Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Video. In Memoriam to a Departed Friend: Three Pieces by Alfred Schnittke

Filed under: art music,Christian,music,religious,Russian,video — 01varvara @ 00.00

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Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (1934-98) was a Russian musician of Volga German descent. He’s one of my fave Russian choral composers in the contemporary idiom. I chose these pieces as my musical tribute to Denise Bohush Ryan, whom we buried at Jordanville on Monday.

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Here’s a bonus piece… one of my personal favourites over many years… the In Paradisum from the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré…

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I’ve suffered a loss… I find that I still weep, not as much as before, but I still weep. It shall take me some time to work through her passing. Please, if you’re religious, pray for the repose of her soul. If you aren’t a believer, can you stand by me in my time of grief? It’s been harder than any other death that I’ve experienced… she stood by me in a time of great need, and I’ve never forgotten that. You know genuine love when you feel it… I wish that all of you get to know that from a friend at one time or another. It’s one of the rarest gifts that God gives us… I’m glad (and thankful) that I got to experience it.

BMD

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words… His Holiness at Alapaevsk

Filed under: Christian,history,martyrs,Moscow Patriarchate,Orthodox hierarchs,Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev,religious,Revolution/Civil War,Russian — 01varvara @ 00.00

This is a photo of His Holiness at the Monastery of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at Alapaevsk, the place of martyrdom of Grand Princess St Yelizaveta Fyodrovna (1864-1918) and those killed with her, who included her cell attendant, St Varvara Yakovleva (circa 1850-1918), and the poet Prince St Vladimir Paley (1897-1918). One should note that the Church both glorifies the victims of the initial communist persecutions and embraces Social Democracy… it doesn’t view these as incompatible stances. We are NOT reactionaries in the Church… we do NOT demonise socialists and socialism… do ask Gennady Andreyevich and the majority of the members of the Communist Party, who are active and practising believers. A far cry from the stance of the pre-1991 ROCOR, no? The problem with the pre-1991 ROCOR was that it was run by right-wing rejectionists… they were only in the ROCOR for negative reasons, because they were anti-Communists. Once Communism fell, they had no one to hate any more, so, some left the Church (thank God), and some stayed, but they started creating their own little ego-trips in fantasy-land (you see this in the various apparatchiki). Were they ever amongst us for the right reasons?

BMD

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A Photo Essay. THIS is how His Nibs Spent Christmas on 7 January 2011

Filed under: Christian,Christmas,church in society,health care/social issues,inspirational,Moscow Patriarchate,Orthodox hierarchs,Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev,Pro-Life,religious,Russian — 01varvara @ 00.00

Editor’s Foreword:

His Nibs has a documented love for disabled people and for those who have mental problems. He doesn’t believe that either is debilitating… and he does what he can to make life easier for them. Is there a disabled person in his family or in his circle of close friends? One can only guess at that… but one thing is clear and self-evident… His Nibs has a sincere love of the handicapped and his concern is obviously unfeigned and genuine. This Christmas, he visited the Filatov Hospital in Moscow, which specialises in the treatment of orphans and children left without parental care with central nervous system and mental disorders. Oh, yes… it’s “not for profit”… it’s a legacy of the Soviet Union. It was founded by “commie zombies”… I think that I’m a “zombie” too… so’s His Holiness… wanna join us? Let’s have a “zombie” party!

BMD