Local Monastery Student Pleads Not Guilty to Indecent Solicitation Charges

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According to authorities, a Libertyville IL man recently charged with indecent solicitation of a minor was in his fourth and final year of training to become a monk at the St Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery near the village. On Wednesday, 29 October, Dario Spasic, 22, pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent solicitation of a minor under the age of 17, a Class 3 felony that carries a potential prison sentence of two to five years. A conviction can also result in a probationary sentence. Cops arrested and charged Spasic in September, after he allegedly agreed on the Internet to meet in person with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. Officials said that he chatted online with a member of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said Spasic, who’s from Ohio, was living on Milwaukee Avenue in unincorporated Libertyville when the incident took place. She said that he was in his fourth year as a student at the Serbian Monastery, also located on Milwaukee Avenue north of Libertyville. Spasic was initially jailed on 100,000 USD (4.32 million Roubles. 612,000 Renminbi. 6.14 million INR. 112,000 CAD. 114,000 AUD. 79,000 Euros. 62,500 UK Pounds) bond, but subsequently bonded out and the court allows him to live in Ohio with his parents, whilst being monitored by the court’s pre-trial services department. Stanton said the state had objected to allowing him to reside out of state prior to trial, but that he’s required to attend every hearing in person. He was present Wednesday for his arraignment before Judge George Bridges. According to sheriff’s police, Spasic used a social networking application to set up a 22.00 meeting with the boy that he thought was 14 years old, but instead of that, a sheriff’s office detective was waiting for him. according to the sheriff’s office , he allegedly told investigators that he set up the meeting “to engage in sexual activities”.

29 October 2014

Jim Newton

Libertyville (IL) Review

http://libertyville.suntimes.com/2014/10/29/local-monestary-student-pleads-guilty-sex-charges/

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29 October 2014. Here’s the “One Thing Needful”

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We must start with organising the house from within. That’s our responsibility. The most important thing is that the Church, as an institution, serves the community.

Tawadros Sulaymān

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa

Coptic Orthodox Church              

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Our Russian Orthodox Church should focus on the “one thing needful”… putting our house into order before we even say anything to anyone else. Our most crying need is to unite our fractious body. The OCA, ROCOR, and MP/USA and Canada are one sociological whole. Why do we tolerate such disunity? The Cold War is over. We should put all minor issues to the side. Better heads than mine have told me that the Calendar issue is something best left to the healing hand of time. However, there’s one thing that many Great Russians haven’t faced… their unconscious assumption that their ways are the only ones in the Church. I wrote a friend:

It’s time for Russian Orthodox people here in the diaspora to start seriously talking unity… it’s the only way that we’ll keep the feral in check. I’ll be blunt… I think that there’d be a “Rump OCA” after such a union… but the healthy parts would “come home”. It’s TIME… it’s time to overlook minor disagreements… we NEED to be together… that’s the lesson of the Ukrainian Civil War… the Ukie nutters have unity, ergo their voice is heard. We’re shunted to the side… it’s our own fault!

They replied:

You’re aware that Great Russian chauvinism is behind our disunity? They disdain Carpatho-Russians, Byelorussians, and Russophile Ukrainians and THAT has been the cause of our disunity. “We’re ‘HIGH Russians’ and You People are ‘Low Russians’. You will do as WE say”. UGH. Can you fight THAT?

I shot back:

Veliki Rus is the core of Holy Rus, but it isn’t the only part… Great Russia is the largest partner at table, but not the only one. God willing, “High Russians” like me can help move things right…

My interlocutor wished me well, and admired my lack of chauvinism. However, we all need to look at our attitudes. Are we furthering “organising the house from within?” If not, the Church can’t serve the community; it lacks any real purpose. It then becomes a pseudo-temple… an abomination. We shouldn’t be talking about ecumenical contacts and missionary work when we can’t even set our own rooms to rights. We have work to do…

Can these dry bones live? It IS up to us!

BMD

29 October 2014. A Point to Ponder… Authenticity is Where You Find It… As is Phoniness, Too

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I worked eight years of my life, day and night, with working men. I found myself sharing their table… I know very well what I’m talking about when I speak of working-class people, and I love them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Authenticity and phoniness are where you find them… one doesn’t need a “guide” to separate the sheep from the goats. Many of us have instincts that guide us without conscious thought. For instance, the above quote shows that Saint-Exupéry loved and respected working-class people, even though he came from the aristocracy. A friend once said to me, “Many saints were peasants, many saints were aristos, but very few were merchants and middle-class”. The so-called “middle class” is often “success-oriented”, which means that they miss out the meaning of most real things. Compare Saint-Exupéry to charlatans such as Sarah Palin, Rod Dreher, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter. Saint-Exupéry’s genuineness draws you to him; he’s an exemplar of “class”… the phoniness of the second lot repels most normal people; they’re paragons of “crass”. Sinful greed DOES seep out of their pores and they don’t care to hide it, either.

God gave you healthy instincts… use them. Don’t vote Republican on 4 November.

BMD

29 October 2014. Something to Show You “How” I Translate

The original in Russian

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My Englishing of the text

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There are two “schools” of translation… one is “formal equivalence”… that is, “word-for-word”. Often, this produces a jangly foreign-sounding text that’s off-putting to most readers. Ergo, most of us in the translation trade (for it is NOT a “science”… it’s more like cooking, baking, carpentry, and woodcarving… the particular piece of work in front of you dictates your response), the preferred method is “dynamic equivalence”… that is, you seek to implant in the translation the impact and “flavour” of the original. This requires what I call “facility”… NOT “fluency”… fluency refers to being able to speak and understand a particular language. Facility refers to having the knack to break a language’s “code” so that one can transfer the ideas intact into another language (I’d argue that these are two separate and unrelated abilities). You can see that I took “liberties” with the above text… I’d argue that such were necessary to export the nuances of the Russian.

This should give you a concrete example of how I work. I’ve been at this for some seven years now… in November, my eighth year begins. I’ve learnt much… I’ve come a long way. However, as I always say… “Love built this house. Love of life, love of the truth, love of my fellow-man, and love for Almighty God. May my right hand wither if I forget that”. Thanks for coming… God willing, I’ll be at this post for some time yet (I’m only sixty… that’s not as old as it used to be). Be good and may God bless…

BMD