In London, Christie’s sold Boris Kustodiev’s masterpiece The Coachman for 7 million USD (217.4 million Roubles. 5.4 million Euros. 4.4 million UK Pounds), breaking the old price record regarding his works. The 250th auction “The Masterpieces of Russian Art”, timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Russian Christie’s trading auctions is still underway. The painting went to a private buyer from Europe who took part in the trading by phone. Earlier, MacDougall’sauction house sold Ivan Aivazovsky’s painting A View of Isla di San Giorgio in the Venetian Lagoon for 1.62 million USD (50.3 million Roubles. 1.25 million Euros. 1.02 million UK Pounds). Currently, a week of Russian art auctions is underway in London.
Kustodiev’s most colourful and “happiest” paintings were made after he was confined to a wheelchair in 1916. He was also a convinced supporter of the Soviets and an Orthodox Christian. What’s not to like? He was a decent man, a cheerful human being, a lover of justice, and a real Christian… that’s the ticket for me. Sadly, he died young in 1927 at the age of 49… but he was happy to the end, may we all die so well.
BMD
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Yes, sir… a genuine, 100 percent, no-bullshit-really-real Catholic church. St Mark’s dates from 1071… so, one can see that RCs and Orthodox were once much closer than they are at present. It’s as impossible for institutions to recapture the past as it is for us for us as individuals to relive our childhood or adolescence. One can’t erase history… nor should we attempt to do such. We are what we are… our experience has made us what we are… both as people and as “Church”. The sooner that we realise that, and stop the infernal and pointless “dialogue”, the sooner that we can be friendly and useful neighbours to one another. After all, we’re called to “love” our neighbour… not “convert” them (which is, after all, the point of “ecumensim”… a barely-disguised effort to bring others to one’s own POV)!
BMD
Comments Off on 31 August 2011. A Point of Unity… Betcha Ya Can’t Guess Where This Snap was Taken! C’mon… Be a Sport! Guess Before Reading…
Feast and Fast… the rhythm of the Church Year… this is something that’s instinctual to all Christians, no matter how much or how little one attends services. It’s something absolutely foreign to the Sectarian… their “space” is sterile and lifeless… with no joy or no meditation… just an unrelieved joylessness. Whether one likes it or not, Rodrigo Borgia was more of a Christian than Girolamo Savonarola was. That is to say, one really shouldn’t be a Borgia, but if the choice is between being a Borgia or being a Savonarola, the choice is clear. A Bonfire of the Vanities isn’t pleasing to God… never forget that.
Voices from Russia 
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