Quote of the Day: St. John Chrysostom

Let us afford our children from the first an incentive to goodness from the name that we give them. Let none of us hasten to call his children after his forebearers, his father and mother and grandfather and grandmother, but rather after the righteous - martyrs, bishops, apostles. Let one be called Peter, another John, another bear the name of one of the saints. Let the names of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children.”

Quote of the Day: From the Life of Patriarch Paul of Pech

Once, approaching the Patriarchate, His Holiness Paul noticed many cars near the entrance and became interested in whose they were. He was told that these cars belonged to hierarchs. To this the Patriarch replied with a smile: "If they, who know the Savior’s commandment about unacquisitiveness, have such cars, just imagine what kind of cars they would have if there this commandment did not exist!

Pentecost

"Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-giving, and Undivided Trinity, always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages!"

On this 7th Sunday after the Lord's Pascha we celebrate the descent and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the disciples in the Holy City, Jerusalem, and the revelation of God as Trinity to the fledgling Church. By the Holy Spirit the disciples were empowered to preach the good news of the Resurrection not only in Palestine, but to the ends of the world. More on the significance of this great feast and its significance in the life of all Christians can be found here.

As last night's hymns said, "Let us celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the appointed day of promise, and the fulfillment of hope, the mystery which is as great as it is precious!" Amen.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Thomas Hopko

There was a whole thousand years when the Church had multiple rites of praise to God. In fact, the irony is, the time when there were the most multiple rituals for the sacraments and the services was the time there was the greatest unity in doctrine and spiritual life, evangelism, et cetera. In any case, the ritual is not of the essence of the Faith. Language isn’t, calendars are not…all those things are not part of the essence of the Faith. But unless we have the desire for unity, which then would lead us to feel that we have an absolute obligation from God to distinguish between what is really essential and what is not, we are never going to be united.

"When Taking Cover Is Not Enough"

An excellent article by Archimandrite Meletius (Webber), Abbot of St. John of San Francisco's Monastery in Manton, California, on contentiousness and argumentativeness in parish life can be found here.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Seraphim (Alexiev) of Knyazhevo

"The deeper the sorrow, the closer God is; the darker the night, the brighter the stars."

Day of Rejoicing

Christ is risen! Христос воскресе! Today's feast, commonly known as the Day of Rejoicing or Радоница ("Radonitsa"), was established as a day to commemorate the dead in the hope of their future resurrection and for Orthodox Christians to visit their loved ones in the cemeteries and proclaim to them the good news of the Resurrection of Christ. More on the feast can be found here.

"Despre Botezul în Duhul Sfânt"

A good Romanian-language article on baptism and repentance after baptism (our 'second baptism' in a sense) can be found here.

"Cardinal George Suspends Reverend Pfleger"

This interesting article on an ongoing dispute in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago can be found here.

Particularly of interest to me was the implication that Roman Catholic priests, in this particular archdiocese anyways, only serve 12-year terms as parish rectors to avoid them becoming too close to their parishes (my wording, not the article's). While I can understand a little of why such a policy would be in place, it seems at the same time to be a violation of the historic understanding of the priest as the father of his parish church. There's certainly an unhealthy closeness that can develop, but on the whole one would think it better for a priest to know and be known by his flock. Thoughts? :-)

Hat tip to Ad Orientem for posting this article!

Sanctity of the Body

Nearly half a million have gathered for the funeral of Indian guru Satya Sai Baba. Interestingly, in Hinduism highly respected men and women are buried rather than cremated, just as in Orthodox Christianity the faithful are always buried (when physically/legally possible) out of respect for the sanctity of the body as the temple of God. More here.

Quote of the Day: St. Niphon

Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God and loving towards men, and you will be saved.

Quote of the Day: Metropolitan Jonah of Washington

Spiritual pride is an easy trap for those new to the faith...excessive external piety, false humility, preoccupation with gossip and "issues" in the life of the Church, judging people on their piety or stance in these issues, complete assurance that one knows exactly how things should be done, and perhaps most dangerous of all, idolizing a person or place as the ultimate criterion of Orthodoxy, can all be symptoms of this malady. They are all aspects of spiritual immaturity. What is missing in all this is Christ and the real spiritual struggle with oneself.

"Avoiding Both Self-Ghettoization and Trinket Evangelism"

Fr. Oliver Herbel has an excellent post on balance in Orthodox life and outreach in North America here. He speaks at one point of Orthodox Christians who grow out their hair, wear all black, and wonder around with long prayer ropes and I couldn't help laughing - partly because I was trending in that direction at one point :-) and partly because I still meet converts in that phase.

When I left Protestantism the question of how to be relevant to the wider culture around me ceased to be a question and the beard and prayer rope were added to my 'look.' I certainly haven't grown in faith since those days, but more and more I'm realizing that the question of relevance isn't irrelevant :-). It can be thought about too much (and result in awesome stuff like crowd surfing during church), but that doesn't mean that we in the world shouldn't take a look in the mirror from time to time and ask ourselves how we are witnesses to others of God's call to communion with Him.

So, there's my half penny on all of this. Fr. Oliver's article is much better and to the point. Enjoy!

Pictured is yours truly being culturally relevant in a kilt - culturally relevant for a friend's wedding that is :-).

Converts Versus Cradles?

Whenever I'm reading the crazy comments on websites like OCA News about the supposed clash between "cradles" and converts" I as an adult (or almost adult - whatever high school counts as) convert to Orthodoxy find myself wondering what our children will be in all of this. Will they be "craverts"? "Condles"? Will we make them choose which of these silly camps they join when they come of age?

I've seen cradle/convert conflicts at the parish level and was hit most of all by how unnecessary they were. They were not, in fact, about one side being "cradle" Orthodox and the other being "convert" Orthodox. They were about personalities and disobedience. None of the "cradle" Orthodox from the Old World joined in on 'their' side in the conflicts and the conflicts themselves passed relatively quickly as the parish settled into the changes that generally accompany the arrival of a new priest.

It's sad to see us dividing ourselves even more, beyond "Greek" and Russian" to "convert" and "cradle" or "conservative" and "liberal." All of this violates the Tradition and denies our fundamental belonging to the Church. Like it or not, we are together in all of this. It would be appropriate, I think, were we to figure out how to get past our pet peeves and pet causes so that we can love one another. It would certainly save a lot of unnecessary and unhelpful posts online ;-) (much like this one I'm sure!) and might even get us closer to having our own Orthodox Church of the Americas.

"On Intrigues in the Church"

An excellent sermon delivered by Bishop Jerome (Shaw) of Manhattan on the Sunday of Orthodoxy can be found here.

NCC Renews Call for Common Date for Pascha

The US National Council of Churches has renewed its call for a common date for the celebration of Pascha by Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Protestants, floating the idea of either a return to the historic calculation of Pascha (followed by the Orthodox) or a fixed day every year for the feast's celebration (not followed by the Orthodox ;-) ). More here.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Joyous feast! The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy was established in the Byzantine Rite to commemorate the final restoration of the holy icons in the East Roman Empire. It has since taken on a wider meaning to commemorate the triumph of Orthodoxy over all the heresies that have assailed the Faith since the preaching of the Apostles.

Today's feast is also the third anniversary of the repose of Metropolitan Laurus (Skurla) of New York of thrice blessed memory. More on his life can be found here. Вечная память! May his memory be eternal!

A beautiful sermon on today's feast by Fr. Alexander Schmemann can be found here.

"The Temptations of Church"

Another excellent article by Fr. Stephen Freeman, this time on the Church, can be found here.

Quote of the Day: Fr. Michael Pomazansky

The unity of the Church is not violated because of temporary divisions of a non-dogmatic nature. Differences between churches arise frequently out of insufficient or incorrect information. Also, sometimes a temporary breaking of communion is caused by the personal errors of individual hierarchs who stand at the head of one or another local church, or it is caused by their violation of the canons of the Church, or by the violation of the submission of one territorial ecclesiastical group to another in accordance with anciently established tradition. Moreover, life shows us the possibility of disturbances within a local church which hinder the normal communion of other churches with the given local church until the outward manifestation and triumph of the defenders of authentic Orthodox truth. Finally, the bond between churches can sometimes be violated for a long time by political conditions, as has often happened in history. In such cases, the division touches only outward relations, but does not touch or violate inward spiritual unity.

"Evangelical Issues with Orthodoxy: Most Holy Mother of God"

A good survey of Evangelical Protestantism's approach to the Mother of God by a recent convert to Orthodox Christianity in Kenya can be found here.