Orthodixie

This quote from Mollie:

A few years ago, I attended a worship service at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I went so that I could witness the congregation’s interfaith Eucharistic prayer. The sermon text was Mark 7 and the priest told us that it showed how Jesus was xenophobic, racist and sexist.

The next day I ran into another priest from the church at an interfaith event in a suburb. I told her I had been at the previous day’s service. “I’m so sorry,” she immediately said. “Why?” I asked, thinking she was going to apologize for the sermon. “Oh, our sound was all off and we had those problems with the lighting. Didn’t you notice?”

Source

What does the above quote have to do with the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West?

Nothing, really — ‘cept I like Mollie’s writing and could not [under]stand the writing in this book. (After over 300 pages — I’m a slow learner — I gave up and did not finish it.)

The Broadway Musical was wicked, sick, and bad (as in, you know how young people talk: “good”).

The book?

It’s about as convoluted as the theology expressed in the first paragraph of this post.

In a word: Phooey.
In the old-fashioned sense of the word.

Now, don’t complain that this post has nothing to do with Orthodoxy. Everything has something to do with Orthodoxy! Why, I’ve even met other Orthodox clergy who could not finish Wicked! (Though I’ve yet to meet an Orthodox clergyman who would espouse the wicked theology noted above.)

If you’ve a different opinion, feel free to comment.

Image Source

On my final Sunday (9/26/10) at St George – Houston, I’d thought that fashioning my farewell remarks around previous clergy would prevent my succumbing to side-swiping emotions. I was wrong; it was difficult. Below — sans quiver, tear and lump — is the text of the address.

Click on the “Son of St George” links for more info.

This is my last Sunday as a priest at St George, however I shall always be a Son of St George. With that in mind, I wanted to say a few words about your sons.

Being a Son of St George is a blessing beyond words. This is a special place. In trying to come up with words to define this “specialness” of St George, I have failed. But, I can say this … considering that it is love that saves: St George is a salvific oasis.

It’s not just the People — it’s also the Space, the beautiful Temple wherein the people are formed.

People and Space. Which comes first? I believe they both shape each other.

The Space, if one concentrates on any one aspect, is nothing spectacular.

The People, under individual scrutiny, would prove to be normal and ordinary. (That’s a good thing.)

But, when you combine all the visual aspects of the Space, working together, and all the People blended by love (Space and People) – it becomes a special tapestry, an extraordinary thing. It is St George’s gift.

It is not a gift to the Church … for it is the Church.

Rather, it is, as we say in the Divine Liturgy, “Thine own of Thine own …” offered to God, whereupon it is returned … redeemed.

Now, I would like to turn to the offspring of this Parish: the Sons of St George. Some of these men were baptized and nurtured here; others, like me, became Sons by adoption.

Click on the “Son of St George” links for more info.

I shall not mention all the men who have served here, only the ones whom I have met, only one of whom has passed on to life eternal, one whose name is almost synonymous with St George: Archimandrite John Namie. Fr John’s legacy lives on here, through the wonderful stories you all share. This Son of St George also left his indelible mark on another salvific oasis in Pennsylvania known as Antiochian Village (and the other camping programs, like our own Camp St Raphael, which have grown up from the seeds Fr John planted). May his memory be eternal!

Speaking of Pennsylvania, another Son of St George — Tommy Joseph, now Bishop THOMAS of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic — now serves the diocese which surrounds Antiochian Village.

Not long after you cross into the Republic of Texas, if you’re traveling from the East, you’ll bump into a Son of St George at a parish which was established by St Raphael of Brooklyn; that would be Archpriest Michel Pavez.

Travel to our State Capitol and you’ll find a thriving parish adjacent to the University of Texas, St Elias, where a Son of St George labors with love, Archpriest David Barr.

In another college town, Norman — home to the University of Oklahoma — a Son of St George, Archpriest Justin McFeeters, will, next month, host Bishop BASIL as they open the doors of their new temple dedicated to the Great Feast of Our Lord’s Ascension.

But, as some sort of fate would have it, Pennsylvania (particularly Pittsburgh) is never far from St George. Archpriest Joseph Shahda, not only shepherded this community during some of its most exciting times of transition and growth, but without his labors in the mission field our Diocese would be smaller, our witness weaker. As he prepares to become a Jiddo, he is remembered as not only a Son of St George, but a grandfather already to many.

I hope you will forgive me if I don’t say many words about “Mr Pittsburgh” my friend and boss Archpriest John Salem. That may seem unfair — but, you see, he’s still the Father here. And we all thank God for that! Many years, Abouna.

Recently, a truly remarkable thing happened in this Space among this People: a literal Son of St George was ordained to the Priesthood and placed just north of us in a parish which was, itself, born of St George — Fr Anthony Baba of the Church of St Anthony the Great in Spring.

And, next month our former Youth Director, Deacon Michael Sakran, another life-long Son of St George will be ordained, in this Space among this People, to the Holy Priesthood.

May God grant eternal memory to Fr John Namie, and may He grant these remaining Sons of St George many, many years of fruitful ministry.

I thank you all for letting me (and my family) be a part of, forgive me this, such a Winning Team.

Which brings me to Deacon Symeon Kees. Symeon, or as we used to say “Dana”, is every bit a literal Son of St George. He has been raised from his “birth” – that is, from the time of his conversion to Orthodoxy – by the loving oasis that is St George. As a Son of St George he has served as choir member, chanter, altar boy, teacher, catechist, bookstore manager, and deacon. Thank God y’all are finally going to give him something to do! 🙂

I know that you will, as you have done for me and all of these men, bestow on him something that, to my knowledge, is unique to St Church Church; that is, you will love him into becoming a better man, a better husband, a better priest as he serves this Space and this People.

Finally, I would like to say that, in a very real sense: All of us men gathered here today are Sons of St George – not just those of us who are ordained. And I think all men, Sons of St George, will agree:

It’s the women of St George that truly help to make this Space and this People so very, very blessed.

To all:

THANK YOU and MANY YEARS!

IMAGE: The granddaughter of Fr Thomas Hopko placing a red egg on the grave of Fr John Namie, Pascha 2008.

WARNING: The gist of this podcast concerns the startling quote of famous scientist Stephen Hawking that, concerning the creation of the universe, God is not necessary. Please note, I do not mean to demean all science … just the fictional kind which passes itself off as, uh, too smart for its own good.

Listen, if you’re a scientist and you believe in God, God bless you – this episode ain’t about you. Whatever you do, please don’t email me about how I am related to pigs or monkeys – that’s about as feasible as someone yapping about the glories of sweet red barbecue sauce; I just don’t believe it.

Recently, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking caused quite a stir with comments that God may not have had anything to do with creating the universe.

In his latest book, Hawking wrote: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing,” … “It is not necessary to invoke God to… set the Universe going.”

In Hawking’s 1988 mega best seller, A Brief History of Time, a book my son and I enjoyed very much as we explored it together, Hawking appeared to accept the possibility of a “creator.”

What happened to change his mind?

Can you imagine Adam not believing in God?
Ha!

How ‘bout Moses?
Think he was really an atheist?

How ‘bout those fishermen called by the Palestinian carpenter …
Reckon they had doubts (following the Resurrection)?

Maybe St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, with gifts of clairvoyance and bi-location — what?
Think maybe he doubted God was necessary?

But, I digress.

Before we set our sights too closely on the genius, though doubting, Dr Hawking …

Let’s head for one of Hawking’s favorite topics: the predicted-as-possible outer space Worm Hole, wherein upon entering (just pretend it’s possible!) we can travel back in time, specifically to the year 1981 …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Image Source

Other Image Source

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop George, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Damascene Gallery, a supplier of fine antique icons, newly painted icons, and high quality mounted icons, opened on August 29 (the feast of the Translation of the Icon of the Savior “Not Made by Hands” from Edessa to Constantinople, Old Calendar). The web store features a wide selection of antique and new hand-painted icons, as well as a unique type of mounted icons consisting of high-quality canvas prints mounted to traditional solid-wood panels with support slats commonly found on antique icons. Concerning the rationale of such a design, the founders of Damascene Gallery explained that such panels combined with the canvas prints result in a mounted icon that looks and feels much like the antique icons also being offered in the store.

Currently, the web store features around 30 antique icons, ranging from the early 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Additionally, there are some 20 new painted icons in inventory, as well as numerous antique brass icons and crosses. Around 230 images, including many from the Holy Trinity Monastery collection, are available for ordering as mounted icons. The inventory of icons is expected to significantly increase within the next several weeks, and the selection of mounted icons is being continuously updated.

Explains Fr. Jonah Campbell, Co-founder of the Damascene Gallery, “In addition to the main website, we also host an Iconography Forum, a Blog and an exciting Public Domain Icon Gallery designed to be a collaborative project which, in time, will host thousands of searchable icons. The gallery has been designed with search fields specific to Orthodox Iconography such as Nationality, School (of Icon Painting), Age and Iconographer. All icons are being ‘tagged’ with the saints depicted on them, so that they are readily searchable. Anyone can join the gallery and upload their own icons or add additional information to icons already uploaded.”

The shop is named in honor of the great defender of icons, St. John Damascene.

Thanks to Fr Jonah Campbell for alerting me to his new site.
Article info, above, taken from the Antiochian Archdiocesan webpage.

By nature, man is changeable. Therefore, just as one who has fallen into the depths of vice and is enslaved to sin can turn to the good, so one who has been sealed with the Holy Spirit and filled with heavenly gifts is free to return to evil. When some people who have tasted of God’s grace and become communicants of the Holy Spirit can still become careless and not watchful, they grow spiritually feeble and their spiritual light dims, and they become worse than they had been before. This happens not because God changes or the grace of the Spirit goes out, but because the people themselves lose grace, and as a result they are led astray and fall into a multitude of evils.

— Venerable Makary the Great

Stolen from the parish newsletter of Russian Orthodox Cathedral St John the Baptist (September 2010).

Image Source