6 March 2017. A Lenten Meditation from St Chrysostom

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15 March 2016. The Great Lent… A Journey… NOT a Diet!

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The Great Lent is upon us and we’re “sailing on the sea of the Holy Fast” to the Holy Easter. Lent isn’t an end in itself… nor is it a following of an arcane list of dietary restrictions. As always, the Church is damnably vague on it all… some sources are acrid and rigorous… others are mild and healing… but it’s all the Church! I think that some toddlers are unaware that the Church tailors its message to each believer. It shows compassion to the weak and lowly… it shows rigour to the prideful and high. You see, the published “regs” on Lent are all monastic… but we live in the world. I’d only say for you to consult your priest or confessor on this. I can’t give you advice… I don’t know you. However, you score no points with God by pridefully following the full monastic rigour without an explicit blessing to do so (that takes YEARS of preparatory effort).

Lent has an end in view… the proper celebration of the Holy Easter, the Feast of Feasts, the Lord’s Pascha, the Centrepiece of the Christian Year. May God find us all worthy to join in the feast…

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13 March 2016. Now, For Some REAL Lenten Advice From a Young Up-and-Coming Theologian

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Bearing in mind that the Convertadox and Internet Phonies are going to gas interminably about the Lent, I asked several young priests (both OCA and ROCOR) to tell me who they thought was the best up-and-coming theologian. I stopped after four… they all gave me the same name and the same link! They all said, “Fr Sergei Sveshnikov”. They sent me this link… it’s a real “read n’ heed”, kids. Much (if not most) of that posted on Pravmir is rubbish… some good does come mixed in with the dreck, and this is a prime example. I’d recommend this as a pre-Lenten read… Fr Sergei has his shit together, no doubt about it. One of the most important seasons of the Church is coming up (Easter Lent)… it leads to the most important event of the Christian Year, the Holy Easter. As the Apostle put it, If Christ be not risen from the dead, your faith is in vain…

Forgive me all my shortcomings, failures, and sins…

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Golubtsi for the Lents

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Delicious Lenten golubtsi (stuffed cabbage), with stuffing made of a mixture of two cereals, buckwheat kasha and rice cooked together. then, you sauté some onions, carrots, and sauerkraut, seasoned with salt n’ pepper. You mix together the cereal mixture with the sautéed vegetables, and make the rolls as usual.

7 December 2015

Nina Svirkina

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Editor:

I’d add that you could use a mushroom or vegetable broth to cook the rice and kasha, and/or add or substitute mushrooms, bell peppers, and garlic to the vegetables. I’d use both paprika and dill as flavouring. You can use a tomato or mushroom sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cook these as for your normal recipe.

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