Episcopal Assembly on Abortion

I am not a fan of the Episcopal Assembly. I have always thought it a red-herring in order to derail any true efforts at unity in North America to place it under Black Bart. Arguments can and are made about the EA even from it's own members. However once in a awhile, they do something that restores my faith in the local espicopate. This joint statement is one of those things that show there are actual Orthodox bishops at least on this issue. Read it here.

Help Met. Jonah

It's currently -7 F (-30 with wind chill) in MN right now. But it's still not as cold as the way the OCA Synod is treating Met. Jonah. Here is an email I've received.

Dear Fellow Orthodox Christian,   The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) requested Metropolitan Jonah be released to ROCOR from the OCA more than a month ago. The OCA Synod has yet to release +Jonah, even after the Synod's letter accused +Jonah of being unfit for the OCA.  In addition, the OCA has stopped providing a salary to +Jonah.   I am asking you to do two things TODAY to assist +Jonah, as the OCA Synod meets in 7 days.   1.  Write a letter to the OCA Synod and Metropolitan Tikhon kindly asking that the OCA Synod release Metropolitan Jonah to ROCOR. The address is: Metropolitan Tikhon and the OCA Synod, c/o St. Nicholas Cathedral, 3500 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20007   2.  Write a letter to Archbishop Justinian of the Moscow Patriarchate asking that a.  He speaks to the OCA Synod and asks them to release +Jonah to ROCOR, and b.  if the OCA does not release +Jonah, that +Justinian asks Patriarch Kirill to mercifully accept +Jonah into the Moscow Patriarchate. The address is: Archbishop Justinian, c/o St. Nicholas Cathedral, 15 East 97th St, New York, NY 10029   Finally, if you are interested in supporting Metropolitan Jonah's ministries, a charitable organization has been established. You can send a check to: Holy Archangels Orthodox Foundation, 3027 Foxhall Rd NW, Washington DC, 20016 If you have any questions about the foundation, you can email mpswezey@comcast.net to find out more information.   Let us NEVER forget what was unjustly done to Metropolitan Jonah and let us all work to come to a Christian resolution to this sad chapter in the OCA.   In Christ, George Evanisko  

Fr. Enoch on ROCOR-MP WRV

I sure hope Fr. Enoch will be wrong in the end. It's what I fear.

Gonna Buy a Gun? Don't yet.

Thanks for the advice Iggy. He and the other Cavemen know more about guns than I do. I haven't fired one since Boys Scouts.



REDNECK REFLECTIONS: Gonna Buy a Gun?

The Atkins diet and Orthodoxy

Though I'm in really good shape thanks to the American Shorin Ryu Federation I still have some chub in the abdomen that not even 120 sit-ups a night (twice a week during an intense cardio workout) would erase. My returning to school to get retrained has cut down in my karate training. During Lents I usually put myself and the TW on a fruit/smoothie diet. This time we're trying the Atkins Diet which means for the induction period (at least two weeks) you completely erase carbohydrates from your diet and don't even touch bread. This also means i have all this beer and wine that isn't getting drunk, and today a coworker bought us all doughnuts at the spa, and I didn't have one. That's impossible at Church. The Eucharist is always bread and wine, which are two things you avoid in the Atkins diet. Great Lent is coming and that's makes it even more difficult. By then we'll be past the induction period and may or may not get our protein from Fast approved sources. It depends on how we're looking. This just reaffirms what I've always known about Orthodoxy: nothing is ever easy.

Some recent beer you should try

I recommend the following: Chimney Sweep by Schells brewery (Smoke porter), Backwoods Bastard by Founders (Scotch Ale aged in bourbon barrels) and this one by Clown Shoes which name I forget.

Dave's Brew Farm

If you live in the area, their beer is delicious. Especially the "Matacabras."

http://davesbrewfarm.blogspot.com/

Where to begin in this war?

I swear Iggy and I aren't the same person, though if things keep going the way they're going, we'll either be cell mates in concentration camps diversity training, or leaders of our own tribes in the Zombie Apocalypse. Between the two of us, we got the survival skills.

REDNECK REFLECTIONS: The Problem is a basic Lack of Structure

Other people I like in general in addition to Copts

Homebrewers, the humble, Saints, martial artists, Traditionalist minded Catholics, Russians, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs, Ethiopians...ok all Orthodox minded people whether Chalcedonian or not, bakers, Good Samaritans, people who let my in in traffic, Renfest/SCA types, Libertarians, people who like to keep in shape, Nature lovers, Zoo people, Show people, WWE type wrestling fans, people who can cook, handy people, builders, mechanics, survivalist types, Atheists like Penn Gillette who don't mind me praying in front of them, Western Rite lovers or at least tolerate it, down-to-earth people, people who work for a living, people who hate Big Government, people who call government stealing what it is: stealing, Monastics, history buff's, bakers, court reporters, forest rangers, military types, kids, people who live a moral life even if they aren't Christian, people who don't steal or wrong me and justify it, and people who don't judge people who aren't in communion with them, and every combination thereof.

But the people whom I like the most, are those who are either like Christ, or try very hard to be so whether or not they are aware of it.

I like Copts.

I like Copts, their Church and everything they do; with the exception of being Non-Chalcedonian. They are some of the sweetest people I've ever met and I pray for their deliverance. It breaks my heart to see such cruelty done to them. Ecumenism isn't a bad word when it's real ecumenism. Copts are always welcome in this blog, and in my section of the Church where ever I'm standing, and to my beer.


Journey To Orthodoxy: When Ecumenism Is Not A Bad Word

Spring Semster 2013

Monday I'm back in school getting trained in something to do with the legal profession, and that means my blogging will be sporadic, and brief. If I find a good beer, see a movie or TV show, attend a service, or have anything to share; I will.

There will also be some gradual changes in this blog, due to they trying to get me to pursue Holy Orders in the Western Rite Vicarite. If I'm feeling suicidal I'll go through with it. That would make me an even bigger target. I'm already one for being an Orthodox Christian who opposes the immorality of Leftism and Statism, in a country that steadily embraces both and discards the Constitution and Judeo-Christian values upon which it was based; I'm one also for being a Libertarian; I'm a target for pointing out the blatant inconsistencies of bishops of World Orthodoxy and Imperial Orthodox (the biggest vitriol I usually get from the "Official Orthodox"; and I'd be another if I were a Western Vicarite clergyman in the territory of a certain bishop who is hostile to it (that IS putting it mildly). That wouldn't be for a few years, and who knows? I did pray for that bishop when I got to see the Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Theotokos; so maybe Our Lady may melt his heart. I really don't know what he and people like him are so afraid of.

So there may be pictures too of my various adventures and of people I've met and things I've seen. I have this blog mainly for informational purposes, and something in my spare-time, which will be nill for the next four months. I suggest you frequent much better blogs like Monomakhos, Byzantine ,TX and such. Or if this stops being fun, I'll just S-can it.

Oh, I just took the time to read the blogs of some people I respect: one in particular of a fellow former Antiochian who left for Old Calendarism (I am loathe to use "True Orthodoxy" because I consider myself a True Orthodox in that I do what I'm supposed to do and reject ecumenism, the WCC, Christmation only and the widespread corruption in so many World Orthodox jurisdictions I could mention...not that there aren't problems in the Old Calendarists either) and maybe I haven't seen the articles, but I fail to see any claims of being a prophet, other than a cartoon. I also don't care. I also don't see any vitriol and idle talk on his part. What do I see is self-appointed "Defenders of Orthodoxy" personally attacking him, his family, and engaging in unchristian, unkind, and petty name-calling INSTEAD OF refuting what he writes. Yes jurisdiction hopping can be a symptom of a greater problem (see Gregory George). But then again I've been part of many jurisdictions myself: the unorthodox one in which I was raised; then Antioch at home, Bulgaria at the mum-in-laws; then OCA on a trial basis at home, ROCOR at the mum-in-laws (had no choice-my Hieromonk got deposed over something LONG ago and had already repented of); and now mostly ROCOR WRV at home with once a month visits to OCA, and ROCOR at mum-in-laws. I don't officially belong anywhere. I am officially NOT in Antioch or Bulgaria (due to something I didn't do). If I'm not dealing with crooks, I'm dealing with either former communist agents or western rite detractors. I don't know my friend's situation; maybe he had to deal with logistics. But I'll repeat what I just said on his blog: If the way people treat him on his blog is their idea of being an Orthodox Christian; I don't want to be one.

Oh, and anyone who would spend 10 seconds of their time to find out who I am has no life.

MOLON LABE: Come and Get em'!

What goes for Ignorant Redneck (with whom between the two of us can provide for our respective clans in a zombie apocalypse) as usual goes with me! That greek phrase, as I understand, are the words of King Leonidas to the Persians who demanded that he and the other 299 Spartans lay down their weapons and submit.

REDNECK REFLECTIONS: MOLON LABE

Child Prodigies: STOP THEM!

I got sent this article with which I agree 100%. These kids do not have the maturity to deal with a business full of liars, backstabbers and general reprobates; disappointment, setbacks, and failure; and constant self-doubt and working a day job. Case in point: Charlotte Church. Where is she now? Burnt out and dead career.

Here's my favorite part:

NO! No it isn't! Not for an eleven year old girl singing Musetta's Waltz or "O mio babbino caro"! Not okay, not okay! That teacher is either delusional or a hack! Stop singing opera! Stop singing opera! The vocal folds which produce musical tones are a highly delicate, extremely fragile, easily damaged organ. Adult opera singers are at risk of incurring injury from over-use; what chance do you think Shirley Temple Junior has? Think about it. That Tweenie girl singing opera is writing checks her body can't cash, even though, yes, it might sound perfectly lovely to YOUR amateur's ears. You don't get to hear her ten years later when her instrument has degraded to the point that a career in the opera field is no longer an option. And my objections aren't limited to the vocal hazards. Putting a child on television to sing, be it a local, regional, or national audience, is no way to raise a kid. It's even worse when the TV program is in the format of a competition. You do understand that a child with an unusually mature voice still has a child's emotional maturity, don't you? A youngster who has been always been praised for her beautiful voice is swimming with sharks once a Career In Show Business has been launched. Regardless of how much cash is earned, regardless of the fan letters received or the pride felt by the pushy stage-parents, here's what the child faces: * Hurtful, snide criticism by the Simon Cowells of the world. * Losing; losing competitions, losing recording contracts if sales aren't up to snuff; and public rejection for everyone to see, perhaps with TV cameras trained on their faces as someone else's name is announced as the winner, following the trail of tears rolling down their cheeks. Losing an election for class president is a valuable experience; losing a damn singing contest on TV at a young age is traumatic. * Being regarded as a freak by other children their own age * The pressure of doing what they're doing so as not to disappoint the adults in their lives: ambitious parents, the teacher who may be fixated on the vicarious thrill of a student's success; adults with whom they spend most of their time interacting instead of with their chronological peers.

You didn't read the code

First of all, it isn't exactly a National Secret who I am. About 15 people already do, and I usually tell people when I meet them when the subject of blogs come up. Therefore you may stop patting yourselves on the back. It's not like I am clergy or in a position with any Church either. You think I can't speak my mind to people's face? That's the way I prefer to do. EVERYBODY who meets me knows where I stand. I am not officially in any jurisdiction either. Second, I don't read my own blog. I have a life. That's why I didn't notice all the vitriol and idle talk in the comments section which have all been deleted. That's also why it "took me so long" to delete them. I don't read other blogs that much either, therefore I don't know about this prophet stuff. If you have a problem with someone, I suggest you take it up with them and not here. I am not interested in this idle talk. That's why this blog sucks. I just post things that interest me. Fighting on the internet with self-appointed "Defenders of the Faith" who attack anyone who sins against them whom I neither know, nor want to know, does not interest me. Third, from now on, NOBODY will be allowed to comment unless I will it. Who reads this blog anyway?

I will go unto the altar of the Lord.

Alex Jones: You're not helping

I've never heard of Alex Jones, but he obviously, like me and other Constitution loving people, supports our right to have means of defending ourselves from a tyrannical government and those who would try to hurt us. Piers Morgan doesn't support our Constitution, and is openly hostile to it and most of the freedoms we are guaranteed buy it. The word around the campfire is that he's over here because the English are sick of him. Well why stop with the 2nd Amendment? How about taking away our Right to Free Speech and Habeus corpus?

Back to Alex Jones. The place where he lost me was "1776 WILL HAPPEN AGAIN..." You probably noticed from watching the clip that Piers was just sitting there while Jones was bellowing like a pro wrestler on crack. Alex Jones did a big favor for gun-grabbers. This could not have gone better if Piers Morgan had hired an actor to do this for him. Now, thanks to over emotionally involved Alex Jones, ordinary low-information sheep/people are going to look at Alex Jones and sign away our rights.

Go on Youtube and watch Ted Nugent and Jesse Ventura do a much better job. Now if you think the way to act is to be like either Piers Morgan, or Alex Jones: I have no use for you.