HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Bog Blagoslovit! May God bless!

Here’s hoping that all of you and your families (at least, those of you here in the USA) have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Pass me the turkey and stuffing… what’s that? Hmm… here’s some Rolaids. I DON’T believe you ate the whole thing.

Here’s some of our Russian grub… good stuff, eh? Pass me the ’shrooms and the varenniki… of course, I want sour cream n’ onions on ‘em… what do you think?

See ya’ll tomorrow! s Bogom! Go with God!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 26 November 2009

Thanksgiving Day (USA)

Albany NY

He was Preparing Me for His Death!

Mourners at St Thomas church in Moscow queueing up to pay their last respects to Fr Daniil Sysoev.

On Monday, Moscow said farewell to slain missionary Daniil Sysoev. The funeral took place in Ss Peter and Paul church in Yasenevo, where his father serves as rector. Hundreds of Orthodox believers came to bid farewell to Fr Daniil. However, there was no room for the public in the church. At the entrance, a large video monitor broadcast the funeral ceremony to the crowd outside. In the church, around a hundred priests from the Moscow clergy stood, all in white vestments, with lit candles in their hands. Only the relatives of the deceased were allowed inside the church building with the clergy. His widow, Yuliya Mikhailovna, dressed in mourning attire, was there, with daughters, Iustina Daniilovna, his eldest child, and Dorofei Daniilovna, his middle child. From time to time, from the second floor of the church, one heard tearful cries of “Mama! Mama!” These came from the fidgety two-year-old, Angelina Daniilovna, his youngest child, who was sitting on her grandmother’s lap, crying for her mother.

“She met Daniil by chance, they were introduced by mutual friends”, Yuliya’s mother told me in a break in the chanting. “My daughter graduated from the medical institute as a pharmacist. Frankly, it wasn’t easy to get used to the fact that my daughter was a Matushka. {Editor’s note: Russian term for a priest’s wife.} For Daniil, his ministry has always taken first place in his life. Secular things? Well, they’re on the back burner. He often lingered in the church; the children didn’t spend so much time there. Yet, he loved his girls very much”.

Our conversation was interrupted; there was silence. The clergy stood mute, the choir stopped singing its dirge. The clergy held its breath as Patriarch Kirill appeared at the threshold of the church. He said, “If a man is killed for the sake of God’s truth, then, if the people accept this truth and admit it, it has vast power”. After serving a Memorial Litiya, the Patriarch said words of comfort and blessing to Fr Daniil’s widow. After the three-hours-long service was over, the funeral procession moved toward Kuntsevo Cemetery.

“Usually, rectors of churches are buried behind the altar of their church”, explained one of the priests at the funeral. “But, when the city authorities do not give permission for this, then, they are buried in Kuntsevo Cemetery” (according to an agreement contract with the Moscow City authorities: note by Y. Suprychova). Why didn’t the officials allow the burial of Fr Daniil in a missionary at St Thomas church, where he was the rector? Perhaps, it’s because the church is a temporary wooden structure.

“Danya had big dreams”, said the mother of the deceased missionary, Anna Mikhailovna, moving away from the grave. “But, it wasn’t to be… Generally, he was in a hurry to do everything. He always wanted to be a priest from the very first. Instead of playing the usual children’s games, he played at liturgy and preaching. He stood in the middle of the room, hanging a towel around him, preaching away. I tried to stop him; I thought it was blasphemy. He kept begging me, let me give a small sermon, at least, I’ll only whisper…”

I asked her, “He told you about the threats he received?”

“Of course”, Anna Mikhailovna replied, with a sad smile. “Moreover, he prepared me for his death. So gently, stealthily… no, that’s not it… yes, he brought up the topic of the martyrs. Like, they’re the lucky ones; they get paradise. He said that the martyr’s relatives shouldn’t grieve, but, rejoice. He was sure that he didn’t have much time left. However, until recently, he hoped that he’d have the time to carry out his dreams. He and his wife wanted to create a fund to assist the families of priests. Here’s Yuliya with her three children, they have nothing now… how many more families are like that? You know, after Daniil’s death, several major philanthropists approached Yuliya, so, maybe everything will turn out fine…”

24 November 2009

Yevgeniya Suprychova

Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=10671

On the Death of My Husband: A Message from Matushka Yuliya Mikhailovna Sysoeva, Widow of Fr Daniil Sysoev

Matushka Yuliya Mikhailovna Sysoeva and her daughters Iustina Daniilovna Sysoeva and Dorofei Daniilovna Sysoeva laying flowers on the grave of her husband, the murdered Fr Daniil Sysoev.

Thank you, dear ones, for your support and prayers. I can’t express my pain in words. It’s like the pain of standing by the Cross of the Saviour. Yet, it’s also a joy that you can’t convey by mere speech… it’s the joy of coming to the empty tomb. Where is thy victory, O death? Fr Daniil foresaw his demise several years before the crime.

He always wanted to be found worthy of martyrdom, and the Lord granted him this crown. Those who shot him, wanted to spit on the face of the Church, as once they spat on the face of Christ, but, they have not achieved what they wanted, because they failed to spit on the Church. Fr Daniil ascended his Golgotha right inside the church that he built and where he committed all his time and strength. They killed him as though he was an ancient prophet, between the altar and the place of sacrifice, and he rightly earned the title of a martyr. He died for Christ, Whom he served with all his might.

Very often, he told me that he was afraid that he wouldn’t make it; he thought that he wasn’t good enough. As a human being, he had his excesses and distortions, he stumbled and made mistakes, but, he was not mistaken in the main, his life was devoted entirely to HIM.

I didn’t understand why he was in a hurry. In the last three years, he worked constantly, without a break for weekends or holidays. I grumbled; I wished, just sometimes, that I would have the simple happiness of having my husband and the father of my children with me and the kids. However, he was called to walk another road.

He said that he’d be killed. I asked him with whom he would leave us with, that is, my three children and me. He replied that he’d leave us in good hands. “I’ll leave you with the Mother of God; she’ll take care of you”.

Over time, I forgot those words. He specified the vestments he wished to be dressed in for his burial. At the time, I joked that we shouldn’t talk about it, for we didn’t know who was going to bury whom. He said that I was going to bury him. Once we were talking about funerals, I don’t remember this conversation completely, but, I said that I had never been to a priest’s funeral. He replied, “Don’t worry about it, you can come to mine”.

I remember so many of our words together and I realise that I only now found out what they really meant. Now, my doubts are resolved; my misunderstandings are dispelled.

We didn’t say goodbye in this life, we didn’t ask each other’s forgiveness, we didn’t hug each other. It was a normal day… he went to serve the morning liturgy, and that was the last time that I saw him.

Why didn’t I go that day to meet him in the church? Indeed, I had thought I would, but, I decided that I should cook dinner and put the kids to bed. I didn’t go… I had to take care of the kids… it was as if a hand was holding me back. Often enough before, I went and met him in the church. I felt like clouds were looming over us. Over the last few days, I tried to be with him as often as possible. Last week, I thought only of death and of the life beyond the grave. I really couldn’t concentrate on either one. On that day, thoughts whirled in my head, “death blows to the head”. Last week was so difficult for me; it felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on me.

I didn’t break down. He supports me; I feel that he is near me. At that time, we said so many tender words to each other, more than we spoke in the rest of our lives together. Only now, do I realise how much we loved one another.

The Fortieth Day {Editor’s note: Special prayers are served 40 days after a death, we believe that is the time when the soul stands before God’s judgement.} of Fr Daniil falls on the eve of his nameday and the patronal feast of the future temple, 29 and 30 December, the feastday of the Holy Prophet Daniel. As prophesied by an old woman, the church would be built, but, Fr Daniil wouldn’t be there to serve in it. The second part is now accomplished.

23 November 2009

Matushka Yuliya Sysoeva

Missionersky Portal Khrama Proroka Daniila (Missionary Portal of Holy Prophet Daniel Church)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=radio&div=1211

It’s Our Second Anniversary… Thanks to All of You!

GUESS WHAT? I don’t deserve such good readers… you don’t know how much I owe to you. THANK YOU! SPASIBO!

On Saturday, 7 November, my blog celebrated the second anniversary of its launching. As it was the weekend, I was busy… I actually forgot that it had occurred.

We are now in the third year of presentation, and I have looked over some of the changes… for living things change… if they do not, they die. For one, well-meaning and knowledgeable friends tell me that to improve my writing abilities I should write every day… that is, I should put up an original post every weekday. This has sharpened my writing abilities considerably, for practise DOES make perfect. It has also decreased the number of posts, for an essay takes longer to compose than a translation.

Of course, another reason that the nature of the site has mutated is that there is, at present, “a clear and present danger”. All Russian Orthodox Christians should muster to the sound of the tocsin and do what they can to topple JP and Co (JP is a new Vasyl Terlecky or False Dmitri (actually, he combines features from both, I think), and we must treat him accordingly). A new and better arrangement shall come of it… but, we have a painful and dicey period to endure first. The Lord is “trampling out the vintage which the grapes of wrath have stored” and that means that he is stomping on them with FULL VIGOUR. OUCH! That is the way of it, I am afraid. We refused the life-giving, but, astringent, path. Therefore, the Lord shall give us PRECISELY what we wanted… EXACTLY what we asked for… why is it that no-one likes THAT?

THANK YOU, TO ALL OF YOU! WITHOUT YOU, I AM NOTHING.

Let’s see what our third year together brings us! Bog blagoslovit! May God bless!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 9 November 2009

Albany NY

Biff and Muffy Revisited

The public library in Salisbury CT… we motored past this yesterday… doesn’t it look oh-so-Episcopalian?

Yesterday, we took a lovely motor east through Columbia County south of Albany to Connecticut and returned home via the Berkshires in eastern Massachusetts. It’s mid-autumn now, the leaves have changed already and they’re past their peak… indeed, there is a thick carpet of them on the ground and those left on the trees are either withered or muted and rusty in colour. We’re on the verge of what we Russians call “wounded autumn”… that time of year when all the leaves have fallen to the ground, the trees are bare, the grass is sere, but, the snow hasn’t fallen yet. The earth seems to expect the coming winter. To me, that’s the saddest time of the year. Winter has its own splendour… a snow-covered landscape has its charms. Spring is the upsurge of new life yet again. Summer is life coming to full flower. Early autumn is the harvest and the brilliant and radiant colours of the trees. “Wounded autumn” is sad… the earth is looking forward to its “rest” in winter, to prepare for yet another cycle of life, but, it’s the “deadest” time of the year.

We drove on 199 towards 44… That was a fairly blah drive. It had no particular scenery, there were only a few farms, and there was no settlement of size. However, when we got into north-western Connecticut on 44, it changed. It became what I call “Episcopalian country”. Of course, I am speaking sociologically, in this case. Not all Episkies are “Episcopalian”… and not all “Episcopalians” are Episkies. Indeed, some “Episcopalians” are other flavours of Protestant (but, NEVER Baptist, Pentecostalist, or American Cultist (Mormon, JW, etc)… no matter how much money they may have), a few are Russian Orthodox… like the Sikorskys (First-Wavers only, no other Orthodox are let in, though), and some old-line RC Irish and Germans (none others need apply). There are no non-Christians in the lot… there are no Jews, to be specific. This is not anti-Jewish; it is only states what I have observed in fact. It is why there are “Jewish” and “Episcopalian” country clubs in Westchester County… the two do NOT mix… William Jefferson Clinton belongs to a club of the former set, not the latter, interesting, no?

It is easy to spot Episcopalian Country. There are absolutely pristine “farms” with immaculate lawns with picture-postcard-perfect white or black wooden fencing with horses in the field (and one can see nary a cow or goat or chicken… we even saw a burro… Nicky thought it belonged to a “climber”, he thought that “real Episcopalians” would keep their burros in Texas or Mexico… I agreed with a hearty laugh). Actual working farmers have wire fences, there is a purposeful jumble on the property, and, trust me, there are few (if any) horses, and there are certainly no burros! One sees “adorable” little inns and “quaint” B&Bs… there are pretentious gold-picked signs everywhere, usually over an affected little “gift (or antiques) shoppe” or “boutique”… the restaurants have nauseatingly cute names and one wonders what euphemism on their menu alludes to a hamburger (“chopped steak” was popular at one time)… if they even offer one. It is the playground of the highest social class and set in the US (if you think that the US is a classless society, do think again… if you persist in such a notion, I shan’t argue with you… fools are best left alone, for there is no convincing them with reasonable argument).

Some predict the end of Episcopalianism and Episcopalians. THAT is fatuous and vacuous. The highest social class in America is not going to disappear. Ergo, the church that embodies such is not going to die out. True, the nature of that church may change… it may transmute itself for the sake of sheer survival. Nevertheless, Episcopalianism as a distinct faith is not going to perish, and “Episcopalians” as a social set are not going to fade away (indeed, the latter’s persistence shall be a main prop of the continued existence of the former). I know Episcopalian people and I can assure you that this group is not going to fade away, either in the short-term or in the longer future (don’t believe the criticisms of malcontents who left this organisation… in many cases, they are trying to explain their exit).

Let’s be frank… the so-called dispute amongst Episcopalians is not new… it has gone on since the first ordination of women to the clergy in 1978. Some left then, some left with the first female bishop, others left after V. Gene Robinson’s installation. There’s not that many “conservatives” left in TEC (reflect on the fact that Nashotah House remains in TEC… interesting, no?)! There are more in the C of E, but, that is because it is the “church by law established”… many have hung on for the sake of a living, to speak frankly. There aren’t that many left for poachers to pick off the flock… most of those who remain in it AGREE with the present direction of the confession… and the ones that do not (and are still within both TEC and the C of E) are relatively few. They are not from the highest reaches of the group, either organisationally or socially (one finds few disgruntled sorts at St Bart’s…).

Therefore, I believe that the predictions of an imminent demise for TEC are premature. I would remind all that when the TEC caught a treasurer embezzling church funds, they turned her over to the authorities, she stood trial, and served some eighteen months in a New York State slammer (plus probation, I believe). THAT is a healthy group’s reaction. Hmm… some of you can guess what I’m thinking… I’ll leave it as a hint for the gang in Syosset. To think that some believe that Biff and Muffy are going to worship with the unwashed plebs… silly rabbit! If it hasn’t happened in the past, it’s not going to happen in future, either.

Northwestern Connecticut was the playground of Episcopalians a century ago… it shall still be such a century from now… no matter what some think. There’s life in that thar ol’ dawg, yet… don’t count ‘em out!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 2 November 2009

Albany NY

There Oughta be a Law!

Laura Dekker (1995- ), the brave Dutch girl who wants to sail around-the-world single-handedly… bully for her! Fie on the judges, shrinkie-dinkies, and “child protection authorities”… let them go to their master (and it sure ain’t the Good Lord, that’s for sure)… and right smartly, too!

I thought that I had seen it all… Well, live and learn, they say! First, read the news item below…

******

Dutch Court Nixes Teenager’s Round-The-World Sail

A Dutch court ruled Friday that 14-year-old Laura Dekker was still too inexperienced to be allowed to set off on her quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Judges at Utrecht District Court placed Laura under the guardianship of child protection authorities until next July to ensure that she cannot set off on her dream voyage. The ruling means Laura can continue living with her father, but, her parents must consult child protection authorities about all major decisions in her life. Laura and her parents were not in court Friday, but, family spokesman Mariska Woertman said the teenager was “disappointed that the court does not have faith in her to leave now”. However, Woertman said Laura was confident she can be ready to sail soon after next July and still set the record as the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe.

The Utrecht court first blocked her departure in August out of concern for her safety. The decision sparked a worldwide debate on how much authorities and parents should limit children’s freedom to undertake risky adventures. Laura’s parents, both veteran sailors, are separated. Laura’s father supported the attempt, but, her mother said in a newspaper interview in September she thought Laura was too young. Presiding judge M. Oostendorp said Laura’s mother has given her blessing “so long as she has assurances about the safety measures. At the moment, as far as she is concerned, they are insufficient”. Child protection authorities welcomed the decision.

Judges said they were confident that Laura was emotionally ready for the trip, but questioned the safety precautions and her ability to continue her schooling while at sea. They said, however, her sailing skills were not in question. A psychological analysis submitted to the court said Laura’s planned trip would not impair her social or emotional development. “The good news today is that we have established Laura is capable of making this voyage”, said her lawyer, Peter de Lange. Laura told the three-judge panel at a closed hearing Monday that she was equipping her 26-foot (8-metre) yacht Guppy with extra security and communications equipment and learning to use it. “(The plans are still) too unclear, not concrete enough and too uncertain” to guarantee her safety, said Oostendorp.

Laura also told the court that she planned to wait at least until next May, after school ends, to embark on the voyage and will be guided by an experienced sailor in a separate boat. She also promised to take a sailor’s first-aid course and practice sleep management techniques. De Lange criticised the judges for questioning Laura’s single-handed sailing experience… which is limited to trips on Dutch rivers, close to the coast, and a single solo voyage to England and back. “They say she has not got much experience of solo round-the-world sailing. That is a bit weak”, he told reporters. “How do you get experience? By doing it”.

In August, 17-year-old British sailor Mike Perham became the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Earlier this month, 16-year-old Australian Jessica Watson also set off on a single-handed, round-the-world trip. De Lange said Laura can still break the record if she sets off next year. “But, the record is not her primary goal”, he added. “Laura just wants to sail”.

Mike Corder

30 October 2009

Utrecht, the Netherlands

Associated Press

As quoted by Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091030/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_young_sailor

******

This is utter stuff n’ nonsense. A judge (of all people!) issues an opinion on nautical matters… not maritime law… one expects that… but, issues a ruling on the fitness of an individual to undertake a voyage. This is the sort of rubbish one sees routinely in American suburbia amongst the affluent effluent. Sadly, it means that the Americanist contagion has spread to parts of Western Europe. Legalism, not good-sense, underpins this madness. It leads to such things as the OCA claiming that it has no legal responsibility for the actions of its priests, as these fellows are, in essence, independent contractors and actors. What’s the difference? In the Dutch case, a court prevents a young sailor from departing on a risky journey by using questionable logic… all sorts of supposedly grown-up adults are wasting a good deal of time, effort, energy, and money on this. Let the young girl sail, I say… she knows the risks… it’s her life, after all. The “child protective authorities”, head-shrinkers, and judges should butt out (I believe that this is actually an episode in a dispute between the separated parents)… the court would do better to spend its time pursuing real child abusers and paedophiles (isn’t that the case… the legal system chases ridiculous will o’ the wisps such as this… and real abusers hop away, scot-free, because the court wastes its time and energy on such frivolities).

I bring the story of this court case up for a reason. One of my correspondents wrote, “The OCA should be taken to court for what its hierarchs have done”. I quite agree… but, there is a traffic-jam in the courts… caused by cases such as the one about Laura Dekker. Real child-abuse advocates shall tell you straight-up that it is hard to get the system to punish actual abusers because of the logjam of such frivolous cases. Another reason is that the OCA is no major actor either in American religion or on the American scene in general. For God’s sake, its central budget is less than 5 mill, and most of that is spent on salaries for a small set of dronish apparatchiki on the Island (where the cost-of-living is so above the national average that the cost of maintaining a HQ there is a criminal and egregious drain upon the donations of the faithful (that is, money that should go for charities and missions go into the gaping and ever-voracious maws of Kishkovsky and Garklavs)). In short, it is not worth the government’s while… at least, not yet (after all, the RCs are 20 to 25 percent of the US population… a major proportion by any measure… all Orthodox in total are about 0.3 percent (the OCA in toto is 0.03 percent… if we were disappear, America would not notice it). Even in Orthodoxy, it is a miniscule voice… out of some 986,000 Orthodox in recognised Local Church bodies in the US (per Aleksei Krindatch), only 115,000 are in the OCA (and 27,000 of those are in its virtually independent Romanian branch and 20-30,000 are Alaska natives in the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska, leaving only some 58,000-68,000 under Syosset’s direct rule in the “lower-48”).

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the courts to act (I do think that Kristi Koumentakos is going to get justice against Ray Velencia… but, that is not striking at the root of the contagion). Certainly, I would be pleased to see it happen… but, let’s be frank. We’re just too unimportant as a group… except for a few isolated areas (such as north-eastern and western Pennsylvania, the industrial Midwest, and some cities in the Mid-Atlantic region), we are so small that we are invisible. Remember, the loudest noises issue forth from miniscule sets in Lilliputian mission parishes (something that Fr Alexander Lebedeff noticed in a post on the dissidents who protested against the MP/ROCOR reconciliation… the sociological imperatives in the OCA and ROCOR are almost identical as they are both “Russian Orthodox” bodies).

Is it, “Abandon hope, all ye that enter here?” NO… emphatically not. However, we must resolve this ourselves, not the courts. That is, a solution requires that we act to put it right.

Shall we?

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

30 October 2009

Albany NY

A Tribute to My Beloved…

J E B Stuart says farewell to his loving wife before going to the War for Southern Independence (he was to fall in that noble cause…. may his memory last untarnished)… this is my pictorial tribute to my man… he is QUITE enough for me! I stand behind him without stint or limit. Femininity is not only grace and lace… it is fire and steel, as well.

Recently, last Friday, in fact, my Nicky celebrated his birthday (he’s 59 now). I cannot tell you how much I owe to this man. At a low point in my life, he reached out to me and pulled me out of the slough of despond. No… my Nicky is not a man of many words… he does what he must without complaint or demur. There are times when we just barely scrape by, yet, he never gives up. Yes… I can feel when he is discouraged… when he is feeling low and crank, I remember what he did for me…

More than once, I have struggled to find the right word for what I wish to say. Nicky comes out with something that is either completely à propos or jogs my mind into working. Indeed, without his aid and ideas, I would only be half of what I am… perhaps, even less. There is a oneness of mind with us… oh, that does NOT mean that we don’t scrap and squabble… see us when we get up in the morning (I am convinced that no one is fit company until they get their eyes open and have that first coffee of the morning…)! We had a FUNNY dispute last night over how to make the borshch (that’s beetroot soup for the uninitiated)… well, it wasn’t funny at the time… each of us had our firm and inflexible ideas on the topic… needless to say, both concepts were melded together (after a bit of fuss n’ sparks, I must say)… and it turned out right and proper, after all.

What can I say? I cannot express the depth of my feelings in words, except to say:

I LOVE YOU, DEAR.

God willing, you have the same in your life. Cheers to all of you and HAPPY WEEKEND!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 24 October 2009

Albany NY

I Have Been Ill… But, I am Back… Somewhat…

A Girl in a White Dress ( I. L. Rusov, 1954)

I have been ill lately, and my doctor has “asked” (ordered, actually) me to rest, including intellectual labour, save for my ordinary work. Ergo, I have not been posting. Apparently, I had been burning the candle at both ends, and one pays for that in the end, unfortunately. However, things were caught before they fell apart, that makes it easier to put them right. Even a fool knows that a blood pressure reading of 158 over 82 is very bad, indeed. In short, I came very close to a heart attack and a stroke, and I thank God that I heeded the warnings in the end (I do admit that I am a fairly stubborn sort, as all Russians are, I am afraid). The situation can be righted, but, only if I do what is right, follow directions, and REST. It is the only way to obtain a happy end to this, thank you very much. If the situation has built up over several years, it shall take a year or two to put it completely to bed.

Therefore, my output shall be considerably less than before, but, I shall do my best to get something up a couple of times of week. I must add that my staritsa seconded my doctor’s orders. “If you do not obey your doctor, it is a failure in obedience and humility”. YOUCH! A week ago, I sent her the e-mail, “Now?” Her reply was just as terse… “No!” Startsi are interesting… the real ones often give the answer, “Pray, then, do what you think is best”, or, “Talk this over with a friend closer to the situation, it is better than talking to me”. All too many people, I fear, do not wish an “elder”; rather, they desire someone to take decisions for them and take the responsibility for them… quite a different creature, wot?

Of course, if this is true for an individual, it is also true concerning an institution. Therefore, all the irresponsible talk emanating from the Syosset gang saying saying that “everything has changed” is pure utter rot and rubbish. Indeed, one of these ecclesiastical paladins was at our parish on the first Sunday of the Easter Lent and actually said (the utter cheek and hubris of it all!), “Everything has changed! You can send your money to Syosset now!” I kid you not! Then, again, the rector of the parish is a corrupt apparatchik (Igor Stepanovich Burdikov, a notorious sort in OCA circles for being one of Herman’s attack dogs), so, what else does one expect?

It is going to take a generation to repair the grievous damage done over the last 50 years by Alexander Schmemann, SVS, and the Syosset mafia. It is that simple. The financial crisis was a piffle, a mere imbroglio in a teacup. That is, it was serious enough, but, not life-threatening in itself. Metropolitan Jonas faces a daunting task… he faces a united cabal that, ultimately, rejects his vision of the Church and refuses to change one iota in any substantive way.

Let me give a concrete illustration. Yesterday, Nicky and I attended Easter liturgy at St John the Baptist parish in Mayfield PA (his brother Gregory is the deacon there… a most estimable and excellent man… hear, hear!). Since St Tikhon’s is in the vicinity, we took a motor down there. Interesting in the extreme, my dear readers, it was, indeed! Metropolitan Herman’s name has not been removed from the signage for the seminary, nor has his name been removed from the reserved slot in the car park.

“Everything has changed”. Au contraire, NOTHING has changed. This is after six months after his “removal”. If you hear a Syosset apologist claim that “everything has changed”, well, remember what I told you… and keep your money in your wallet, and do check your pocket or your purse after you’ve been in the presence of a SVS or Syosset minion… the two institutions are beyond the capacity of the present OCA to maintain, and they are always in need of funds… you get the picture.

In conclusion, just as I need time to heal properly and completely, so does the OCA. If the OCA refuses to take its medicine (dissolution of SVS, sale of the Syosset complex, dismissal of the “national staff”, and removal of the metropolitan residence to St Tikhon’s) give the “national Church” nothing… yes, nothing at all. Remember, over 2 percent of the national budget goes to the housekeeper… an amount which is inordinate in anyone’s calculations. One either does what is right or one dies, it is that simple. If I refuse to heed my doctor, I die. If the OCA refuses to heed what is needful, it shall die. We can either change our habits and live, or, persist in our ways and die.

I have decided to live. Shall the bishops who make up the present OCA choose likewise? Time shall tell us.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Albany NY

Easter Monday 20 April 2009

A Raucous Cossack Maslanitsa

What is Maslanitsa? It is Carnival, Fasching, and Mardi Gras all rolled into one, and more! It is a time of great fun before we settle down to the Easter Lent. So, I decided to post this video of Maslanitsa doings from a Cossack town. This year, Maslanitsa runs from 23 February to 1 March. Then… boiled potatoes and stewed prunes… it’s Lent, yet again!

Don’t forget… God wants us to enjoy the legitimate pleasures of life. Therefore… ENJOY the life He has given you!

They Endured and Survived: The Children of the Siege of Leningrad

A Survivor of the Siege of Leningrad (Filipp Moskvitin, 2004). Look at the eyes, they tell a story. God willing, such horror shall not happen again in our time…

The Second World War with its horrendous hardships was the most tragic chapter in the history of the 20^th century. These were years of terror, when people suffered unspeakable hardships. A special place in the long string of wartime events goes to the 900-day siege of Leningrad. The atrocities of the Nazis, who tried to subdue the people of Leningrad with starvation and showered bombs on innocent civilians, are hard to grasp in the context of today. The daily bread ration was 125 grammes (4.4 ounces) per person in December 1941. Hundreds of thousands of Leningraders were killed or died of cold or starvation. But, the city miraculously survived the siege. 27 January is the 65^th anniversary of the final lifting of the blockade. Witnesses to the siege grow fewer every year, and many of the survivors are reluctant to talk of those days, but, their memories give them no rest. One cannot listen to their painful stories without tears. Most say that they prefer to forget the horrors they experienced then.

Valentina Maksimova was a kid when her city was besieged by the Nazis. Her father was fighting the enemy at the front and her mother refused to have her five-year-old daughter evacuated for fear of losing her. In the first weeks of the bombings, the family was left with no shelter as their house was hit by bombs and they had to find a temporary home. Valentina said, “I survived by a miracle. My mother worked from early morning until late at night, so, I had to stay on my own. During the air raids, I hid under the bed or behind the oven, whilst mum prayed to God that our home would be spared. There were only adults in the building, and all of them were out at work, so, taking a run out to the bomb shelter alone was dangerous. A neighbour who worked nearly dropped in from time to time to see how I was doing”.

Valentina went on to say, “The most vivid memories of my childhood were that I was always hungry. I always cried for food, I told my mum I wanted butter and bread. My mother received a worker’s ration and a ration card for a kid which provided a minimal bread portion. She re-baked the bread in an oven to make it dry, brought water from the Fontanka River, and boiled it on the stove. Everything went into the oven in those days, even our furniture and books. I survived because mother made soup from pieces of dried bread boiled in water. Very rarely, she added a bit of cereal or a spoonful of oatmeal, which she had managed to get somewhere for me”.

The residents of Leningrad who survived the siege remember with reluctance what they had to eat in order to live another day. They ate anything edible… wood glue, boiled leather belts, and, in the summer time, grass. With the coming of spring, the lower branches of trees stood bare, as all the buds had been eaten. Valentina recalled, “Pig weed is known to everyone who survived the famine. Mum mixed it with a bit of bread and water and made cutlets. It tasted like grass, but, was edible. My mother found a job peeling potatoes in a kitchen. Everybody knew she had a child, so, she was allowed to take a small quantity of potato skins home and she made cutlets. They tasted so awful, and I can still feel that horrible potato aftertaste in my mouth”.

When asked how they managed to survive in such inhuman conditions, Valentina Maksimova and all the other survivors of the siege said they survived because they helped one another. She said, “One of our neighbours, Tyotya (“Auntie” in Russian) Dusia, sewed overcoats for soldiers. She had a son, two years younger than me. As she sewed for the front, she sometimes received a bit of oats or a tin of canned beef from the soldiers. Before feeding her son, she sent him for me, so that both of us could eat. She was my second mum. I owe my survival to other people’s kind hearts. We went through so much together”.

Valentina barely remembers the day the blockade was lifted, on 27 January 1944, for she was in hospital with her mother due to starvation-related illness. Luckily, both pulled through. Today, Valentina Maksimova is now one of the few survivors of the 900-day siege. Her only wish is that this will never happen again.

26 January 2009

Svetlana Andreyeva

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=99410&cid=22&p=26.01.2009 (in Russian)