do you look into yours. God knows, perhaps there you will see the same disorder for which you abuse others; perhaps there dwells a troubled, disordered anger, capable at any moment of possessing your soul, to the greater glory of the enemy of Christ; perhaps there lodges a cowardly ability for falling into dejection at every step—pitiful daughter of lack of faith in God; perhaps, again, there is hidden a vain desire to chase after what glitters and to profit from worldly reputation; perhaps there dwells a pride in the personal qualities of your soul, capable of reducing to nothing all the good that we have in us. God knows what there can be in our souls. It is better and more worthwhile to be troubled by what is inside us than by what is beside and around us.
Nikolai Gogol

To the strengthening of faith

Many do not allow even the thought that an intellectual man of our time could have such a lively and sincere faith as the simple masses do out of ignorance. But this is a great mistake. An educated man, once he gets past a certain [point] is able to believe much more deeply and ardently than an ordinary person who believes partly by habit (following the example of others), partly because his faith, his vague religious ideas are not troubled by any opposing ideas. There is nothing for him to conquer, no intellectual battles to fight. For him, what he must conquer in the spiritual arena are not ideas but passions, feelings, habits, anger, rudeness, malice, envy, greed, drunkenness, depravity, laziness, etc. For an intellectual the warfare is much more difficult and complex. Like the ordinary person he must battle all these passions and habits, but in addition he must also break his intellectual pride and consciously subjugate his mind to the teaching of the Church. Once we get past this mystical threshold, which I mentioned earlier, then our erudition will itself begin to help us in strengthening our faith.
Konstantin Leontiev

Extravagant insolence

Everything is subordinated to external appearances here. Being polite means never contradicting anyone; being amiable means babbling anything that comes into your mind—here are the two rules you have to follow in order to be un home charmant. Thinking over everything I have seen here I can say without being mistaken that the people here are not really living, that they are not really tasting of true happiness, and that they do not even have any comprehension of it. An empty brilliance and extravagant insolence in the men, a shameless indecency in the women—apart from these truly I see nothing else. You can imagine how we found all this to our great displeasure.
Denis Fonvizin, Paris 1778

And what would Fonvizin say about Paris 2006? Or for that matter any other city 2006?

Words that were spoken

"I feel like a whore when I'm single because I just have sex with random people."

The rewards of riding the buses in Chicago...priceless?

Pastures of doctrine

The truth of the Unity of God has been delivered to thee: learn to distinguish the pastures of doctrine. Be an approved banker, holding fast that which is good, abstaining from every form of evil. Or if thou hast ever been such as they, recognise and hate thy delusion. For there is a way of salvation, if thou reject the vomit, if thou from thy heart detest it, if thou depart from them, not with thy lips only, but with thy soul also: if thou worship the Father of Christ, the God of the Law and the Prophets, if thou acknowledge the Good and the Just to be one and the same God. And may He preserve you all, guarding you from falling or stumbling, stablished in the Faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The bondage of words

…wherever the main purpose of speech is flattery, there the word becomes corrupted, and necessarily so. And instead of genuine communication, there will exist something for which domination is too benign a term; more appropriately we should speak of tyranny, of despotism. On the one side there will be sham authority, unsupported by any intellectual superiority, and on the other a state of dependency, which again is too benign a term. Bondage would be more correct. Yes, indeed: there are on the one side a pseudoauthority, not legitimized by any form of superiority, and on the other a state of mental bondage.
Josef Pieper

The purity of faith

...whenever the teaching of faith deviates even a little from its basic purity, the deviation, growing little by little, cannot help becoming a contradiction to faith. The lack of wholeness and inner unity of faith compels one to seek unity in abstract thinking; and reason, having received equal rights with Divine Revelation, first serves as the ground of religion, and subsequently replaces it.
Ivan Kireevskii

"Everyone is entitled to know everything."

But this is a false slogan of a false era; far greater in value is the forfeited right of people not to know, not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk. A person whose life and work are meaningful has no need for this excessive and burdening flow of information.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Unnecessary

In my computer's Oxford dictionary:
unnecessary
adjective
not needed: a fourth Chicago airport is unnecessary.

A fourth airport might not have been necessary but a third one was nice...

Elevensies?

It seems like I finally found a place to get my Elevensies. Lets hope they're covered under "And Many more"...

On abilities

Business inspiration from an unexpected source:

Executive ability is prominent in your make up.

A genius of a name for make up for the professional woman - found in a fortune cookie. If only I had the capital to start such a company...

The exhaustion of faith

'My elder! Tell me sincerely, I bet of you in the name of God, tell me what you think of this: why did the evil spirits appear before the eyes of people in ancient times, as the sacred tradition tells us, and why do they no longer present themselves before our own eyes?'
Father Arseny glanced at me attentively and keenly. In his eyes, as I recall, the flame of a certain joyous faith was suddenly kindled, and after pondering for a while, he answered me thus:
'In those days all men, even the pagans, had a great deal of faith. Now men have become powerless, and faith is weakening. The earth itself is growing old, and men are growing senile in both spirit and flesh. With the exhaustion of men's strength, faith has also become exhausted. Now it is more profitable for the spirits of temptation not to be seen by us. They say to themselves, 'Things are well as they are!' Should a man of weak faith of a godless man see a demon before him and understand this, he would as a consequence begin to have a firmer faith in goodness.'
Konstantin Leontiev

A hundred horse, of course...

If an American is automobiling alone, he, the model of chastity and virtue, will slow down and stop in front of every lone, pretty female pedestrian, bare his teeth in a smile, and lure her into the auto with a wild rolling of his eyes. A lady who fails to understand his situation will qualify as a fool who does not comprehend her own good fortune—the opportunity to make the acquaintance of the owner of a hundred-horse-power automobile.
Vladimir Mayakovsky

Excellent intentions...

Unfortunately, but very significantly, the task of criticism today has been virtually identified with that of apology; the role of the critic is generally seen to be no more than that of explaining, for the uninstructed multitudes, the latest 'inspiration' of the 'creative genius.' Thus passive 'receptivity' takes the place of active intelligence, and ‘success' – the success of the 'genius' in expressing his intention, no matter what the nature of that intention – replaces excellence.
Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose

The good of the ascetic

For it is not fasts and other bodily exercises, not tears and good works that are the goods of an ascetic, but a personality restored in its integrity, a personality that has regained its chastity. “Nothing,” says St. Methodius, “is evil by nature. Things become evil by the mode of their use.”
St. Pavel Florensky

The simplicity of belief

If thou believest, suffer all things; if thou dost not suffer, thou dost not believe.
St. John Chrysostom

The responsibility of the artist

During the last one hundred years one has somehow arrived at the false conclusion that an artist can manage without the spiritual; the act of creating has suddenly become something instinctive! The consequence of this is that the artist's talent, or gift, does not necessarily put him in a position of responsibility. This is why we have arrived at this lack the spiritual element which characterizes contemporary art to such a large degree.
Andrei Tarkovsky

Relinquishing the booty

The human body, even though it is plain mud
Because of the soul, by God, to us, it is given.
If, with sin, the body we defile,
Of our soul, we are breaking the wings,
From the Living God, we are separating it,
And to the unclean one, we give it as a booty.
St. Nikolaj Velimirovic

Seeking salvation

But if you were to see how proud is that mighty spirit which created this colossal embellishment and how proudly convinced this spirit is of its victory and its triumph, then you would shudder for those over whom this proud spirit hovers and rules. In the presence of such enormity, in the presence of such gigantic pride in the sovereign spirit, in the presence of the triumphant finality of that spirit's creations, even the hungry soul often comes to a standstill, grows humble, bows down, seeks salvation in gin and depravity, and begins to believe that everything is as it should be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Monarchical socialism?

I shall even say more: if socialism—not as a nihilistic revolt and delirium of self-negation, but rather as a lawful organization of labor and capital, as a new kind of corporate, coervice serf-state imposed upon human societies—has any future at all, then nothing but a monarchical government will be able to create this new order...
Konstantin Leontiev

The consolation of progress

Yes, sir, now we have been completely consoled; we have consoled ourselves. So what if not everything around us now is still not very beautiful; we ourselves are so wonderful, so civilized, so European that even the people are ready to vomit from looking at us. The people now regard us as complete foreigners; they do not understand a single word, a single book, a single thought of ours—but, as you wish, that is progress. ...the soul is a tabula rasa, a piece of wax from which the real man can be immediately molded, the general, universal man, the homunculus—you need only apply the fruits of European civilization and read two or three books. ...And all this is progress, as you wish!
Fyodor Dostoevsky

The end of reason

Western man, having through the exclusive development of his abstract reason lost faith in all convictions not derived from it, has now owing to that same development, lost his last faith-faith in the omnipotence of that reason.
Ivan Kireevskii

The truthful historian

St. Gregory [of Tours] is an historian; but this does not mean a mere chronicler of bare facts, or the mythical 'objective observer' of so much modern scholarship who looks a things with the 'cold scrutiny' of the 'remote observer.' He had a point of view; he was always seeking a pattern in history; he had constantly before him what the modern scientist would call a 'model' into which he fitted the historical facts which he collected. In actual fact, all scientists and scholars act in this way, and any one who denies it only deceives himself and admits in effect that his 'model' of reality, his basis for interpreting facts, is unconscious, and therefore is much more capable of distorting reality than is the 'model' of a scholar who knows what his own basic beliefs and presuppositions are.
Fr. Seraphim (Rose)

The Popes of yore

What will you say to Christ, Who is the Head of the universal Church, in the scrutiny of the last judgment, having attempted to put all His members under yourself by the appellation of Universal,... Certainly Peter, the first of the Apostles, himself a member of the universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John, - what were they but heads of particular communities. ... And of all the saints, not one has asked himself to be called universal. ... The prelates of this Apostolic See, which by the Providence of God I serve, had the honor offered them of being called universal ... But not yet one of them has ever wished to be called by such a title, or seized upon this ill-advised name, lest if, in virtue of the rank of the pontificate he should take to himself the glory of singularity, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren.
St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome

The glue that is art

For if the sun does not strike us with wonder, from its being customary, much more do works of art fail, and we only look at them like things of clay. … He instituted arts, that our present state of existence might be held together by them, not that we should separate ourselves from spiritual things, not that we should devote ourselves to the base arts but to the necessary ones, that we might minister to one another's good, and not that we should plot one against another.
St. John Chrysostom

The law of action

Either we are rational spirit obliged for ever to obey the absolute values of the Tao, or else we are mere nature to be kneaded and cut into new shapes for the pleasures of masters who must, by hypothesis, have to motive but their own ‘natural’ impulses. Only the Tao provides a common human law of action which can over-arch rulers and ruled alike. A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C.S. Lewis

Per the Colonels request

'Don’t you read or get read to?' [Mr. George]
The old man shakes his head with sharp sly triumph. 'No, no. We have never been readers in our family. It don’t pay. Stuff. Idleness. Folly. No, no!' [Grandfather Smallweed]
Bleak House

Worthy to be a duchess...or queen as it were

'My dear,' he returned, 'when a young lady is as mild as she’s game, and as game as she’s mild, that’s all I ask, and more than I expect. She then becomes a Queen, and that’s about what you are yourself.'
Mr. Bucket to Esther. Bleak House.

Of Soils

As He sowed, that is, as He taught, some seed fell along the road. He did not say that the sower threw the seed along the road, but instead that some fell there. Christ the Sower sows and teaches, and His word falls upon his listeners everywhere, and it is they who show themselves to be like a road, or a rock, or thorns, or good soil. When the disciples ask about the parable, the Lord says, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, that is, unto you who desire to learn, for everyone that asketh, receiveth. [Mt. 7:8] To the others who are not worthy of the mysteries, He speaks obscurely. They think that they see, but they do not; they hear, but they do not understand. And this is to their benefit. The Lord hides these things from them so that they will not fall under greater condemnation for understanding the mysteries and then disregarding them. He who understands, and then disregards, deserves a more severe punishment.
Blessed Theophylact

Powerpoint Moses?

Climate activists, following in the tradition of prophets depicted in the Bible, have carried out a daring night time 'art attack' in the name of combating climate change.

I have no claim to a great biblical knowledge but I don't ever remember there having been a video projector mentioned...

Integrity of the saints

For it is not fasts and other bodily exercises, not tears and good works that are the goods of an ascetic, but a personality restored in its integrity, a personality that has regained its chastity.
St. Pavel Florensky

Let the bells peal

Act of Canonical Communion

We, the humble Alexy II, by God’s mercy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, jointly with the Eminent Members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, having gathered at a meeting of the Holy Synod (date) in the God-preserved city of Moscow; and the humble Laurus, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, jointly with the Eminent Bishops, members of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, having gathered (time, place);

Being guided by the effort towards reestablishing blessed peace, Divinely-decreed love, and brotherly unity in the common work in the harvest-fields of God within the Fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church and her faithful in the Fatherland and abroad, taking into consideration the ecclesiastical life of the Russian diaspora outside the canonical borders of the Moscow Patriarchate, as dictated by history;

Taking into account that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia performs its service on the territories of many nations;

By this Act declare:

1. That the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, conducting its salvific service in the dioceses, parishes, monasteries, brotherhoods, and other ecclesiastical bodies that were formed through history, remains an indissoluble part of the Local Russian Orthodox Church.

2. That the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is independent in pastoral, educational, administrative, management, property, and civil matters, existing at the same time in canonical unity with the Fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church.

3. The supreme ecclesiastical, legislative, administrative, judicial and controlling authority in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is her Council of Bishops, convened by her Primate (First Hierarch), in accordance with the Regulations [Polozheniye] of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

4. The First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is elected by her Council of Bishops. This election is confirmed, in accordance with the norms of Canon Law, by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

5. The name of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the name of the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are commemorated during divine services in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia before the name of the ruling bishop in the prescribed order.

6. Decisions on the establishment or liquidation of dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are made by her Council of Bishops in agreement with the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

7. The bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are elected by her Council of Bishops or, in cases foreseen by the Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, by the Synod of Bishops. Such elections are confirmed in accordance with canonical norms by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

8. The bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are members of the Local Council [Pomestny Sobor] and Council of Bishops [Arkhiereiskij Sobor] of the Russian Orthodox Church and also participate in the meetings of the Holy Synod in the prescribed order. Representatives of the clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia participate in the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in the established manner.

9. The supreme instances of ecclesiastical authority for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are the Local Council and the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church.

10. Decisions of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church extend to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia with consideration of the particularities described by the present Act, by the Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and by the legislation of the nations in which she performs her ministry.

11. Appeals on decisions of the supreme ecclesiastical court of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are directed to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

12. Amendments to the Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia by her supreme legislative authority are subject to the confirmation of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in such case as these changes bear a canonical character.

13. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia receives her holy myrrh from the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

By this Act, canonical communion within the Local Russian Orthodox Church is hereby restored.

Acts issued previously which preclude the fullness of canonical communion are hereby deemed invalid or obsolete.

The reestablishment of canonical communion will serve, God willing, towards the strengthening of the unity of the Church of Christ, of her witness in the contemporary world, promoting the fulfillment of the will of the Lord to “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52).

Let us bring thanks to All-Merciful God, Who through His omnipotent hand directed us to the path of healing the wounds of division and led us to the desired unity of the Russian Church in the homeland and abroad, to the glory of His Holy Name and to the good of His Holy Church and Her faithful flock. Through the prayers of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, may the Lord grant His blessing to the One Russian Church and Her flock both in the fatherland and in the diaspora.

The making of relics

While Orthodox hesychasm appears to be an abstract, unpractical and utopian state, it is in essence very practical, true and realistic, precisely because it speaks of the transformation of man’s body and, of course, of the whole man. Its veracity is seen in the bodies of the saints, which receive the deifying energies of God, and in the relics of the saints, in which the presence of the uncreated deifying energy is manifest. Moreover, the relics manifest the deification of the body as well, and this is proof of the existence of the deifying energy also in the person’s soul. Therefore we can say that a purpose and work of the Church is to make relics.
Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos)

To Live

And I stamped my foot angrily: 'Are you not ashamed, unhappy animal, to whine about your fate? Are you not able to free yourself of subjectivity? Are you not able to forget yourself? Can you not (O shame!) understand that you have to surrender to the objective? The objective, standing outside of you, standing above you, will it not take you over? Unhappy, pitiful, stupid! You whine and complain as if someone is obliged to satisfy your needs. Yes? You cannot live without this and without that? Well, what of it? If you cannot live, then die, let your blood flow out, but live by the objective. Don't descend to contemptible subjectivity, don't seek conditions of life for yourself. Live for God, not for yourself.'
St. Pavel Florensky

Paris...or the modern world

I have formed a definition of Paris, attached an epithet to it, and I stand by that epithet. Namely: this is the most moral and most virtuous city in the whole world. What order! What prudence, what well defined and solidly established relationships; how secure and sharply delineated everything is; how content everyone is; how they struggle to convince themselves that they are content and completely happy; and how in the end, they have struggled to th e point where they really have convinced themselves that they are content and completely happy, and...and...they have stopped at that.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

The way of progress

Oh, hateful equality! Oh, base uniformity! Oh, thrice accursed progress!
Oh, the massive, blood-soaked, but picturesque mountain of universal history! Since the end of the last century you have been laboring in torments of new births. And out of your suffering depths merely a mouse crawls out! A self-satisfied caricature of the people of former days is born, the average rational European, in his comic clothes that even the ideal mirror of art cannot reflect, with a small and self-deluded mind, with his creepy, practical good will!
No! Never yet in the history of our times has anybody seen such a monstrous combination of mental pride before God and ethical submission before the ideal of a homogeneous, gray, laboring, and godlessly passionless all-mankind!
Is it possible to love such a mankind?
Should one not, with all the strength of even a Christian soul, hate—not the people who are stupid and have lost their way—but a future of theirs such as this?
Yes, one should! One should! Thrice, one should! For it hath been said, 'Love thy neighbor, and hate his sins!'
Konstantin Leontiev

Fit to size

'The Frenchman has no common sense and would indeed consider it the greatest misfortune to have it.' Fonvizin wrote this sentence in the last century [18th], and, my God, what pleasure he must have taken in writing it! I bet his heart was tickled with delight when he composed it. And, who knows, perhaps all of us since Fonvizin, for three or four generations have read it not without certain relish. Even now wherever they are encountered, all sentences like this, cutting foreigners down to size, contain something irresitibly pleasant for us Russians. Only on a profoundly secret level, of course, sometimes secret even from ourselves.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

I think it is feasible to replace "Russians" with every other nationality on earth, except of course the Humbles of Humbleton...they have no such problem.

The ascent of the flesh

The most shocking thing about him for me was his spiritual indifference. The flesh had gained such an ascendancy over all his mental qualities that one glance at his face was enough to tell you that all that was left in him was a savage desire for physical pleasure, for sexual passion and carnal satisfaction.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Truth seekers

Unbeknownst to almost all this sorry advertisement was posted midway between two wellsprings of True Truth - the Cathedral of the Annunciation and Christ the Saviour.

Time to prepare for the "Holidays"

...here, in this land of the dollar, even on the eve of Christ's Nativity you hear dance music. In America they begin a whole month in advance to decorate shop windows with Christmas decorations, and a month before Christmas day Christmas trees are lit on glittering streetcorners but all of this is only 'business' and nothing else.
Archimandrite Gerasim (Schmaltz)

Basic beliefs

I do not believe in the infallibility of my mind; I do not believe in the infallibility of other minds, even the greatest; all the more, I do not believe in the sinlessness of collective mankind; but in order to live, everyone must believe in something. Let me then believe in the Gospel, as explained by the church, and not otherwise.
Konstantin Leontiev

True environmentalism

Only he who loves God can love the creation which comes from God. To love creation (or anything, for that matter) one must love it as it truly is; and since creation comes from God, one can only love it as from God and cannot help loving God thereby as well. Autonomous reason, however, by beeing out of contact with God, must also be out of contact with concrete reality (which is nothing else than created reality as given by God), and so can only look on things as ideally, as perfect…
Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose

On "institutes"

In particular, only true virginity is capable of understanding the whole significance of marriage. A height is measurable only from a height; a mountain grows in the eyes in proportion to the ascent to the opposite peak. In the same way, one can understand the holiness of marriage and its qualitative difference from debauchery only from the height of a chaste consciousness. Only true virginity, a virginity full of grace, understands that marriage is not an 'institution' of civil society but has its origin in God Himself. On the other hand, only a pure marriage, only a conjugal consciousness full of grace, makes it possible to understand the significance of virginity. Only a married man understands that monasticism is not an 'institution' of the ecclesiastical-juridical order but has been established by God Himself, and that monasticism differs qualitatively from the exasperation of the unmarried.
St. Pavel (Florensky)

What's better than a good reputation?

The name of Professor Dingo, my immediate predecessor, is one of European reputation.
Mr. Badger, Bleak House

Biding time

...everyone, not even excluding government personnel, abides for the time being atop superficial information, that is, abides in an enchanted circle of knowledge, premature deductions foisted upon them by the press, precipitate testimony advanced through the deceitful prisms of all their parties, never presented in a true light.
Nikolaj Gogol

The 'emergent' question of the 21st century...

In a word, no.

Peace kills

"For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them" (Proverbs 1:32).

Does peace kill? Yes, godless peace kills. Does prosperity destroy? Yes, prosperity without God and contrary to the laws of God can destroy. Simple are they who seek such a peace and they who run after such prosperity are fools. For, in essence, they do not seek peace but rather the sword and are not running after prosperity but rather after destruction. What is the peace of the simple and what is the prosperity of fools? The peace of the simple is physical peace and the prosperity of fools is physical feasting. King Herod wanted such a peace and he was consumed by worms. Jezebel wanted such a prosperity and dogs consumed her.

By what name would we call a man who, in deciding to build a house, thinks that he will place the roof in the air first and afterward erect walls and then lay the foundation of the house? We would call him a simpleton and a fool. Much the same are all those who are attempting to establish peace in the world without interior peace and to establish exterior prosperity for men without interior prosperity. The Christian Faith is the only one which builds from the foundation and the foundation is Christ, a firm and indestructible rock. Thus, the Christian Faith for the peace and prosperity of men builds on Christ. An internal, blessed and joyful peace is built on Christ the Lord and on this peace, external peace is built. So also is true and lasting prosperity. It is still better to say that true peace and true prosperity is like a well-built house and external peace and prosperity are like the external adornments of the house. However, if the adornments fall, the house will stand but if the house is destroyed, will the adornments then hang in the air?

O my brethren, the Christian teaching is the only reasonable teaching about peace and prosperity. All else is madness and foolishness. For, how could the servants build a mansion on the estate of the Master without permission of the Master and without His help?

O Lord, the source of eternal true peace and true prosperity, save us from the peace of the simple and the prosperity of fools.
St. Nikolai (Velimirovic)

The sheep fold

Make thou thy fold with the sheep: flee from the wolves: depart not from the Church.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Theology

...means the word of God. Theology is therefore all or nothing. The whole of nature and of super-nature and subternature is all theology...If the whole of nature is not theology, then theology is nothing or nature is nothing. If the whole of nature does not speak about God, who will believe Isaiah or St. Paul...If the whole of the world around is a wilderness, what can the voice of one prophet crying about God in that wilderness accomplish? If the whole universe does not speak of God, who can without contempt hear the words of one man? ...The publicans and pharisees sought a sign and it was not given them. But our generation seeks...a miracle to believe. 'Show us God,' say many of our contemporaries, 'and we will believe.' But how? Do not these people who despise miracles and do not believe in them demand a greater miracle? ...We must say to them: Show us what is not God!
St. Nikolai (Velimirovic)

The human imagination cannot conceive...

how, in the light of so many different ways of becoming enlightened, the land here is just filled with ignoramuses.
Denis Fonvizin

Of fops and dogs

Do not harness your intellectual freedom into a foppish dog-caller with the inscription 'Europe'.
Aleksey Khomiakov

Feel good feelings

"Helping you feel safe is just part of the online peace-of-mind you have come to expect from us."

So my savings account instituted new "security measures" when I logged in today. Their blurb included the above statement. I am sure glad they are looking out for my "feelings" and "peace-of-mind" because that "sense" of "security" really keeps my money safe...

Surgery for the world

The Holy Eucharist pours healing balm into the wound of repentance, but the Eucharist also judges the communicant. Is it not in this same way that the Anointing and Comforting Spirit will come to heal the wounds of creation with a baptism of fire after the Terrible Day of surgery for the world, after the Judgment of the Son of God and the Word of God, that Very Same Hypostatic Word that “is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12)?
St. Pavel Florensky

The dawn of a better life

...I also loved to read the Holy Scriptures; and when, toward the end of the Old Testament, in its concluding chapters, I somehow had a sense of emptiness and peace, and the strict Romans were already present, a feeling of barely audible, barely noticeable, sweet expectation stirred within me. The dawn of a better life seemed to be awaiting the whole world. There was no light as yet, and one felt both sad and relieved. Then a poor child was born in Bethlehem....How good it is in these dry deserts, where only palm trees grow and people walk about barefoot in light robes! And already Peter was weeping in the night when the cock crowed, and I wept with him; all grew dark, the dead rose out of their graves and walked into town, the curtain in the temple was rent….Before me is a picture....Christ manifest himself for a minute to a couple of disciples, who were on their way to Emmaus. Some poor little town, this Emmaus; three smallish men are hurrying out of some valley, their robes blowing behind them; to one side are rocks, and in the distance looms an agglomeration of small houses with flat roofs. How deserted it all seems! As though after dinner when it is no longer hot, you might enter a large green garden which no one is using and where the shadows cast by the trees grow more and more elongated. As though the person closest to one had departed from the house and from this garden, in which he could have strolled had he wished. And something new was about to begin, was about to glimmer….But what was it? Even then I could not explain it, nor can I do so now.
Konstantin Leontiev

Reject the vomit

The truth of the Unity of God has been delivered to thee: learn to distinguish the pastures of doctrine. Be an approved banker, holding fast that which is good, abstaining from every form of evil . Or if thou hast ever been such as they, recognise and hate thy delusion. For there is a way of salvation, if thou reject the vomit, if thou from thy heart detest it, if thou depart from them, not with thy lips only, but with thy soul also: if thou worship the Father of Christ, the God of the Law and the Prophets, if thou acknowledge the Good and the Just to be one and the same God . And may He preserve you all, guarding you from falling or stumbling, stablished in the Faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

She who is more honorable than the Cherubim

… while she alone stood between God and the whole human race, God became the Son of Man and made men sons of God; she made earth heavenly, she deified the human race, and she alone of all women was shown forth to be a mother by nature and the Mother of God transcending every law of nature, and by her ineffable childbirth-the Queen of all creation, both terrestial and celestial. Thus she exalted those under her through herself, and, showing while on earth an obedience to things heavenly rather than things earthly, she partook of more excellent deserts and of superior power, and from the ordination which she received from heaven by the Divine Spirit, she became the most sublime of the sublime and the supremely blest Queen of a blessed race.
St. Gregory Palamas

In the name of man

The first truth of Orthodoxy is that man does not exist for the sake of man, but for the sake of God or, more fully, for the sake of the God-man. Therefore, we stay with the God-man in the name of man. In Him alone is an understanding of man's being possible; in Him alone is a justification for man's existence possible. All the mysteries of heaven and earth are attained in this truth, all the values of all the worlds that man can contemplate, all the joys of all the perfections that man can attain.
St. Justin (Popovic)

Knowledge

...is not yet true enlightenment. Knowledge is the broadening of man’s intellectual endowment. True enlightenment, however, embraces in itself development of high moral and spiritual principles over and above knowledge. To acquire knowledge is not very difficult; to attain a high moral development, however is the highest aim of man and many people who are deprived of scientific knowledge b the circumstances of life but are deeply permeated by moral light are nearer to complete enlightenment than many who have knowledge but lack the power of spiritual life.
Alexey Khomiakov

Mankinds social benefit

The Panagia did the work of greatest social benefit to mankind. It is not a matter of a superficial and temporary deed, but of the eternal salvation of man, of the fact that she brought life into the world. "For she performed a miracle of miracles on earth and a public benefit greater than any in history..."
Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos)

Communism

…not merely a power-mad political regime, but an ideological-religious system whose aim is to overthrow and supplant all other systems, most of all Christianity. Communism is actually a very powerful heresy whose central thesis, if I’m not mistaken, is chiliasm or millennialism: history is to reach its culmination in an indefinite state of earthly blessedness, a perfected mankind living in perfect peace and harmony.
Fr. Seraphim (Rose)

St. Aleksander pray to God for us!

Today is the commemoration of St. Aleksander of Comana my patron so here is his story from the Prologue:

SAINT ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF COMANA
Men look upon clothes and the face,
But God looks at the soul and the heart.
Glorious Alexander, a charcoal-burner, was,
With the charcoal-burner, the body is blackened
And from soot, which water cleanses,
In the sinner, the heart is darkened
Which only the fire of faith can cleanse
The fire of faith and the cry of repentance.
It is easier to cleanse the skin of a charcoal-burner
Than the blackened heart of a sinner.
Alexander, with humility, covered
In a cave concealed, as a hidden flame
For laughter, to the gullible world, he was.
The world did not see; Gregory saw,
With an acute spirit, the charcoal-burner discerned
And in him, found a saint,
In the dark cave, a beautiful flame,
Beneath the mask of insanity, great wisdom,
Beneath the dirty soot, a pure heart,
A royal soul in decayed rags.
That the light be hidden, the Lord does not permit,
At the appropriate time, the light proclaims,
For the benefit and salvation of men.
All is wonderful, what God judges.

THE PRIESTLY-MARTYR ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF COMANA
As a simple charcoal-burner, Alexander lived in the town of Comana near Neo-Caesarea. When the bishop of Comana died, St. Gregory the miracle-worker and Bishop of Neo-Caesarea (November 17) was then called to preside at a council to elect a new bishop. Both clergy and laymen alike were present at the council. However, the electors were unable to agree on one person. At the time of evaluating a candidate, they all primarily paid attention to the points of his externals: external dignity and behavior. St. Gregory then said that they need not look so much at the external characteristics as much as at the spirit and spiritual capabilities. Then some jesters mocking cried out: then we should elect Alexander the charcoal-burner as our bishop! General laughter then ensued. St. Gregory asked: "Who is this Alexander?" And, thinking that his name was not mentioned at this council without God's Providence, Gregory ordered that Alexander be brought before the council. As a charcoal-burner, he was completely soiled and in rags. His appearance again evoked laughter in the council. Gregory then took Alexander aside and made him take an oath to speak the truth concerning himself. Alexander said that he was a Greek philosopher and that he enjoyed great honor and position but that he rejected all, humbled himself and made himself to be a "fool for the sake of Christ" from the time when he had read and understood Holy Scripture. Gregory ordered Alexander bathed and clothed in new attire and, with him, entered the council and before all began to examine Alexander in Holy Scripture. All were amazed at Alexander's wisdom and words of grace and could hardly recognize in this wise man, the former quiet charcoal-burner. Alexander was unanimously elected bishop. By his sanctity, wisdom and goodness, he gained the love of his flock. Alexander died a martyr's death for Christ during the reign of Diocletian.

Learn to respect and to love the lowly and simple people. Such as these are the most on earth: such as these are the most in the Kingdom of Heaven. In them, there is no pride, i.e., the basic madness from which the souls of the rich and the powerful of this world suffer. They carry out their duty in this world perfectly and yet it appears to them amusing when someone praises them for it, while the self-seeking men of this world seek praise for all their work and often, it is imperfectly completed. St. Alexander was an eminent philosopher and he left everything, hid himself from exalted society, the praise of the world and mingled with the lowliest and the simplest of men, as a charcoal-burner among charcoal-burners. Instead of former praises and honors, he endured with rejoicing that children ran after him and laughed at him because of his sootiness and raggedness. However, Alexander was not the only one who liked to live with the lowly and simple. Many kings and princes, learning of the sweetness of Christ's Faith, removed the crowns from their heads and fled from aristocratic vanity to be among the simple people. Did not He alone, the King of Kings, the Lord our Christ appear among shepherds and fishermen? St. Zeno counsels: "Do not choose a glorious place for living and do not associate with a man of a prominent name."

В конце концов

So the "school year" is over and I thankfully passed with "A's minusums". Now the stress shall subside. But now now I understand what they were talking about in Harry Potter when they talked of putting in 7 or more hours a day of studying...

The law of the human mind

Standing on this highest level of [noetic] thought, the Orthodox believer can easily and harmlessly comprehend all systems of thought deriving from the lower levels of reason; he can see their limitations and their relative truthfulness. However, for the lower form of thought, the higher is incomprehensible and appears nonsensical. Such, in general, is the law of the human mind.
Ivan Kireevsky

The Urals of my soul

Again and again, every sin, every 'petty' baseness is present, ineradicably distinct, in my consciousness. More and more deeply, 'petty' inattentions, egotism, and heartlessness are branded into the soul with letters of fire, gradually crippling it. Not that there was anything clearly bad, anything clearly, tangibly sinful. But always it was in the petty things. And out of petty things, mountains grew!
St. Pavel Florensky

This (not) just in

In case anyone had been wondering... I haven't been updating as much this summer as I've been intensively studying Russian for most of my days.
...

Woe! (Nelly)

...woe to them who wish to defend the power of Christ with the impotence of man’s weapons!
Aleksey Khomiakov

The contradiction of deviation

… whenever the teaching of faith deviates even a little from its basic purity, the deviation, growing little by little, cannot help becoming a contradiction to faith. The lack of wholeness and inner unity of faith compels one to seek unity in abstract thinking; and reason, having received equal rights with Divine Revelation, first serves as the ground of religion, and subsequently replaces it.
Ivan Kireevskii

The unmaking of man

‘Don’t people decrease in their sense of life when buildings increase?’ Voshchev hesitated to believe. ‘Man will make a building and unmake himself. Who will live in it then?’
Andrei Platonov. The Foundation Pit.

The well concealed menace

Serving the tyranny, the corruption and abuse of language becomes better known as propaganda. …the most perfect propaganda achieves just this: that the menace is not apparent but well concealed. Still, it must remain visible; it must remain recognizable. At the same time, those for whom the menace is intended must nevertheless be led and eased into believing (and this is the true art!) that by acquiescing to the intimidation, they really do the reasonable thing, perhaps even what they would have wanted to do anyway.
Josef Pieper

We will resist these trials

if we would but remember Christ crucified on the Cross for us and so many thousands of martyrs for the Faith who, in their patience, conquered all and emerged from the flames as gold and who for centuries glow among the angels and among men.
St. Nikolaj (Velimirovic)

Included in the concept of the Church is this:

...the Church is that point at which dogma becomes moral teaching and Christian dogmatics become Christian life. The Church thus comprehended gives life to and provides for the implementation of Christian teaching. Without the Church there is no Christianity; there is only the Christian teaching which, by itself, cannot 'renew the fallen Adam.'
St. Hilarion (Troitsky)

But one rung

The absolute atheist stands on the last rung but one before most absolute faith (whether he steps higher or not), while an indifferent man has no faith at all, nothing but dismal fear, and that, too, only occasionally, if he is a sensitive man.
Fr. Tikhon in Devils by FD

Heavenly King

…the apophaticism which characterizes the mystical theology of the Eastern Church appears as a witness to the fullness of the Holy Spirit—to this Person who, though He fills all things and brings all things to their ultimate fulfillment, yet remains Himself unknown.
Vladimir Lossky

A lesson from the lesser

Camels and mules behave more decently than some people at wedding receptions!
St. John Chrysostom

Condemned by truth

It is not difficult to avoid death, gentlemen of the jury, it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death. Slow and elderly as I am, I have been caught by the slower pursuer, whereas my accusers, being clever and sharp, have been caught by the quicker, wickedness. I leave you now, condemned to death by you, but they are condemned by truth to wickedness and injustice.
Plato

What we need is a deep clean

The struggle and effort to be rid of passions should be associated with the return of the nous to the heart. A therapeutic treatment which is limited to the surface, without also being aimed at curing the nous is only moralisation. Here we see the value of the neptic theology of our Church. To eliminate hesychasm from Christian living is to make Orthodoxy worldly. This is why we must adapt the therapeutic treatment to curing the nous.
Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos)

The perpetual revolution

A doubt about the possibility or reality of a communication between living and dead through Christ and in Christ is too un-Christian to want an answer. To ascribe to the prayers of living Christians a power of intercession which is refused to the Christians admitted into heavenly glory would be a glaring absurdity. If Protestantism were true to logic, as it pretends to be, I may boldly affirm that not only Anglicans, but all Protestant sects (even the worst) would either admit serious and earnest addresses to saints and angels, or reject the mutual prayers of Christians on earth. Why, then, are they rejected, nay, often condemned? Simply because Protestantism is for ever and ever protesting.
Aleksey Khomiakov

The guarantee of the word

Our every word comes before the assembly of the angels of God. Hades receives our every evil word and retains it as a guarantee of our eternal death and Paradise receives every good word and retains it as a guarantee of our eternal life. Truly, does the Old Testament sage wisely speaks and promptly reminds us with the words that: 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue.'
St. Nikolaj (Velimirovic)

On the "branch theory"

…the godless system of the heresies is a road with many branches, and whenever a man has strayed from the one straight way, then he falls down precipices again and again.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Spiritual swimming

One should nourish the soul with the word of God: for the word of God, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, is angelic bread, by which are nourished souls that hunger for God. Most of all one should occupy oneself with reading the New Testament and the Psalter, which one should do standing up. From this there occurs an enlightenment in the mind, which is changed by a Divine change.
One should habituate oneself in this way so that the mind might as it were swim in the Lord’s law; it is under the guidance of this law that one should direct one’s life.
St. Seraphim of Sarov

Seeming rage

It was grand to see how the wind awoke, and bent the trees, and drove the rain before it like a cloud of smoke; and to hear the solemn thunder, and to see the lightning; and, while thinking with awe of the tremendous powers by which our little lives are encompassed, to consider how beneficent they are, and how upon the smallest flower and leaf there was already a freshness poured from all this seeming rage, which seemed to make creation new again.
Charles Dickens - Bleak House

Behold!

...the bolsheviks have destroyed the monastery; they destroyed the cemetery, too. Behold twentieth century civilization!
Archimandrite Gerasim (Schmaltz)

Apropos to the feast of St. Abba Dorotheos of Gaza

Do you realise the enormity of his pride? Do you see his obstinacy? Do you see his insubordination? Therefore, when He saw his impudence God said: 'He is a fool, he does not know how to be happy. If he does not have a hard time, he will be totally lost. If he does not learn what sorrow is, he will not learn what rest is. Then He gave him that what he deserved and expelled him from paradise'. Thus, Man was given up to self-love and to his own desires which would crush his bones, so as to learn not to trust himself but the commandment of God.
Abba Dorotheos

Only death

He who does not love God, not only does he not love God but does not love anything that is from God, i.e., neither the beauty of the stars nor the order of the seas and mountains nor the living power that is in animals and plant life. He who does not love God, removes and distances God from nature. What else then is left? Only dead, formless, dark, dust only death. Even that dust is created by God. And that dust, the blasphemer of God must return to God and that, which is left over, he can love. What is there left over? Only that which does not touch God, i.e., death, sin and the devil. He who does not love God he, in essence, loves death, sin and the devil. Every blasphemer of God is a toy of the devil, the fruit of sin and a pawn of death.
St. Nikolaj (Velimirovich)

The Catholic Church

But since the word Ecclesia is applied to different things (as also it is written of the multitude in the theatre of the Ephesians, And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the Assembly ), and since one might properly and truly say that there is a Church of evil doers, I mean the meetings of the heretics, the Marcionists and Manichees, and the rest, for this cause the Faith has securely delivered to thee now the Article, 'And in one Holy Catholic Church;' that thou mayest avoid their wretched meetings, and ever abide with the Holy Church Catholic in which thou wast regenerated. And if ever thou art sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God (for it is written, As Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, and all the rest,) and is a figure and copy of Jerusalem which is above, which is free, and the mother of us all; which before was barren, but now has many children.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The corners of the (Western) heart

Western people fragment their lives into separate aspirations; and though they then unite them into a coherent plan by means of rationalistic understanding, at each moment of life the individual is like a different person. One corner of the heart shelters the Western person’s religious feeling, which is called upon on occasions of ritual observance; another, quite separate, harbors the faculties of reason and the capacity for worldly activity; a third corner contains the person’s sensual desires; a fourth, a sense of morality and family; a fifth, self-interest; a sixth, the desire for aesthetic pleasure. And each of these separate strivings is subdivided into further aspects, each accompanied by a special state of mind, each manifesting itself separately from the others, all bound together only by an abstract, rationalistic recollection. Westen people can easily pray in the morning with fervent, intense, amazing zeal and then rest from that zeal, forgetting prayer and exercising other faculties in their wok. They then rest from their work, not just physically but morally, forgetting its dull routine in laughter and the sound of drinking songs, They then forget the rest of the day—indeed, their whole life—in dreamy enjoyment of an artificial spectacle. Next day it will be easy for them to begin again turning the wheel of their outwardly correct lives.
Ivan Kireevskii

The lesson of the firefly

The holy Fathers, speaking of the glory of the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven, make divinely inspired analyses. St. Gregory the Theologian says: 'with those who have stood and not fallen we shall be small lights going round the great light'. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says that because God foresaw men’s faithlessness, He put light into the small insects which fly in summer, so that from what was seen, that which was awaited would be believable. The God who made one part can also provide the whole. He Who made the worm (the firefly) shine, 'much more can illuminate a righteous man'. Macarios of Egypt explains that the Kingdom of the Light, Jesus Christ, is now mystically illuminating the soul and reigning in the souls of the saints, hidden from the eyes of men, until the day of the resurrection, 'when the body itself will also be covered and glorified by the light of the Lord', which henceforth is in the souls of men, so that it too may reign with the soul.
Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos)

The enemy of the Son

…many of those who are falsely called Christians, and wrongfully addressed by the sweet name of Christ, have ere now impiously dared to banish God from His own creation. I mean the brood of heretics, those most ungodly men of evil name, pretending to be friends of Christ but utterly hating Him. For he who blasphemes the Father of the Christ is an enemy of the Son.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Social Gospel

The Panagia did the work of greatest social benefit to mankind. It is not a matter of a superficial and temporary deed, but of the eternal salvation of man, of the fact that she brought life into the world. 'For she performed a miracle of miracles on earth and a public benefit greater than any in history...'.
Met. Heirotheos (Vlachos)

Church consciousness

If we see a decline of piety, a failure to understand the Divine services, the reason for this lies outside the Church: it is in the decline of faith in the masses, in the decline of morality, in the loss of church consciousness.
Fr. Michael Pomazansky

Mercy and love

‘Let’s see what she’ll ask of me today.’ …
‘I don’t want anything, papouli. I only want you to help me to remain always under God’s mercy and love.’ …
‘And you think you’re not asking for much,’ he said to me. ‘Is there, my child, anything greater than God’s mercy and love?’
Elder Porphyrios and a spiritual child.

Apropos to the feast of St. Abba Dorotheos of Gaza

Therefore, whoever wants to find true rest in his soul must learn humility and he will see that all joy, all glory and all true rest are to be found there, whilst in pride it is just the opposite. How have we come into all this affliction? How have we fallen into all this misery? Is it not because of our pride? Is it not because of our senselessness? Is it not because we took the wrong decision? Is it not because we chose to impose our bitter will? Why? Was not Man created with every luxury, in all joy, in all rest and in all glory? Was he not in paradise? God said, ‘Do not do that’ but he did it. Do you realise the enormity of his pride? Do you see his obstinacy? Do you see his insubordination? Therefore, when He saw his impudence God said: ‘He is a fool, he does not know how to be happy. If he does not have a hard time, he will be totally lost. If he does not learn what sorrow is, he will not learn what rest is. Then He gave him that what he deserved and expelled him from paradise. Thus, Man was given up to self-love and to his own desires which would crush his bones, so as to learn not to trust himself but the commandment of God. The hardships from disobedience will teach him the calmness that comes from obedience as the Prophet says: ‘Your own wickedness will correct you’ (Jer. 2:19). However, as I said in many ways, the goodness of God has not renounced His creature, but again invites and calls him ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matt. 11:26). It is as if he is saying, ‘You were labouring, you were miserable, you were suffering through your disobedience; come then, return, recognise your weakness and your shame, so that you may attain your rest and glory. Come, lead a life of humility, you who were dead through haughtiness. Learn from me, that I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’ (Matt. 11:29).
Abba Dorotheos. On Renunciation, Section 8.

To be avenged

By the lamp sat the activist at his mental labor: he was drawing graphs for the record in which he wished to enter all the data concerning the welfare of the poor and middle peasantry, so there would be a permanent, formal picture and experience, as a basis.
'Write down my goods, too!' said Voshchev, unpacking his sack.
He had gathered in the village all the poor, rejected objects, all the small unknown and forgotten things—to be avenged by socialism. Those patient, shabby rags had once touched the flesh of the laboreres, and these things were marked forever by the burden of bowed life, expended without conscious meaning and lost without glory somewhere under the straw of the earth. Without full understanding, Voshchev had collected like a miser a sackful of material remnants of lost people, who had lived like him without truth and who had died before the victorious conclusion. Now he was presenting those liquidated toilers before the face of the government and the future, so that those who lay quietly in the depth of the earth could be avenged through the organization of the eternal meaning of man.
Andrei Platonov. The Foundation Pit

The truth...

stands higher than your pain.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Vivid impressions

Western hearts are tormented by this comfortable way of living, and to feel anything deeply many Western people seek for vivid impressions. …Seeking for vivid impressions is a surrogate for spiritual life.
Fr. Artemy Vladimirov

The defence against chance

He had always disliked the people who encored a favourite air in the opera—'That just spoils it' had been his comment. But this now appeared to him as a principle of far wider application and deeper moment. This itch to have things over again, as if life were a film that could be unrolled twice or even made to work backwards … was it possibly the root of all evil? No: of course the love of money was called that. But money itself—perhaps one valued it chiefly as a defence against chance, a security for being able to have things over again, a means of arresting the unrolling of the film.
C.S. Lewis. Perelandra

Balanced Orthodoxy

A well-balanced Orthodoxy can easily take any foreign influences that come and straighten them out, make them Orthodox; but a one-sided 'party-line' cuts itself off from the mainstream of Orthodoxy.
Fr. Seraphim (Rose)

Instruments of power

…sophisticated language, disconnected from the roots of truth, in fact pursues some ulterior motives, that is invariably turns into an instrument of power…
Josef Pieper

The redemptive act

There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least to be offered the chance to be restored. The reader of today looks for this motion, and rightly so, but what he has forgotten is the cost of it. His sense of evil is diluted or lacking altogether, and so he has forgotten the price of restoration. When he reads a novel, he wants either his senses tormented or his spirits raised. He wants to be transported, instantly, either to mock damnation or a mock innocence.
Flannery O’Conner

The Mission

The mission of the Church which is given by Christ and realized by the Holy Fathers is this: for the awareness and realization to be planted and cultivated in the soul of our people that each member of the Orthodox Church is a catholic person, an eternal and theanthropic person, that he belongs to Christ and for this reason is a brother of all human beings, and a servant of all men and creatures. This is the purpose of the Church given by Christ. Every other purpose is not of Christ but of the antichrist. For our local Church to be the Church of Christ, the catholic Church, she must constantly realize this purpose in our people. By what means can she realize this theanthropic purpose? Once again, the means are none other than the theanthropic ones, because the theanthropic purpose can be realized only through theanthropic means, never with human means or any other whatsoever.
St. Justin (Popovic)

The Holy Mountain

Apropos to Matt's return from pilgrimage to Mt. Athos we'll offer a little wisdom from said mountain.

Who is going to speak about your struggle, blessed Fathers;
Who is going to praise worthily the deeds of your asceticism?
Who is going to praise the temperance of your mind?
your unceasing prayer
your sufferings to gain virtue,
the wearing out of the body,
the struggle against passions,
the all–night assemblies for prayer,
the unceasing tears,
the humility of spirit,
the victories against demons,
and all the other gifts?
O multitude of holy men
sanctified and desired by God.
O honeycombs chosen by God,
who made wax cells,
full of the sweetest honey
of quietness in the holes and caves of the earth
in the Holy Mountain.
Delight of the Holy Trinity!
Delight of the Holy Mother of God!
Pride of Athos,
source of pride for the world.
Pray to the Lord that our souls find mercy”.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
by the intercessions of Thy Saints,
have mercy on me a sinner.
Most Holy Mother of God, save me.
St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain

In former days, the Holy Fathers first withdrew into the desert, becoming themselves a desert void of their passions by struggling. Without plans or programs of their own, they left themselves in the hands of God, avoiding honors and power, even when they arrived at measures of sanctity — unless Mother Church had need of them. They did obedience to the will of God, and they glorified the name of God with their holy life. They became spiritual blood donors, for they had acquired good spiritual health in the desert with good spiritual food and vigilant patristic watchfulness.

In our day, however, many of us, who are unfortunately influenced by worldly love, which can make no spiritual pledge, supposedly venture to do good, to donate blood, but our blood is full of spiritual bacteria and we do more harm than good.

Once two Catholics came here. They seemed to be good boys, architects. And they said to me that Orthodox monasticism doesn't produce anything, whereas theirs undertake great ministries. I explained to them that the mission of the monk is something else, different from the mission of the clergy in the world. I said, 'If we destroy the lighthouse on the rocks, what will become of the ships? But the monks are the lighthouses.'
Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

The simple monks

But monks in the monastery are practical people; they condensed the whole theology into the practice of prayer.
Fr. Roman Braga

The Russians are coming

So this is probably my most personal revelation on this here blog, of course I'll include an apropos quote, however. I received today the wonderful news of my placement into the desired level at my summer Russian program which is third year Russian.

Carolus V, Emperor of Rome, was wont to say that the Hispanic tongue was seemly for converse with God, the French with friends, the German with enemies, the Italian with the feminine sex. Had he been versed in the Russian tongue, however, he would of a certainty have added to this that it is appropriate in converse with all of the above, inasmuch as he would have found in it the magnificence of the Hispanic tongue, the sprightliness of the French, the sturdiness of the German, the tendresse of the Italian and, over and above all that, the richness and the conciseness of powerful imagery, of the Greek and Latin tongues.
Mikhail Vassilievich Lomonosov