Byzantine, Texas

( ROC-USA ) - Tuesday, May 31, St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York at the invitation of the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA visited the Bishop Irenaeus - Titular Bishop of Dearborn Heights (Michigan), Vicar of the diocese of the Romanian Orthodox Church in America.

George Bilak fashions woodcarved and hand written icons as well as other amazing and unique pieces including crosses, Easter eggs, pendants, and engolpia. Some months back I was forwarded a link to his Facebook page where I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at images of his work. A few clicks later I was at his website  carvingart.com and mesmerized. Mr. Bilak was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about his singularly inspiring masterpieces. Father Aleksandar in front of the new iconostasis on the consecration day of St. Sava Church in Cambridge, MA.. How did you get interested in this medium? Was it an extension of your iconography or of a background in woodwork? Patriarch Pavle I started woodcarving and icon painting approximately at the same time. The "revival" of iconography in Serbia wasn't to happen until a few years later, it was an obscure art at that moment and I was learning it by myself with close to nothing to go on. It started ...

As so many of our youth are graduating, here's a speech you might show your sons and daughters so they know what it's all really about.

From the Touchstone blog Mere Comments : May 31 is the Western date for the Feast of the Visitation (Luke 1:39–56). The Maronite Church apparently one of few that specially marks the Visitation, in its case as part of the pre-Christmas cycle. This image is from a website listing the Sundays, including that of the Visitation. In the 13th Century the Visitation was promoted by the Franciscans, and it spread in observance, with a date of July 2, which was changed to May 31 in 1969. I see that the Orthodox Church in America has taken up a proposal to celebrate The Meeting of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Elizabeth; the composition of the Service are the work of Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin (+ 1894), head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem. The Gorneye Convent in Jerusalem, built on the traditional site of the Meeting of the Theotokos and St Elizabeth, celebrates this Feast on March 30. Since after the Annunciation (March 25) Mary "went with haste" to v...

( Holy Resurrection Cathedral ) - The Clergy of Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois, have the honor to convey to the faithful of our God-protected community that the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church at its meeting held at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade between 16th and 27th of May 2011, rendered inter alia the following decision: "As a result of redistricting on the American continent, the Diocese of New Gracanica-Midwestern America is constituted while the Metropolitanate of Libertyville-Chicago ceased to exist. Furthermore, by decision of the Assembly, the Monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville, near Chicago, has received the status of Stavropigial monastery, or a monastery under the direct control of the Serbian Patriarch." The Cathedral Clergy announce with joy that pursuant to this decision of the Assembly of Bishops our Church community has become a contiguous part of the Diocese of New Gracanica-Midwester...

"The healing of our sick nous begins with what we have just been discussing: the sacrifice of our “old man,” the cutting off of the pas- sions, repentance. In speaking of the healing of the nous, the Holy Fathers place much emphasis on the practice of watchfulness. We must at all times watch over our thoughts so as to reject—to cut off—sinful and impassioned thoughts. When a sinful thought comes to us and we cut if off at once, it is not a sin. But when we entertain a sinful thought, when we cherish it and develop it because we are attracted to it, then it becomes sin, then it separates us from God. When we entertain impassioned thoughts, our nous becomes darkened, deprived of the Light of Divine Grace. These thoughts lead to impassioned feelings, and the feelings fuel more thoughts. Soon we are caught in a passion, and the passion becomes habitual. That is why we must cut off the sickness where it starts, in our thoughts." - by Hieromonk Damascene The below is the first...

Dallas, TX ( St. Seraphim Cathedral ) - Dear Parishioners of St. Seraphim Cathedral, In response to the request of the Deans of the Diocese of the South and the St. Seraphim parish council, our Locum Tenens, Bishop Nikon spent four days visiting with our parish and then spent another week traveling to the eastern parts of the diocese. His Grace indicated that he would provide us with some direction after his meeting with the Holy Synod in Chicago, during free time from the Episcopal Assembly meetings on May 25 - 27th. Here are the questions posed by the parish council officers. Below is Bishop Nikon’s response via email on the evening of May 27. 2011. Will you please send us a brief statement outlining the current state of the governance of both the Cathedral of St. Seraphim and of the Diocese of the South? Are you still serving as our locum tenens? Is Bishop Mark the administrator of the DOS? What is Fr. John's status? To whom should we look for direction among the cler...

( UOC-MP ) - The initiator of the festivities is the Embassy of Ukraine to the Holy See. The UOC delegation was led by deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC Archbishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy. Salus Populi Romani in the basilica On the commemoration of Sts Cyril and Methodius was held at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where over a thousand years ago for the first time a prayer and reading of the Gospel in Slavonic sounded, and for the first time since the 9th century the divine liturgy in Slavonic according to the Orthodox rite was celebrated. The worship was led by Archbishop Mark of Yehoryev, who concelebrated with Archbishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytkyy and Bishop Nestor of Korsun, clergymen of the Orthodox parishes in Italy and delegates in the UOC in holy order. In the course of worship the faithful had an opportunity to pray at the Boyan Icon of the Mother of God, which now visits with the blessing of Metropoli...

29 May 2011 ( basilica.ro ) - The faithful of Fefeli parish of Mizil received the visit of the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch of Romania celebrated the consecration service of the painting of Saint Hierarch Nicholas church, assisted by a group of priests and deacons.

When I fly, I often listen to podcasts. Although a bit old by Internet standards (February of this year), I encourage a listen to this homily on the Russian New Martyrs in general and St. Seraphim (Chichagov) in particular. It's a good reminder of what the Russian Church has had to endure in living memory and the appalling bloodlust the Soviet regime had for Christians. ( AFR ) - On the second Sunday in February, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of its innumerable martyrs who died in the 70 years of Communist oppression between 1917 and 1990. More Orthodox Christians were killed for their faithfulness to Christ in the 70 years of Communist rule that in the two and a half centuries of persecution by the pagan Roman Empire. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. For that reason, the martyrs especially very recent ones, are held in greatest honour in our Orthodox Church and their memory plays an important role in all our parishes. I shall speak about ...

I'm delighted to post this picture of my 2-month-old daughter as she was making her entrance into the Church. She is blessed with holy and devoted godparents, a loving gaggle of siblings, and two unworthy and grateful parents. Christ is Risen!

( Episcopal Assembly ) - From May 25-27, the second annual Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America gathered for its meeting at the Chicago O'Hare Hilton. There was a total of 45 bishops in attendance. In addition, nearly all of the members were present at the Assembly: the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Albanian Orthodox Diocese; the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese; the Patriarchate of Moscow, including the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas; the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church; and the Orthodox Church in America. Not represented were the American Carpatho-Russian Diocese, as they currently have no bishop, owing to the recent repose of Metropolitan Nicholas; the Georgian Orthodox Church, whose bishop resides in Georgia; most of the bishops of Canada and Mexico, as the Canadian bi...

MOSCOW, May 27 ( RIA Novosti ) - The Russian Orthodox Church has given the country's Airborne Troops a mobile chapel to accompany them on military drills and combat missions, a paratrooper spokesman said on Friday. The church is part of a wider project to restore full-scale military priesthood, which existed in Russia from the 18th century to the start of the Soviet era. "Russian paratroopers received their first mobile church in May, financed by the Russian Orthodox Church," the spokesman said. The chapel is built on the frame of a truck trailer and is equipped with a life-support module, an electric generator and multimedia equipment. It is serviced on the field by a priest and a five-man support team. The chapel will be tested during forthcoming airborne exercises. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in 2010 that Orthodox Church military chaplains will soon appear in the Russian army. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, two thirds of the...

I've been posting on catechetical efforts quite a bit over the last few years. The two most notable are the Russian Church's work towards a new, timely catechism. Many people are familiar with the much older catechisms and the new book currently being worked on will be a welcome tome in a new format. The Greek Catholic catechism, which stalled out for quite a while, is now going to the printers. ( UGCC ) - A meeting of the Heads of church commissions of the UGCC started with a Divine Liturgy celebrated in St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv on May 23. Then the meeting continued in a conference hall of Lviv Archeparchy. Rev. Petro Rak, the Head of the Department of church commissions of the UGCC, opened the meeting. Deputy Head of the Catechetical Commission s. Louisa Tsyupa told about one of the greatest events in the activity of the Patriarchal Catechetical Commission of the UGCC to take place at the end of June this year. She announced that on 24 June a Catechetical conference ...

A photo gallery is available here . CHICAGO ( GOARCH ) – The second meeting of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America convened yesterday –exactly one year and one day after the first one in New York– in Chicago’ s Hilton O’Hare Airport Hotel under the chairmanship of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. The first-day session opened with prayers with 44 bishops present. Most Canonical Orthodox Bishops from Canada did not attend, as they are seeking to establish a separate assembly. At the beginning of the meeting a letter was read from Patriarch Irinej of Serbia conveying that the Serbian members of the Assembly could not be present at this meeting because of the needs of the Serbian Church. The agenda and the minutes of the first meeting were approved. Archbishop Demetrios delivered his chairman’s opening address, and invited the vice-chairmen Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Orthodox Chr...

A LITTLE LEVITY: A sign read “Have water, need beer” in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., Wednesday. The death toll climbed to 125 from Sunday’s tornado there. Meanwhile, at least 14 people were killed in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma in new storms Tuesday night. ( Charlie Riedel/Associated Press )

What an odd world we live in. ( Orbis Catholicus Secundus ) - At today's weekly general audience the Holy Father received a new tiara made for him and presented by Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The tiara was commissioned by Dieter Philippi , a German Catholic businessman who has a great devotion to the papacy as well as to the call to Christian unity. The tiara was created in Sofia, Bulgaria by Orthodox Christians of the Liturgix studio . Today a small delegation of Roman Catholics and Bulgarian Orthodox on pilgrimage in Rome had the honor to present the tiara to the Holy Father in the name of Christian unity. Congratulations to Dieter and to all German Catholics and Bulgarian Orthodox involved with this wonderful project. Ut Unum Sint!

In February I interviewed Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick on his new book "Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" (available here ). A few days ago the Antiochian Archdiocese released their own interview on the book (available here ). I am happy to announce that the book is now available for purchase. Here's SOCHA's article on it. ( SOCHA ) - Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick , one of the Associate Directors of the Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas, has a newly published work from Conciliar Press , Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: Exploring Belief Systems Through the Lens of the Ancient Christian Faith. While the work does not pertain explicitly to the history of Orthodoxy in the Americas, it does contain some general Orthodox history, as well as history of many Christian denominations and world religions. Its focus is on comparing Orthodox Christianity with other Christian religious groups and also non-Christian religions. Here’s the official blurb from Conciliar Press: A...

( assyrianchurch.com ) - His Grace Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of California and Secretary of the Holy Synod has been received in audience by His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch. The meeting, on 2 May, took place while His Grace was in Istanbul, in transit, on the way to the Holy Land for a pilgrimage with some 72 faithful of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. His Grace was accompanied in this audience by Very Rev. Cor-bishop Auchana Kanoun, Rev. Fr. Genard Lazar, Sub-deacon Emmanuel Benjamin and Mr Joseph Rasho. His Grace was received at the patriarchate (in the Fenar district of Istanbul) by the patriarchal deacon at 11:00 am. The deacon then gave a tour of the patriarchal cathedral of St. George the Martyr, which houses the relics of St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom. The patriarch received the Assyrian prelate and clergy at 12 noon in his personal office. After a colloquium of about one hour, ...

( antiochian.org ) - The premier researcher of American Orthodoxy, Alexei Krindatch, has released a comprehensive volume which includes data on all Orthodox Churches (including Oriental) in the United States. Supplemented with numerous maps, current and historical facts, Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches is published by Holy Cross Orthodox Press and was co-sponsored by SCOBA and the Virginia Farah Foundation. In addition to full coverage of all American jurisdictions, the Atlas includes an additional chapter which profiles all American monastic communities. The press release explains, "The Atlas provides a 'snapshot' of the Orthodox Christian Churches in the United States...Simultaneously, this book is an atlas, a reference book and a thematic monograph. It is an atlas because it contains numerous maps to show the historical development and present territorial patterns of Orthodox Church life in America. It is a reference book because it furnishes comprehen...

( CNEWA ) - Almost half of the earth’s 6.8 billion people associate Jerusalem with the Divine. For Jews, the glory of the Lord once filled the sanctuary in Solomon’s Temple, which stood at the heart of this center of Jewish life and culture. Christians identify Jerusalem with the ministry of Jesus, revere it as the place of his passion, death and resurrection and celebrate it as the birthplace of the church. Muslims believe Abraham sacrificed Ishmael on the rock where Solomon later built his shrine. They also honor Jerusalem for it figured as a stop on Muhammad’s miraculous night journey, where the prophet met Abraham, Moses and Jesus. From the earliest days of the church, Christians have called Jerusalem the “Holy City,” or Haghia Polis in Greek, the language both of the New Testament and of the early church. This title spells out the paradox plaguing Jerusalem: the entanglement of the spiritual and political. Not just a shining city on the hill, Jerusalem has come to represent mi...

CHICAGO, IL ( OCA ) - The second gathering of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America opened here on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, under the chairmanship of His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Formal notification of the gathering was sent to all canonical Orthodox Christian hierarchs across North and Central America at the end of February 2011. Among the items on the agenda, according to the Assembly of Bishops' web site, is the work of the Assembly's 13 committees, its Secretariat, and its 14 agencies and endorsed organizations. Prior to the gathering, Archbishop Demetrios apprised the member bishops that the fifth and latest meeting of the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission was at the end of February in Chambésy, Switzerland, adding hope that the May gathering will conclude significant work for the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar process. It was the fourth session of this Commission, held in 2009, t...

NEW YORK, NY ( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America [OCA], and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia [ROCOR], concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint Nicholas Cathedral here on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The Liturgy was an historic one, in that it marked "the first joint service of the American Bishops and the Russian Orthodox Church after nearly 70 years of the liturgical period of absence of communication," according to the web site of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA. It represents the fruit of the diligent labors undertaken by the joint OCA-ROCOR Commission. Also concelebrating were His Eminence, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA; His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania [OCA]; and His Grace, Bishop Jerome of Manhattan [ROCOR]. At ...

( STOTS ) - This past Wednesday May, 18th the St. Tikhon’s Community was blessed with a visit from His Grace Bishop George of Mayfield, Vicar Bishop of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York. (ROCOR) Accompanying him was the senior priest of the cathedral in Mayfield, Fr. John Sorochka. Both His Grace and Fr. John are longtime friends of our beloved dean Fr. Alexander Atty. Regarding the meeting, Fr. Alexander stated “Many years ago the leaders of all our respective jurisdictions asked us to lay aside our differences, real or imagined, so that together in a spirit of brotherly unity we might present the truth of orthodoxy to a lost world.” The parish in Mayfield, PA played a major role in the early history of both the Monastery and the Seminary. It is because of the efforts of orthodox faithful in parishes such as this one that the St. Tikhon’s Community is still raising up pastors to serve the needs of the American people. We want to thank everyone who made such monu...

( ROC-USA ) - On May 24, the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius - Day namesday Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Jonah and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Metropolitan Hilarion together celebrated the Divine Liturgy. This is the first joint service of the American Bishops and the Russian Orthodox Church after nearly seventy years of the liturgical period of absence of communication. Also concelebrating were Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Archbishop of Naro-Fominsk Justinian, Bishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania Tikhon (OCA) and the Bishop of Manhattan, Jerome (ROCOR) and the cathedral clergy of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States, the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church.

( Youtube ) - The Archdiocese School of Byzantine Music of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America presents Arise O Lord, from the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Sunday, May 8, 2011.

A truly wonderful article from Pravmir on the modern practice of icon writing and the problems that result of a relative silence from hierarchs on the topic. If you're interested in icons at all this is a must read. ( pravmir.com ) - Have you ever wondered why the faces of saints on some icons are so stern and threatening that they are frightening to look at? Why was St Christopher portrayed with a dog’s head which made him look more like the Egyptian god Anubis than a Christian saint? Is it right to portray God the Father as a gray-haired old man? Can we consider Vrubel’s and Vasnetsov’s images of angels and saints to be icons? St Christopher. Icon of the first half of the 17th century. Although icons and the Church are virtually as old as one another and icons have been painted for centuries according to strict rules, yet in this field too there are errors, disagreements and arguments. What should our attitude be? Ekaterina Dmitrievna Sheko, Head of the Department of Icono...

Allow me to put on a hat I seldom use for this blog; the techno-chapeau. Since Orthodoxy's web presence is built along jurisdictional lines (leaving SCOBA/EA to the side as I think most of us would), it is rather easy to rank these sites. If I were to do so I'd put the ACROD website at the top and the current OCA website somewhere toward the middle - propriety precludes my mentioning some of the more wanting diocesan websites I've come across. Here is my wish-list for the new OCA website, and all future jurisdictional websites: Standards compliance. No, please don't fall asleep on me at the first bullet point. Standards matter. I usually design websites to exacting XHTML 1.0 Strict / CSS 2 standards, but for out-of-the-box sites like Blogger, I try to remain at least browser neutral. I haven't used Windows since Clinton was president, and run from IE-centric websites like they herald the coming of a zombie invasion. RSS feeds. Some Orthodox jurisdictional (ACR...

The below post from the blog 150 Knots reminded me of Romans 5:1-5. In times of trouble, if we persevere we build character, and in doing so we are given hope and the love of God which will sustain and guide us through tribulations. As an aside: a great talk on this passage is available here  as a podcast. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. If you are under 40 you have to realize something. The way you’ve learned about the world, whether in school, or through the media, or in the discourse of public culture has largely been sha...

I post this largely because I visited this parish late last year while they were still in their temporary building. I'm glad to see this small congregation, filled with very kind and personable people, was able to complete their construction efforts. WOODSTOCK, GA ( ACROD ) - St. Elizabeth, a Mission of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese for the past fourteen years in Woodstock, Georgia, has begun worshiping in its new church. On the Feast of Holy Pascha. 57 faithful joined Fr. Frederick Watson, Priest Administrator at St. Elizabeth, to serve Divine Liturgy in the new location for the first time. In 2010, the Mission purchased a nine acre property on which was a home (which has become the priest's residence) and a 9000 square foot building that included a 2400 square foot garage/warehouse. The garage/warehouse has been re-designed into the church proper. The remainder of the building will be an educational and social center, with the second floor housing the...

MOSCOW, May 19, 2011 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an ecumenical meeting in Moscow that stopping the demographic crisis in Russia must be a priority for all Christians, as well as the state. Speaking recently at the assembly of the Christian Inter-confessional Council of the Community of Independent States and Baltic Countries, Metropolitan Hilarion said that to deal successfully with the population problem, the Church and other religious communities, the state, and the mass media and artists should unite their efforts. Demographers have estimated that Russia’s population has been declining at about 0.5 percent per year, or about 750,000 to 800,000 people per year during the late 1990s and most of the 2000s. The drop is due to the aging of Russia’s population, below-replacement birth rate, and staggeringly high rates of abortion. A UN report warned that Russia will lose about a third of its population by 2050 unless the current trends are halted. ...