Only in Orthodox Cyberspace...

...would this avatar be made. Interesting timing, too, given the post below this one. I saw this as some guy's avatar on a forum I frequent, with the caption, "Change we can believe in" written underneath.

Just...wow.

Too Much Orthodoxy, Too Little Christ

From Fr. Gregory Jensen:

"We run into problems when we forget that our calling, our vocation given to us in baptism, is to proclaim Christ and Him crucified--we are all of us apostles and evangelists of the Good News and not of Orthodoxy as such."

...

"Kerygma and Dogma are not opposed, as St Basil the Great reminds us--but neither are they the same thing."

From his excellent post praising our new Metropolitan and exhorting us to remember ourselves at the same time, HERE.

Two Down, One to Go....

Those of you who have kept up with this blog for several years remember Hope's pronunciation of "Holy Spirit" when Kate was just born; prayer was in the name of the "Fahduur, Shun, an' Hody Britches."

Her little sister has taken it upon herself to take creative license with the second Member of the Trinity. She picked up the Trisagion prayer nicely during morning/evening prayers; she would sing "Ho-nee My-nee" when "Holy Mighty" starts up. Being a young toddler, however, that pronunciation is subject to variation; now whenever she sees His icon she reaches for it and calls Him, "Holy Moly."

Yeah.

Fahduur, Holy Moly, and the Hody Britches. The Hody Fahduurs must be rollin' in their graves...

Entry

Today marks not only the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, but also the ninth anniversary of the first Divine Liturgy I ever attended. This being the Friday before Thanksgiving Break, I'm unable to take off today to go to Church, but I wish all of you a happy Feastday. Ὑπεραγία Θεοτόκε Σῶσον Ἡμᾶς!

Troparion - Tone 4

Today is the Prelude of the Goodwill of God;

Of the preaching of the salvation of mankind.

The Virgin appears in the Temple of God

In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all.

Let us rejoice and sing to her:

Rejoice, O fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation!

Kontakion - Tone 4

The most pure Temple of the Savior;
the precious Chamber and Virgin;
the sacred Treasure of the glory of God,
is presented today to the house of the Lord.
She brings with her the grace of the Spirit,
therefore, the angels of God praise her:
"Truly this woman is the abode of heaven."

Many Years to...Metropolitan JONAH of All America and Canada!

All I can say is...wow. Looks like Vladyka will have to find another auxiliary, 'cause the recently-consecrated one is now the presiding bishop of his synod...

Many years to our newly-elected Metropolitan! Axios!

http://www.oca.org/news/1693

Trav'lin' Mercies

I'd appreciate any and all prayers for me, as I will be out of town beginning Thursday morning. Lord willing, I will be back Saturday, early evening. Will miss wife and babygirls much; prayer for (and to) steadfast guardian angels for them and for me, as well.

Thank you.

Many Years to Bishop JONAH of Fort Worth!

My wife, two daughters, and I were blessed to attend the consecration of Archiman-drite Jonah to the episcopacy of the Orthodox Church in America yesterday morning. We are doubly blessed in this, for his see will be our parish in Fort Worth. Here to the right we see the laying on of hands by four other bishops. Along with his consecration, we witnessed the ordinations of a priest and a deacon, the blessing of a subdeacon, and the tonsuring of a reader. When the reader was tonsured yesterday, I cringed as I was reminded of how short of my calling I fall daily. Lord, have mercy. Many years to all God's newly-appointed servants. Αχιοι, αχιοι, αχιοι!

The word αχιοι is Greek for "[they are] wor-thy" ("αχιος" being shouted for only one person), as the candidate, who has arisen from among the assembly, is deemed worthy of his office by the λαος, or the people at large, as well as the πρεσυτεροι, or the ordained leaders of the λαος. We always bear in mind, however, that they are seen as worthy only because the Holy Spirit has been seen in the life of the man to be "that which completes that which is lacking." Following the three-hour long service there was a lot of great, Texas-style BBQ (brisket, chicken legs, sweet tea, mac and cheese and tater salad...yessir...), and the atmosphere was one of a family reunion. Folks who hadn't seen each other since seminary days, priests and former parishioners (who had moved for various reasons) were seen embracing and catching up, and, perhaps most touching, a priest whose daughter is now a matushka was able to thank in person the bishop his son-in-law serves under for his much-appreciated pastoral care. The day seemed to highlight much of what is good about the Faith.

Vladyka DMITRI is still the Archbishop of Dallas and the South. Bishop JONAH is actually the Abp's auxiliary bishop, but since every bishop, auxiliary or not, has to have a see somewhere, he was given the next largest city adjacent to Dallas -- namely, Fort Worth. Following this, it was good to hear at Vespers last night and at Divine Liturgy this morning, "For his Eminence DMITRI...and for his Grace our Bishop JONAH..." We're the only church where that's said, because he's only really bishop of our parish.

May God grant both of our widely-beloved and respected overseers and vladykas (our "masters," seen in the old sense as literally, "teachers") many blessed years!

(Pictures from OCA website. For a short article on Orthodox clergy ranks, see HERE, and for an explanation of vestments, see HERE.)