Orthodixie

From the seminary website:

This year’s annual public Lenten retreat at St Vladimir’s Seminary will be “Southern Style” as we welcome Fr Joseph Huneycutt, author of the popular blog Orthodixie. Fr Joseph’s topic for this year’s retreat, to be held Saturday, March 20, 2010, is Paschal Fire from Spiritual Ashes.

Known for combining wit with wisdom, and satire with sobriety, Fr Joseph has authored several books reflecting his journey to and through the Orthodox Christian faith, including: We Came, We Saw, We Converted: The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America; Defeating Sin: Overcoming Our Passions and Changing Forever; and One Flew Over the Onion Dome: American Orthodox Converts, Retreads, and Reverts. He appears regularly on Ancient Faith Radio, and is a priest at St George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Houston, Texas.

Describing his approach to spreading the gospel, Fr Joseph said, “I find English works best; it’s also good to make the message sinner-friendly and open to all. Seriously, without encouragement toward perpetual conversion in Christ the Living God, our message is the same as any other: dead.”

The public retreat begins with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 9 a.m. in Three Hierarchs Chapel, and will be followed by brunch at 11 a.m. Fr Joseph will present his talks from 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building. A prayer service at 4:30 p.m. will close the retreat.

The retreat is free and open to the public. Participants planning to eat brunch after Divine Liturgy must register for the meal and pay a $10 fee at the door. Please click here for directions to the campus or call the seminary events coordinator, Tanya Penkrat, at 914-961-8313 ext. 351 for further information. And, please mark your calendars for this event!

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“As every young Texian* Christian of school age knows, Austin shall surely be the fourth Rome, and if not Austin, then Dallas or perhaps Abilene … the patriarch of the Texans will then bear the weight of that priority among the Church, that future diocese of Sante Fe. As the capital of the Empire of Holy Texas, it will preside as first in loving care for all true believing and worshipping churches … Once all is put in order, the Empire can be reestablished and the populace of Texas baptized in the Brazos de Dios. Then the Orthodox Mounted Posses can saddle up and ride out to the Second Rome to restore the Hagia Sophia, Christendom’s great temple, carrying the Bonnie Blue Flag next to the Empire’s banner of gold with the proud double-headed eagle …”

— Taken from the new book, At the Roots of Christian Bioethics – Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr, p.10 [quote first appearing in The Foundations of Christian Bioethics (2000)]

* – TEXIAN. The term Texian is generally used to apply to a citizen of the Anglo-American section of the province of Coahuila and Texas or of the Republic of Texas. Texian was used in 1835 as part of the title of the Nacogdoches Texian and Emigrant’s Guide. As president of the Republic, Mirabeau B. Lamar used the term to foster nationalism. Early colonists and leaders of the Texas Revolution, many of whom were influential during the Civil War and who were respected as elder statesmen well into the 1880s, used Texian in English and Texienne in French. However, in general usage after annexation, Texan replaced Texian. The Texas Almanac still used the term Texian as late as 1868 [Fletcher, 2009; note, p.18]

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Fr. bless,

Well, I finally finished the book. Thank you for this gift. Now for my end of the bargain…

I was most disappointed with it. I have listened to most all of your podcasts on AFR. I can’t even in my head reproduce the sound of your voice in these stories. I certainly can’t sing any of the songs. Here I was sitting and reading the stories I have played over on AFR knowing how they read and trying to input your inflections into my head and your drawl into the words, not to mention the nuances of speech I hear on the podcasts.

The stories were just not the same. Yes, I love the humor and the message behind them, that will never be out of style, but there was just something missing the entire time I was reading; YOU. Your voice I listen to was clouded over by my need to “hear” you in my head as I was reading.

I loved the book Fr. Joseph. I love your podcasts. I can’t wait until your next one comes out. They all hit me square between the eyes. This is what I call the mark of a good book.

— XXX

Thanks, XXX … I’m confused, though … did you like the book or not? (It’s a rhetorical question, I think.)

Yes Fr. I loved the book. I was lamenting your voice was not in my head. MY “head voice” was just not living up to your podcasts. 😉 thanks again.

“A New York City woman on trial for starving four of her children was brought up in a ‘cult-like’ religion that prohibited its members from direct contact with the outside world, her brother testified yesterday.

‘It was an almost cult-like existence. We weren’t allowed to watch TV, go to the movies, or vote,’ said Frederick Phillips, 45, of Manhattan, describing the lifestyles of members of the Brooklyn-based Church of the Brethren, an Orthodox Christian church that believed in a strict interpretation of the Bible.”

Uh, more here.

Just in case you missed this episode last month, but mainly because I got home late, having promised 30 posts in 30 days, here’s a repeat (otherwise known as a “favre”) …

Back in the 7th grade I played on my first school football team. I knew absolutely nothing about the game, but being a “big ol’ boy” (as they say in the South) I think my parents didn’t want me getting much bigger. They believed football would get me into good shape and I was certainly hoping that my mom would no longer have to order my pants from the “husky” section of the Sears Christmas catalogue.

I mean, whoever thought up that phrase for boy’s pants – HUSKY? Now there’s a real confidence booster!

Anyway …

Other than being HUSKY, I brought nothing to the game; I wasn’t agile, I knew no rules … I was a walking paper weight.

But, there I was on the field, listening to our coach, who was 3.5 years older than Methuselah (about a million in dog years). His name was Mr Jeff – and he was telling us about THE ONSIDE KICK.

I’d never heard of such a thing.

Apparently, when the opposing team kicks off to you – if you don’t catch the ball, they will! And, with the onside kick, the ball may actually come to a walking paper weight …

… in other words, a HUSKY dumb lineman

… that would be, can you hear me? ME!

Honest to goodness, the other guys lined up on the ball and kicked what was supposed to be an onside kick …

Alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.

MR JEFF: THE BALL … MAY COME TO YOU … ONE OF YOU LINEMEN … DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN WITH THE BALL! FALL ON IT! DO YOU HEAR ME?!

Us: Yes sir!

MR JEFF: SO … AGAIN … WHAT DO YOU LINEMEN (that’s what he called us husky paper weights) – WHAT DO YOU LINEMEN DO IF THE BALL COMES TO YOU??

Us: Fall on it!

MR JEFF: FALL ON IT – HOLD ON TIGHT … AND DO NOT TRY TO RUN WITH THE BALL! DO. NOT. MOVE!

Well, wouldn’tchya know, that ball came to me.

It’s one of those memories that’s burned into my mind: a husky 12 year old boy, without a clue, staring as that ball was kicked … a line drive (perfectly) right to me!

The Good News? I caught it.

Now, for the rest of the story …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.