Orthodixie

JANUARY
Little did I know, a year ago, that I’d serve a church within a short walk of Joel Osteen’s. Then there was the whole “Sponge Bob is Gay” & the debunking of the “Prophecies of St Nilus.” Of course, January 2004’s news was dominated by the Tsunami. Was God there? On a personal note, we lost our beloved family pet of 18 years.

FEBRUARY
The second month of the year saw various calls for Orthodox Unity (1 … 2) … and that whole Sponge Bob Controversy led to this collaboration.
Dawn Eden wound up “between jobs” and, eventually, on to better things.

MARCH
And, Da Vinci Code aside, did you know that the Lord really DID have a wife? The Lenten Fast brought a little more sobriety, thanks to the Great Prayer of St Ephraim. Here’s a handy guide on where to look for GUIDANCE in the Bible — but, Where is the Love? Thank God others are fed up with Hip Hop!

APRIL
The death of a pope. With all the media attention, you may have missed this story: Is the Pope Catholic? Did you and yours boogie to the Royal Hours on Great & Holy Friday?

MAY
Warmer temps, for whatever reason, brought a couple on Evolution … 1 … 2. And where would we all be without a little required reading? Speaking of which, here’s 12 from Hermas.

JUNE
Then there was that gosh-awful clown mess. Should we protest Communion? By the way, what separates us anyhow? Here’s my favorite oldest daughter (and her old man) on the Proverbs. She was 10 back then. Wow … has it really been Ten Years? Orthodoxy, unfortunately, made the news. How ’bout you? Are you an Orthodox Fundamentalist?

JULY
Or, maybe you know an Orthodox FundaMINIMAList? Here’s Mama Fred on Orthodox Unity. Did someone mention Harry Potter? (Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter) How ’bout Camp St Thekla? — Here and HERE. While some were camping, others were at the Antiochian Convention voting!

AUGUST
Monster Magnet, my father died. Dwight Yoakum came to the hills of North Carolina … and my favorite oldest daughter spaced out. Donations through this Blog raised over $350 for IOCC hurricane relief.

SEPTEMBER
My favorite son on — reader beware! — on hot dogs. The move to Houston … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4. Some thoughts on the War. The death of a hierarch.

OCTOBER
Here’s a little humour, at Bush’s expense … tmatt scores! … and I went off on Madonna. The Astros lost the series. A confession from a Halloween hypocrite.

NOVEMBER
Speaking of October 31st. TMATT’s got a book out; Mama Fred, too. Then, of course — again & again — Orthodox Unity. “We have returned to claim the pyramids … partying on the Mothership, I am the Mothership Connection.”

DECEMBER
A bunch of stuff about Xmas.
What’s the deal with all this blogging anyway?

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!

In any case, here’s a pic of him from the upcoming Pic that totally disses the Roman Catholic Church.

Though Eastern Orthodoxy was hardly on Dan Brown’s radar screen, it should be on Tom’s.

[Insert favorite Forrest Gump quote here.]

HT Canterbury Tales

[A]mong the new movements that have arisen in the Catholic Church, the Neocatechumenal Way is the one that goes the farthest in introducing innovations to the celebration of the Mass.

In the Neocatechumenal Way, communion is taken while seated around a large square table, with a large loaf of bread that is divided among the participants and wine that is passes from hand to hand and is taken in large swallows.

But communion is not the only area in which there is a departure from the traditional liturgy. There are significant innovations in other parts of the Mass.

For example, the readings from the liturgy of the Word are commented upon by the catechists of the group, who make lengthy “admonitions” followed by “resonances” from many of those present. The priest’s homily is hardly distinguished, or not distinguished at all, from the rest of the comments.

The times and places for the Mass are also unusual.

The Neocatechumenals do not celebrate their Masses on Sunday, but on Saturday evening, in small groups and separate from the parish communities to which they belong.

Each Neocatechumenal group corresponds to a different stage of the Way, so each group of 20-30 persons has its own Mass. If there are ten groups of Neocatechumenals in a parish, there will be ten different Masses on Saturday evening, in ten separate locations.

The statutes approved by the Holy See in 2002 require that the Masses of the Neocatechumenals be “open to other members of the faithful” (article 13.3), but in fact nothing has changed. The greetings, presentations, and applause during the entrance ceremony form a natural barrier to outsiders.

Here’s the whole article — including Pope Benedict’s recent letter.

I received the following note from a reader:

I caught this show on Christmas day. It was a very interesting history about his life and how his relics had traveled. Then using the relics they reconstructed his face using forensics.

My thoughts?

Well, it just goes to show ya, scientists should always check with the Orthodox — it might save time, effort, and money:

Icon of St Nicholas, 10-11th century, the Walters Art Museum.

This article notes that the movie based on Dan Brown’s book will open in theatres May 19th. I’m just twisted enough to look at the Church calendar.

Let’s see …

Yep!

That’s the weekend we honour Saints Constantine & Helen (new calendar, May 21).

Not that there’s a conspiracy or anything, but Constantine serves as the harbinger of all bad things (second only to the evil Vatican) in Brown’s bestseller.

Cute.

HT Drudge

Today, Constantine with his mother Helen present the Cross, the most precious wood. It shames unbelievers. It is a weapon of faithful kings against their adversaries. A great sign has come forth for us which is awesome in battle.