Some have informed me that they followed my plug for AMAZON’s deal on One Flew Over the Onion Dome only to find that it is currently out of stock.
No problem!
Send me an email [orthodixie at aol dot com] — including your U.S. snail addy — and I’ll get One Flew Over the Onion Dome out to you (same super-saver-price) ASAP!
This life is neither a joke nor a plaything, although men may turn it into either. They fritter away the time given to us to prepare for eternity, disporting themselves with empty words. They go about visiting, sitting and gossipping, playing this or that game. They get together in the theatres and amuse themselves there. Life is, for them, amusement. But woe to those who do nothing but amuse themselves.
— St John of Kronstadt
Taken from Fr Josiah’s blog.
In Bishop HILARION’s e-publication Europaica the following new statistics of the Russian Orthodox Church are reported:
“The number of churches and chapels acting in Moscow has increased from 851 to 872 since December 2007, Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutistsy and Kolomna told a meeting of the capital’s clergy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. He also cited the data saying that about 1,838 clergymen are working in the capital today (last year their number equaled to 1,770). The Russian Orthodox Church has 157 dioceses (compared to 142 last year), 203 bishops including 149 ruling bishops and 48 vicar bishops. The total number of clergy in the Russian Church equals to 30,670. The number of Sunday schools in the dioceses increased by one thousand – from 10,141 to 11,051 while the number of parishes has grown from 27,942 to 29,268. Today the Russian Orthodox Church has 804 monasteries, including 142 monasteries and 153 nunneries in the CIS-countries and three monasteries and three nunneries in foreign countries. Also functioning are 203 representations (metochia) and 65 hermitages. Besides, there are 25 stauropegial monasteries (under direct subordination to the patriarch). The Russian Church Abroad has 16 monasteries and 9 nunneries. The number of Russian Orthodox theological schools equals to 87.”
For a free subscription to Europaica, go here.
Taken from the daily email of the DOWAMA Clergy Brotherhood.
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Though more than a year old, this story is timeless. Thanks to Margo Elgohary for the FWD.
PITTSBURGH – Strong safety Troy Polamalu has become known around the Pittsburgh Steelers as the last guy out of the locker room on Sundays after home games. All of his teammates are long gone and even most of the equipment guys have cleared out by the time he emerges. Polamalu goes through a detailed process, including a dip in a cold tub and a lengthy shower to relax after a hard-hitting afternoon.
However, for a guy who doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, Polamalu does put a serious priority on his time away from the field with his wife, Theodora, the sister of Polamalu’s former USC teammate Alex Holmes.
Polamalu took some after Sunday’s [Sept ’07] win over the San Francisco 49ers to engage in a Q&A; with Yahoo! Sports.
Cole: Do you have a routine you follow on your day off?
Polamalu: We work out together because that’s our only day off together. It’s a pretty decent workout. She does a lot of running and I do a lot of stretching. Tuesday is also our only opportunity to go to church together, so we do that.
Cole: When and where do you go?
Polamalu: It starts at 8:30 (a.m.). … It’s the Nativity of the Theotokos monastery (in Saxonburg, Pa.).
Cole: I know you’re devoutly Christian (Polamalu has a carefully arranged series of religious items in his locker at Heinz Field), but exactly which denomination?
Polamalu: Greek Orthodox. Theotokos literally means the Mother of God.
Cole: How long are you in services?
Polamalu: They usually go to about 12:30.
Cole: That’s a four-hour service. Is that a normal service?
Polamalu: Pretty much, especially at a monastery.
Cole: Can you describe it?
Polamalu: What’s really neat about the Orthodox church is that it’s like walking back in time 2,000 years to the time of the Apostles, when they created these services. You walk into that and it’s really like … living it. They have maintained the truth ever since the beginning.
Cole: You’re Polynesian. How did you end up at a Greek Orthodox church?
Polamalu: There are different ethnicities, like Russian Orthodox. My wife is Greek. I was a non-denomination Christian before we got married. So we sit around there and meet with our spiritual mother and then we go home, maybe take a nap, work out and then go home and have dinner.
Cole: Who’s making dinner?
Polamalu: My wife; I cannot cook at all. I’ve tried. I’m terrible. When I cook, it’s something nobody else would enjoy.
Cole: You only cook specialty things for yourself?
Polamalu: No, it’s not that nobody else will make it for me, it’s that I’m the only one who is going to enjoy it. I’ll look at the other people and say, “Did you like it?” They say, “Noooooooo.”
Cole: Do you have any other hobbies or things you do away from the field? Maybe bowling?
Polamalu: No, not really. The single guys go bowl. The guys who are married go home, mostly. I really focus on spending time with my wife.
Cole: How hard is it to get time at home during the season? I know guys like (Miami Dolphins linebacker) Zach Thomas stay at the facility until very late studying film and (Indianapolis Colts quarterback) Peyton Manning is watching film at home.
Polamalu: First of all, I’m a Christian so my prayer life really comes first. Second of all, I’m a husband so my wife comes before anything else. If I have time to do anything else after that, I do it, but I don’t sacrifice any time with her.
Cole: A lot of guys do it the other way around. Football comes first. They say family and faith come first, but they really do the football first. How do you reconcile it?
Polamalu: It’s really easy for me. I love my faith and I know that’s first. …. I really think I know what’s important in my life and that’s my faith and my wife.
Cole: So football is a really focused activity. There’s no wasted time, right?
Polamalu: Actually, it’s a lot of fun and it’s something I enjoy. It’s not like when I’m here it’s business time and then there’s family time. Football is, for me, it’s something I do. It’s like for you, you’re a reporter. It’s what you do, not who you are. Football does not define me. How I am with my faith and how I treat my wife is what truly defines you as a man. That is my goal in life to live that way and believe in it. It would be cowardly of me to say that I enjoy my time with my faith and my wife if I really didn’t spend that time with them.
The rest – here.
In last week’s episode of the Orthodixie Podcast I was unwittingly put to sleep by one of the worst Christmas songs of all time … Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time.
In my slumber I was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past.
(Then, strangely, there was Bob Marley’s Ghost.)
Naturally, believing I was experiencing my own twisted version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I expected the second of three spirits to soon follow …
The Ghost of Christmas Present.
SO … there I was all tucked in bed early last Monday night – reading a book, The Island of the Day Before, by Umberto Eco, when I could no longer keep my eyes open (there are side benefits to reading Eco, sorta like reading Vladimir Lossky’s Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, you are guaranteed to get to sleep – and how! Don’t get me wrong, Lossky’s classic is one of my favorite books – but, as I tell everyone, you end up reading it 3 times before you finish it the first time, because each night you forget you already read that page the night before, just before you fell asleep.)
ANYWAY … it was 9:30 Central Time when I fell asleep.
Only to be awakened by a shrill cry!
Oh my!
I roused myself from my bed of slumber only to see that lights were still on in the house and, staggering toward the bedroom door, I saw that it was only 10:30 …
I hastened down the hall, and around the corner, to …
The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.
(Or, just listen right here.)
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