Please, Excuse Me… We Buried Denise Today… I Weep…

Denise’s burial service was at Jordanville today. I was glad to be able to say my last farewells to her… I wept openly and unashamedly. There IS a finality to death… it does close the earthly chapter definitively, and there’s no bringing a lost loved one back to this earthly life. We either accept this or we’re not screwed together too tightly.

Yes… I do believe in eternal life… but earthly loss isn’t a pleasant experience. What doesn’t help matters is when Pharisaical sorts use such occasions to hurt others… I can see why some opt for atheism when one sees the behaviour of some “religious” sorts.

I grieve… I may not be myself for the next day or so… then, life does go on. However, for the moment, I pause to grieve. Do remember Denise/Dionysia in your thoughts and prayers…

Thank you much for listening…

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10 January 2011. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words… The Burning of the Badnjak

This is, perhaps, THE distinctive Christmas Eve custom amongst Serbs. The Serbian word badnjak derives from the word to “watch”. Therefore, it’s what people burn whilst they’re waiting for the Christ to appear on Christmas. After this, they go to a dinner which often has dried cod (bakalar) as the main dish, then, they go to holiday services.

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10 January 2011. A Point of Unity… Patriarch Theophilos Giannopoulos of Jerusalem at the Basilica of the Holy Nativity

Patriarch Theophilos Giannopoulos (1952- ) of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine serving on Orthodox Christmas, 7 January 2011. Were there Catholics amongst the congregants? No doubt, there were, as there were Orthodox present at the Catholic services at this venue on 25 December. Don’t forget… there are legitimate ties binding real Christians together… the Sectarians lack them, that’s a drop-dead give-away that they’re not Christians at all, despite all their noise. Wouldn’t you say that even a child knows the difference? I think so…

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10 January 2011. Now, For Something Entirely Different… Three Kings Day in NYC

The above picture is from the celebration of Three Kings Day, 6 January 2010, in New York City. On Epiphany, Roman Catholics normally celebrate the Three Magi on this day… whereas we Orthodox centre our celebrations on water and blessings. That is, Greeks jump into a lake or bay to retreive a cross, we Russians cross ourselves and jump into holes cut into the ice, whilst Bulgarians dance the horo in ice-choked streams. Sectarians don’t do anything on this day… they don’t celebrate holydays… if that doesn’t tell you that they’re not Christians, nothing will.

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