Why war should be avoided if it can be

The recent events in Georgia are quite sad. All sides are historically Orthodox Christian peoples. The media has generally only been presenting one side, and neo-cons seem to be trying to bring back the good old days of the cold war... making Russia out to be the Soviet Union, all the while ignoring Communist China which poses a real and gathering threat to the west. But while the media is exaggerating the hurt done to one side, and ignoring the hurt done to the other, the fact is that in war incredible misery and pain are the inevitable result, and so the use of military force should always be used only as a last resort.

Shakespeare best described the horror of war with the words he put in the mouth of King Henry V, at the siege of the city of Harfleur.



How yet resolves the governor of the town?
This is the latest parle we will admit;
Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;
Or like to men proud of destruction
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,
A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie buried.
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand shall range
With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass
Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.
What is it then to me, if impious war,
Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends,
Do, with his smirch'd complexion, all fell feats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation?
What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,
If your pure maidens fall into the hand
Of hot and forcing violation?
What rein can hold licentious wickedness
When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
We may as bootless spend our vain command
Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil
As send precepts to the leviathan
To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
Take pity of your town and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds
Of heady murder, spoil and villany.
If not, why, in a moment look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls,
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?

Earlier in the Play, King Henry gives gives this warning which should be considered by all who consider starting a war:

Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords
That make such waste in brief mortality.

Solzhenitsyn reposes at 89

2008 Orthodox Conference, Erie, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Fr. John Berzins (now Bishop John), reading his confession of Faith on the eve of his consecration.


At the Vespers on Thursday, the Old Rite clergy from Russia began serving a full cycle of services, with the local Old Rite clergy taking a back seat, so as to observe them. One of the benefits of the Reconciliation between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Church within Russia was that now our Old Rite clergy could serve together. Unlike the parish in Erie, which had been priestless until the 1980's, some of the Old Rite parishes in Russia had been reconciled for two centuries, and so had a living tradition of serving priestly services in the Old Rite that our Old Rite clergy were eager to observe, to see if there were any refinements to their own practice that were needed.

These services were all in Slavonic, though despite the fact that the parish in Erie normally uses English now, their command of Slavonic was still quite good, and their own choirs with the help of some of the folks from Russia were able to chant the services without any noticeable difficulties. I should also note that the Old Rite guests from Russia had been chanting the services in English, in Znamenny chant, and despite the fact that they had never sang in English before, they fit in quite well in English too.

One other thing that was going on this week was that a long time parishioner in Erie had passed away. After the Liturgy on Friday morning, Fr. Pimen conducted the funeral, while the conference attendees went back to Mercyhurst for Lunch. Immediately following Lunch was a talk by Matushka Ann Lardas. With about one minute to spare, Fr. Pimen appeared at the podium, without appearing tired or flustered, to introduce Matushka Ann. He had a cup of coffee in hand, and I suspect that this was the only nourishment he had had after the liturgy. All during the week, it was a sight to behold to see Fr. Pimen's unending energy as he made sure everything went smoothly. The conference itself was more than most priests could have handled. Throw in a funeral, and even the best priests would generally begin to unravel... but Fr. Pimen is the Energizer Bunny of priests.



The Energizer Bunny




Fr. Pimen Simon


Matushka Ann gave her talk on "The Orthodox Woman". She is a great story teller, and tells her stories complete with impressions of the various persons important to the story, and it she was not only entertaining, but provided a lot of practical wisdom about the role of woman in the Church, and the raising of children.

At Friday evening Vespers began the the cycle of services in which Fr. John Berzins was to be consecrated a bishop. During the Vespers, he was taken before Metropolitan Hilarion, Bishop Daniel, and Bishop Peter, and he was asked questions, and gave responses about his confession of Faith. This was all done in Slavonic. This was followed by a sort of acceptance speech, which Fr. John gave in English (with a definite Aussie twang). You can see a video of it here, though the sound quality is not great:



This is a video taken during the hours, before the beginning of the hierarchical liturgy on Saturday morning, which gives you some idea of the beautiful iconography of the Church:



Here is a video of another part of the rites which lead up to the consecration of a bishop which took place on Saturday morning. Yours truly is seen behind the bishop elect:



This is a video of the actual consecration:



Here is a video of a homily given by Vladika Hilarion at the end of the Liturgy:



I had never been present at the consecration of a bishop before, and this was an especially beautiful occasion, to see Vladika John consecrated in the midst of a parish he has had such a long connection with.

You can read some interesting commentary on Vladika John's consecration by clicking here.

To be continued.

2008 Orthodox Conference, Erie, Pennsylvania, Part 3

The west side of the Church of the Nativity in Erie. The Icon of the Last Judgment is partially visible.


As I mentioned, I missed the first Day and a half of the Conference. Fr. German Ciuba has posted about the conference, and discusses some of the parts I missed. You can read his reflections by clicking here.

After Vespers, on Wednesday, we went back to the College for the evening meal... which was especially nice. It was a fast free week, and we took full advantage... having steak (or fish, for those who do not eat beef). There is a picture of this meal here.

I was informed that one of the talks had been canceled because the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop who was going to give the talk could not come because of the Bishops Council that was going to be held the following week in Moscow. Consequently, some of the talks I had hoped to hear had already been given. Also, though I was originally going to speak on Saturday, I was informed I would be speaking after breakfast the following day.

After the meal, we saw a film about the history of the parish in Erie. You can read about the history here. I was much impressed by the leadership Fr. Pimen had shown in bringing his parish into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, led them into using English, and led them into rebuilding their parish after a fire burned down their original Church -- all in a relatively short period of time.
There was a period of questions and answers after the film, and Fr. German Ciuba got up to answer a question on the question of abortion... and his rather fervent answer made me regret even more that I had missed his talk.

Afterwards, there was a social hour in what was sort of a Student Union building. I spent most of the evening talking to a group of priest who all happened to be citizens of the British Commonwealth: Fr. Andrew Morbey a Canadian OCA priest whom I have known via the internet since the 90's, but had never met in person before); Fr. Geoffrey Korz another Canadian OCA priest, who I had talked with during teleconferences of the Orthodox Fellowship of All Saints of China (as it turned out, his Matushka is also Chinese, and so we had a lot more in common than I was aware); Fr. Andrew Phillips, a ROCOR priest from England; and Fr. John Behr, who is the dean of St. Vladimir Seminary, and originally from England. Of the 5 of us, we were all converts, except Fr. John Behr, who is from a Russian Priestly family... I had always assumed he was a convert, just based on his name... but that only goes to show that one should not assume.

I knew I should be sensible, and should go and get some sleep, but we were the last ones to leave (with the exception of Fr. John Behr, who had been sensible), and had to be scooted out by security. Particularly in my neck of the woods, I don't get to visit with other Orthodox priest with any regularity, and so it always had to pass up the chance to do so.

Fr. Victor Potapov arrived at some point that evening, and it so happened that he and I shared a dorm room during the conference. We spoke a few times during the course of the conference, but he might as well have been rooming with Bigfoot, because he only once caught the briefest sight of me in the dorm itself... he too was being sensible. I generally wasn't.

The next day, after the liturgy, and breakfast, I spoke. My talk seemed to be well received. I spoke on how Orthodox Christians should and should not interact with those who are not Orthodox, and particularly focused on the pastoral questions that we have in terms of how we should relate to our friends, families, and co-workers who are not Orthodox. I intend to post the text of that talk, but I only prepared an extensive outline, and so that will be in the future. Personally, I find speaking from a text to be very clumsy, and so usually use an outline, even when I giving a talk based upon a complete essay.



Fr. Andrew Phillips


After my talk, Fr. Andrew Phillips gave his talk on the spiritual significance of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 21st Century. You can read the text of that talk here. I got to meet him in Russia in May of 2007, and have long appreciated his writings, his web site, and the information he provides about the Orthodox history of England.



Fr. Victor Potapov


After Vespers, and a break for dinner, next up, was Fr. Victor Potapov of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He had a show on the Voice of America's Russian service for many years, and has a deep and impressive radio voice. You can read his talk by clicking here. It was on the subject of parish life in ROCOR, and I enjoyed his talk very much... I used part of it in my Sunday sermon in the following week.

To be continued.

2008 Orthodox Conference, Erie, Pennsylvania, Part 2

The Iconostasis of the Church of the Nativity, during a Vigil


Before I move on to talk about other aspects of the conference, I should make a few additional comments about the practices of the parish in Erie which are different from the more common Russian practice.

In the Old Rite, prostrations are made at very specific points in the service, and are unfailingly done by everyone at those points, and are not done at other points. Everyone makes them together. They have a small prayer mat that is about the size of a large pot holder, and is called a podruchnik. When they make a prostration, they toss this mat to the floor, with the decorated side up, plant their hands on it, and make the prostration with their forehead touching the mat. This keeps their hand, with which they make the sign of the cross, from touching the floor. As they rise, they pick up the mat, fold it, and set it aside, or tuck it into their belt. They do all this with such a smooth flowing motion, that I was hesitant to even try it at first, but parishioners would offer me a podruchnik, and so eventually I did use it, though not with the grace of those more use to it.

Also, while standing during the services, the Old Rite practice is to cross your arms across your chest, with your hands tucked under your arms. This is another one of those things you have to see, but you can see a picture of it here.



A lestovka, which is an Old Rite form of the prayer rope


Another very positive thing you see in the services is the participation of the youth. You see small boys tending to the lamps, or serving in the altar. Young ladies reading the Psalter, or singing in the choir. There seems to be a very intentional plan of getting as many young people involved as possible. In fact the number of people in general you see actively involved in making the services happen in one way or another is very impressive. This is the way you keep a parish alive. Many bells went off for me during this conference, such as this one.


Click here to see the Pantocrator icon, with the surrounding icons on the ceiling.


Aside from Saturday evening, and Sunday morning, there was a daily cycle of services throughout the conference. At 5:45 a.m., they did Matins. At 8:15 a.m., the Hours and Divine Liturgy, and then at 4:30 p.m., they did Vespers. These services had a way of drawing the conference attendees into the life of the parish, unlike any conference I have previously attended.

To be continued

2008 Orthodox Conference, Erie, Pennsylvania, Part 1

I spent the better part of last week at the 2008 Orthodox Conference in Erie, Pennsylvania. Because of my secular job, I was unfortunately unable to catch the first day and a half of the conference, and as a result I missed some really good lectures... though they were recorded, and I hope to at least be able to hear them when that is made available.

I have driven through Erie before... once during a blizzard, but had not had the chance to see the parish there before, though I have wanted to for some time. Not long after I came into the Orthodox Church, I was given a copy of the first edition of the Old Rite Prayer Book published by that parish, and so have developed an interest in the Old Rite... though outside of books, I had never seen a proper Old Rite service.

(You can read more about the parish, and its history, by clicking here)

Erie is not a big city. When I flew into the Erie airport, there was no trouble finding the right baggage claim carousel... there was only one. On the wall of baggage claim was the skyline of the city, and off to the right, very prominently was the Church of the Nativity... one of the most beautiful Churches I have seen in the United States. Aside from the services, most conference activities, as well as the lodging, were at Mercyhurst College. After checking in, I went straight to the Church, because I had just gotten in in time for Wednesday evening Vespers. The Iconography in the Church is of the finest quality, but is inscribed almost completely in English.




The Church of the Nativity, Erie PA


The services there are normally done almost completely in English. This may seem a bit ironic, given that the Old Believers separated from the rest of the Russian Church because they refused to accept changes to the translations of the services, as well as changes in some of the rubrics. However, this parish, which began as a Bezpopovtsy (Priestless) Old Believer community came to a realization that their community would eventually die, if they did not introduce English, because subsequent generations had an increasingly hard time with the Slavonic, and their work on translating the services actually led them to reconciliation with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and their community becoming a Priested Old Rite community. In fact, this conference was held in Erie to mark the 25th anniversary of their reconciliation with ROCOR.

The singing is done in Znamenny chant, which sounds very much like Byzantine Chant because that is where it has its roots. It is the oldest form of Russian chant. They have two choirs -- a women's choir on the left, and a male choir on the right. I was told that this was not always the case, but that the singing used to be done by the men only -- however, during World War II, when most of the men were away, the women had to do the singing, and then after the war, the women didn't want to stop... and apparently the men either didn't try to make them stop, or were unsuccessful if they did. The singing is exceptionally well done, and the acoustics in the Church combined with the quality of the singing made for a very powerful experience.

A visitor is also struck by the fact that the women (including young girls) in the parish are consistently attired in head-scarfs (most often, white), long sleeve shirts or sweaters, and long dresses. As for the men, those who are not clergy (in major or minor orders), were wearing a traditional Russian Kosovorotka, and a belt.

As I said, I had never seen the Old Rite in actual practice, and was struck by the way the people were censed. When the deacon would cense them, they would face the deacon with both arms raised in an orans, and then would bow towards the deacon, and then turn, and make the sign of the Cross towards the altar. The scriptural basis for this practice is "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:2, in the KJV). This was particularly striking when the choir was censed. I was generally standing behind the male choir, and so could not see their faces when they were censed, but when the women's choir was sensed I could... and it is something you would have to see. They would be standing in a semi-circle around the music stand singing, all nearly uniformly attired, and then as a group, they would all turn at the same time to face the deacon with their hands raised, then do the bows as I described, all the while never missing a beat with what they were singing... despite the fact that they all had their eyes off the music book while doing so. You can see a picture of the women's choir, by clicking here.

It was worth going to the conference, just for the services.

To be continued.

Pictures of our Parish move and First Liturgy

Click here for a slide show of our parish move and first liturgy at our new location.

The Monkey King

This is the beginning clip of a full length animated film about the Monkey King, that was done in China just before the cultural revolution shut that sort of thing down. Though it is all in Chinese, I think it is a fun movie to watch. This was my oldest daughter's favorite cartoon when she was a toddler. At the beginning, when the Monkey king burst of the rock, she use to jump up and down saying "Malo! Malo!" ("Monkey!").

You can read more about it here.

Serbian Pascha Folk Song

A Paschal song performed by the musical orchestra ''Stupovi'' and various Serbian singers and celebrities, which is part of a campagin to raise funds for reconstruction of a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery named ''Pillars of Saint George.'' 

The lyrics are from a poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich, one of the great Serbian saints of the modern era. Here is an English translation of the lyrics: 

People rejoice, all nations listen: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Dance all ye stars and sing all ye mountains: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Whisper ye woods and blow all ye winds: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

O seas proclaim and roar all ye beasts: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Buzz all ye bees and sing all ye birds: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

O little lambs rejoice and be merry: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

 Nightengales joyous, lending your song: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Ring, O ye bells, let everyone hear: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

 All angels join us, singing this song: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Come down ye heavens, draw near the earth: Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

 Glory to Thee, God Almighty! Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Glory to Thee, God Almighty! Christ is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Serbian Text: 

Ljudi likujte, narodi čujte: Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Zvezde igrajte, gore pevajte, Hristos voskrese, radost donese! 

Šume šumite, vetri brujite, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Mora gudite, zveri ričite, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Pčele se rojte, a ptice pojte Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

 Anđeli stojte, pesmu utrojte, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Nebo se snizi, zemlju uzvisi, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Zvona zvonite, svima javite, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Slava ti Bože, sve ti se može, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Anđeli stojte, pesmu utrojte, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Nebo se snizi, zemlju uzvisi, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Zvona zvonite, svima javite, Hristos voskrse, radost donese! 

Slava ti Bože, sve ti se može, Hristos voskrse, radost donese!

An edifying, true story: How the Word of God renews a man

From "The One Thing Needful", by Archbishop Andrei of Novo-Diveyevo.

The Word of God has the wonderful power to renew the soul of a sinner. I will not explain to you how this happens, but will simply tell you something that happened in St. Petersburg. Here it is:

There lived a family — a grandmother and grandson. The grandson was an Imperial Guardsman. His parents had died when he was still young, and his grandmother took their place. They were magnates, incalculably rich, millionaires. Vladimir, as this officer was called, while still a young man become satiated with everything that only the life of wealthy Russians could provide at that time. Like the life of the rich man in today’s parable, his life was spent in gaiety and carousing. He had a good heart and his friends loved him as a person from whom they could always get anything they wanted. The word "no" did not exist for him.

But once his grandmother called Vladimir and said: "Vladimir, after my death, you will have no one. Your friends will strip you of everything, and you will perish a lonely, unfortunate man. Get married."

Vladimir answered, "All right, Grandmother, I will get married."

The grandmother found a fiancée for him — a princess from an impoverished family. Vladimir danced with her two or three times at parties and proposed to her. And then, because the wedding was set for only after the Christmas season, and Vladimir’s life went on in its routine way — in a fog of merry-making and revelry — he wouldn’t even have been able to remember her name right away. And if he had met her on the street, he probably wouldn’t have recognized her.

Yet the closer the wedding day approached, the more troubled his soul became. And finally came the second day after the Baptism of Christ. He had to go to his army office in order to get his salary and his vacation for the honeymoon. This was the first time he had gone out in St. Petersburg at such an early hour and, moreover, in a sober state. Usually, when he was traveling in Petersburg at this hour or still earlier, it was after a night spent in extreme debauchery, and then he was usually dozing off, oblivious to his surroundings. But today, as if for the first time, he saw Petersburg during working hours. On everything lay the impression of the businesslike seriousness of a morning in a metropolitan city. And upon his soul there lay, like a heavy stone, something unusually businesslike and serious: marriage, family life, obligations which he never had, never knew.

Upon arrival at his office, he received his papers and money — his large purse was filled with gold coins. When he went out, he wanted to be alone and walk. He ordered the driver to follow him on the roadway, and he himself walked on foot. Without noticing it, he reached the cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Just at that moment the bell rang. And for the first time, he felt drawn to enter church. Of course, he had been to church services, moliebens and pannihidas, but only because this was required by his social standing. But now, an inner need manifested itself. The cathedral was plunged in a cozy half-darkness. The Miraculous Icon was simply shining in brilliance. In spite of the winter season there were white lilies. The reading of the Akathist (Molieben — a petitionary service. Pannihida — a requiem service for the dead. Akathist — a service in honor and praise of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, or one of the saints.) was still going on. There was a deep prayerful singing, a multitude of candles and devotion lamps, and more and more people — praying, weeping. Vladimir froze. He had not prayed for a long, longtime. All he could say was: "O Mother of God! I am coming to a turning point in my life. If it has to be so, help me. But if all this is not necessary, stop it." And here, he himself thought that this was no way to pray, that he didn’t even know how to pray.

Suddenly someone tenderly touched his sleeve. It was a beggar woman with a child in her arms. "Sir, help me," she whispered.

He thrust his hand into his pocket, pulled out his large purse, and put it in her hand. Because of the weight of the purse, she almost dropped it.

"Sir," she exclaimed, "I cannot take it. People will say I have stolen it."

"Don’t be afraid, my card is in the purse. Say that I gave it to you."

"Sir, and what about you? You are giving away everything...and yourself?"

"Don’t you understand, I have everything, I don’t need anything."

"All right, I will take it. But know this: you are saving two lives — mine and my child’s. How can I repay your kindness?"

"You know what? Yes, you can help me. I don’t know how to pray; but I am in need of prayer, right now, for my soul. Otherwise I will perish." She looked at him with a long, compassionate look. She bowed and disappeared into the crowd.

But then he saw her again. She approached the Miraculous Icon, put her baby on one of the steps before the Icon, and started praying and making prostrations. Tears were streaming down her pale face. A shiver ran down his spine. He understood. This was a prayer for him. He quickly walked out of the church, went one block until he reached Great Konushenna Street. After the semi-darkness of the cathedral, the bright sun on the white snow blinded him. He felt a sharp, sudden pain in his eyes, then in his head, and he lost consciousness.

When he recovered, he sensed that he was lying on a table in his full Guard’s uniform. He had fallen into a lethargic sleep (Lethargic sleep — a comatose condition in which all bodily functions become undetectable and the person appears to be dead), and now he was starting to wake up. He still couldn’t move, couldn’t open his eyes, but he heard everything. Only he thought that he had died, and everything he heard he accepted as if he were dead. And everyone around him was sure that he was dead, and they prepared him for burial.

And now he understood the reverse side of life. He heard two voices — male and female. The man’s voice said: "At least for the sake of decency, put your handkerchief to your eyes. After all, he was your fiancé."

And the female voice said: "Papa, you know how I hated and despised him. Only your debts made me agree to this marriage. I cannot continue this comedy."

And then his friends approached. All of them were in debt to him. "How wonderful that Vladimir died, and I don’t have to pay back what he, good man that he was, loaned to me."

And so more and more all the hypocrisy of the life he had been living was revealed to him. The tears of only one person were sincere. His nurse, who had taken the place of his father and mother, was sobbing.

Then they started to read the Psalter. Before, he had not understood them; but now, each word of the Psalms excited his awakening soul. All the depth of God’s Mercy was revealed to him. God’s Truth was revealed against the background of human lies. And then he heard a movement. He understood, the clergy had come and they were starting to serve the pannihida. And when they began to sing: "With the Saints give rest...," and when they lifted his body to put it in the coffin, he caught his breath, recovered consciousness and began to move. Out of fear, the bearers dropped the coffin and ran out of the room. Vladimir remained alone. But by now he was not the same. In the middle of the empty room stood the renewed Vladimir.

When everything had calmed down, he divided all his property. Half he gave to his fiancée and all the rest to the poor. And he forgave all the debts. Soon afterwards, he became a monk and finished his ascetic life as archimandrite of the Kostroma Monastery.

This is how the Word of God renews a man!

Czech President Vaclav Klaus injects sanity into discussion on global warming

It's Memorial Day

Another Aaron Copland classic

Our Church has moved

Today, we finished moving into our new facility. We have a lot left to do, but we had our first service there this evening.

Interesting, right across the street from the entrance to our church is the sign:





I'm tempted to put up a sign with one word: "...not!"

See: Sola Scriptura

And

Miles from the Truth

News Clip (in Russian) of Metropolitan Hilarion receiving the White Klobuk

Yesterday (fittingly on the anniversary of the signing of the act of canonical communion), Metropolitan Hilarion was given the white klobuk of a Metropolitan. Axios! Axios Axios!

One year ago today

One year ago today, I was in Christ the Savior Cathedral, witnessing the reconciliation of the Russian Church.





What a blessing it was to be there, and what a blessing this event has been to our Church ever since.

To read all about it, click here.

A President even more unpopular than Bush

After all... half the country went into rebellion because he was elected, and the other half were not very happy with him for most of the time we was president.



Another Aaron Copland classic.

Ethel Merman on American Foreign Aid

A clip from a fun old movie.

Archbishop Hilarion elected Metropolitan

Many Years!


Russia Today has a video news clip on this.

In Russian, here is another video report:



Here is the official notice from the Synod web page:

NEW YORK: May 12, 2008
Archbishop Hilarion Is Elected First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

On May 12, 2008, at 12:00 noon, at the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York, His Eminence Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand was elected Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and shall be elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. In accordance with the Act of Canonical Communion signed on May 17, 2007, the Council of Bishops will send the Act of Election, drawn up by the Counting Committee, to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, with a request from the elected First Hierarch for his blessing to assume the duties placed upon him by his brother archpastors, and for confirmation by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate of his election.

The Enthronement of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, Primate-elect of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2008.

The schedule of services relating to the Enthronement of the new First Hierarch is as follows:

May 17, all-night vigil at 6 pm. At the end of the evening service, the newly-elected Primate will emerge from the Royal Doors in a black klobuk [monastic headdress] and a simple episcopal mantle and will stand on the ambo facing the people. Two senior bishops will bring the light blue mantle and white klobuk to the Metropolitan, who will don them with the help of subdeacons. During the vesting of the mantle and klobuk, the senior bishop will intone "axios" ["he is worthy"], which will be repeated first by the bishops and clergymen, then by the choir. Afterwards, the Metropolitan will bless the clergy and people.

The light blue mantle and white klobuk will first be blessed with holy water by the senior archbishop during the reading of the first hour.

May 18, Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am. After the entry prayers are read and the customary blessing, two senior bishops will lead the new Metropolitan to the vesting platform and will declare "axios," which will be repeated first by the bishops and clergy, and then by the choir.

The newly-elected First Hierarch will then be vested in the middle of the church, while the other bishops are vested in the altar. Thereafter, two senior archimandrites or protopriests will bring out the mitre and will silently present it to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

After the moleben, the senior hierarch will bestow the staff to the First Hierarch—a gift from the Diocese of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, which was blessed upon the relics of St Tikhon, Patriarch and Confessor of All Russia—and will declare:

"May the Almighty and Life-giving Trinity, Boundless Sovereignty and Indivisible Kingdom, grant to you this great throne of episcopacy, to be Metropolitan and Primate of the Russian Church Abroad, through the election by your brethren, the bishops of the Russian Church Abroad. And now, lord and brother, accept this pastoral staff, and ascend the throne of the episcopal seniority, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and beseech His Most-Pure Mother for all Orthodox Christianity and for the Russian people in the diaspora entrusted to you and save them as a good pastor will, and may the Lord God grant you health, well-being and many years."

The Archdeacon will then intone Many Years to the new First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The choir will sing Many Years.

In accordance to the Rite of Enthronement, the newly-elected Primate will address his brother archpastors with the following words:

"May the Almighty and All-Sovereign Right Hand of the All-Highest preserve and strengthen us all. May He grant peace and calm to His Holy Church and save our Fatherland from enemies visible and invisible, and grant strength to Orthodoxy. And to you, brother archpastors of the Russian Church Abroad, and to all Russians in the diaspora, and all Orthodoxy Christians, may He grant health and many years."

The choir then sings Many Years (without an intonation by the Archdeacon).

Russia Today on the Opening of the Synod of Bishops

This week the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will elect a new head. Russia Today has a report on the opening day (Sunday, May 11th).

Wedding songs

This is one of two songs that were sung at my wedding. It was a Protestant wedding, at a Chinese Baptist Church (this was about two years before I had any idea of what Orthodox Christianity was), and there aren't many singers who can pull off a Keith Green song like Keith Green... the singing at our wedding was not nearly as good as this guy in the video.

Just for contrast, here is the wedding scene from the movie "The Deer Hunter" (which is voiced over in Russian in a few places):