Orthodixie

The recent flap about the Harry Icon got me thinking about the “good ol’ days” … back when I thought Harry Potter was the bogeyman. Now that the comments on the previous post have made it safer for me to wade in, I must confess:

When I received my first HARRY ICON EMAIL OF OUTRAGE I didn’t even notice the Harry Icon. I mean, I saw it … but proceeded on to skim the accompanying article, found it safe and sane, and went on about clearing out my email box. That’s when I noticed more HARRY ICON EMAILS OF OUTRAGE. So, while it’s all still relevant, before we all head on to some other Orthodox Outrage Outbreak, here’s a note from the past from Matushka Anne Mancuso …

Well, tonight is the night. The final HP book comes out. Rose is at Nell’s house drinking butterbeer and making predictions about the next book. I am so grateful that I was influenced to read these books by someone whose taste I trust. I am grateful that I didn’t dismiss them because I sometimes like listening to Christian radio. I think now that there has been so much talk among the Christian talkers about the fact that the plot of these books might be Christian that they’ve come out with a new tactic: Why read Harry Potter when you can read C.S. Lewis or Tolkien–or the Bible?

I remember talking to my mom about HP a couple books ago. I mentioned the blatant Christian symbolism–the phoenix, the stag, etc (all pointed out by my husband and John Granger–I wouldn’t have gotten much of it on my own). I suggested that she (and no doubt many of the casual readers of modern fiction) will shamelessly read books filled with cuss words, sex scenes, and brutality, but will recoil when a fictional teenager wields a wand and recites a Latin derivation which sounds magical. It seems almost too made-to-order: like the WWJD bracelets and the fish bumper stickers, and all of the other various consumerist evangelical plastic muck that they have to put on their car, refrigerator or wrist to prove to everyone that they are the real Christians …

Read the rest, all the way to the end … priceless.

Don’t shoot me — I’m just the blogger!

This image, which recently accompanied a story in the Dallas Morning News, is …

well …

ummm:

What?

The person who sent it to me included this note:

——– begin quoted material ——-

“The front page of the August 30th Dallas News Points section featured an illustration which is offending many area Orthodox Christians. The illustration accompanies an article by Michael Paulson, a religion reporter for the Boston Globe. Many Orthodox Christians are deeply saddened or even outraged at this depiction.

Many who do not hold icons sacred — as the Orthodox do — may not see this as a big issue. To the Orthodox though, this is sacrilegious and offensive in the extreme. Orthodox Christians are trained from an early age to “read” icons, and the halo with a cross background surrounding a figure is iconography’s way of saying: “This person is God.” Picking up the Points section of the paper, many Orthodox react as if the headline reads, “Harry Potter is God.”

The article is available online at the Dallas News. The article itself is fairly innocuous, but the illustration is detestable to many.

While the illustrator may not understand the theological ramifications of this image, educated Orthodox do. Icons are sacred, and a blasphemous illustration is, wittingly or unwittingly, a mockery of Christianity.

Take a moment to speak to your church leaders about this topic and consider writing the Dallas News to let them know your thoughts on the matter.”

——– end quoted material ——-

So … what do you think?

PIC: Basil at a recent Astros game. The smile is actually from the fact that his sister, MC, had texted me saying that the UPS man had just delivered his latest set of Legos!

The other night, while we were out delivering St Phanourios Bread …

SON: Dad … girls are weird.

DAD: M-hmm.

SON: Sometimes they smile at you like they like you … Then, the next day, they look at you like they hate you.

DAD: Yep. That’s the way they are …

SON: I mean, they might smile at you like they like you … and then 15 minutes later they look at you like they hate you!

DAD: Yep …

SON: Not even that! They might look at you one minute like they like you — and the very next minute like they hate your guts!

DAD: That’s the way they are, son …

* * * About 15 minutes later * * *

SON: Dad, what did you think of me when I was born?

DAD: ?

SON: I mean, what did you think I would be like?

DAD: I love you more today than I did on that day. I love you no matter what you become.

Pause

SON: What if I become homeless?

Pause

DAD: You’ll always be my son … I’ll always love you.

(Or, as Fr Joseph Shahda later said I could have told him: “As long as I’m alive, you’ll always have a home.”)

Thanks God for eleven year old boys (and that I no longer am one!)

From the AFR site, Saturday morning, August 29th:

We are so thankful for those of you who rallied behind us to help us make our August budgeted donation goal of $8,000. Perhaps some of you would like to set up an automatic monthly donation to make it more convenient to support AFR. Details here.

In these days of economic confusion some things remain constant:

+ the fullness of the Ancient Christian Faith

+ the need to stay informed

+ the hope, in this digital age, of sharing the Pearl of Great Price

Thank God for Ancient Faith Radio!

Regular comments, regarding the Orthodixie Podcast alone, tell me that this ministry is effective and vital.

As noted on AFR’s web page …

August is slipping away from us and we are running short of our budgeted donation need for this month. Could you give us an extra boost right now? We have $3,212* remaining to be raised to make this month’s goal. Thanks for listening and thanks for giving! * This figure was viewed at Noon on Monday, August 24th — updates forthcoming.

Click here to help.

Glory to God for all things!

Just as some generous and opulent man who has seen some one escape from shipwreck and only able to save his bare body from the waves, cradles him in his hands, and casts about him a bright garment, and conducts him to the highest honors; so also God has done in the case of our nature. Man cast aside all that he had, his right to speak freely, his communion with God, his sojourn in Paradise, his unclouded life, and as from a shipwreck, went forth bare. But God received him and straightway clothed him, and taking him by the hand gradually conducted him to heaven. And yet the shipwreck was quite unpardonable. For this tempest was due entirely not to the force of the winds, but to the carelessness of the sailor.

— St John Chrysostom, That Demons Do Not Govern the World

Stolen from Fr Josiah’s blog.

Image Source