Byzantine, Texas

This is the second set of pictures in the commissioned icon series. There are quite a number of icon-related website out there, but few cover the creation process - below comments are from the iconographer. Rather excited to see the color go on. Once the panel has received a final sanding it is buffed with a soft dry rag to remove excess chalk dust. The basic shapes of the pattern are drawn on the board, and the borders are outlined. I like to use painter's tape to delineate the borders and keep them clean. The background color is painted and the halo (or nimbus) is sized and gilded with 23-kt. gold leaf. In his essay on iconology, Fr. Pavel Florensky emphasizes that gold, being a metal element with a luster of its own (as opposed to a pigment), is the best way to represent the divine light . The pigments for establishing the main color swaths. Certain mineral pigments require a good bit of grinding with stone or glass pestle before they can be used for making paint. The initial...

( Pew Forum ) - Religious groups across the country are urging houses of worship to take special precautions this weekend, including changing sacred practices, as the swine flu outbreak threatens to grow into a global pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 109 confirmed cases of the virus in 11 states on Thursday (April 30), and the World Health Organization raised its alert level on swine flu to Phase 5. The highest alert level, Phase 6, indicates that a pandemic is in progress. Should the outbreak reach that stage, the WHO may discourage or even ban public gatherings such as religious services, according to published reports. In Mexico, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, many Catholic churches have temporarily closed. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is not encouraging similar steps for the 18,000 U.S. parishes. But it is stressing increased attention to hygiene and urging priests and others who distribute Communion to wash their hands wit...

Moscow, April 30, ( Interfax ) - The Board of Trustees of the Russian church of the Great Martyr Saint Catherine in Rome has lauded the progress of the final preparations for the festivities on the consecration of the church scheduled for May 24. "We are approaching the festivities. Tasks are being carried out. The mechanism of decision-making is clear to all," Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at a meeting of the board in St. Daniel's Monastery. The meeting discussed the completion of interior decorations in the church and the reclamation of the surrounding territory. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov who attended the meeting, stressed the importance of additional electricity supplies to the building required for its normal operation. This would speed up the installation of ventilation in the church "in order to dry everything and put it in order," he said. The audit commission reported to the meeting on the results of it...

Remaining static is tantamount to choosing an untimely death. An acceptance of ones current state, a resting on ones laurels, is contrary to the divine plan. Even in the heavens, the liturgy reminds us, there is a call to constantly cry out His glory: Celebrant: All the orders, the companies and the heavenly hosts: angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim, thrones and dominions, invisible and innumerable, unceasingly praise and glorify and with incessant mouths and unspeakable voices they sing the hymn of victory and cry out and say: People: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; heaven and earth are full of His glories. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He Who came and will come in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Surely the heavenly host have sung enough? Surely their praise is now sufficient? Certainly He has heard enough? Certainly not! The liturgy in fact exhorts us to join in. In Luke we are told, "And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son o...

Interesting post from Notes from the Underground : Legalizing the Moscow Patriarchate in 1927: The Secret Aims of the Authorities The above link is an impressive paper by Fr Alexander Mazyrin, from the latest issue of Social Sciences , a publication of East View Press. It is a translation of a Russian paper from last year that goes into great detail on how the Patriarchate was literally hand-crafted by the Soviet government, with sufficient history on the actions of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragodorsky) from a non-partisan perspective. It's worth a read-- click the link above to do so . The first paragraph alone makes for an interesting read and worth recommending here: "Historians pay much attention to relations between the atheist Soviet authorities and religious organizations. In the early 1990s, it became possible to study not only the official policies in respect of the religions and the Church but also some secret aims behind them. As a result, we have a number of fun...

"Nothing to see here. Move along..." In all seriousness, thanks to all for reading this tucked away corner of the Internet. What started as just a small project has blossomed into something viewed on average about five thousand times a month. That's a staggering and humbling figure to me. Of equal wonder is that the number is actually increasing. So on this thousandth post I ask that God grant you many blessed years in health and happiness! Be sure to nominate (or vote when the time comes) someone for an Eastern Christian New Media Award and I ask a special prayer for my son, Basil, who will receive the gift of Holy Illumination this Sunday. Have no doubt: there will be pictures.

While written to the soldiers of Romania, this is immediately approachable to any soldier anywhere. ( Basilica ) - VETERANS OF WAR – TESTIMONY OF THE LOVE FOR THE COUNTRY CHRIST IS RISEN! “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) Dear veterans, Bearing in our souls the joy and richness of the light of our Savior Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, we are receiving the richness of the merciful love of God and the heavenly grace given to us humans, in Jesus Christ, in order for us to participate to the eternal life and joy of the Holy Trinity. This richness of Christ’s presence was also shared by those who have felt the most the help of the Risen Christ in times of tribulation, namely the martyrs, heroes, veterans, but also all the faithful who are fighting for truth and justice, for freedom and unity or are working to help their fellows in a sincere and charitable way. The power to endure history, when you cannot change it, is the wisdom a...

Moscow, April 29, ( Interfax ) – Participants in the Geneva UN conference against racism and xenophobia condemned discrimination of Christians. The Forum’s final document voiced concerns with “incidents of racial or religious intolerance and violence, including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and anti-Arabism,” the Moscow Patriarchate official web site has reported. The Russian Church has recently urged the participants in the conference to introduce an idea of Christianophobia into international laws. “It is very important to the Russian Orthodox Church to raise the issue of introducing to the list of threats the notion of Christianophobia in addition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Georgy Ryabykh told Interfax-Religion. He pointed out there were many examples of “violations of Christians' rights, insults of their feelings and public distortion of the Christian teaching which put the notion ...

There is a fervor (captured in books like "Facing East") in building a mission that invigorates those in the mission and attracts the interest of friends, families, and passers-by. The mix of passion, novelty, and purpose coalesce into a heady brew where the Great Commission is placed front and center. In strong parishes this desire to spread the Good News (ευαγγέλιον) is maintained and fostered by the clergy - an emphasis is placed on orthodox practice, continual catechesis, and a life lived in faith both inside and outside the church. Another path is more prevalent. It is common to see a mission built of "founding families" who worked hard to find a property, find people, and fill it with the accoutrements necessary to perform the rites of the Church. After some time passes certain things particular to the location are considered unmovable foundations of the parish (turning tradition into Tradition it might be said). Things like specific icons placed on certain wa...

2009 Cannonball Awards Whether you're Catholic or not, the Cannonball Awards is an amusing competition with categories like: Best "More Catholic than the Pope" Blog Best Blog by a Heretic Best Bat [Guano] Crazy Blog Go take a gander at the contestants and when the time comes do go over and vote. Full Disclosure: I am nominated.

April 28, 2009 ( OCA News ) - Four days after a meeting of the Local Synod of the Bishops of the Antiochian Archdiocese, Englewood has released a photocopy of the “Resolution” Metropolitan Philip convened the meeting to have the Bishops sign. (View it here ). In so doing, Englewood resolved the mystery of what Bishop Alexander, who refused to sign the document, but penned a note on the document itself, had written. Instead of his signature, the Bishop wrote: “This decision is already in effect and does not need my signature,” - an action which +Philip did not want him to take. The "Resolution " Cumbersomely entitled a “Resolution Affirming Obedience to the Decision of the Holy Synod of Antioch of January 24, 2009, Which Normalized the Status of Bishops Across the See of Antioch,” +Philip’s resolution makes only three points: 1) The Holy Synod of Antioch is “the highest authori...

29 APR 2009 ( VIS ) - During his general audience this morning Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis to St. Germanus of Constantinople , who "played an important role in the complex history of the battle for images during the so-called iconoclastic crisis, and was able to resist the pressure of an iconoclastic emperor, ... Leo III. "During Germanus' patriarchate (715-730)", the Pope added, "the capital of the Byzantine empire, Constantinople, was subject to a threatening siege by the Saracens. On that occasion (717-718) a solemn procession was organised and passed through the streets carrying the image of the Mother of God ... and the relic of the Holy Cross to call upon the Most High to defend the city. In fact, Constantinople was freed from the siege". This event convinced the patriarch "that God's intervention was to be interpreted as evident approval of the reverence people showed towards holy icons. Leo III on the other hand, who came to the t...

( First Things ) - More proof in that embryonic stem cell research is not—and never has been—about getting some use out of leftover IVF embryos that are due to be destroyed anyway. A serious proposal has been forwarded in the UK that would allow people to make IVF embryos, not to bring to birth, but rather, solely for the purpose of storing them for later use as a source of stem cells. From the story : Couples could be allowed to store embryos in order to use them to create new body parts or cure diseases. Government legal and ethical experts are to discuss whether families can ‘bank’ embryos not just for procreation but also for use by doctors to create personalized treatments for parents and their children. Now, [under UK law] embryos—the first stage of life after an egg has been successfully fertilized—can be stored for up to five years but only for procreation. But a huge ethical debate is set to erupt as the Government’s fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilization and Embryology...

Nominations are now open over at the Eastern Christian New Media Awards ! New participants can be nominated until June 1 st . The field has been expanded by two categories and this year there will be prizes! As with last year, the field is broadened and strengthened by getting the word out. Please mention this site to friends, post referrals on your blogs, and mention it in your podcasts. http://ecawards.blogspot.com/

Sending two of my children. If you're in the area, do give this a look. ( SGOCM ) - We finally have some good news and information for the upcoming St. Peter the Aleut Orthodox Summer Camp, which since 1993 has served the OCA Diocese of the South, South Central Deanery and any other Orthodox youth and their friends who would like to attend. Camp will again be held at the YMCA Camp Grady Spruce at Possum Kingdom Lake, South of Weatherford, Texas (about 2 hours S. of Ft. Worth). Dates: Monday, June 29th (after Lunchtime) - Friday, July 3th (after Breakfast). Note: Everyone will be home on Friday afternoon, before the 4th of July weekend... Complete article here .

An interesting story from OrthoCuban : I have two photographs for you. This first one is rather obvious. It is a Russian metropolitan (notice the white miter) wearing a Cross of Malta prominently surrounded by Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. In history, they have also been known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. And, for all you conspiracy theorists, when the Knights Templar were dissolved in 1312, much of their property was given to the Knights Hospitaller. So, in one sense, the Knights Hospitaller carry on within themselves something of the traditions of the Knights Templar. So, how did these knights get started?... Complete story here .

( ROCOR United ) - On the 26th of April 2009, the Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America served liturgy with Patriarch Kirill at Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The Patriarch then addressed Metropolitan Jonah with the following word: Your Eminence Jonah, Archbishop of Washington and New York, Metropolitan of all America and Canada, beloved in Christ brother and co-celebrant! Wise bishops and priests! Dear brothers and sisters! Christ is Risen! It brings me great joy to greet the delegation of the Orthodox Church in America headed by His Eminence Vladyka Jonah during these bright Paschal days. In your first official visit as a newly-chosen primate, which you are making to the Moscow Patriarchate, you have emphasized the special interrelation of American Orthodoxy with its Mother Church. This relation, filled with a spirit of love and unity, truly can be characterized by the words of the apostle, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Today we have sealed our unity wi...

My alma mater is constructing a chapel dedicated to Christ the Teacher - at the moment the outer walls are being bricked with internal work to follow. I took this opportunity to have an icon commissioned for the new temple and was lucky enough to find an iconographer who writes beautiful icons in a very traditional manner. I hope to post as the icon is being written over the coming months (using traditional media it's quite a lengthy process). Comments below are explanations provided by the iconographer: Icon pattern sketch upper half. Two essential preparatory materials, glue and gesso. The glue is prepared from dried rabbit skin granules, and the gesso (or levkas левкас ) is a preparation of water, rabbit skin granules and a blend of chalk and marble dust. The gesso will sit refrigerated for several days to reduce the small bubbles that the stirring process has created by oxidizing the mixture. Use a freshly made gesso too early and these little bubbles will create "pinholes...

( Antiochian ) - On Friday April 24th, 2009, a special meeting of the Holy Synod of The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America was held under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP at the Archdiocese Headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey. All of the hierarchs of the Archdiocese were in attendance at the meeting namely: His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP His Grace Bishop ANTOUN His Grace Bishop JOSEPH His Grace Bishop BASIL His Grace Bishop THOMAS His Grace Bishop MARK His Grace Bishop ALEXANDER The sole agenda item was a discussion of the decision of the Holy Synod of Antioch which was adopted on February 24th, 2009. This decision normalized the status of all bishops across the See of Antioch to be that of Auxiliary bishops. The hierarchs discussed many issues that have been raised by clergy and laity alike regarding this decision. There was agreement that there are some very serious issues that need attention in order that the healing process can procee...

( AOI ) - In what can only be described as a radical restructuring of an increasingly public discussion, Met. Gerasimos (GOA, San Francisco) blasts Met. Jonah (OCA) for his recent criticism of the address by Fr. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis at Holy Cross Seminary last month. In the address, Fr. Elpidophoros laid out the rationale for submission of all American Orthodox Christians to Constantinople in what can be generously described as exclusively ethnic terms. Met. Gerasimos addresses none of Met. Jonah’s criticisms or Fr. Elpidophoros’ rationale. Instead, Met. Gerasimos frames the discussion in terms of the “persecution” of the Constantinopolitan Church, which, he contends, “…has shown us that the Ecumenical Patriarchate must now concern itself not only with attacks by those outside the Church, but also from within the Church, as well.” No mention is made of the historical and canonical claims made by Fr. Elpidophoros. Neither does Met. Gerasimos address the worldwide resistance to ...

( BBC News ) - The inhabitants of the small Greek island of Chios have stage their traditional "Rocket War". In a bizarre but long-cherished local tradition to celebrate the Orthodox Easter holiday, two churches in the town of Vrodandos fire rockets at each other's churches - while services are held.

( OCA News ) - In a Great Tuesday letter addressed to the priest and parish council of St. Elijah’s Church in Oklahoma City, and copied to all the Bishops, Metropolitan Philip urges them to cease asking questions about the degrading of the dioceses and the demotion of the diocesan bishops to auxiliary status, and “obey the decision of the Holy Synod of February 24th, 2009.” “I am sure you are very busy,” wrote +Philip, “and I am very busy. Do not concern yourselves with this hierarchical issue.” (Read that decision of the Synod here. ) Philip’s letter was written in response to an “undated letter which you ( [Oklahoma City] have sent me recently concerning the decision of the February 24 2009, Decision of the Holy Synod of Antioch, which is the highest authority of our Antiochian Church in the whole world.” “The decision,” +Philip explained, “speaks for itself”. After citing the Archdiocesan Constitution (Article 1, Section 2, paragraph b) which indicates that t...

I applaud the Russian Church's bringing this issue to the forefront. If you are publicly Christian I can assume that you have experienced or know someone who has experienced discrimination or hostility of some kind. Moscow, April 21, ( Interfax ) - The Russian Orthodox Church has asked the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance ( WCAR ), which started in Geneva on Monday, to introduce into international law the notion of Christianophobia. "It is very important to the Russian Orthodox Church to raise the issue of introducing to the list of threats the notion of Christianophobia in addition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia," deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Georgy Ryabykh told Interfax-Religion. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon mentioned anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in his speech at the opening ceremony of the conference, the priest said, regretting that the UN s...

Ruskyj Sion , a blogger I follow, commented with the below. It seemed worthy of a reposting here: One must be careful, when posting "stories" that appear on Ukrainian or Russian news services without a proper understanding of their immediate context, especially now that Ukraine is approaching its first presidential election (25 October 2009) since the Orange Revolution in 2004. The Kyivan Partiarchate has posted its own version of the event ( http://www.cerkva.info/2009/04/18/hram_Beeve.html ), claiming that the benefactor of the Church of the Transfiguration, Ivan Salo, bequeathed it to the Kyvian Patriarchate. There was no seizing of church property, nor desecration; moreover, the civil authorities were not called in to intervene. One must keep in mind that the Sumy Region of Ukraine is from where President Yushchenko hails. Yushchenko has been a strong supporter of the Kyivan Patriarchate and the idea of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow. Hence, it is no s...

Moscow, April 20, ( Interfax ) – On the Holy Friday, schismatics of the so-called “Kiev Patriarchate” captured the Transfiguration Church in the village of Beyevo, the Sumy Region, the Yedinoye Otechestvo Ukrainian public organization told an Interfax-Religion correspondent. According to the organization’s official and editor of its web site Olga Kravets, Filaret’s followers “barricaded inside and desecrated the church not with their presence, but also with their excrement.” “As the Satan is imitation of God, Filaret’s group is a parody on the Church,” Kravets said and added that Easter services would be celebrated in Beyevo in any case “even if we have to conduct them outdoors at the entry to the captured and desecrated Church.” Ukrainian activists addressed the governor of the Sumy Region Nikolay Lavrik a telegram saying that “they are indignant at trampling of Orthodox believers rights in the Sumy Region.”

( ROEA News ) - The series of meetings between the Hierarchs of the two Romanian Orthodox Episcopates in the USA and Canada continued recently with a common meeting of the Diocesan Council of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America (Vatra) and the Archdiocesan Council of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of both Americas (under the canonical authority of the Romanian Patriarchate). The majority of Orthodox clerics from USA and Canada considered this meeting to be an historic one, given the fact that it follows along last year’s decisions made by both Congresses to continue efforts towards their union in a single grouping. The basis of the discussions- held at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cleveland- was the Joint Dialogue Commission’s document regarding the creation of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of North America. Among the main problems discussed were those referring to the nature of the autonomy of the future Metropolitanate and its relationship with the Romanian Orthodox Church ...

SYOSSET, NY ( OCA Communications ) - On Great, Holy and Good Friday, April 17, 2009, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, issued the following statement in response to recent commentary on his April 5, 2009 sermon, delivered at Saint Seraphim Cathedral, Dallas, TX. “I greet you in a spirit of repentance and forgiveness as we celebrate the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Certain comments that were made in the course of my sermon have provoked a reaction from my Orthodox brothers that I did not intend or foresee. I regret making those comments. In particular, I realize that some characterizations regarding the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Patriarchate of Constantinople were insensitive. As the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, I am motivated only by the desire to underscore our fervent hope that future discussion about the so-called Orthodox Diaspora will include the Orthodox Church in America and other Orthodox jurisdictions in Nor...