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Several weeks ago, in the midst of writing a paper, I read a book by a fourth century bishop, Palladius, titled Dialogue on the Life of St. John Chrysostom. Written between 406 and 408, it is constructed as a dialogue between the bishop and a Deacon of Rome, Theodore. Palladius was a steadfast defender of St. John, and was present during much of the turmoil in Constantinople during the saint’s first and second depositions. One of the criticisms of the saint was that he was not particularly hospitable, and ordinarily ate alone. Apparently, bishops were expected to amuse one and all, and the Archbishop was thought to be improperly standoff-ish. Palladius defended him at great length, and on a number of grounds. Of interest to us today, on the very cusp of the Great Fast, is Paladius’ discourse on moderation and abstinence, using Old Testament figures to illustrate his contention that virtue is found in moderation and self-denial, rather than in groaning tables and plenty.
What evil is not to be found as a result of excessive eating and drinking? There are diseases, quarrels, upset stomach and the rest of ills. When was Eve dispelled from Paradise? Was it not when she partook of the fruit of the tree at the advice of the serpent, not being satisfied with the available food? When did Cain commit the terrible sin of fratricide? Was it not when he was the first to partake of the firstfruits, keeping them for himself in his greediness? When did the children of Job suddenly find their table a grave? Was it not when they were eating and drinking. When did Esau lose the blessing? Was it not when he became a slave to his belly, outwitted by a trick? When was Saul deprived of his kingdom? Was it not when he consumed the finest of his sheep, going against the law? When did the people of Israel provoke their God to anger? Was it not when they yearned after the tables of Egypt and begged the teacher for meat and caldrons? Now, as regards Hophni and Phineas, the sons of Eli, why were they killed in one hour of war? Was it not because they used to take meat intended for sacrifice out of the caldron with flesh-hooks? What of Jacob, the blameable, why did he ‘kick’? Was it not after he had grown ‘fat and thick and gross’? When did the ancients lose the principle of moderation anyhow? Was it not about the time when they had grown old on their couches? The prophet bitterly complains: ‘Those who eat lambs out of the flock and sucking claves out of the stalls, who drink strained wine, and anoint themselves with the finest ointments, and they are not grieved over the affliction of Joseph.’
There is a great deal more, and Palladius does not neglect the New Testament example of Lazarus and the rich man.
There are innumerable aspects to the Fast, but the words of Palladius give us another thought to ponder on in the days to come.
Incidentally, let it be said: if anyone thinks we live in a time of turmoil and difficulty in the Church, let him (or her) read Palladius. He describes a great number of evils, ranging from the sale of episcopacies to venal hatreds. The terrible climax occurs as St. John is exiled for the final time. A troop of soldiers seeking him raided a vigil during which women are being baptized on Great and Holy Saturday. Priests and deacons were beaten, consecrated gifts were spilled and trampled and panicked women were forced to flee naked from the Church, threatened by death and dishonor. A quick reading of Palladius will send each of us to our knees in thanks that we live in such benign times, as least insofar as the Church is concerned.
A more mature, calmer mind would suggest that perhaps God is trying to tell me something. It is entirely possible, although being dim-witted is one of my more enduring characteristics.
To sketch out the story: Ancient Church used to reside at www.evlogeite.com. A week or so ago, I used fantastico to upgrade to the latest version of WP, being v. 2.1. Somehow, something went terribly wrong. First, the blog was replaced by a page announcing a database error. I missed that for several days because I was off elsewhere, not paying attention, until a friend pointed out gently that things were amiss. So last night, I got on the phone with tech support at the hosting service, and we (or they, I guess) worked on it until almost three this morning. At the same time, I was trying to describe my problem on the WP support forums, but was not very sucessful in expressing my quandry. In the end, the verdict was mixed, but still unmistakeable: my web host said it was a WP problem. At WP, the opinion seemed to be otherwise. I think it is a host problem, or maybe fantastico, but I am ignorant. A more technologically astute person could probably fix matters, but I am not that person.
This will make the third time the blog has moved. A reasonable observer would suggest that perhaps I should become a luddite, and give the whole thing a miss. Yet even though I do a poor job of keeping the blog current, the terrible truth is that I enjoy it. Olga suggested long ago that I was an attention hog (actually, her phrasing was less polite), and maybe that is true. Beats me. But here I am for another go-around.
My wife, very logically, asked me why I am now setting up shop again with WordPress, given that the prior crash might have been a WP related difficulty. It is a good question, but I like WordPress, truth be told, and the idea of starting completely over learning a new program was painful. Plus, I reasoned that if a problem developed with WordPress, what better place to have it than here at the WordPress site?
So, here is the plan:
1. Ancient Church will move here. Unfortunately, because our e-mail is tied to evlogeite, and because WordPress.com doesn’t provide e-mail services, the url for the blog will change. Sometime over the next few days the url for this blog will become http://www.ancientchurch.net. Until then — or even after that, I suppose — you can use the url assigned by WordPress: https://minorclergy.wordpress.com.
2. On the old blog I had a section for Orthodox writers. I think I have managed to retrieve all of those files, and will be putting up a second blog here that will contain nothing but writing by Orthodox writers. As I get that set up I will give the url for that blog. If you have something you would like to submit, please do so!
Enough of housekeeping matters. Remember what is important. Tomorrow is Forgiveness Sunday! Don’t miss it. Go to Church!
My usual pattern has returned. I write feverishly for a short period of time, and then disappear. No warning, no fare thee well, I just disappear. Really, I am ashamed of myself. As always, though, I have an excuse. Several actually. Try these: my sister kept me from writing. The dog ate my blog. (He would, you know.) Space aliens borrowed my laptop.
Actually, the excuse is a familiar one. Having reveled in the joy of ordination and Christmas, it suddenly struck me that classes resume shortly, and I’ve got a test and a paper. Whoops. Time to get to work. On the plus side, though, I’m happy to report that last Sunday was the first liturgy since my ordination where I finally felt like I was engaged in worship, as opposed to worrying over what I was supposed to do next. Thank goodness for that.
But, by way of making amends, here are some interesting tidbits:
1. Loading the ipod for Lent: I ran across a truly amazing resource today, especially if Carpatho-Russian prostopinije is a part of your liturgical music tradition. It is for my diocese, of course, and also for a sizeable portion of the OCA. At the St. Nicholas Retreat for Deacons, subdeacons and readers in December, Metropolitan Nicholas arranged for Prof. Michael Thompson, who runs the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Cantor Institute in Pittsburgh, to come and talk to us about a very extensive rewriting they have just finished of the pew book for their churches. The cultural, political and historical reasons for the split between the Orthodox and the Byzantine Catholics in Carpatho-Rus is simply too complicated to relate briefly, but for our purposes, just keep one thing in mind: a little judicious editing of the commemorations, and the music is identical.
So I was excited to find today that the Institute has put up on its web page very fine recordings of all of the music in their new pewbook. There are a huge number of files – ‘Down them all’ reported 743 mp3s. This includes music for the Divine Liturgy (including, I think, 21 settings for the Cherubic Hymn), St. Basil’s Liturgy, vespers, matins, feast days and many saints. Much of the sheet music is also on the site, or will be soon. For someone who deals with liturgical music, as a choir member or director, or altar server, this is a wonderful resource. For people who just enjoy liturgical music, this will be a blessing.
2. His Eminence speaks in French: A week or so ago I posted Metropolitan Nicholas’ very forceful and excellent pastoral letter on abortion. A reader in Belgium, Jean-Michel, undertook to translate the epistle into French and post it on his blog, Saint Materne. I know just enough French to get into trouble, so I was very happy to see Vladyka’s words translated for an audience in Europe. I was also very interested in a photograph that Jean-Michel sent me. It shows him reading the Gospel in his parish. The practice is to proclaim the Gospel in Greek, after which Jean-Michel will read it in French. I have not been in a great many Greek churches in North America, but I think the same kind of thing is done with readings in Greek and English.
3. If only Alan Greenspan were Orthodox: I also received an e-mail from another reader, Steve Balestra, who is an economist, and also Orthodox. He has written an essay on economics which is infused with his faith, and is a very, very interesting read. I commend it to you. Whether you agree with it or not, I think it is highly important that we consciously seek to meld our faith and our profession. I have been putting a lot of thought into the practice of law in that regard, although without any thoughts coherent enough to write. Steve also writes a blog that is addressed to economic issues. Unfortunately, he probably thinks I have just been ignoring him. Steve, see lame excuses above and select one. And then please accept my apology.
Back to the salt mines. Hopefully, though, I will be back to writing soon. I’m making some real headway here!
This is very bad, of course, and completely unauthorized, but imagine along with me.
I ran across this today while looking for something else. It is an old church in my county, for sale for just under $120,000. It has about an acre of land, and as the listing says “There is an old church structure that features elmwood interior and is useable.” Unfortunately, it has no water and no facilities, hence this remarkable architecture:
So clearly right off the bat you would need a well and some manner of facilities. But just imagine: here, in my county, with no Orthodox church closer than a two hour drive, what if someone was to clean the place up, erect a proper cross on top of the building, put a sign out front and a listing in the church directory in the local paper, and just started grinding out whatever services could be had. What would the Lord send? I imagine asking to name it after St. Cyril and/or St/ Methodius. If they could enlighten the Slavs, southern Appalachia ought to be a snap. Just imagine…
Ancient Church 