preparations for holy week

this photo a flash from the past. epiphany dance 1996. Last night was the final pre-sanctified liturgy. Lazarus called from the tomb our Lord called him forth and directly the burial clothes loosed. Today off to prepare the church for palm sunday. the kids are tidying up the yard for pascha. they are doing a great job of cooperating!!!

Pre-scantified Liturgy Just Pray

'The Light of the world illumines all.'  I took the helm for the chanting again last night. I have come to enjoy and more importantly appreciate the significance of the pre sanctified service. The extended vesperal/liturgy gives time for me to be fully engaged for an extended period. The chanting is slowing coming together and by the last one (this Fri.) I'll have gotten the nuts and bolts of the service. Of course then Lent will be over.
When I asked my beloved son, Stavro, how the service went he said he 'like it'. When I inquired about the chanting in particular (my chanting) his reply was simply explained with three short words 'it needs work'. To which I replied 'which parts'?  To which he answered in a very matter of fact way, 'all of it'.  

Thanks for keeping it real. I know I have improved some but far be it from Stavro to discern this even minor improvement. One more on Friday then Holy Week is upon us. 

run forest run (farther)

Just a quick note: I have been running. As I've stated before I would not discuss running until I accumulated some miles in my sneakers. I have the aching bones to prove it and the natural decluttering of my mind. I can't believe holy week is almost upon us.

Venice: Lausanne doesn’t limit Bartholomew’s title

Venice: Lausanne doesn’t limit Bartholomew’s title

An advisory body to the Council of Europe has stated that it sees no reason, either factual or legal, including the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, for Turkish authorities not to address the Fener Greek patriarch by his historical and generally recognized title, which is “ecumenical.”

“As regards the right of the Orthodox Patriarchate to use the title ‘ecumenical,’ the Commission holds that any interference with this right would constitute a violation of the autonomy of the Orthodox Church under Article 9 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights],” an opinion paper penned by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters composed of independent legal experts, said. Article 9 of the ECHR covers freedom of thought, conscience and religion. “The Commission notes that there is no indication that Turkish authorities prevent the Patriarchate from using this title and that Turkish authorities are under no positive obligation to themselves use this title. The Commission nevertheless fails to see any reason, factual or legal, for the authorities not to address the Ecumenical Patriarchate by its historical and generally recognised title,” the paper said.

The Opinion on the Legal Status of Religious Communities in Turkey and the Right of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Istanbul to use the Adjective “Ecumenical,” was penned upon a request from the president of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in April 2009. It was adopted during a plenary session held in Venice on March 12-13.

Ankara rejects Patriarch Bartholomew’s use of the title “ecumenical,” or universal, arguing instead that the patriarch is merely the spiritual leader of İstanbul’s dwindling Greek Orthodox community. The Fener Greek Patriarchate in İstanbul dates back to the 1,100-year-old Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453.

Turkish officials argue that Turkey doesn’t consider the patriarchate to be ecumenical in line with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which governs the status of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey. The Venice Commission noted that the basis for the Turkish authorities and the Supreme Court of Appeals’ denial of the ecumenical nature of the Patriarchate seems at least in part the Treaty of Lausanne, which was concluded in 1923 between the Republic of Turkey on the one hand and the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and the Serb-Croat-Slovene state.

“The argument appears to be that the Patriarchate was only allowed to remain in Istanbul on the condition that it would shed its ecumenical status. This argument cannot be supported for several reasons,” it said, listing those reasons: “First, even assuming that there was a conflict between the ECHR and the provisions of the Lausanne Treaty the latter does not prevail over the first … Second, there is nothing on the ‘ecumenical’ nature of the Patriarchate in the provisions of the treaty itself, which do not mention the Patriarchate at all … Third, recourse to the preparatory work of the Lausanne Treaty or the circumstances of its conclusion as supplementary means of interpretation (Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) do not lead to a different conclusion.” The commission concluded, “The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne therefore in no way limits the right of the Patriarchate to use the title ‘ecumenical’.”

17 March 2010, Wednesday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA

Peter Tutko Mocks Archbishop Dmitri

With his fained charisma and deception Archpriest Peter Tutko mocked Archbishop Dmitri . For decades the snake that is peter tutko used his friendship and the moral fiber and basic decency of Archbishop Dmitri to blindside the heirarch to the unholy reality. Still waiting for action from the OCA local deanery laughable.

cbs reporting

Watch CBS News Videos Online

English Subtitles:DEAD, NAKED, UNBURIED

champions heros defenders

Elgreca's Road to 34220 The Phanar District

ON Earth IN Heaven

My Brothers for Our Mother

My People Byzantine Hymnography

Mastery on any subject takes extensive study and practice. It requires a trustworthy guide to show the pitfalls and summits.

Kosovo The Reality

Kosovo | Can you Imagine?, Косово | Можете ли да замислите? from Владимир Чановић on Vimeo.

We have wives and are beset with social cares...

St. John of the Ladder gives the following advice for those living in the world:

Saint John of the Ladder Climacus
The Ladder Of Divine Ascent

Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me: "We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life?"

I replied to them: "Do all the good you can; do not speak evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not hate anyone; do not be absent from Divine Services; do not offend anyone; do not wreck another man's domestic happiness, and be content with what your own wives can give you. If you behave in this way, you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven."

Cronyism, Nepotism and Hypocrisy Kills

“Clergy Sexual Abuse is no more about 'sex', than the Bataan Death March was about ‘marching’.“

"The funeral was closed casket.

We were grateful for the many seminarians who drove out through a blizzard

 to come to his funeral."

http://www.pokrov.org/resource.asp?ds=Article&id=455&sSrch=iliff&sType=Articles

When you think of clergy sexual abuse, people often think of older adults and young children. However, a couple from Bloomington says their son would have been 26 last week, but Eric Iliff never made it because he said he was abused at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York. They say the scars he suffered never healed.

Eric took his own life at a Normal hotel last March, surrounded by family photos and a Bible. His parents consider that a sign that he never lost faith.

Administrators removed Father Timothy Blumentritt from his position once Eric told them he was abused. He was later defrocked by the Church.

However, Eric struggled with the fact he signed an agreement that never acknowledged publicly what happened to him.

Monica Iliff says family and friends questioned how it could happen.

John Iliff says they knew Eric was depressed, but he wishes they had probed deeper, sooner. He says now it's like living a bad Lifetime movie.

The Iliffs are considering whether to refile a lawsuit that was dismissed because a judge ruled it can be resubmitted. St. Vladimir's Chancellor, Father Chad Hatfield, would not comment on the abuse but said those at the seminary continue to pray for Eric and his family.

Orthodox Christian Eric Laid To Eternal Rest

Eric Joseph Kokosinski Iliff

1981 Oct 11 - 2007 Mar 13
Eric in his own words: "Chris,

I think you are possibly not recognizing the subtle difference between to the two terms "chaste" and "celibate." For the purpose of our discussion here, into which I'm injecting myself, the two terms are quite different. Celibacy denotes no genital contact whatsoever, whether married or not, whether gay or straight, etc. However, chaste is a much more subtle concept I believe. It denotes temperate contenance within one's life, which involves the moral lifestyle within which one lives.

Therefore, I agree with you, celibacy as a gay Christian is a choice, as many out gay Catholic priests could attest, for instance. BUT, but, but, chastity should be what ALL Christians strive for and ultimately all fall short of because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

If I haven't been clear or explicit enough, chastity would involve directing one's heart towards God with all one's senses, not just the genitals. One's eyes, hands, mouth ("Set a guard before my mouth, O Lord"), etc. would all be involved in chastity. While celibacy is something more narrow, which is why you might have balked at it as many gay Christians do. It involves "holy aloneness" before God, and isn't to be despised. The former is a universal calling for all Christians, gay or straight, while the latter is a more specific calling of a few. Some other Christians would disagree with what I've said, saying ALL gay Christians must be celibate and this might have been what you were reacting to. I don't advocate that, nor do I think Peter was, in fact I'm sure he doesn't.

Peter, I agree with you that many gay persons have been burnt by the universal call to celibacy and feel this is as unnatural as their homosexuality is believed to be. One could easily argue that human beings, good'ol  homosapiens need human companionship, whether gay, straight or anything else. They react with some level, sometimes total, moral ambiguity about holiness or chastity within gay relationships for reasons we may not agree with but certainly can try and understand and empathize with. Such reasons are that it is darn difficult to sort through these issues of celibacy, chastity and much moreover, just what does chastity mean within a gay relationship? These processes, for lack of a better term, I believe are at the core of why so many formerly churched and believing Christians leave their churches, and worse, leave their faith in Jesus Christ when they come to terms with their homosexuality.

We must attempt to understand as best we can why these things happen and empathize with Christian love, thereby sending the message that the gay Christian is still loved by God and loved by their fellow Christian, gay or straight.

I will stop here and I hope that I've made some sense through my "stream of consciousness." Thanks for reading.

Your servant,
Eric

Is Greece the new American Standard?

(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Published - Mar 10 2010 08:01PM EST
By TOM RAUM - Associated Press Writer

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, right, talks with Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, in Washington.
WASHINGTON -- Greece is a financial basket case, begging for international help. Is America heading down that same road?

Many of the same risky financial practices that now imperil the Greeks were at the center of the all-too-recent U.S. meltdown. As with Greece, America's national debt has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp overall economic output. And in the U.S., as in Greece, a large portion of that debt is owed to foreign investors.
Not good, if these debt holders begin to wonder if they'll be paid back. A foreign flight from U.S. Treasury securities could sow financial chaos in the United States, as happened when many investors lost faith in Greek bonds.
It's something that could affect all Americans. The U.S. has never defaulted on a debt, and even the hint of such a possibility could send interest rates soaring and choke off a fragile recovery. How long can the United States remain the world's largest economy as well as the world's largest debtor?
"Not indefinitely," suggests former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. "History tells us that great powers when they've gotten into very significant fiscal problems have ceased to be great powers."
After all, Spain dominated the 16th century world, France the 17th century and Great Britain much of the 18th and 19th before the United States rose to supremacy in the 20th century.
"Unless we do things dramatically different, including strengthening our investments in research and education, the 21st century will belong to China and India," suggests Norman Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin who chaired a 2009 bipartisan commission studying the nation's top challenges.
The Greek government has taken stiff austerity steps in an effort to get a lifeline from the European Union, sparking strikes and violent demonstrations.
Some of the same risky strategies used by U.S. hedge funds and other professional investors in a failed effort to profit from subprime mortgages in this country -- and which led to the 2008 financial near-collapse -- are now being employed by those betting that Greece will default on its debt.

1st black woman elected to the the S.C. Legislature: hailed as a trailblazer, Goggins, died alone freezing

(AP Photo/File) Published - Mar 10 2010 06:31PM EST

By SEANNA ADCOX - Associated Press Writer

FILE - Juanita Goggins is seen in a 1974 file photo in Rock Hill, S.C. Goggins was the first black woman elected to the the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, and was hailed as a trailblazer at the time. Three decades later, Goggins died alone and freezing in the home she rented for 16 years, just four miles from the gleaming Statehouse dome.

COLUMBIA, S.C.— When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House.

Three decades later, she froze to death at age 75, a solitary figure living in a rented house four miles from the gleaming Statehouse dome.

Goggins, whose achievements included key legislation on school funding, kindergarten and class size, had become increasingly reclusive. She spent her final years turning down help from neighbors who knew little of her history-making past. Her body was not discovered for more than a week.

Those neighbors, as well as former colleagues and relatives, are now left wondering whether they could have done more to help."I'm very saddened. People like her you want to see live forever. She had quite a gift for helping others," said state Sen. John Land, a fellow Democrat who was first elected to the House the same year as Goggins.

Goggins, the youngest of 10 children, grew up the daughter of a sharecropper in rural Anderson County, about 130 miles northwest of the capital. She was the only sibling to earn a four-year college degree. Her bachelor's in home economics from then-all-black South Carolina State College was followed by a master's degree.

She taught in the state's segregated schools, married a dentist and got into politics. In 1972, she became the first black woman to represent South Carolina as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Two years later, she became the first black woman appointed to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

"I am going to Columbia to be a legislator, not just a black spot in the House chambers," she told The Associated Press in 1974 following her victory over an incumbent white man from a district just south of Charlotte, N.C.

Voters "were weary of poor representation. They were ready to accept a person who was sincere and concerned about things. Those feelings go beyond color," Goggins said.

She sat on the powerful House budget-writing committee and was responsible for funding sickle-cell anemia testing in county health departments.

Hitler Uses Turkish Playbook

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Armenian Genocide Recognized

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives today (March 4, 2010) endorsed a resolution calling for Washington's recognition of World War I-era killings of as many as one and one-half million Armenians during the last days of the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."

Turkey immediately condemned the U.S. congressional vote labeling the 1915 killings of Armenians as "genocide" and recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations.
The resolution now heads to a floor vote at the House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- a Democrat who supports the resolution -- will decide if or when it will come to a floor vote.
Today's endorsement of the congressional resolution could jeopardize Turkey's ties with both the United States and Armenia, according to the Hurriyet Daily News (Turkish) website.
Posted by George Patsourakos at 2:40 PM