[Beliefnet, “Crunchy Cons”; July 27, 2007]
On July 26, 2007, Rod Dreher posted on his blog on Beliefnet.com, “Crunchy Cons,” the piece in the current Again Magazine about our from Anglican to Orthodox. He asked people to write in telling what triggered them to leave a church or a belief, or what caused them to decide to stay despite difficulties.
********
Thanks, Rod, for posting this and launching a strong conversation.
Daniel, thanks for this: «Why, after 16 years, does Matthews-Green still talk about her difference with the Episcopal church and use it as a way to covert people to her little corner of Orthodoxy? »
[Ancient Faith Radio; July 26, 2007]
This shopping mall, Arundel Mills Mall, is one (I think) of
a national chain of malls, the Mills malls.
All of them are made up of a lot of discount stores. We’ve got a discount Saks 5th Avenue, a discount
Neiman Marcus; there’s always an Outdoor World, I can see that over there. There’s a Bed Bath & Beyond, a, what’s it
called? Birmingham
Coat Factory? That doesn’t sound right. Burlington! Burlington Coat
Factory. So it’s a big mall; it’s built
in a circular shape so as you walk around it, I think it’s a whole mile if you
walk all the way around the circuit. And
it’s a great place for people to come with kids because you can walk, it’s air
conditioned, it’s warm in the winter.
And as you go along, there are different, kind of, themes, as you go
from section to section. Right now, you
might be able to hear this electronic sound of a cricket overhead. And there goes a loon or something. This section here is supposed to be like,
you’re out in a marsh and there are giant dragonflies and butterflies hanging
overhead and a bench – a sort of circular thing to sit on – that’s a great big
water lily.
[Again; Summer 2007}
Frederica: After 15 years in Orthodoxy, we can reflect on how our journey in Christ has been shaped by the transition from the Episcopal Church. Our joint story began when we met in college as non-believers, contemptuous of Christianity; we were married and then came to the Lord in fairly miraculous ways. God has always kept us united in faith. We attended Episcopal seminary, and Fr. Gregory was ordained, while Frederica, raised the kids and taught childbirth classes. During these years, from the mid-seventies through the late eighties, we were happy in the Episcopal Church.
[Precipice Magazine, July 2007]
1.) Can you offer some insight about how the Orthodox Church understands evangelism? Do you feel that, overall, that it is considered a priority when compared with Protestant Evangelicalism?
The Orthodox Church has a beautiful history of evangelism — but, unfortunately, it is largely history. A factor we tend to forget, which has made the path of Eastern Christianity so different from that of the West, is that for the most part they have not been free. Many Orthodox lands have been under Muslim rule for over a millennium, virtually since Islam began.
[Ancient Faith Radio; July 5, 2007]
Frederica: Here I am in the Shakespeare Garden, of the—what’s
it called? The Portland
–
Kh. Krista: The Portland
International Rose Garden.
Frederica: The Portland International Rose Garden, in
Portland, Oregon. Which is
gorgeous. It’s on the side of a
mountain, part of the Cascade Range, Krista was telling me, and you can stand
at the top and look down the terraces, and it’s just roses and roses and roses. We’re in a little tucked-away corner that’s
the Shakespearean garden; not too many roses here, but all the flowers are named
after characters in Shakespeare. So this
is a nice quiet place to be. I’m here
with Krista West, Khouria Krista West, the wife of Father Alban West, who is
the pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Portland, and her daughter Nora, and her
daughter Zuzu, both of whom are sketching at this moment. Krista’s probably known to many listeners as
a liturgical seamstress and as an expert in liturgical vestment history. You gave a speech about this recently at Holy
Cross Seminary in Boston, didn’t you?
[National Review Online, June 29, 2007]
My companion at the screening of Pixar’s new animation feature, “Ratatouille,” pronounced this “the best movie I’ve ever seen.” Granted, she’s only six years old, and might not have seen as many movies as you have. But she’s seen virtually every great animated movie since the genre began, from Disney’s 1937 “Snow White” till today. I think the little lady knows what she’s talking about.
[Ancient Faith Radio; June 28, 2007]
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Frederica: I’m sitting here with my friend, Father Gregory
Czumack, who’s the pastor of Four Evangelists Ukrainian Orthodox Mission, in
Bel Air, MD, near the Pennsylvania
border. And feeling light and joyous and
teary-eyed because we just had my confession here in the icon corner of my
living room. And I asked Father Gregory
if we could talk for just a few minutes, if he could tell me what it’s like to
be a confessor. It was something you
were saying then, as we finished the prayers, about what a privilege it feels
like, and of course for laypeople, when we look at priests and we think about
hearing confessions, we think you must be very depressed about the state of the
human race, or you must hear things that just make you furious at people, and
we sort of project those ideas onto the clergy.
What is it like to actually be hearing confessions?
[National Review Online; June 22, 2007] On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped on the streets of Karachi, Pakistan. Some weeks later a horrifying videotape arrived, documenting that he had been beheaded. In those intervening days, his wife Mariane and a team of friends and investigators tried desperately to find him, adding up the scarce clues that might enable them to save his life. It was nightmarish in a way we can hardly imagine. “A Mighty Heart” gives us a 100-minute tour of that nightmare.
[Ancient Faith Radio; June 21, 2007]
Frederica: I’m sitting here on the sofa in the blue room in
my house with my son Stephen, who has a red wristband on that says
‘Bonnaroo.’ Does it say ‘Bonnaroo 07’ or
just ‘Bonnaroo?’ 2007. And on the other
sofa is Jocelyn, I think fast asleep.
Yeah, she’s fast asleep. They’re
exhausted because last night at this time they were just getting in the car to
leave the Bonnaroo music festival and they had an 11-hour drive and have done
laundry and a number of other things in between. Steve, when was the first time you and
Jocelyn went to Bonnaroo?
[Review of Faith and International Affairs; Summer 2007]“It was during this part that the majority of us tried to kill ourselves.”
They buried my spiritual father last November. I have never seen a body in a casket look so not-there; the indistinct pale husk he left behind looked like something a breeze could lift up and carry away. It was the contrast, I suppose. Few people in life are as radiant and vigorous as Fr. George Calciu, or as full of joy. He was a few days short of his 81st birthday, still full-time pastor of a church in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, still traveling world-wide to those who sought him as a teacher and spiritual father, still diligently reaching out to the poor and unchurched around him.
