Sarx

HE NEW MILLENNIUM Brought me to several surprising changes all at once. My job at the California Institute of Integral Studies allowed me to take classes at a discounted rate so I used my benefit to finish my BA. The BA Completion Programme at CIIS spent a good deal of time discussing why it was [...]

HE MOVEMENT “Community” is a Finnish ecumenical organisation that seeks to include members of sexual minorities (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, etc) in the full life of the Church. I found out about them reading a report against them from a conservative group within the Finnish Orthodox Church, the Brotherhood of St Kosmas of Aitolia. [...]

OME OF THE MOST Recent scientific studies and discoveries suggests that mind (whatever that is) and consciousness (whatever that is) is not something that happens, using parts of the body as tools, but rather something that happens because of/in and through the body’s functions. In other words, the mind is not something that happens in [...]

OR THE WEEK From 1 October – the Eastern Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos – to 7 October – the Western Feast of Our Lady of Victory – a set of prayers to Our Lady asking her help and protection for all Christians. These two feasts seem to me analogues. And [...]

NE OF THE PREVAILING Myths among American Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy is that the CHristian East never went through a “dark age” like the west did. Of course, this is a lie. We never know how nuts we sound until someone else tells our stories: “The last five centuries of the Roman Empire (and remember [...]

OME THINGS About Yer Host are well-known by long time readers of this blog. For one thing, I pay very close attention to my server logs. I use a service known as StatCounter which I highly recommend to all my readers – especially those of you who use WordPress. StatCounter has a plugin for WP [...]

HE OCA Has re-establised the Diocese of Pittsburgh. When the Antiochians tried to do this the Greek church got their under-cassocks in a twist and threatened to excommunicate Philip, et al, if they dared to name someone as “Bishop of Pittsburgh”. So, now, is the OCA sabre rattling or saying “WTF, you’ve already excommunicated us [...]

EADING THE Liturgy Books from New Skete. The Brothers were formerly Byzantine Catholics and so they have brought with them some of the devotional practices from the past. One the Julian Paschalion, as used by Byzantine Catholics, this Thursday (the second Thursday after Pentecost) would be the Feast of Corpus Christi. I have the Catholic [...]

UST GET’S Better and better! The Chancellors say that the Patriarch and Mtr Philip can’t do what they are trying to do. My guess is the Antiochians are all about to become Anglicans very fast (fighting in courts, dickering over property and jurisdiction). Ironic, no? Since many of them were Ex Anglicans anyway, running away [...]

Christ is Risen! The River of Fire Originally uploaded by phool 4 XC. Along with my friend, Peter, and Brodie, I visited the Serbian Orthodox Church in Hamilton yesterday. It was floor-to-ceiling icons (and no pews to obscure any of the work)! On the back wall of the church was an image that would have [...]