The More Things Change

My apologies for my blogging absence; I've been busy with grad school.

Today I received a 1934 copy of the Rev. Frank N. Westcott's 1902 book Catholic Principles Illustrated in the Doctrine, History and Organization of the American Episcopal Church.

Chapter I is entitle "What is the American Episcopal Church?" and begins:

"It is quite generally admitted by those who watch the trend of the religious movements of the day, that that body of Christians which is commonly known as the American Episcopal Church has come to occupy a position, and exert an influence, quite out of proportion to the number of its members, or the extent of its organization. By the confession of both its friends and its enemies, for some reason or another, it seems to be like 'a city set on a hill which cannot be hid.'
It is to-day, perhaps, the most enthusiastically defended, the most violently attacked, the most frequently imitated, and the least understood, of all religious organizations in the country."

New improved komboskini bracelet

Well, the last komboskini bracelet I bought was too small, evidently having been made for scrawny Greek wrists. I bought another one through a Greek website whose content was mostly in German, and their products must be made with beefy Nordic types in mind, because it fits just fine.

I find it's a very useful reminder to pray, and it's not open to misinterpretation (like the Buddhist wrist mala I tried). I found it odd that the name of the site selling it is called Mykonos Fashion. Can this really by what all the trendy tourists in the Greek islands are wearing? I recall that Mykonos has a lot of nudism; can this be the only thing that trendy tourists are wearing there? Most of their stuff seems like very flashy costume jewelry.

The Mass and Swine Flu

Today being a Major Feast in the Episcopal calendar, I wanted to go to Mass (indeed, by my Rule of Life I'm obligated to go, but it's a happy obligation). Unfortunately, my parish weekday Mass is celebrated at a time when I will be in class, so I went to the noon Mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul. It really is a beautiful place, and although it's been remodeled to suit the "new liturgy" it seems to be a happy marriage of the traditional and the modern (although I truly don't know what I think of the sort of flying saucer thing hovering over the altar).

I was surprised to see a woman wearing mantilla, surgical mask, and purple latex gloves (they really looked more like those worn for dishwashing than for surgery, though); I wonder if this will continue to be a novel sight in coming months, or if it will get more and more common in crowds as the flu season makes its much ballyhooed progress.

New Arrival

Today I received my copy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese's New Testament and Psalms for members of the military.





























The URL for the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in the Americas' military resources website is conveniently placed on the back cover.














Inside the front and back covers are several color reproductions of icons members of the military might find useful. This is a big improvement over the line drawings in the Antiochian pocket prayerbook that I took with me to the Navy.















Our Lady and St George















St. Nicholas, whose intercession is often sought by sailors and travellers














Table of contents; besides the New Testament and Psalms, it also contains daily morning and evening prayers, and a section of helpful advice for service members














St. Barbara - I was aware that in the West she is a patron of military engineers and those working with explosives (such as those in the artillary), but I didn't know that this extended to Orthodox practice














St Michael (always popular among military types) and St Katherine (which is puzzling...I wasn't aware that she was a patron of the military in the West or the East)















And a very youthful looking St Demetrios

Holy Cross

For the Feast of the Holy Cross, some images of the Cross in my possession...



This is the cross that hangs in the middle of my icon corner. It's from Greece; interestingly, the corpus is fastened to the cross with tiny nails.















This is a pendent I've had for years and years. It's silver and turquoise, and was made (so I was told) by a Zuni artisan. I got it at the lodge gift shop at Mesa Verde, on a road trip with a friend of mine from Austin (who happened to be my partner Chris' college roommate). I got it blessed in a small Episcopal church in Mancos, Colorado - I remember the priest praying that by this sign it I would be led to a life of service.



















One of the medals I wear (clink! clink!) is of St. Benedict, and I wear it so that the Cross of St. Benedict faces outward. Here's an explanation of the lettering.















This is an Ethiopian hand cross. It reminds me of the blessing crosses that Orthodox priests use, but I understand that ordinary laypeople in Ethiopia hold these crosses during prayer.

As kingfishers catch fire...

My thoughts were drawn to Fr. Hopkins a couple of days before my hike to the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge, when I visited the church of San Francisco de Asís in Ranchos de Taos. It was built sometime around the turn of the 19th century, and has been made famous by Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams.

After visiting the church, I went to the gift shop across the way. I was looking at some items on one side, and the woman behind the counter said, "Those icons on the wall are the work of Fr. Bill. He's an iconographer, and he's on our parish staff."

I hadn't noticed the icons, but I looked up and there were several very interesting works, among them this icon of Fr. Hopkins, complete with kingfisher. I had to have it.

Fr. Bill, it turns out, is Fr. William Hart McNichols, a student of Robert Lentz, OFM. His website is St. Andrei Rublev Icons.com.

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves - goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;

Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is -

Chríst - for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces.

God's Grandeur

God's Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ

The world is charged with the grandeur of God
It will flame out like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil
Crushed...

One of my favorite poets is the Victorian English Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins. This past week I went to something of a family reunion in Taos, New Mexico. On Friday my brother Keith and I hiked to the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge (and back, of course) outside of town; on our way up from the river, lines from Hopkins' poem "God's Grandeur" kept going through my head. It was truly a beautiful place, and my photos do not begin to do it justice.