14 August 2011. A Point of Unity. August: The Month of Feasts, Part One. Orthodox Feast of the Procession of the Honourable Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (“Honey Spas”)

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Editor’s Foreword:

August is chock-a-block with all kinds of Christian celebrating all across the board. Orthodox have three holy days… the Procession of the Honourable Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, the Transfiguration of Our Lord, and the Assumption of the Mother of God (14 August, 19 August and 28 August). Catholics have three holy days… the Transfiguration, the Assumption, and the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (6 August, 15 August, and 22 August). WHEW! There’s a whole lotta celebratin’ goin’ on here! Real Christians know how to GET DOWN and GET HAPPY! That’s how you can tell the Sectarian (Evangelical/Penecostalist/Mormon) phonies (and those influenced by them) from the Real Deal Christians… Christians DON’T have the “pious”, earnest, and dreary look of the “Evangelicals” (with all due apologies to the REAL Evangelicals, the Lutherans… the Sectarian dweebs stole their name). REAL Christians sing and dance… they might even pass the jug! Oh, the humanity! Don’t forget… He changed water into wine… not wine into water. What did Thomas Aquinas say? Ah, yes… you can have a nip to the point ad usque hilaritatem. You can have a smile, but don’t get pie-eyed… that’s simple enough, wot?

Here’s the first of this month’s feasts that I’m going to feature… the Orthodox feast of the Procession of the Honourable Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord on 14 August. We Russians call it Myodovy Spas… “Honey Spas”… “Honey Day of the Saviour”… and we bless… HONEY! No foolin’… why do you think that we call it HONEY Spas? Think that blessing honey and eating it might have something to do with it? Enjoy this, and the other four parts of this mega-photo essay… REAL CHRISTIANS KNOW HOW TO PRAY… REAL CHRISTIANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY. The Good Lord gave us the wherewithal to do BOTH…

BMD

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Unidentified location in the Ukraine

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Kuzminki-Lyublino Historical Park (Kuzminki Raion. Southeastern Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District). RF

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Gomel (Gomel Oblast). BYELORUSSIA

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Gomel (Gomel Oblast). BYELORUSSIA

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Honey Spas. To the Feast!

Mikhail Timofeyev

undated (2000s?)

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Holy Trinty Mariinsky Monastery. Yegorevsk (Moscow Oblast. Central Federal District). RF

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Holy Trinty Mariinsky Monastery. Yegorevsk (Moscow Oblast. Central Federal District). RF

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Unidentified location in Byelorussia

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Unidentified location in Byelorussia

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Honey Spas

Yelena Vilkova

2009

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Medyn (Kaluga Oblast. Central Federal District). RF

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Medyn (Kaluga Oblast. Central Federal District). RF. The hierarch blessing the honey is Metropolitan Kliment Kapalin of Kaluga and Borovsk (1949- )

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Medyn (Kaluga Oblast. Central Federal District). RF

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Medyn (Kaluga Oblast. Central Federal District). RF

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By the Beehives

Aleksandr Makovsky

1916

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14 August 2011. A Point of Unity. August: The Month of Feasts, Part Three. Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 22 August

THAILAND

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Toto. GUAM USA

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Convent of St Teresa, Coimbra (Baixo Mondego Subregion, Central Region). PORTUGAL

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Quezon City (Metropolitan Manila National Capital Region). THE PHILIPPINES

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Celbridge (County Kildare). IRELAND

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Associated with Catholic Assumption is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 22 August (which has no analogue in Orthodox usage). It was difficult finding images directly linked to this feastday, so, I’ve posted some “Immaculate Heart of Mary” images… I think that they’ll do. Remember… no matter what kind of “infallibility” stuff they might peddle, Catholics love the Mother of God, and THAT covers a multitude of disagreements. Those who refuse to honour the Mother of God (“Evangelicals“, “Pentecostalists“, “Mormons“, et al) aren’t Christians… NEVER forget that.

BMD