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Post by Charlotte on May 15, 2010 9:56:41 GMT -5
I doubt speaking personally with Fr. Damascene or that He would be interested meeting me, should such transpire I will convey your best wishes. CANONIZATION OF THE NEWLY PROCLAIMED SAINTS OF THE CHURCH - VENERABLE JUSTIN OF CELIJE AND SYMEON OF DAJBABE Belgrade, Serbia - The formal glorification of the newly canonized Saints was completed at the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy on Sunday, May 2, 2010 at the St. Save Temple on Vracar. The Holy Hierarchial Liturgy was officiated by His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia with the con-celebration of the Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. "These two are our joy before the Lord, the joy of our Church and the Universal Church," said His Eminence Metropolitan Amphilohije of Montenegro and the Coastlands in his homily. "In the year 1937 the venerable Fr. Justin, then professor at the University, met with the elder Symeon at his catacomb, at the Monastery he, with God inspiration, revealed and built. He met with him and wrote: is it possible that in our country exist such light and such a lighthouse? He wrote concerning him that he is the conscience of Montenegro. He felt before him the scent of Christ. And Fr. Justin wrote that he was caressed by the love of the elder's humble person, consecrated by the Holy Spirit. The two Saints of God met and recognized each other, vessels of God's grace. Fr. Justin who, just as we sing to him, had the God-man as a measure of all things and the elder Symeon, who also wrote that a pure heart sees God and that the Holy Spirit is He who sanctifies the Universe and everything and all. It was a time of crucifixion of the Church of Christ and a time when the Venerable Symeon of Dajbabe lived and a time that the Venerable Fr. Justin of Celije lived. Their names are inscribed in the Book of Life. Numbered among the Saints bless this holy church, and all of us, the people of St. Sava, all people and all nations. Through their prayers, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit, enliven us, sanctify and confirm in all our days of our life unto the ages of ages. "The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church at its session on April 29th 2010 proclaimed two new Saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church: the Venerable Justin of Celije and Symeon of Dajbabe. Venerable Justin will be venerate on June 1st/14th, and Venerable Symeon on March 19th/April 1st." http:www.serborth.org/05042010.html The Bishop shown alone is His Grace, Bishop Maxim of the Alhambra Cathedral. Feeling "the scent of Christ" defines that which was all about the officiating Bishop while censing the Congregation repeatetly during the Holy Liturgy on Orthodox Sunday, of which I said: methought I saw it; and "caressed by the love of the elder's humble person", defines what I felt when standing next to the elder visiting Priest and wrote that I wished to keep standing beside Him. "The two Saints of God met and recognized each other, vessels of God's grace", is a confirmation of two people meeting, saying 'we recognized each', and much scoffed at, and is measured the same way as with the Saints because the recognition occurs instataneously and Entire. Again the Grand Church of St. Save in Belgrade, Serbia, where the Canonization took place en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint_SavaApril 2009, President Obama in Constatinople President Obama and His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople. You might remember His Holiness from "60 Minutes". "On his trip, President Obama was able to visit some tourist attractions in Constantinople as well, including a visit to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. While inside Hagia Sophia President Obama and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received information from the curator of the museum. Obama, as he stood under a fresco of the Virgin Mary, told reporters that he found the museum "Spectacular". "A White House aide said that the President's seperate meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had an interesting note. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I went through a long list of items accomplished by the President on his trip, congratulated him on a successful speech to the Turkish Parliment, for instance. After going through this list, Patriarch Bartholomew I said, "Oh - and by the way: congratulations on North Carolina. "Presient Obama had picked the UNC Tarheels to win the NCAA college basketbal tournament, which the team did last night. The President, according to the White House aide, laughed and smiled." The Patriarch found our President "very unassuming, very friendly, humble, and I was impressed with his simplicity", adding that the US President was pleased "when I congratulated him because his team, North Carolina, won yesterday's basketball game - was impressed that I knew of it, - and in that pleasant atmosphere we parted." This being surprised of what His Grace, Fr. Ceko, Fr. Norman, and other Priest know, past and present, happens to me all the time, and as evident, Steven seems to know all that was and is happening. His Holiness "sent an icon of the Prophet Baruch (patron of the President)" to Obama "with a handwritten inscription." "Most Greek newspapers" reported that America wanted to keep the meeting confidential", and that "no pictures were taken", but there it is www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/04/president-obama-in-constantinople.htmlA good weekend to All Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on May 16, 2010 8:39:14 GMT -5
Good Sunday to All, The link in the previous post didn't work, please click on TWO NEWLY CANONIZED SAINTS www.saintstevens.org/The Divine Poet Restless and impatient man's mind is ever in quest of some system or mappemond or safeguard of soul, and coming not at truth—ev'n as a dry-athirst horse that drinketh eagerly of the first gilded puddle,— he espouseth delusion and sweareth fealty thereto: and since common conditions breed common opinion, nations lie fascinated in their swaddling clothes cramped, and atrophied with their infantile suctions. So in the inmost sanctum in the Hindu mind a milch-cow is enshrined: : but those dour Manichees wer trifling with no symbols; their wild faith had grown deep-rooted on the prime obsession of savagery, thatt first terrifying nightmare of dawning conscience which, seeing in natur a power maleficent to man, estopp'd his growth in love: for these zealots ascribed this visible work to the work of a devil, from all time Goddes foe and enemy to all good: In hate of which hellpower so worthy of man's defiance they had lost the old fear, and finding internecine war declared twixt flesh and spirit in the authentic script of Paul of Tarsus, him they took for master, and styled themselves Pauliciansthe depositaries of Christ. Their Creed—better than other exonerating God from blame of evil—and their austere asceticism shamed the half-hearted clerics, whose licence in sin confirm'd the uncompromising logic, which inferr'd a visible earthly Church to be Satan's device, the Pope his minister,—him, the third Innocent, who held his wide ambition for the will of God, his fulminating censure for the voice of Christ; and, troubled now that he could neither cleanse nor cure, persuade not nor command, fell; and betray'd by zeal (as angry Peter once to serve Christ with the sword), preach'd a Crusade within the fold,—thatt bloody wrath label'd in history The Albigensian war, a sinking millstone heavy as ever pontiff tied round the neck of the Church. For the champions of Christ outdid the heathen Huns in cruelty, and in the end was Raymond's county ravaged to ruin and his folk massacred all or burnt alive, man women and child, and their language wiped out, so that a man today reading Provencal song studieth in a dead tongue. Yet many Troubadours escaped from slaughter fled to the Italian cities where the New Learning gave kind asylum to their secret flame; and ere within the Church's precincts they had raised a song, Chivalry had won acceptance in the ideal of sex and, blending with the worship of the Mother of God, assured the consecration of MARRIAGE, still unknown save to the christian folk of Europe whence it sprang. Thus, as it came to pass, the second Essene War brought the New Life in which full soon Dante was born.
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Post by Charlotte on May 17, 2010 8:24:36 GMT -5
SEVENTH SUNDAY OF PASCHA; CELEBRATING THE ASCENTION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, AND COMMEMORATING THE FATHERS OF THE FIRST ECUMENICAL COUNCIL Yesterday in Church I thought about the meeting of Patriarch 'Bartholomew' and President Obama in Constantinople mentioned in my last post, for we pray for "the President of the United States and servants in public office who really really need it - our Senators et all and the pathetic State of Affairs. Anyway, I don't know our President's religious affiliation but I think He should join the Orthodox Church. Why do I say this? Because - you have to go to this Church even for a while and read up on the Saints etc., to glean "The Secrets of the Universe", and given the naturally brilliant as well as educated Mind, disposition, temperament, command and use of language of our President, He would learn swiftly and Humanity would greatly benefit. Ascention Kontakion - Tone Six: When you had fulfilled the dispensation for our sake, and united earth to heaven: You ascended in glory, O Christ our God, not being parted from those who love You, but remaining with them and crying: "I am with you and no one will be against you!" Holy Fathers Troparion - Tone Eight: The apostle' preaching and the fathers' doctrines have established one faith for the Church. Adorned with the robe of truth, woven from heavenly theology, it defines and glorifies the great mystery of piety. The "Holy Fathers are lights on earth". A few weeks ago I printed the precepts of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, attended by 380 Holy Fathers, among them our Saint Spyridon, but haven't had a chance to post them yet. Hieromonk Damascene served the Matins, and Fr. Ceko, Himself standing in Grace with upraised arms in prayer before administering the Holy Eucarist, the Holy Liturgy. During lunch, Fr. Damascene gave a slide presentation of the Canonization of newest Saints of the Church, and spoke of their lives. Saint Symeon of Dajbabe loved Language, Calligraphy and Art, lived in a cave He dug himself Monastery of Ostrog in Montenegro, and painted many frescos on the walls, which cave and frescos were shown. Saint Symeon prayed to Saint Basil of Ostrog the Miracle-worker, of Whom I just wrote briefly. Saint Justin of Celije studied in Oxford, had a great sense of Beauty and loved Poetry, said he saw the God-man Christ as the measure of all things. Saint Justin wrote a 7000 page work on the Lives of the Saints. The two Saints met as described in the previous post concerning the Canonization. Wisdom! The reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John! At that time Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour is come. Glorify Your Son , that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work You have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to then the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in this world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are . While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves." The High Priestly Prayer
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Post by Charlotte on May 18, 2010 8:35:52 GMT -5
Partaker of the Divine Nature
In the gradual unraveling of this thread the following has been said many times in doctrinal Writ and poetic Rhymes. Reiterating, and in concord with yesterday's "High Priestly Prayer", here it is from last Sunday's Church Bulletin 'Did You Know?' segment.
About Christ's Ascension into Heaven...
"After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to men for a period of fourty days after which he he was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19, see also Luke 24:50 and Acts 1: 9-11). The ascension of Christ is the final act of his earthly mission of salvation. The Son of God comes "down from heaven" to do the work which the Father gives him to do; and having accomplished all things, he returns to the Father bearing for all eternity the wounded and glorified humanity which he has assumed. The doctrinal meaning of the ascention is the glorification of human nature, the reunion of man with God. It is indeed, the very penetration of man in to the inexhaustible depts of divinity, ... To say that Jesus is "exalted at the right hand of God" as St. Peter preached in the first Christian sermon (Acts 2: 33) means exactly this: that man has been restored to communion with God, to a union which is, according to Orthodox doctrine, far greater and more perfect than that given to man in his original creation. Man was created with the potential to be a "partaker of the divine nature," to refer to the Apostle Peter once more. It is this participation in divinity, called theosis (which literally means deification or divinization) in Orthodox theology, that the ascention of Christ has fulfilled for humanity. The symbolic expression of "sitting at the right hand of God" means nothing other than this. It does not mean that somewhere in the created universe the physical Jesus is sitting on a material throne. The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of Christ's ascension in terms of the Jerusalem Temple. Just as the high priest of Israel entered the "holy of holies" to offer sacrifice to God on behalf of themselves and the people, so Christ, the One, Eternal and Perfect High Priest offers Himself on the Cross to God as the eternal and perfect Sacrifice, not for himself, but for all sinful men. As a man, Christ enters (once and for all) into the one eternal and perfect Holy of Holies: the very "Presence of God in the heavens." Thus, the ascension of Christ is seen as man's first entry into that divine glorification for which he was originally created. The entry is made possible by the exaltation of the divine Son who emptied himself in human flesh in perfect self-offering to God."
Fr. Thomas Hopko, excerpts from The Orthodox Faith. v. I
In Saint John's Gospel from yesterday, Christ states that He was glorified with Hi Father "before the world was", elsewhere it is stated that He was before All Eternity, and from the article can be gleaned, "greater things than I have done you will do", and "no one goes to my Father but through Me", which words once spontaneously "traveled" through my Mind ending in complete understanding while driving. I think it's one of those never forgotten things that flashes on the mind and disappears until enough insight is gained to simply 'know' it, like I know I said this before.
Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 18, 2010 9:58:16 GMT -5
There is nothing like Orthodoxy when it comes to understanding and achieving our true potential as human beings. For those who have ears, let them hear!
Bravo to you, Charlotte!
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Post by Charlotte on May 19, 2010 8:45:15 GMT -5
The Orthodox Church is shadowed by the Catholic and branches of other Christian Religions. Thinking of Churches and Religion doesn't do much for many people for the Spirit has left these denominations as was the case with me. There is no comparison between a Catholic Mass which I remember well, and which seems so sterile to me now as if the Priest alone knew what and why he was doing.... and the inspiring Orthodox Divine Liturgy, and sometimes Father Ceko or Father Norman stop during sencing to speak to people, who speak among themselves, and so much more. I didn't make it to UCLA, had doubts I would with my work having almost taken over my life again. I will enquire of the "Orthodox Christian Fellowship at UCLA", itself interesting, if there is a transcript of the Lecture. As it is, the more I read on Orthodoxy the more it seems to me It permiates our entire Western History through Europe, England, California and the city of Narbo, and all the way to me as my PO Box is at "the Narbonne". It is so complex and multidimensional as to almost evade the Mind. Love Cathedrals, Coat of Arms, Fleur de lis, Key and the Orthodox Cross en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbonne_CathedralThe Divine Poet speaks of Raymond of Toulouse, and the ancient Manchees, a major Iranian Gnostic Religion, which "taught an elaborate cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light from whence it came." Our Saint Augustine of Hippo, He who holds His flaming Heart looking at, and directing the Readers eye to the gilded word "Veritas", was once a Manichaean. Raymond of Toulouse, "sometimes called Raymond of St. Gilles (c. 1041 or 1042 - 1105) was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Margrave of Provence and one of the leaders of the First Crusade. "According to an Armenian source, he had lost an eye on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before the First Crusade, but this statement probably refers to the fact that he was one-eyed ( monoculus)."Raymond was deeply religious, and wished to die in the Holy Land, and so when the call was raised for the First Crusade, he was one of the first to take the cross. The oldest and richest of the crusaders, Raymond left Toulouse at the end of October 1069...." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_IV,_Count_of_Toulouse Raymond then went "east to Constantinople - was present at the siege of Nicaea in 1097 - he was ill during the second siege of Antioch by Kerbogha which culminated in the discovery of the Holy Lance by a monk named Peter Batholomew." "Peter Bartholomew (died 20 April 1099) was a soldier and mystic from France who was part of the First Crusade. "In December, 1097, during the siege of Antioch, Peter began to have visions, mostly of St. Andrew. Peter claimed St. Andrew took him to the Church of St. Peter, inside Antioch, and showed him where the relic of the Holy Lance could be found. St. Andrew instructed Peter to tell the Crusade leaders about this, and to give the Lance to Raymond of St. Gilles when it was found. Peter did not immediately inform Raymond or other leaders, and was visited four more times before June of 1098". "Peter's reputation was tarnished because many of the nobles did not believe him. He later claimed Christ had visited him and instructed the Crusaders to march barefoot to Jerusalem, although this was largely ignored. Other visions, from Christ, St. Andrew, Adhemar and others, revealed divine anger at the various sins and vices of the Crusaders. "On April 1099, Peter went through an ordeal by fire in an attempt to prove himself. It is very likely that he was severely burned in the process, although he claimed he was uninjured because Christ had appeared to him in the fire, and that he had been hurt afterwards when a crowd rushed to him." This is literalistic speak. It doesn't say that the crowd rushed on him with torches to burn him. In any case, one should consider Peter's own words of the ordeal by fire that left him uninjured. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_BartholomewRushing to work Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 20, 2010 11:07:49 GMT -5
Sorry you had to miss Fr. Damascene. Perhaps you will be able to visit the monastery up here sometime? In the meantime, hopefully this link will work... www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=325129769731&id=1261440826 Have a good day!
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Post by renwdimgink on May 21, 2010 14:58:10 GMT -5
In the Sermon on the Mount,Jesus is calling us up to a higher level of responsibility. He is asking us to be responsible not only for our actions, but for our thoughts and feelings as well; For the intentions of our heart; which are the seeds of what become our actions.
About evil as the fruit of the thoughts of men
"Hear O earth: behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it" (Jeremiah 6:19).
Brethren, do you see where evil grows and where it ripens? Not in the bosom of God, but in the thoughts of men. Evil is sown in the thoughts of men by demonic powers or from the passions of the flesh. Evil grows in the thoughts of men and spreads and multiplies itself, blossoms and bears leaves and finally shows fruit. In due time, God warns men to break from their evil thoughts so that evil would not ripen in the souls of men and bring forth its bitter and deadly fruit. In due time, God warned Cain but he did not want to heed the warning and permitted evil thoughts against his brother to being forth evil fruit; fratricide.
What are the thoughts of evil? All those thoughts that are contrary to the law of God; the word of God. Evil thoughts are the self-willed law of man which man prescribes for himself against God and contrary to the law of God. Therefore, if a man has resolutely decided to adhere to the law of God, evil thoughts are then as weak as shadows which quickly appear but, in the same way, quickly disappear. Then, a man is lord over his thoughts for he feels God as the Lord over himself. Then the law is the law of God and the evil thoughts of men, are nothing.
"Behold, I will bring evil upon this people," said the Lord. What kind of evil? "The fruit of their thoughts." That is: I will permit them only to reap that which they sowed and nurtured, for evil is neither My seed nor My harvest. The evil which I will permit upon lawless men is the fruit of their own thoughts. According to their thoughts, they should have estimated what kind of evil will befall them as a sower estimates, according to his seeds, what he will harvest.
O Lord meek and guileless, save us from our own evil which we alone, have nurtured in ourselves. We pray to You, remove the evil fruit of evil crops, and help us to pluck out the evil seed from our souls.
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Post by Charlotte on May 22, 2010 7:24:44 GMT -5
Today is the last day I have to be at work at 6 A, and maybe some day I will visit the Monastery. Today being "Soul Saturday before Pentecost, Fr. Seraphim Rose having written a book "The Soul after Death".
Remembering "Forbidden Planet" well, and so on....and understand, so "evil to him who thinks evil". Your post could be with "Orthodox Psychology".
Saint Basil the Great, the Third Kneeling Prayer at Pentecost:
"Oh Christ our God...(who) on this all perfect and saving Feast, are graciously pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those who are imprisoned in hades, promising unto us who are held in bondage great hope of release from the vilenes that doth hinder us and did hinder them ... send down Thy consolation... and establish their souls in the mansion of the Just; and graciously vouchsave unto them peace and pardon; for not the dead shall praise thee, O Lord, neither shall they who are in Hell make bold to offer unto thee confession. But we who are living will bless thee, and will pray, and offer unto thee propitiatory prayers and sacrifice for their souls."
Remembering my beloved Father and all souls who have passed I pray for daily since long.
Good thoughts to All
Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on May 23, 2010 8:02:05 GMT -5
Now as with Selfhood so was it again with Breed; for the fashioning of sex was attended thru'out by necessary attractions—as 'tis seen in plant or animal, and these as they suffice in brutes suffice in man so far as he also is animal; but being specifically endow'd he must in course hav with the growth of reason outgrown the animal wont; and in perfection of kind he surely had lost his lure, had he not learn'd in beauty to transfigure love.
Many shy at such doctrine: Science, they wil say, knoweth nought of this beauty. But what kenneth she of color and sound? Nothing: tho' science measure true every wave-lenght of ether or air that reacheth sense, there the hunt checketh, and her keen hounds are at fault; for when the waves have pass'd the gates of ear and eye all scent is lost: suddenly escaped the visibles are exchanged to invisible; the fine measured motions to immeasurable emotion; the cypher'd fractions to a living joy that man feeleth to shrive his soul. How should science find beauty? Leibnitz rightly is held the most irrefutable of all philosophers, because he boldly excised the intrinse knot from the rope and, showing both ends free, proclaim'd no knot had been; imagining two independent world's that move in pre-establish'd harmony twixt matter and mind; —a pleasant freak of man's godlike intelligence, vex'd by so vain a need; and thinking, with a thought so inconceivable, to save appearances.
That there is beauty in natur and that man loveth it are one thing and the same; neither can be drived apart as cause of the other; and here it is to tell how female beauty came to be the common lure in human marriage.—First in animal mating the physical attractions, as they evolved with sense, took-on beautiful forms, til beauty (as in bird-song) was recognized consciently and exploited by art, and after in man became that ladder of joy whereon slowly climbing at heaven he shall find peace with God, and beauty be wholly spiritualised to him, as in its primal essence it must be conceived.
The Divine Poet
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Post by Charlotte on May 24, 2010 9:19:37 GMT -5
'Twas an exhausting week and still dazed I feel like running to the hills. Pentecost I remember Don once making a similar remark, or the gist of it being the same as one of the Musketeers saying to his jailor: "Now, what has Pentecost to do with me? Do you fear, say, that the Holy Ghost may come down in the form od fiery tongues and open the gates of my prison?" Reminding me also of my trying to explain the German word "Geist", the 'h' missing, the 'h' being a "Hauch" = Breath, such as would fog up a mirror, or "Heiliger Geist", aside from Holy means "heilen" or healing. Christ is called "Heiland" = He who heals the Land. "To the Orthodox Christians, the feast of Pentecost in not just a celebration of an event in history. It ia also a celebration (of) their membership in the Church. They have lived the Pentecost and received "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit" in the sacrament of chrismation." In the beginning of the Matins, served by Fr. Norman, Father Ceko came up to me and said, Have you received anything (reading material) yet?" No, I replied. Ahem - "to many obstacles, I will go and get it right now. We have a Chrismation today, have you been baptized?". No, I said, I have been baptized as a Catholic. "Then", said Fr. Ceko, we will do the same with you as with the man today, it will be a short and simple 'confirmation' as you will see." Thank God, I'm eluding the 'dunking'. Handing me information papers, He said, "after you read this we'll talk, maybe you have additional questions". Pentecost or Trinity Day, celebrated fifty day after Easter, "The number fifty, as the fiftieth day after Pasch, stands for eternal and heavenly fulfillment, seven times seven, plus one." Dressed in white, the catechumen is anointed 7 times from head to ankle seven times with "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit". The descent of the Holy Spirit is associated with "a mighty wind", which, not mighty, but pretty strong and unseasonably cold blew yesterday morning from the Ocean, rattling my window casing, and all day yesterday, and driving to Church I saw Planes approaching LAX slightly swaying. (Just bringing it into my daily life). "In those days, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting." The House in which the Apostles were sitting, is traditionally the same Upper Room which was to be made ready for the Passover. orthodoxwiki.org/Pentecosten.wikipedia.org/wiki/PentecostWe then prayed "The Three Kneeling Prayers". Unlike in the Catholic Church, there is no place to kneel (and calluses), you either stand or sit, so we knelt on the floor: "O Immaculate, undefiled, invisible, incomprehensible, unchangeable, unsurpassable, immeasurable, and longsuffering Lord, Who alone is immortal, Who dwells in light unapproachable, Who created heaven and earth and the sea and all within them; Who before being asked, grants to all their petitions...." In that Spirit a good week to All Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on May 25, 2010 8:43:52 GMT -5
I read the 28 page "Orthodox Christian Catechism" introduction to the Church father Ceko gave me, much about Icons = Theology in Color, the Saints, History of the Church, Persecution, the Great Schism, the Creed, the Shape of the Liturgy, Church Etiquette, the Sacraments, the Architecture of the Church as an Icon of God's Kingdom etc., in general all we have discussed here. In reading I realized that I learned quite a bit of the Church this past year.
I also mailed the "Orthodox Christian Fellowship" at UCLA asking if a transcript of the lecture of Father Damascene is available, and posted of the event on myspace to see if anyone knows more about it.
A good day and best wishes to everyone
Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 25, 2010 15:27:07 GMT -5
This is my last week at work at the restaurant for the time being,(I am taking an extended leave of absence...) so you will keep me informed of these upcoming events!
I am pleased to hear that we have been so thorough in our conversation here as to have covered practically everything in the catechism booklet! May God bless others to make use of and to benefit from the great wealth of knowledge we have shared herein.
I have just sent His Grace a copy of something I have been working on called, "Modesty and it's related Virtues" which I hope to have published as an actual pamphlet. We will see what God will bless...
Best wishes to you on your continuing journey towards Illumination.
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Post by Charlotte on May 26, 2010 8:34:12 GMT -5
Besides, we have covered parts of very interesting Church History, not to mention related and relevant subjects and song, multidimensional and productive. The thread is well worth re-reading from the beginning, which I have done now and then, few pages at a time. Perhaps, when I speak to Fr. Ceko again, all knowledge gathered will help to speed up my Chrismation, in my case a "reconnecting" with the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Christian Fellowship at UCLA replied that they had not recorded Father Damascene's lecture, anyway I can read His Book, and Your upcoming pamphlet on Modesty, a protection from the world in one sense.
Lamenting Your extended absence, I have Faith that our compassionate God will bless us, the Reader, and the World.
Best wishes in all Worlds
Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 26, 2010 11:33:59 GMT -5
My extended leave of absence is from my job-not from our conversation here... So, no reason to lament!
I wrote the following for my 17yr old son who wanted to debate me on my views on 'Relationships'
On Relationships The first two relationships are the most important: Our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbor.
First of all, we have to get ourselves 'right with God.' Even if it takes our whole life to do this, there's nothing else more important that we need to do until we have done this.
Once we have accomplished getting ourselves right with God, we can move on to our neighbor, whom God tells us we should love as if they were our very self. And further, the Lord informs us that whatsoever we do unto the least of our brethren, we do unto the Lord himself.
If we use these first two relationships as our guide, then we will be ready to enter into whatever other relationships we may so desire without threatening the integrity of these first two, essential relationships.
No one can have a perfect relationship with God and their fellow man all the time. What's important is to establish it well on a solid foundation the first time and then to be attentive to maintaining and re-establishing it, as need be, as we go along.
The bottom line though, is get oneself right with God IN THE PRESENT MOMENT before undertaking anything new.
Then we can be reasonably reassured that what we intend to do will work out well.
Once we get into the habit of establishing, maintaining and re-establishing our relationship with God and our fellow man on a regular basis, we begin to understand what St. Paul was talking about when he exhorts us to, "Pray without ceasing," and what it means to, "Consider oneself to be in the presence of the All-seeing God at all times; to stand before God with the mind in the heart."
THEN we truly begin to draw near to perfection in our relationships.
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Post by Charlotte on May 27, 2010 9:36:19 GMT -5
Good news, then, my hope was your absence only for a while. I should absent myself from my work and serving Mamon, not really 'serving' but only necessary to function within society, which brings in relationship with our neighbor. The neighbor we are currently working for leaves at least one message a day voicing concerns about 'nothing', constantly fretting whether she would like this or the other and if the yellow color might not be too dark as in analysis paralysis, but I trust you, she adds, the next second doubting again. Though admonished not to, I 'judge' silently 'neurotic, sad', and necessarely overhearing and overseeing the most troubled Family dynamics, the judgement is superficial and evaporates when speaking with her trying to allay her worries with genuine compassion if not outright love. If this sounds too goody goody.... on the other hand I'm thinking I will be so glad to finish and get away for there is not a thing to be done to bring happiness to such people other than creating an environment to ease their Mind and to sooth their Souls.
Relationship with God is much easier, and this I said before: keeping in Mind Plato's advice that one should say a prayer 'before undertaking anything', for many years, when work was really difficult, or even not, I did it for God who saw me through and things were good, even once asking to send me a Humming Bird to let me know He hears me, and so one came and stayed with me for quite a while which is unusual. I know the importance given to Icons by the Church, living among them God becomes the Background automagically.
The week after Pentecost is Spirit Week, and I wanted to write about "Whit Monday" how the Holy Spirit "called all men to unity", and does so all the time as was my marvelous experience without defenition untill you gave it one lighting my Mind.
To the Salt Mines, as Don would say
Good thoughts and well being
Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on May 28, 2010 9:22:55 GMT -5
The Week of the Holy Spirit Whit Monday, or Monday of the Holy Spirit is the Monday after Pentecost. "Whit Monday gets its English name for following "Whitsun", the day that became one of the three baptismal seasons. The name "Whitsunday" is now generally attributed to the white garments formerly worn by those newly baptized on this feast". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whit_MondayIn the Orthodox Church white garments are still worn after baptism. The Gentleman baptized last week wore a white suit to Church but took off his jacket to be baptized, and after put it back on. "Until 1973, Whit Monday was a public holiday in Ireland. It was a bank holiday in the United Kingdom until 1967. - It was also a public holiday in various British colonies, especially in the Pacific." I thinks they brought Wit with them. Whit Monday is a holiday in many European Countries including Germany where we call it "Pfingstmontag", a word that includes "Pneuma" and "Geist", Heiliger Geist being Holy Spirit. The Monday after Christmas and Easter are also holidays. The Holy Spirit is given a week in time, in reality It is ever present, suffuses all things, pervades all space, is 'boundless', there is no demarcation between It and Us though we know ourselves within it, It is as if an Eternal Vastness which feels utterly Holy, Divine Consciousness. About a week ago, on TV, I caught a man speaking about weightlessness in which is experienced a vast 'inner' space which totally amazed him. Orthodox Wiki "The Holy Spirit, or Holly Ghost is God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and Son. The word "Spirit" commonly translates the Greek New Testament word pneuma. "The Spirit dwells inside every true Christian, each one's body being his temple (First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:16). He is depicted as a 'Counsellor' or 'Helper' ( paraclete in Greek, guiding them in the way of the truth. The 'Fruit of the Spirit' (i.e. the result of his work) is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). The Spirit is also believed to give gifts (i.e. abilities) to Christians. "Christians believe that it was the Holy Spirit whom Jesus mentioned as the promised "Comforter" (i.e. "strengthener", "fortifier") in John 14:26. After His resurrection, Christ told His disciples that they would be "baptized with the Holy Ghost", and would receive power or endowment (Acts 1:4-8); a promise that was fulfilled in the events recounted in the second chapter of Acts. On the first Pentecost, Jesus' disciples were gathered in Jerusalem when a mighty wind was heard and tongues of fire appeared over their heads. A multilingual crowd heard the disciples speaking, and each of them heard them speaking in his or her native language." The universal language of consciousness. Once in a dream I leaned over a concrete banister and saw a large swimming pool and a white Dove, the atmosphere being Holy. A white Dove as the Holy Spirit is also shown emanating fiery rays. "Holy Spirit" or "Holy Ghost"Holy Ghost was the common name for the Holy Spirit in English prior to the 20th century. It is the name used in the King James Version of the Bible, and is still used by those who prefer more tradidional language. the word ghost has lost its old meaning of the spirit or soul that is inside man and come to be identified almost exclusively with the concept of disembodied spirits, usually the dead, which may "haunt" the living, an idea far from that intended by the King James Translation." In the link, the King under the Arch is "Cosmos", I read. orthodoxwiki.org/Holy_SpiritI gazed at the full Moon this morning and thought of what I heard on MSNBC TV May 20th, "World Metrology Day", viz., the Moon is receding from the Earth one and a half inches per year. Who will keep time for us? Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 28, 2010 15:17:38 GMT -5
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: God above us, God with us and God in us.
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Post by Charlotte on May 29, 2010 8:42:10 GMT -5
Posing the question it was that answer. Concerning the receding Moon I read before, but this time it was explained how the measurement is derived. The last, "Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit" interpretation cited in orthodoxwiki is much to my liking owing to the conneXion to Sir Francis Bacon. The Russian Monk and Wonderworker of Seraphim of Sarov (1759 - 1833), taught that the purpose of life of the Christian is to acquire the Holy Spirit. Prince Charles to return to Mount Athos "AS HE approaches his fifth wedding anniversary next month, Prince Charles is feeling the need for male-only spiritual recharge: he is contemplating a solo sojourn to a monastery in northern Greece. "The religious enclave of Mount Athos, where no women has set foot since the 11th century (and even female animals are banned), was a favorite retreat for Charles during his testing times with his first wife Diana. But since his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles he has not felt the need to return, untill now. "On previous visits to the remote religious community, the Prince has joined in prayer and meditation with monks during the mornings, spending his afternoons painting watercolours of the imposing monasteries dotted among the lush scenery. "Charles was first introduced to Mount Athos by his father, who was orn in Corfu and had to switch to Anglicanism from Greek Orthodoxy to marry the Queen. Philip's mother, Alice, was deeply religious and became a nun in her later life. When she died in 1969, she left no possessions, having given everything away, and was buried, as she had requested, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem." Prince Charles is always welcom'd by the Monks, and "a senior royal source adds that, increasingly as he gets older, Charles "is seeking answers to spiritual and philosophical questions. Nourishing the spirit is very important to him these days. He is a man beset by many pressures, so he relishes the prospect of spending time alone, with the time to concentrate on spiritual matters." www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/05/prince-charles-to-return-to-mount-athos.htmlVery likely that Prince Philip, born in Corfu, told his Son about Saint Spyridon, the link to Orthodoxy a plus for the English Royalty. Good to everyone Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on May 29, 2010 11:28:33 GMT -5
The aim of the Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God, to be restored to our original blessed state, to regain our lost 'Likeness' to God and thereby be prepared to make a graceful transition into the indescribably more glorious life of the world to come.
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Post by Charlotte on May 30, 2010 9:19:48 GMT -5
Indeed it is and does
.... that ladder of joy whereon slowly climbing at heaven he shall find peace with God, and beauty be wholly spiritual to him, as in its primal essence it must be conceived.
This ken we truly, that as wonder to intellect' so for the soul desire of beauty is mover and spring; whence, in whatever his spirit is most moved, a man wil most be engaged with beauty; and this in his "first love" physical beauty and spiritual are both present mingled inseparably in his lure: then is he seen in the ecstacy of earthly passion and heav'nly vision to fall to idolatry of some specious appearance as if 'twer very incarnation of his heart's desire, whether eternal or spiritual, as with Dante it was, or mere sensuous perfection, or as most commonly a fusion of both—when id distractedly he hav thought to mate mortally with an eternal essence all the delinquencies of his high passion ensue.
Verely if Hope were not itself a happiness sorrow would far outweigh our mortal joy, but Hope incarnat in the blood kindleth its hue no less with every breath, to flud all the sluices of life long as the heart can beat. And yet in love-mating hope's ideal is so rich and fulfilment so rare, that common minds in trudge with common experience may think to amend their lot by renouncing life-vows, as a vain bondage perversiv of happiness.
And coud man seperate brutal from spiritual, and in things of the flesh liv as animals do stealing their food and seizing the delight of the hour, thatt were reasonable enough and might be wise in man; but such divorcement being in the provision of things shut out, ther is no way left nor choice for him, unless he would make shipwreck, and of mere brutality fall to pieces—ther is no hope for him but to attune nature's diversity to a human harmony, and with faith in his hope and full courage of soul realizing his will at one with all nature, devise a spiritual ethick for conduct in life.
Refusal of christian marriage is, as 'twer in art, to impugn the credit of the most beautiful things because ther are so few of them, and hold it folly to aim at excellence where so few can succeed; and where any success pincheth the happiness of the far greater number, who left to themselves might feel fuller content admiring common things or ugly, and be happier in whatever likings they can indulge. Altho' they know it not, this is the humanitarianism of democracy; and since ther is in the mass little good to look for but with instruction, authority and example impose, Ethick and Politick alike have trouble in store.
Now mere impulse of sex,—from animal mating to the vision of Dante—tho' strong in all degrees, is not the bond of marriage. Nay, if breeding ceased,— all motiv to it, liking for it and thought of it,— women and men would mate; and, whatever might lack, married life might be found a more congenial state, and marriage of true minds hav less impediment.
The Divine Poet
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Post by Charlotte on May 31, 2010 8:44:51 GMT -5
Saint Basil the Great 'on the Holy Spirit'
"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). Furthermore, the first and most proper title of the Holy Spirit is, in fact, Holy Spirit since no other name is more appropriate for a being which is incorporal, immaterial and indivisible. For this reason the Lord informed the Samaritan women that one must worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). She had believed that God must be worshipped only in certain places. He revealed to her, however, that an incorporal being cannot be circumscribed. Unlike created beings, such a being is subject neither to change nor variations. Instead, we are to lift our minds on high and ponder an intelligent being, boundless in power, of unlimited greatness, and generous in goodness. He is the source of holiness. All things seeking holiness seek the Holy Spirit. He vivifies them and enables them to reach their goal. The Holy Spirit perfects all things but lacks nothing. He gives live to all but is never depleted. The Holy Spirit can neither be increased by addition nor diminished, but is always complete, self-established and everywhere present. Are these the titles and characteristics of a mere creature?"
Confirming and describing my vision of the Holy Spirit, and remembering another dream vision of a wholly rarefied substance, aware of its Intelligence, the observer partaking of it, a 'field' which was circumscribed, whereas the Holy Spirit described above is substanceless, clear. "Oracle Dreams", Artimedorus names such dreams, need no decoding and remain with the dreamer always.
Theosis: the Holy Spirit strives with us.
"The Holy Spirit's works for our salvation are magnificent. He gives life and is the source of sanctification. He is the source of spiritual light which illumines all who use His to seek the truth. The illumination which the Holy Spirit gives is not extrinsic to Himself, but is Himself. The Holy Spirit distributes His energy in proportion to the capacity of the recipient. He is distributed but never changed, shared but always whole, unapproachable in nature but approachable through His goodness. Take the analogy of the sunbeam which lights all things wherein each recipient rejoices in the sun as if it existed only (for?) him. The Holy Spirit, likewise is given to all, and yet to each person as if possessed by that person alone. Those who receive His grace are filled with joy according to their capacity rather than according to the measure of His power. Are these the works of a mere creature?
"The Holy Spirit illuminates humanity, and the illumination which He shares is Himself. The Holy Spirit reveals in Himself, Christ, the blessed Image in Whom one sees the unspeakable beauty of the Image's prototype, the Father. Indeed, as the Father is only revealed through His Image, the Son, the Son is beheld only through the Light of the Holy Spirit. As a statue is invisible without a light shining upon it, the light of the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the only natural Image of God, the Son. Through this illumination, the Holy Spirit illumines, perfects and sanctifies the souls who seek God. As the sunbeam makes transparent things brilliant, so also the Holy Spirit makes Spirit-bearing souls, illumined by Him, spiritual as well. From the Holy Spirit comes knowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, heavenly citizenship, endless joy in the presence of God, becoming like God, and the highest goal, becoming God. Spiritual illumination, sanctification, and divinization come from the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, God the Father and God the Son would remain hidden from us. Such is the greatness, dignity and working of the Holy Spirit. Could such works come from anyone less than God?
"The Holy Spirit is confessed in the creed, is named in saving baptism and in the performance of miracles. Nobody can utter a word in defence of Christ without the Holy Spirit (Mat. 10:19-20). The Lord has given the Holy Spirit His proper place. Why then should the Holy Spirit accept the lower ranking of creature, especially since all creation is in bondage and the Holy Spirit frees it (2 Cor. 3:17)? How could anyone who has ever partaken of the Holy Spirit try to sunder Him from the fellowship of the Father and the Son? In everything the Holy Spirit is indivisibly and inseparably joined to the Father and the Son.
"The Holy Spirit is described in the singular and not ranked with creation. He is unique, one of one, not one of many. The heavenly powers were established by the Holy Spirit (Ps. 32:6 LXX) and continue in goodness through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit existed, pre-existed and co-existed with the Father and the Son before all ages.
"Such, then, to instance a few out of many, are the conceptions concerning the Holy Spirit, which we have been taught to hold concerning His greatness, His dignity, and His operations, by the oracles of the Spirit themselves."
The Holy Trinity
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 6, 2010 8:24:25 GMT -5
Week before last, I drove to and fro work round the Palos Verdes Peninsula, along the Pacific and thankful there is no drilling allowed. Most days the Atmosphere was so clear I could see Avalon and I decided spontaneously to revisit Catalina Island. Taking the "slow boat" accompanied by leaping Dolphins, at times shooting ahead like rockets then waiting for the boat to catch up, I lodged at a Mom and Pop "Bed and Breakfast" at the end of a street near the hills where I climbed about looking for mysterious Caves to find what I could find. Other, the Town of Avalon is a bustling and noisy Tourist Place.
Truly myths so ancient and examples of life, fish'd-up out of the old jumble-box of history, can find but little credit with this generation who, like children absorb'd in the scientific toys of their high-kilted gossips, care not to ransack the nursery cupboard for their grand-dam's old playthings; tho' family relics are they, once loved, and may show how that in man's eternal quest of happiness, contempt for fleshly pleasur is as near to his spirit as is the love of it to his animal nature.
Vestiges of his stony asceticism imbue all time, thick as the strewage of his flinty tools, disseminat wheresoe'er he hath dwelt; nor need we now, from where they sleep bedded on archaeologic shelves, fetch down upon the lecture-table our specimens to teach what manners went to the making of man; having such living witness of harmonized life in the aristocracy of our English motherhood, whence the nobility of our sons came, and therewith precedence of their courtesy title in the world; a tradition of good-faith, humanity and courage, that year by year flowereth on the grafted stock of Saxon temperament; the which slow or dead to beauty, is but a dullard in spiritual sense.
And so the character of our common folk, up-built in the commanding presence of feminin grace, won therefrom (as I hold) its vulgar excelence; for finding their own conduct unconformable to beauty of so high grade, they guarded it apart submissiv in its own status, a kindly thing with naive honesty and good commonsense convinced; and, easing embarrassment with the humour of life, paid due respect and honour where they felt 'twas due, so they might goodtemper'dly and in laughable wise hobnob with ugliness, and just at frightfulness, and keep the farce up mirthfully in the face of death. If any see not this fractur in our midst, because the pieces are in place, 'tis pictured for him true in Shakespeare's drama, where ideal women walk in worship, and the baser sort find sympathy, and both are bravely stirr'd together as water and oil.
But if 'tis ask'd to name what special function it was that fell sequester'd out of Adam in his lost rib, and which, when launch'd by Reason on his sea of troubles, should be his paregoric and comforting cure,— 'twas no unique, ultimatly separable thing, as is a chemic element; for rather our moods, influences and spiritual affections are like those many organic substances which, tho' to sense wholly dissimilar and incomparable in kind, are yet all combinations of the same simples, and even in like proportions differently disposed; so that whether it be starch, oil, sugar, or alcohol 'tis ever our old customers, carbon and hydrogen, pirouetting with oxygen in their morris antics; the chemist booketh all of them as C H O, and his art is as mine, when I but figurate the twin persistent semitones of my Grand Chant.
The Poet Divine
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Post by renwdimgink on Jun 6, 2010 20:25:21 GMT -5
Sounds lovely! I'm looking forward to visiting down there!
For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
God is trying to prepare us to enter into another kind of reality-one where whatever we INTEND comes into being INSTANTANEOUSLY.
In order for us to be able to handle that kind of power with responsibility, we have to go through a process of purification and illumination to insure that all of the garbage in our sub conscious and unconscious mind doesn't manifest instantaneously as well.
To go through this process consciously and voluntarily is what is known as,"Having a spiritual life.' Going through this process unconsciously and involuntarily is what's known as,'The Apocalypse and the end of the world.'
Obviously, going through this process of purification and illumination consciously and voluntarily is highly preferable to going about it the other way.There is no third possibility, however.
The more we enter into this process willingly, the deeper we can enter into this other kind of reality EVEN NOW.
That is really what it's all about and looked at from that perspective, everything that happens to us, both individually and collectively on the world stage, makes perfect sense.
There is no spoon. All there is, is a bunch of sub-atomic particles orbiting around each other looking for a pattern to rush in and fill. Guess who sets the pattern?
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 7, 2010 8:03:37 GMT -5
Many years ago I wrote about subatomic particles though not in this wise, but understood their orbiting, attraction and repulsion to form patters, and in a more harmless way of simple thoughts manifesting as opposed garbage from our subconscious, I experienced twice the same day a few weeks ago. One, I was pulling a string to lift a blind and though 'what if it broke', and it did that instant, perhaps it was a pre-recognition. The other, more serious, I can't remember, but admonished myself to better watch what I'm thinking. Yesterday, the Church celebrated The Saints of North America Saint Herman of Alaska, Patron Saint of the New World, and first Saint to be glorified by the Orthodox Church in America, familiar almost from the beginning of this thread via the Monastery in Platina. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_of_AlaskaSaint Peter the Aleut "(or Cungagnaq in his native tongue) was probably a native of Kodiak Island (Alaska). He is said to have received the Christian name of Peter when he was baptized into the Orthodox faith by the monks of St. Herman's—missionaries operating in the north." orthodoxwiki.org/Peter_the_AleutSaint Innocent of Alaska, "Equal-to-the-Apostles and Enlightener of North America (1797 - 1879), was a Russian Orthodox priest, bishop, archbishop, and Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia. He is known for his missionary work, scholarship, and leadership in Alaska and the Russian Far East during the 1800s. He is known for his great zeal for his work as well as his great abilities as a scholar, linguist, and administrator. - He learned several native languages and was the author of many of many of the earliest scholarly works about the natives and their language, as well as dictionaries and religious works in these languages. He also translated parts of the Bible into several native languages." How very interesting, In another field of research Harriot comes to Mind. orthodoxwiki.org/Innocent_of_AlaskaSaint Raphael of Brooklyn (Nov. 20, 1860 - Feb. 27, 1915) was born in Beirut, Lebanon, educated in Damascus, and was the first Orthodox Bishop to be consecrated in North America by Archbishop St. Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Innicent of New York City, and served in Brooklyn until His death. As an auxiliary Bishop, "St. Raphael founded the present-day primatial cathedral of the Antiochian Orthodox ChristianArchdiocese of North America (St. Nicholas Cathedral), established thirty parishes, and assisted in the founding of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania." orthodoxwiki.org/Raphael_of_BrooklynThe Monastery orthodoxwiki.org/St._Tikhon%27s_Orthodox_Monastery_%28South_Canaan%2C_P... Saint Varnava of Hvosno and Gary (1914-1964), was born in Gary, Indiana, attended school in Sarajevo and the Orthodox Theologiccal Faculty in Belgrad. orthodoxwiki.org/Varnava_(Nastic)Saint Alexis (Toth) of Wilkes-Barre "was a missionary priest, sent from his homeland in Slovakia as a Uniate, who, in order to serve and protect his flock in the United States in a hostile Latin envoronment, recognized the need to lead them in a return to their Orthodox Christian heritage." orthodoxwiki.org/Alexis_of_Wilkes-BarreKONTAKION TO THE SAINTS OF NORTH AMERICA - TONE THREE Today the choir of Saints who were pleasing to God in the lands of North American now stands before us in the Church and invisibly prays to God for us. With them the angels glorify Him, and all the Saints of the Church of Christ keep festival with them; and together they all pray for us to the Pre-eternal God. Have a wonderful day Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 8, 2010 7:49:53 GMT -5
Honered among the Saints of North America is Saint Nicholai of Zica, Author of Prologue of Ochrid, and commemorated today is the Apostle Carpus of the Seventy. ".... the saints are our fellow church members, for the Church is "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" that includes "tens of thousands of angels" (the bodiless heavenly hosts) and "the spirits of righteous people made perfect". The Apostle Carpus, Saint Nicholai, and Saint Dionysius the Areopagite "Carpus was one of the Seventy Apostles. He was a follower and companion of the Apostle Paul by whom he was appointed as bishop of Varna in Thrace. He also preached the Gospel in Crete where he received St. Dionysius the Areopagite in his home. St. Dionysius testified that Carpus was a man with an exceptionally pure mind, meekness and innocence, and that the Lord Jesus, with His angels, appeared to him in a vision, and that he never began the Divine Liturgy unless he did not have a heavenly vision beforehand. Enduring many assaults for the name of Christ, he finally suffered at the hands of the unbelieving Jews and was killed and, with his soul, took up habitation in the kingdom of God to delight eternally gazing upon the Lord in glory. Reflection of St. Nicholai of Zica "We should not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing grieves the Lord more, Who suffered on the Cross for sinners, then when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and thereby to remove him from our path. It happened that the Apostle Carpus lost his patience and began to pray that God send down death upon two sinful men; one a pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. Then the Lord Christ Himself appeared to Carpus and said: "Strike me; I am prepared to be crucified again for the salvation of mankind." St. Carpus related this to St. Dionysius the Areopagite and he wrote it down and gave it to the Church as a lesson to all, that prayers are needed for sinners to be saved and not for them to be destroyed, "for the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9)." www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/05/vision-of-apostle-carpus-of-seventy.htmlSo much for demanding the death penalty, and our prison system of punishment rather than all power to rehabilitation. Not long ago, I watched the Administration of the prison system in near East Countries such as Bosnia Herzegovina, Poland, Bulgaria, and one or two other Countries, and was as surprised as the Film Crew to see the living conditions of Prisoners who walk about freely and relaxed among and with the guards, as one said he is just there to do his time, in one case in a compoud with a Fountain, Peacocks, Flowers and grounds they cultivate, in another a Castle in a beautiful country side was changed to a prison, stunning the Film Crew, in all, the system is wholly geared to rehabilitatation, the guards informing the Film Crew of its operation and purpose. What you do to the least of them you do unto me, and the Good Shepherd leaves the flock and goes after the lost one. Charlotte
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Post by renwdimgink on Jun 8, 2010 19:06:13 GMT -5
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 9, 2010 8:27:31 GMT -5
Open open that Door with the 8th, words in a song, and I may be pardoned recalling the stem of the Meerschaum Pipe, the key that opened the Treasure Room beneath the Trinity Church, beside my Church being very good last Sunday. It was June 9, 1730 This morning I found John the Russian "Saint John the Russian (1690 - 1730), is one of the most renowned saints in the Greek Orthodox Church. Being a prisoner of war and a slave to a Turkish Agha, he became famous and respected even by his Muslim master for his humility, steadiness in faith and benevolence. His holy relics are undecayed and wonder-working; there are evidences that this saint particularly helps sick children and those who suffer from cancer." In the service of Peter the Great, Saint John fought in the Russo-Turkish war, was captured and sold into slavery. "He worked as a groom and lived in the stables. Other slaves mocked at him for the zeal he was working with, but the pious man took no offence, trying to help them in their needs and comforting them when needed. For his sincere kind-heartedness, the saint had earned love and trust of the Agha who proposed him to live as a free man, in seperate house. But the saint refused, saying: "My Patron is Lord and noone is above Him. He predestined me to live as a slave in a foreign land; seems, it must be so for my salvation. "Soon the Agha became rich and one of the most influential people in Urgup. He decided, that it is due to the holy man, who lives in his house. Having become rich, the Agha decided to carry out the Hajj. During this travel, his wife was giving a dinner to the relatives and friends. When the master's favourite dish, pilau was being served, she told John, who was waiting upon the table: "How glad would your master be, if he could eat this pilau with us". The saint asked her to give him this dish, promised to send it to Mecca. Everybody was laughing, but John's request was complied, they decided he wans to eat pilau himself or give it to the poor. "When the Agha came back, he told about the miracle that had happened to him: while being in Mecca, he found a fuming plate of pilau in his locked room. And on this plate his name was ingraved - as on every plate in his house. "News of the miracle spread quickly, and everyone, even Muslims began to call John a "veli" - a "saint". But he didn't change the way he lived, spending time in hard work and prayers. Before his death he had become seriously ill, and having no ability to stand up, asked for a priest to give him the Holy Communion. The priest was afraid to go openly to Muslim house and passed the Eucharist hidden inside an apple. Having taken it, the saint man died. It was June 9, 1730." What John the Russian intended came into being. The mystery of the miracles of Saints. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_RussianThe Church of St. John www.flickr.com/photos/skoobie99/2790469191/Clicking on, I came upon sublime Icons and interesting reading of Our Lady of the Sign, more spacious than the Heavens, one in the Transfiguration Church in Kizhi, the Jewel of Architecture, again for the Reader's delight en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Signen.wikipedia.org/wiki/KizhiThen happen'd upon the Church' close relationship with Yasser Arafat, and its political involvment with Stalin and Hitler, ensuring the survival of the Church. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church_Outside_RussiaThe Encore en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_SaviourCharlotte
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 11, 2010 8:39:40 GMT -5
Comprehending the Holy Spirit Saint Basil the Great, Ouranophantor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea"But on a higher note, our goal is to become like God in so much as possible for human nature. Without knowledge of God, one cannot become like Him. Without instruction there is no knowledge and instructions begin with the fundamentals. The proper use of speech is among the fundamentals of education, and words and syllables are parts of speech. If one spurns such fundamentals, one never advances to higher things. So if humans are to know God, they must wrestle with how God is expressed in human language. For the pious, therefore, learning precision in language concerning divinity is the first step in becoming God. As St. Athanasius the Great wrote, "He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God." Such wrestling with language points to significant theological ideas which we shall study next." Conspicuously impinging on the Mind, one can detect many an unusual definition in the language of the Orthodox Church, of Saints, Hymns, and well-versed Authors. The Holy Spirit, Purifier St. Basil the Great "Now the Spirit is not brought into intimate association with the soul by approximation. How indeed could there be a corporeal approach to the incorporeal? The association results from the withdrawal of the passions which, , coming afterwards gradually on the soul from its friendship with the flesh, have alienated it from its close relationship with God. Only then after a man is purified from the shame whose stain he took through his wickedness, and has come back again to his natural beauty, and as it were cleaning the Royal Image and restoring its ancient form, only thus is it possible for him to draw near to the Paraclete. Most fortunate and blessed is he who in some such God given instant comes spontaneously into the Presence of the Holy Spirit. "And He, like the sun, will by the aid of thy purified eye show thee in Himself the image of the invisible, and in the blessed spectacle of the image thou shalt behold the unspeakable beauty of the archetype. Through His aid hearts are lifted up, the weak are held by the hand, and they who are advancing are brought to perfection. Shining upon those that are cleansed from every spot, He makes the spiritual by fellowship with Himself. Just as when a sunbeam falls on bright and transparent bodies, they themselves become brilliant too, and shed forth a fresh brightness from themselves, so souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others." No one can refute this truth, and in the lesser we love the company of bright people, such as a Lady's high Spirit lifted and touched mine momentarily at the Post Office, yesterday, both of us waiting by the door yielding to the other. It was one of those rare out of this world moments, beautiful Her Spirit and pure Her words. Illuminated by the Spirit, Saint Basil: "Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of the mysteries, apprehenshion of what is hidden, distribution of good gifts, the heavenly citizenship, a place in the chorus of angels, joy without end, abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God [that is, sharers in the divine nature]." And so also we read repeatedly in this thread. Charlotte
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 12, 2010 8:31:15 GMT -5
Saint Basil the Great "On the Holy Spirit"
"By far the most frequently cited source in On the Holy Spirit is Holy Writ. Nearly all of his arguments begin with Holy Scripture as a source, or as a justification for his doxology. - But there is more to St. Basil's use of Holy Writ than its frequency. The centrality of Holy Writ is essential for St. Basil's theological methodology. Holy Scripture, for St. Basil, is the source of sources. It is central to Christian theology. St. Basil also uses and values highly both written and unwritten traditions of the Fathers. When citing the traditions of the Fathers to prove the validity of his doxology, however, he makes clear that one ought not be content with their support merely because they are the traditions of the Fathers, but because the Fathers understood and followed the meaning of the Holy Scripture."
Not follow blindly what the Fathers teach, but discern and understand oneself that they understood the 'meaning' of the Holy Writ by hearing what they convey.
"The Holy Spirit searches the depths of God, whereas creatures receive divine illumination only through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives true worshippers the knowledge of God personally, or in Himself. For believers, divine knowledge comes through the Holy Spirit since the way to such knowledge ascends from the Holy Spirit (the Illuminator) to the one Son (the Image) to the one Father (the Prototype). Likewise, goodness, holiness, and royal dignity reach from the Father through the Son to the Holy Spirit. Therefore believers share in divine knowledge and goodness in the Holy Spirit and all three persons of the Holy Trinity participate in human illumination and sanctification. The Holy Spirit gives life to all, together with the Father Who enlivens all things and the life-giving Son. Romans 8:11 reveals, "but if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
It is also said that the Embryo is a living organism until quickened by the Spirit and man becomes a living Soul. I haven't read up lately how Biologists explain the "quickening" every Mother experiences with a sense of wonder.
Have another great weekend
Charlotte
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