Devshirme

Yesterday was the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas and that can mean only one thing in my universe – vespers in Clinton with two of my mentors and favorite people – Fr. Soterios Alexopoulos, Pastor Emeritus of both Nashua and Clinton, and Fr. Gregory Houlakis, a  hieromonk and archimandrite who splits his time between Pawtucket and Crete.  Fr. Gregory and I are in some ways the bookends of the Metropolis clergy – we are pretty much the youngest and the oldest priests and we are the only two named Gregory.  As always we had a wonderful time.  One of the many nice things about being at Sts. Anargyroi is that we are about 12 miles from the Clinton parish – hopefully we will have frequent opportunities for inter-parish ministry.  The picture below is from the reception after vespers – it was taken in the church basement but almost looks like it was taken on a porch in Greece.  I wish!

The Roving Reactor has some great posts on his blog about Cain (of Cain & Abel fame) and God’s rejection of his offering in the Genesis story – he also mentions how it would have been enjoyable talking to Saramago about this, and I totally agree, although unlike RR I would not have been able to hang with the conversation, since I don’t speak Portuguese: ).   So what is the story with Cain and his sacrifice?  The passage comes early in Genesis (read 4:1-16 for the story but it is best to read Genesis 2-5 to get the whole context).

Why does God reject Cain’s offer in the story?  Cain as a tiller of the ground worked the earth but it was not his – he was a steward of it but it belonged to God.  This parallels Adam, who was a steward of the garden and in fact his name drives this point even further home – Adam means man and the female form adamah means ground.  Cain and Abel both bring offerings to God.  In Genesis 1:29-30 God commands that the fruits of the earth are for all.  Cain did not, apparently, divide his offering up correctly (Gen. 4:7) and offer some to his brother, whose flocks are dependent on crops raised by Cain.  In any case, God chose one offering over another for either this reason or his own; it is his prerogative.  Cain did not have to react by killing his brother – it was merely that his offering was rejected.  As did Adam, Cain thought he had power over every other creature and acts as judge, jury and executioner on his brother, where only God is entitled to this power.  Abel was innocent in all of this and takes the fall.  Cain also acts rashly, which is not wise – he is unfit to be a master, even though he act like one.  Abel, whose name means breath, is an ephemeral character.  He never says a line, and then he is gone.  Cain, the killer, remains the focus of the story and ends up cursed by the ground, which is there to give life but has now received blood and death.  Cain wanders away from the garden of life meant for man from which man is banished, yet God, ever merciful, will protect him.

Abel, he of the momentary mention and passing, is also a crucial part of the story for us as Orthodox Christians.  He makes a reappearance in, of all places, the icon of the Resurrection.  Young and beardless, he stands to the side of Christ.  He was the first victim of the consequence of sin and has now been redeemed.

Today the Metropolis of Boston celebrated its feast day – St. Andrew is our patron saint.  There was vespers last night and orthros and liturgy this morning at the Metropolis in the Cathedral chapel.  Customarily the Roman Catholic bishop attends and has often preached in years past.  This year Bishop Arthur Kennedy was there representing Cardinal O’Malley.  Rev. Laura Everett was also in attendance – she is the new Executive Director of the Mass. Council of Churches.  This is a picture of them with Metropolitan Methodios at the reception after vespers:

The latest issue of Sofia – our monthly ‘zine – came out today.  Copies should be arriving in the mail soon, and they are available in the narthex.  The website will have the December issue up at the beginning of the month.  Here is an excerpt from my article (the Santa picture I reference can be found here):

American Christmas largely developed through the popular reception of the writings of Washington Irving and Charles Dickens.  Traditions like Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and yule logs are largely German or Germanic in origin, and were popularized by those writers.  Even before their time, the many German- and Dutch-speaking enclaves in the Colonies and early America celebrated with these traditions.  Santa Claus is a combination of St. Nicholas and Father Christmas, a religious figure with pagan origins going back to the Anglo-Saxon god Woden, the equivalent to the Norse god Odin and the source of the word Wednesday (Woden’s Day).  Santa Claus today appears rather cartoonish, with his red suit and boots and hat, but if you look at depictions of him going back a few centuries you can see the evolution from his religious roots.  The attached illustration of Father Christmas from the late 17th century could almost have been copied from an Orthodox icon of St. Nicholas.  The name Santa Claus itself comes from the saint, and he was known for his generosity and gift-giving.  Forget the elves and North Pole stuff; Santa Claus is a modern depiction of our saint and offers us a teaching tool as we return to the religious roots of Christmas.

The other day I mentioned Lee Habeeb in a post and pointed out that he was a UVa grad (School of Law, actually).  Well, I occasionally put up poetry from Edgar Allan Poe here, and I would be remiss not point out that Poe attended the University of Virginia for a brief period, although things did not end well for him there.  It is Sunday night and I don’t have much in the tank for blogging, so let me leave you in his capable hands:

Thy soul shall find itself alone
‘Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone –
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy:
Be silent in that solitude
Which is not loneliness — for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
In life before thee are again
In death around thee — and their will
Shall then overshadow thee: be still.

For the night — tho’ clear — shall frown –
And the stars shall look not down,
From their high thrones in the Heaven,
With light like Hope to mortals given –
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever :

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish –
Now are visions ne’er to vanish –
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more — like dew-drop from the grass:

The breeze — the breath of God — is still –
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy — shadowy — yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token –
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries! –

It didn’t take long for me to go off track on the “blog for forty days” thing.  This is a side-effect of late-night blogging; if I don’t make it home by midnight then game over, which is what happened last night.  We had a parish council meeting and spent some time after talking about the immediate and long-term future of Sts. Anargyroi.  It is a very exciting time, although I like to repeat the mantra “so far so good” – we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.  I will post more substantially later today (I fear my inbox – I don’t want to disappoint Fr. Peck and suspect there may be a gentle reminder in there that I didn’t blog yesterday – that is part of the deal : )

Fr. George’s last name is indelibly associated with Holy Week for most Greek Orthodox in America.  His compilation and translation of most of the Holy Week services into one compact volume revolutionized the way we understood the services and made it possible for everyone to follow along.  I called Patmos Press a few years ago to order some books and was pleasantly surprised to be chatting directly with Fr. George himself.  Besides the Holy Week book, Fr. is remembered for a lifetime of accomplishment and service to the Church and the Lord.  I had no idea, for example, that he published a complete set of Sunday School books for grades k-12 when his church’s Sunday School reached 1200 students/125 teachers! Check out his lengthy c.v. here.  May his memory be eternal.

I had originally thought of reproducing the whole list of accomplishments in this space but it is just too long.  I couldn’t resist this one, though:

In cooperation with the late Nicholas Andromidas, who wrote an “Easter Miracle Play”, Fr. George participated in presenting the first Orthodox Easter program on CBS-TV over a national hook-up in 1957. The starring role was played by William Shatner of “Star Trek” fame. This program introduced our Church to Miss Pamela Llott, then Director who would later become VP of Religious Programming of CBS-TV. 

The Metropolis site has some pictures up from the feast day vespers and my installation at Sts. Anargyroi in Marlborough.  Check it out here.  The photos are courtesy of Warner Smith – you can find more of his work on his excellent blog The Photography Smith.    As often happens on a Saturday night, I find myself exhausted from the week and not up to my usual night owl activities and postings.  Off to bed for me, and more tomorrow…

I have never, in my 30 years of following sports thoroughly and knowledgeably, seen such hate from the sports media and others directed at a player as is directed at Tim Tebow.  I should qualify this by saying directed at a regular player who has not gotten into trouble – this is not a case of someone who has committed a career-ending error or some heinous crime.  Yet Tebow seems to get people’s gizzards.  My specific reference points are things like the Sports Hub 98.5 FM where Felger and Mazz, among others, trash Tebow regularly, and websites like Deadspin and KSK, which I read regularly.  Callers to the radio shows seem to really dislike him as well.  Why is he so polarizing?

Tebow is a committed Christian who speaks about his faith often and truly lives it.  He is also a successful athlete competing in the NFL in an unconventional way.  Read the wiki article to get an idea on his background and activities.  The trashing of Tebow usually harps on two things:

-His arm.  The criticism is he cannot throw at a pro level, and this may well be legit.  The Broncos have committed to an option offense and he is running it with success, although most games have him struggling and then pulling off a win in the 4th quarter.  Again, this is a decent and fair criticism and may well play out.  For now, the team is winning and his teammates have his back.

-His faith.  Tebow gets hammered on being a Christian in a way I never saw Kurt Warner of Hakeem Olajuwon get attacked for their strong Christian and Islamic faith.  The guys on the local sports shows are ridiculous.  They will side with him, when a caller says he is a fraud, by pointing out, truthfully, that he is not a hypocrite and backs up his beliefs with action, but they then say he is “insufferable” and “hammers us over the head” with his faith.  Does he?  He is not grabbing the mic from a reporter and with wild eyes shouting about Christianity; he talks about it as part of his normal life, answers questions about it, etc.  That is all.  We have become such an effete society that we fear talking about things on a normal level.  If religion is important to someone why can’t he mention it, among other things, in an interview?  This is not the same as trying to forcibly convert someone.

I find myself here in the interesting position of defending an evangelical Christian when, in my experience, most evangelicals don’t even consider Orthodox people to be Christians.  I have no idea what, if anything, Tebow thinks on this issue – I have certainly seen nothing that tells me he looks down on Orthodox or Catholics.

Tebow seems like a good guy who is enjoying success in the NFL.  Who knows how long this will last, but for now let’s enjoy the competitive games and his spirit.

The “40 Days Of Blogging” project is a spiritual exercise, so it may seem strange that I am writing about my garden.  But food, and its cultivation, is a spiritual thing for a Christian.  If you are taking communion and ingesting the body and blood of Christ, then it makes sense that whatever else you put down your gullet should be as clean as possible.  Gardening, with the expected end product of healthy and healthful organic food is naturally related to this.  I normally do an end-of-the-garden report sometime at the end of September or beginning of October but that didn’t happen this year due to slacking off on my part.  But another reason is that the garden is still going on.

I miss my time each morning in the garden when the season is done.  I try to fill the void by homebrewing, growing mushrooms, etc. but it is very different than the normal warm weather routine.  But as I mentioned above, the garden is still a growing concern, although to a much lesser extent.  I decided to try to extend the growing season for a few crops by using cloches.  These plastic bells are basically mini-greenhouses, and allow the growing season to continue as long as there is sunshine.  I purchased three cloches and used them for the following crops – my parsley and oregano pots, which were transferred to the garden proper, and, on a whim, a random tomato plant that sprouted in the compost heap.  The tomato plant didn’t survive the early snowstorm, but the herbs are doing great – the oregano is particularly thriving.  These are minor things but it is nice to keep gardening at this late date.