Yeah, sure. And Binny Hinn heals people.

I finished writing the explanation of icons that George asked for, and am having my priest read it before I send it to George. I'll post it here, too.

I lost my studs and my bow tie was frayed. I had to do some shopping. I found these fabulous mother of pearl studs and cuff links on eBay. I was going to go with onyx (I am a conservative, you know.) but heck, it's Pascha and white is definitley the color for the ocasion. While shopping for bow ties I found this fun little article on bow ties in the Atlantic.

Just got back from church. Very long day in SF. Left the house at 7:30 this morning. Just got home 10 minutes ago.

We went to the liturgy of St. Basil this morning. It was the last of the services celebrating the Annunciation. The services do not usually move me to tears. This one did. The scripture readings were very interesting. When I am not so tired I will tell you about them.

Oh, before church I went with Cyndi to one of her jobs. Met a couple who own a wine importing business.

Church tonight was the vigil for the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt. Again, when I am no so tired I will tell you about her.

Had pretty good kung pao prawns for lunch.

After lunch I went at Java Beach while Cyndi was getting her hair cut. (The boy was napping in his stroller.) As I was sitting outside drinking my black espresso and reading my book about Fr. Arseny, this budhist comes up and wants to talk. It was interesting. We talked for a little while. I was able to drop a couple of hints that Jesus is the fulfillment of the dharma, that asceticism to reach nothingness is still only only striving for nothingness. He wanted to know about Fr. Arseny, but I didn't feel comfortable telling him about him. All I said was that he seemed to be one of the few people who came close to reaching the heights to which all Christians are called. I don't know why I didn't want to go into more detail. I don't know if it was because of the whole "pearls before swine" thing, or if I thought he needed to know Jesus before he gets into stories about his followers, or what. I think part of it was that he was just into buddhism because he thinks buddhism is cool, and he would have thought Fr. Arseny (Or even Jesus) was a cool and esoteric thing to look into. I don't know if I made the right decision. (Its not like I even made a decision. It was just that I didn't feel right about giving the guy too much information. I don't know.

As we were comming out of church tonight a transvestite begger asked for help. Said he was homeless & hungry. I told him to follow me and I'd buy him some food. While in the store he said several times that he'd rather have cash. Didn't want cheese, or milk, or fresh fruit. Then he said "And I can't have any frozen food cuz I don't have a microwave back at my place". I didn't say anything, but I was disappointed that he had lied to me about being homeless. His name is Chantelle. I hope he can get himself straighened out and go home to his family in Kentucky.

Thank you for praying for the Church in Kosovo. Its a hard situation.
March 21 is during lent, and a birthday party is inappropriate to a time of mourning and repentence. Also, have you ever had a butterless birthday cake?
The only resaurant fish tacos I've had are Chevy's and Una Mas. I didn't like either of them. Chevy's used salmon, and Una Mas smotherd them with what seemed to be salad dressing. Where is the nearest Rubio's?


Here are the activities for the the 10th:

10 AM Vespers immediately followed by the Liturgy of St Basil. This will be an extremely long service since several people are being baptised and/or chrismated.

There will be a break following the liturgy.

About 8 P.M. (I don't know the exact time) we will start reading the entire book of Acts aloud. This will be completed about 11 pm.

At 11:10 P.M. The Hours will be served. This takes exactly 20 minutes. It is during this service that most people will be arriving.

At 11:30 P.M. the Paschal Divine Liturgy will begin. I'm not sure what time it ends. My memories from previous years seem to say 1 or 1:30 A.M. But I'm not sure. One loses track of time, with all of the shouting, and singing, and processing, and bells ringing, and kissing, and stuff. The eating starts right after the liturgy.

Clothing: Dress up. Last year some of the men even wore tuxedos (if mine still fits I will be wearing it) and some of the women wore evening gowns. You will only be outside for a few minutes during the procession, so you, probably, will not need a heavy coat.

Food: Bring anything. A bottle of champagne, a loaf of french bread with butter, a ham, a six pack of beer, a box of chocolates, a Togos hot pastrami sandwich, anything. I think we are bringing pecan pie & a bottle of Southern Comfort.

Easter basket: You might not know this but the Easter basket has its origen in the Orthodox Church. After a long time without meat, cheese, eggs, wine, & fish, we bring baskets full of these things to church to be blessed. So, bring your easter basket. I don't know about other parish's but at Holy Trinity it seems to be the custom to have paska and kulich in the baskets. If we can find a mold for paska that costs less than $30 we'll do it too. But at the very least we will have sardines, salami, several cheeses, wine, deviled ham, boiled eggs, & milk chocolate (all the stuff we'll eat for brunch on Sunday) in our basket.

After all of the eating and drinking you are going to be doing you might want to spend the night in SF. There is a hotel just 1 block from the church.

You'll also want to learn these. You will be shouting them often.

English: Christ is Risen
Response: Indeed He is Risen

Russian: Xris-to Vosk-rese
Response: Vo isti-nu Vosk-rese

Greek: Xris-tos Anes-ti
Response: Ali-thos-anes-ti

Yupik Eskimo: Xris-tusaq Ung-Uixtuq
Response: Iluumun Ung-uixtuq

Last night, Cyndi made fish tacos. (Annuncation is the only fish day during Lent.) But she went nuts with the adobo. It was like eating fire. It was the absolute most painful food experience I've ever had. Thankfully, I had a bottle of Gruet Brut on hand(left over from the 3rd Day of Christmas party). Had to drink the whole bottle to get the flames under control. I'm not saying the tacos were bad. They were just amazingly hurtful. But they tasted soooooo good. Had to eat three of them.

Jeff, I got the message about the funeral. I'm sorry to hear about your cousin. I hope yo are doing okay.

Hey, Jeff. Its been two months since I wrote an answer to your question. Are you ever going to read and reply to my post of Jan 27?

Pascha is just around the corner!
Yum!!!
Even more Yum!!!

Punks to Monks!!! I don't know what's going on here, but there seems to be a strange thing going on with punk rock and the Orthodox Church. Read about a front man who became Chancellor of the GOA. Is it that Punk's radical nihilism (It isn't the fashionable nihilism of philosophy students. It is the crass comercialization of nihilism. Nihilism for the sake of getting money to get drugs. Punk, like hip-hop says all there is is money and possession. But not even posession, because posessions can be taken away. There is only experience. The high of drugs. The high of sex. The high of power over women and weaker men. Give me my ho and my bling-bling cuz that's all that is. It is tasteless and unrefined. It is gross and vulgar. It doesn't even pretend to be deep or profound. It hopes in nothing. Believes in nothing. Beareth nothing. Self dissapears with an extra mg of horse, or the wasting away of AIDS. It is slow suicide.) is only answered by the radical embrace of reality that is Christian monasticism?

“And so the error spread until all bishops under the Pope of Rome required their priests to insert the offending word into their missals. The Monestary of Kubaan, which hand-copied all the missals used by the Latin church, suddenly found its services in high demand: much higher, in fact, than it could commodiate; thus giving rise to the famous Kubaan Missal Crisis of 1063."

Jeff, I just noticed that you haven't blogged in over a week. Have you lost interest?

Well, we made a decision. I'm staying with AllDorm and staying in school. Cyndi will more hours. We will both sleep less. Going to be a tough year. Dinner last night was a lot of goodness. Mussels and shrmip simmered in sauvignon blanc and garlic. French bread from Semifreddi's bakery. Cyndi said it was the best meal we've had since Lent started. I think every day this week is a wine & oil day. That makes cooking much easier. I have a cold. I think I might be spending too much time in the pool in the evenings.

Jeff, I just found out that Archimandrite Benjamin will be consecrated to the episcopacy at Holy Trinity Cathedral, San Francisco, California, on Saturday, May 1, 2004. This is going to be exceptionally wonderful. You should come.

Also, here is a list of other services in the month of April.

2) Conclusion of the 40-day Fast, Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 6 p.m.
3) Resurrection of Lazarus, Matins and Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 9 a.m.; Vigil of Palms, 6 p.m.
4) Palm Sunday: Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Festal Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 10 a.m.; Bridegroom Matins, 6 p.m.
5) Great and Holy Monday, Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 9 a.m.; Bridegroom Matins, 7 p.m.
6) Great and Holy Tuesday, Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 9 a.m.; Bridegroom Matins, 7 p.m.
7) Great and Holy Wednesday, Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 9 a.m.; Matins of Holy Thursday, 7 p.m.
8) Great and Holy Thursday, Vespers and Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, 10 a.m.; Matins with 12 Gospels, 7 p.m.
9) Great and Holy Friday, Royal Hours, 10 a.m.; Vespers of Deposition, 4 p.m.; Matins of Burial, 7 p.m.
10) Great and Holy Saturday, Vespers and Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, 10 a.m.; Paschal Vigil and Liturgy, 11:30 p.m.
11) HOLY PASCHA: The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Agape Vespers, 1 p.m.
14) Bright Wednesday, Paschal Vespers, 6 p.m.
15) Bright Thursday, Paschal Divine Liturgy, 9 a.m.
16) Bright Friday, Paschal Vespers, 6 p.m.
17) Bright Saturday, Paschal Divine Liturgy, 10 a.m.; Vigil, 6 p.m.
18) Antipascha: St. Thomas Sunday, Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 10 a.m.
21) Vespers, 6 p.m.
24) Vigil, 6 p.m.
25) Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearing Women, Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 10 a.m.
28) Vespers, 6 p.m.
30) Canonical Election of Bishop Benjamin of Berkeley and Great Vespers, 6 p.m.


If you can only come on two days, I'd recommend Matins on Holy Thursday and the Paschal divine liturgy. FYI: The services run into each other so the start times are approximate.

I hate making decisions. At least decisions that put me on a track that is difficult to get off of later. You know I am going to school to be a nurse and working at AllDorm. And Cyndi is working part time at Starbucks and managing an apartment complex. Well, Starbucks wants her to be available more hours and wants to make her a manager. What this means is that I would have to either quit AllDorm or school to take care of the little boy.
Quitting school hurts in the long term. Quitting Alldorm hurts (Much) in the short term.

In other news I just found that my church has a relic of The Venerable Grand Duchess St. Elizabeth Fedorovna Romanova the New Martyr. It is her biography that inspired me to start down the path to becoming a nurse.

The car broke down today. Thankfully, it happened right in front of a mechanics shop and the repair (a new hose) only took 10 minutes and $50.

Muslims in Kosovo are systematically de-christianizing the region. Below is a list of churches destroyed since March 17.

1. Cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of God of Ljevis, 14th century (Prizren)
2. Church of Holy Salvation, 14th century (Prizren)
3. Cathedral of the Holy Great Martyr George, 20th century (Prizren)
4. Holy Archangels Monastery, 14th century (Prizren)
5. Church of St. George Runovic, 15th century (Prizren, courtyard of the Episcopate)
6. Church of St. John the Fore-runner and Baptist (Pec) with parish home
7. Church of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple 19th century (Belo Polje near Pec)
8. Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God (Djakovica) 19th century with parish home
9. Church of the Holy King Uros (Urosevac)
10. Church of St. Nicholas (Kosovo Polje)
11. Church of St. Catharine (Bresje near Kosovo Polje)
12. Church of St. Nicholas, 19th century (Pristina)
13. Church of St. Nicholas, 19th cenutry (Gnjilane)
14. Church of St. Sava (Kosovska Mitrovica)
15. Church in Vitina (Vitina near Gnjilane)
16. Devic Monastery, 14th century (Srbica)
17. Church in Donja Slapasnica (Kosovska Kamenica)
18. Church in Brnjak near Bela Crkva (Orahovac)
19. Church of St. John the Fore-runner and Baptist (Pecka Banja)
20. Church of St. Elijah, 19th century (Vucitrn)
21. Church of St. Michael (Stimlje)
22. Church in Obilic (Obilic)
23. Church of St. Lazarus in Piskote (Djakovica), damaged in 1999, now burned
24. Church of St. Nicholas (Tutic church), 14th century (Prizren)
25. Church of St. Kyriake, 14th century (Prizren)
26. Church of St. Panteleimon 14th c. (Prizren)
24. Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary building , with chapel (Prizren)
25. Episcopate - seat of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren with chapel (Prizren)

Well, today is the little boy's birthday. They prayed for him at church today. In other little boy related news, the pool is open and he has been enjoying it for the last two days. Cant swim but is fearless when it comes to jumping in off the edge.

Other news, it looks like we are getting a new auxilliary bishop. A monk named benjamin will be consecrated at my church in April. Fr. Victor said we should expect a handful of bishops and two metroplitans to come for the laying on of hands. I am very excited. Next to baptisms this is probably the most important of the mysteries - the passing on of the episcopal charisma! I'll let you know the date as soon as I find out so you casn come see it. We began praying for the bishop-elect today.

This is the week of Annunciation. But it is also the week we remember St. Mary of Egypt and is the 5th week of lent. Crazy busy week at church. Seems like we are going to be having services every morning and evening until Sunday.

Bad parenting, a 24 year old "boyfriend" (where are the cops?), and a women's clinic kill a 15 year old girl.

Islam is evil, and is persecuting Christians in the Holy Land. If Christians (eastern and western) do not get back to their robust roots conversions to islam are what we should expect. But Islam doesn't care if conversions are made peacefully. Mohamed met a demon in a cave and received a "revelation" from it. And that same demon is the spirit of Jihad. Spain has capitulated. Kosovo is burning.

I just found out that a friend of mine is pregnant. It got me to thinking about 2 Timothy 2:15 where it says: "Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." I remember the first time I thought about this verse. It was when John Hannaman was teaching, and that one freaky woman got angry with him. Anyway, The thing I remember most is reading a bunch of commentaries and all of them saying pretty much this: "It is a hard verse to understand but it might mean this."

It wasn't until I saw my wife become a Christian that I understood, at leat a little bit, what this verse meant. At the time, she did not want me to be Orthodox. But someone at the Mission of the Synaxsis of the Theotokos gave her a sheet of paper with this prayer on it:

"O Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ our God, the Source of life and immortality, I thank Thee, for in my marriage Thou has blest me to be a recipient of Thy blessing and gift; for Thou, O Master, didst say: be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. I thank Thee and pray: Bless the fruit of my body that was given to me by Thee; favor it and animate it by Thy Holy Spirit, and let it grow a healthy and pure body, with well formed limbs. Sanctify its body, mind, heart, and vitals, and grant this infant that is to be born an intelligent soul; establish him in the fear of Thee.

"A faithful angel, a guardian of soul and body, do thou vouchsafe him. Protect, keep, strengthen, and shelter the child in my womb until the hour of his birth. But conceal him not in his mother's womb; Thou gavest him life and health.

"O Lord Jesus Christ, into Thine almighty and paternal hands do I entrust my child. Place him upon the right hand of Thy grace, and through Thy Holy Spirit sanctify him and renew him unto life everlasting, that he may be a communicant of Thy Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

"O All-Merciful Christ our God, look down and protect me, Thy handmaiden, from frear and from evil spirits that seek to destroy the work of Thy hands. And when my hour and time is come, deliver me by Thy grace. Look with compassionate eye and deliver me, Thy handmaiden, from pain. Lighten mine infirmity in the time of my travail and grant me fortitude and strength for birth giving, and hasten it by Thine almighty help. For this is Thy glorious work, the power of Thine Omnipotence, the work of Thy grace and tendrt-heartedness. Amen.

"My most gracious Queen, my hope, O Mother of God, the joy of those in sorrow, help me, for I am helpless. Intercede thou and pray thy Son, Christ our God, that He lighten for me this season while I am giving birth. For I know no other help save thee, no other hope save thee, O Mother of God, that will guard and protect me and my child. For by thine intercession and help we send up glory and thanksgiving for all things unto the One God in Trinity, the Creator of all, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. "

She prayed it pretty often while she was pregnant, and she still has the sheet of paper in a file folder with all of the ultr-sound pictures, hospital admission papers, etc. And this prayer, and the way the birth of her son was treated by the Church (it is acompanied by a naming rite at 8 days, and a reintroduction of the mother to the church at 40 days.) had an effect on her. In fact it was the night of the naming rite that she first said she believed.

Jeff, I know you are holding off on posting your review of the Passion. Fr. Tom Hopko, Dean Emeritus of Saint Vlad's saw the movie last week and shares his thoughts here. And here is the opinion of two Roman Catholic academics. I think it is interestng how Fr. Tom and the Roman Catholic Scholars had such different reactions to the faces of the people in the movie. I, not having seen the movie, do not have an opinion. Peter Bouteneff has a more middle of the road opinion of the film.