Contra Khomiakov

It has often been taken for granted among some popOrthodox apologists that Khomiakov's notion of Sobornost is the normative rule in Orthodox ecclesiology. Not so, say various Orthodox theologians.

Read about it here, and do read the discussion that follows.

Father Hunwicke on Waspish Respectability and Hatred of the Sacrament of Confession

The sexual drive is certainly very, VERY strong. That's why The Rev. Nathaniel Woodard, founder of Lancing College in Sussex, insisted his boys go to confession...to the loathing of the Victorian gentlemen of his day!!!

Read the article here.

Is America Ungovernable?

From The Distributist Review

Otto von Bismark, the 19^th century Iron Chancellor and architect of modern Germany, once remarked that “If you like law and sausages, you shouldn't watch either being made.” One could observe that this is not quite correct; the process of stuffing offal into sausage skins is far less disgusting than that of stuffing bribes into legislators. Still, statute law will always be a matter of negotiations between those who have an interest in the bill at issue. Thus it has always been, and thus it will always be. In itself, this is not too bad; everybody should have a voice in drafting legislation, and compromise, while cumbersome, is likely to be better on the whole.

Democracy is supposed to solve the problem by giving everyone a voice in the process. And this would certainly be true, if we were speaking of a local assembly. But in a nation of 300 million plus, it can't be true; the very size limits the number of voices that can be heard. Hence, a “place at the table” becomes a scarce commodity, and like all scarce commodities it has a market price, a price that prices the public out of the process; as the nation grows, the size of the legislative “table” shrinks; there aren't enough places to go around, and the form of democracy is easily converted into the substance of oligarchy. But even at the local level, government must be guided by some notion of the common good, even when the parties are seeking their own interests. But as the cost of participation rises, this becomes less possible.

Read the rest here

The Great Depression of the Fourteenth Century

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Triumph of Death, 1562

An article by Murray Rothbard, excerpted from An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

in The Ludwig von Mises Institute Blog

The successful battle to establish the fact of the great decline has done little, however, to establish the cause or causes of this debacle. Focus on the devastation caused by outbreaks of the Black Death in the mid-14th century is partially correct, but superficial, for these outbreaks were themselves partly caused by an economic breakdown and fall in living standards which began earlier in the century. The causes of the great depression of western Europe can be summed up in one stark phrase: the newly imposed domination of the State. During the medieval synthesis of the High Middle Ages there was a balance between the power of Church and State, with the Church slightly more powerful. In the 14th century that balance was broken, and the nation-state came to hold sway, breaking the power of the Church, taxing, regulating, controlling and wreaking devastation through virtually continuous war for over a century (the Hundred Years' War, from 1337 to 1453).

SNL on U.S. Debt to China

The writers of Saturday Night Live must be listening to Peter Schiff.

From LRC

This must be the most substantive and the most anti-government sketch in the show’s history.

St. Michael and All Angels

Who is like God?

Icon of spiritual warfare, patron of the chivalric orders, patron saint of paratroopers, fighter pilots and police officers...ora pro nobis!

Do School Vouchers Pass the Anarcho-Libertarian Test?

Read article here

From The Young Fogey: The slippery slope here is the lesson of Notre Dame and other formerly RC colleges which have ‘taken the soup’ (assimilated; sold out to the larger culture): once you hand over control from the bishop to the state to get subsidies (long a goal of the RC schools, still under the bishops... founded to get away from the state and its de facto Protestantism), the state calls the shots on the content. Then there’s the problem nothing to do with the state of the clergy slinking off and joining the enemy.

Episcopacy and Reformation

From Energetic Procession:

First they revered the Episcopate, longed to retain it, and when they found they had lost the Apostolic Succesison, sought earnestly to recover it. It is well known how Luther and Melancthon believed in Episcopacy. Their confession of faith [Augs. pt. 1, art. 22], speaking of bishops, says: ‘The Churches ought necessarily and jure divino to obey them.’ Melancthon wrote : ‘I would to God it lay in me to restore the government of bishops. For I see what manner of Church we shall have, the ecclesiastical polity being dissolved.’ Beza protested [in his treatise against Saravia] : ‘If there be any (which you shall hardly persuade me to believe) who reject the whole order of Episcopacy, God forbid that any man of sound mind should assent to the madness of such men.’ Calvin, in his commentay on Titus (I.5), admits that there was no such thing as ‘the parity of ministry.’ Again he says: ‘If the bishops so hold their dignity, that they refuse not to submit to Christ, no anathama is too great for those who do not regard such a hierarchy with reverence and the most implicity obedience.’

Read the rest here.

The Dormition/Assumption of Our Most Blessed Lady

Hail, thou unwedded Bride!

A Homily by St. Gregory Palamas: On the Dormition of our Supremely Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

The Case for Early Marriage

Bottom line: Biology is telling our young people to get married soon. Society, with its senseless expectation that everyone needs to go to college, is telling them to wait. Add to that the big corporate-inspired mobility that moves families around from place to place, forcing us to reduce the definition of the family as the "nuclear family" (sanz aunts, uncles and cousins) and you have a culture where young couples are estranged from the support of a larger family unit. The answer so far: Preach abstinence. Make virginity pledges. Have chastity balls. Push courtship.

All fine and good, but we still have the central problem: we expect these young people to wait ten, maybe fifteen years, before they can fulfill nature's call for them to marry. The answer? How about early marriage? Does everyone indeed need to go to college? Why not have apprenticeship programs that allow young people to start work and be productive as soon as possible (say, at 18 or 19)?

Maybe the economic slowdown, with peak oil and rising fuel prices, can be good for us, forcing us to live closer to our extended relatives, and providing the support needed for early marriage. If they are not called to a life of celibacy, then we should encourage some of our young people to marry soon, and facilitate, rather than get in the way of, their marriage with unrealistic expectations. That means making it possible for them to make a living that can sustain family life at a much earlier age. This will take the support of family (which will include grandma and grandpa, aunties and uncles, and a plethora of cousins, all living close by), church and community. The question is: Can, and will, our culture make such a transition?

Yes, it will mean early maturity, rather than extended adolescence.

Read the article here

Hat tip: The Young Fogey

Postscript: What might actually mitigate against early marriage is no-fault divorce.

Obamacare: A Distributist Perspective

Can a distributist support HR 3200?

Healthcare and subsidiarity: Local solutions are better.

Donald Goodman at The Distributist Review looks at the pros and cons of the proposed bill.

Are local systems possible? Certainly. The first hospitals in the Western world, of course, were Catholic hospitals, and they treated the poor---and everyone else---for free. In other words, they were operated on a purely charitable basis, generally by religious, who didn't expect payment for their work because they were doing it for the glory of God, not for their own pocketbooks.

Read article here

Tomas Luis de Victoria's Salve Regina

#t=502



Image credit


In honor of our Most Holy, Most Pure, Immaculate Lady Mother of God and Blessed Virgin Mary, the Birth-Giver of our God!

YouTube - Byzantine Chant "Agni Parthene" - Sung by Nana Peradze

YouTube - Byzantine Chant "Agni Parthene" - Sung by Nana Peradze

Eunice Shriver, Requiescat in Pace!

She has been hailed as the "Pro-Life Kennedy." Her work in establishing the Special Olympics, which transformed "America's view of the Mentally Disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes"-in short, full human beings, made in the image of God just like the rest of us-is a resounding testament to her conviction that all human life is sacred and must not only be protected, but celebrated.

May God receive her in His Kingdom, where the faces of the saints shine with the everlasting glory of Him who trampled down death by death.

+Memory Eternal! +Memory Eternal! +May her memory be eternal!

Caritas in Veritate: A Mixed Blessing

Or: "There is no such thing as Catholic (or Orthodox) economics, any more than there is any such thing as Catholic (or Orthodox) physics"-The Young Fogey (parenthetical addition mine)

The recent papal encyclical, I think, is sound. It all depends on how one interprets "society." If by "society" we mean "government," then I must voice my most vehement disagreement. The equation of "society" with "government" is a faulty one, since governments are formed by societies for the peace and well-ordering of citizens, allowing them to engage in their business lawfully and peacefully. Government is a product of society, and not the other way around.

If by "society" we mean the three pillars of civilization-family, faith and community-then I think the encyclical is right on, and could be a boon to the Distributist movement.

Read the whole article here, from The Distributist Review

Fires of Faith: Review of Eamon Duffy's New Book

From Tea at Trainon

Eamon Duffy, author of Stripping of the Altars, offers his alternative interpretation on the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, in contrast to the received "wisdom" of Whig historiography.

Read it here.

Bocaccio's Jew

Image credit

This story from Giovanni Bocaccio's Decameron reminded me of a rhetorical question put by a non-Orthodox blogger in reference to the financial shenanigans going on in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese: "Why would anyone want to join a church like this?"

In the story, the Jew on pilgrimmage to Rome sees the corrutption in the papal court, in all of its unmasked unpleasantness, adn decides to become a Catholic anyway.

Why?

Read about it here, in Leon Podles' blog.

Just substitute the Antiochian Archdiocese, and the answer to the blogger's question becomes clear.

Biretta tip to Arturo Vasquez

The Immorality of Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

Dr. Ron Paul talks about life, liberty, and the pursuit of healthcare. Some gems:

The most basic function of government is to protect life. It is unconscionable that government would enable the taking of it. However this is to be expected when government oversteps its constitutional bounds instead of protecting rights. When government supercedes this very limited role, it cannot help but advance the moral agenda of whoever is in power at the time, at the expense of the rights of others.

Free people should be left alone to follow their conscience and determine their own lifestyle as long as they do not interfere with other people doing the same. If morality is dictated by government, morality will change with every election. Even if you agree with the morality of the current politicians and think their ideas should be advanced, someday different people will inherit that power and use it for their own agendas. The wisdom of the constitution is that it keeps government out of these issues altogether.

From Lew Rockwell

Hat tip: The Young Fogey

Romulus, Remus, Stimulus: A Brief history of Monetary Madness

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Bill Bonner gives an historical account of how stimulus has never, EVER, produced any real prosperity.

From Lew Rockwell

The Alternative Right

by Kevin DeAnna

In my view, the graying boomers who run and staff the current “conservative movement” probably represent the last generation of the Right that can justifiably call itself conservative. The constitutional and laissez-faire republic is long gone, a victim of the world wars, hot and cold. And the traditional Protestant and upright culture that once characterized American society as a whole, as well as the United States’ identity as a Western nation-state, won’t last much longer if present trends continue.

More than that, at a core level, we should ask ourselves seriously, What is there going to be worth conserving in the America of the next generation?
I’ve often thought that we got here because the conservative movement’s fetish about “the state” and the size of government fatally compromised its ability to challenge the left-wing ruling class. Who is a more important question than what, and a political movement that has as its chief concern what level of bureaucracy should handle policy can not accomplish anything important.

In contrast, Daniel McCarthy has argued, in the September 2008 issue of New Guard, that there is an anti-state Right and a national Right concerned about American identity, virtue, and culture. He points out the stupidity of trying to protect American through the government since, “[t]he state is the indispensable means by which the Left carries out its transformation of the country, and government in 21st century America cannot be turned into an instrument of virtue or nationhood.” I’d first counter that there hasn’t been much of a “national Right” in this country to begin with; those “conservatives” most interested in using the state for their ends have been social gospel types, who are as equally invested as the Left and the neocons in the idea of America as a “universal” nation.

But in the end, this debate actually doesn’t matter much—conservatives lost the battle against the state and the Left. Progress is not possible on either front without dismantling the current managerial regime.

Reas the rest in Taki's Magazine

Jobs of Our Own: A New book on Distributism

From The Distributist Review:

A history of distributism is often a short history of a few distributists: Belloc, Chesterton(s), and perhaps a McNabb, a Penty, and other assorted English scribblers. Between the failure of Ditchling and the trauma of World War II, the general impression is that distributism has never actually happened in real life.

Wrong. Mathews shows exactly how distributism has happened and is happening, right in the midst of the real economy.

Read the book review here.

Paving the Road to Hell

To reiterate Serge's matter-of-fact observation, many religious folk don't understand economics.

Rather than a job at a market rate how about no job at all or more people on the dole (the money for which comes from...)? The usual suspects seem to be out in force for this: Modernist RCs (whose average age is at least 60ish by now), self-hating Jews (Jews historically act economically conservative, which is why they made it big time, but vote left) and most of all (as Chris Johnson says) the National Council of Churches People Don’t Go to Any More.

This makes me wish the works of the Salamanca Theologians were required reading in all major seminaries, especially their reflections on economics.

Another biretta tip to The young Fogey

The Other Modern

A crozier for an English abbess and a chalice, both executed in ivory by Fernand Py and featured in Liturgical Arts Quarterly. Image Credit


Innovative approaches to design that nonetheless fell within the bounds of tradition, and sought to expand them in new directions rather than simply forsaking them.

Read article here

From New Liturgical Movement (Novus Motus Liturgicus)

Biretta Tip: The Young Fogey

St. Cyril on Divine Simplicity

An interesting discussion by the good fellows at Energetic Procession on St. Cyril's view of "divine operations". Are these to be viewed as "divine energies"? Who's closer to Cyril-Thomas Aquinas or Gregory Palamas?

Read the article, and read the discussion taking place there.

Heresy vs. Hope

Dr. Peter Bouteneff of St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary compares and contrasts the Orthodox Church of Greece's "Confession of Faith Against Ecumenism" (given by a quarter of the Church of Greece, but endorsed by many bishops, metropolitans and monks) and Archbishop Athanasios of Albania's address to the Conference of European Churches.

Listen to it here.

Read discussion here.

Biretta tip: Eirenikon

Two By Congressman Paul

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Update on Congressman Paul's attempt to get a bill passed that would require auditing the Federal Reserve-Tomorrow Dr. Paul will grill Bernake.

Article: Healthcare is a Good, not a Right

Political philosopher Richard Weaver famously and correctly stated that ideas have consequences. Take for example ideas about rights versus goods. Natural law states that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A good is something you work for and earn. It might be a need, like food, but more “goods” seem to be becoming “rights” in our culture, and this has troubling consequences. It might seem harmless enough to decide that people have a right to things like education, employment, housing or healthcare. But if we look a little further into the consequences, we can see that the workings of the community and economy are thrown wildly off balance when people accept those ideas.

First of all, other people must pay for things like healthcare. Those people have bills to pay and families to support, just as you do. If there is a “right” to healthcare, you must force the providers of those goods, or others, to serve you.

Obviously, if healthcare providers were suddenly considered outright slaves to healthcare consumers, our medical schools would quickly empty. As the government continues to convince us that healthcare is a right instead of a good, it also very generously agrees to step in as middle man. Politicians can be very good at making it sound as if healthcare will be free for everybody. Nothing could be further from the truth. The administration doesn’t want you to think too much about how hospitals will be funded, or how you will somehow get something for nothing in the healthcare arena. We are asked to just trust the politicians. Somehow it will all work out. Universal Healthcare never quite works out the way the people are led to believe before implementing it. Citizens in countries with nationalized healthcare never would have accepted this system had they known upfront about the rationing of care and the long lines.

Read the rest here

Remember the First Victims of the Bolshevik Revolution

The Royal PAssion-Bearers, The Right Victorious Nicholas, Emperor of All the Russias, The Empress, the Right Victorious Alexandra, and the Royal PRinces: Tsarevich Alexei, the Princesses Maria, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia: Orate pro nobis!


From The Young Fogey:

Lovely people, but an incompetent emperor, not particularly bright, getting the country mired in an immoral war, World War I, owing to nationalism and misplaced loyalties, causing (as Rasputin predicted) his own downfall - and death. The war destroyed so much of Catholic Europe, east (in this case) and west (the soon-to-be beatified Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary abdicated and his empire was carved up). Besides a basic monarchist inclination - a sacramentally crowned king is profoundly Catholic - what turned me in favour of the Russian royals was reading Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra back in 1996. This American historian (writing about 40 years ago) with no bias either way (royalist or Communist) convinced me that personally they are saints. (As for politics, saints are fallible in their prudential judgement.) In a society littered with loveless dynastic marriages (like the late Diana in recent years) the tsar was a country gentleman who truly loved his wife.

This is something I'm asked often: If the Emperor Nicholas was such a saint, why was he an incompetent ruler? My answer: Who says saints have to be competent rulers? He did the best he could under the circumstances, but made some mistaken judgments. saints are fallible, after all. What makes a saint a saint is humility, and a thorough recognition of his own weakness and his need for God.

A film produced recently in Russia brings this out very well. Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5AJ43NJoY&feature=related

Warning: The scene where they are murdered in the end is quite graphic, and the Tsarevich Alexei covering his eyes is heart-wrenching. You have been warned!

Crimes Against Humanity 1794

Genocide in the Vendée at the height of the Reign of Terror.

As The Young Fogey reminds us, "modern liberalism was barbaric to begin with."

Warning: If you have a weak stomach, just read the first half. But if you have a passion for truth...

Le Fleur de Lys Too

Hat tip to Tea at Trianon and The Young Fogey

On the Abuse of Ecclesiastical Power

By Arturo Vasquez

Or: Things that happen when clergymen get too enthusiastic
Pope Paul IV when he was a cardinal was in charge of the Roman Inquisition: one of his first acts as a pope was to increase the powers of this institution and the penalties associated with heresy: even some cardinals were charged with heresy and Cardinal Morone was imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo as a hidden Lutheran. The pope imposed on the Romans a very austere lifestyle, but allowed his nephew Carlo Carafa to profit from his position to enrich himself and, according to widespread rumours, to behave badly from a moral viewpoint. He forced the Jews of the Papal State to live in two ghettos in Rome and Ancona: he built walls around an area of Rione Sant’Angelo which was subject to floods: the Jews were not allowed to live elsewhere and during the day had to go about wearing a distinctive sign… Pope Paul IV died in August 1559: the Romans reacted to the news by setting fire to the Inquisition palace and by destroying all the coats of arms of the pope: his statue in Campidoglio was beheaded and the head was rolled down the cordonata.
Source

Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum... Psalm 126 (127): 1

Read the rest of the article here.

Giraldi says "Hands off Honduras" to both Left and Right

From Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty

This column is from a few days ago, but it is a continuing situation. Libs and neocons have taken sides, but no consideration has been entertained about what the Honduran people actually want.

It is perhaps predictable that the unrest in Honduras is being seized upon by the usual suspects in an attempt to exploit the situation to draw conclusions that are completely unwarranted by what is taking place. Neocons are hailing the removal of a "leftist" president while liberals are shouting "coup." In an attempt to determine what Hondurans think, I have recently had the opportunity to speak to a number of military officers, students, civil servants, and businessmen. As many commentators have correctly noted, there is a sharp class divide in Honduras, with 70% of the population mired in poverty and a middle and upper class that is much better off and politically empowered to stay that way. The existence of extreme poverty with little hope for improvement in the majority of the population has been exploited by populists in Latin America through promises to bleed the rich and help the poor. Though the promises have rarely been kept, the ability to organize bloc voting by the poor has created a de facto monopoly of power for the leaders who have successfully sold themselves as being champions of the disenfranchised, leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

What is lacking in the media feeding frenzy is any deference to what the Hondurans themselves might want. Last month a crisis that had been building for nearly a year exploded. President Manuel Zelaya, a wealthy rancher elected as a center-leftist in 2006 but turned populist after entering into office, proposed a non-binding referendum that would have supported amending the country's constitution. Zelaya said that he was interested in changing the constitution to help the poor, though he did not propose any specific remedies. But according to most Hondurans, the particular part of the constitution that he was interested in obtaining a mandate for eventually amending was a non-amendable part that was designed to keep presidents like him from remaining in office beyond their constitutionally permitted terms. Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution reads in translation: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years." A number of Latin American countries have such clauses in their constitutions to avoid the establishment of presidents-for-life, which have resulted in continuous one party rule. The US Constitution also has several permanent articles.

Read the rest of the article here.

Dr. Paul on Napolitano's Freedom Watch

The good doctor talks about his bill, introduced in Congress, to audit the Federeal Reserve, and the threats the Fed is making to the American people if this passes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLGWIrBZCvY

Audit the Fed, then phase out all our ties with it, and let it die. Back to the gold standard.

This is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country!

From Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty website

Caritas in Veritae

From The Distributist Review

Did you ever think you'd read an encyclical that advocated:
-energy efficiency, and the moral duty to reduce energy consumption
-consumer co-ops
-micro-finance
-large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale (this one reminds me of what Edmund Burke calls the real "Social Contract": "Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.")
-intergenerational justice—in the context of environmental resources
-opening international markets, especially in agriculture

As Benedict shows, these ideas are merely consistent developments (or repetitions) of Catholic social teaching. But he is fearless in applying CST in today's arena.Nor does he hesitate to dig into our dirty details:

As Benedict shows, these ideas are merely consistent developments (or repetitions) of Catholic social teaching. But he is fearless in applying CST in today's arena.

Nor does he hesitate to dig into our dirty details:
-NGOs peddling contraceptives and involuntary sterilization to poor countries
-the decline in birth rates
-the hoarding of resources, especially water
-human embryos are sacrificed to research
-the poverty of isolation
-abusive tourism
-usury

Tribute to King Louis XVI

On this "Bastille Day," I offer prayers for the soul of King Louis XVI, King of France and Defender of American Liberty!

+May his soul, and that of his Queen, Marie Antoinette, Rest in Peace!

+May their Memories be Eternal!

What is Socialism?

Incidents where Libertarians claim Distributism is some kind of veiled socialism because of the predication of government intervention in the economy betrays the same failure to grasp what socialism is even all about. Socialism was never defined as government intervention into economic life or the running of businesses. If it was then virtually every government in history would have to be socialist, even the Bush administration. Every government has regulated trade to a greater or lesser extent. Rather, Socialism as predicated by its founder, Louis Blanc, and its most well known advocate (Marx) is when the government becomes the universal capitalist. In every system, for wealth to be created, capital must be expended to produce the wealth. This is something as simple as the food a man must eat and the tractors, plows, and livestock he must use in order to produce wheat, or as complex as the scientists that must be paid to develop a drug. The amount of goods consumed in creating new wealth is always capital. The person laboring on it brings the human labor and together with that capital creates wealth.

Read the whole article here.

Two on Torture

From The Young Fogey:

Do We Owe Japanese WWII Waterboarders (executed after the war) an Apology?

From The Western Confucian:

The Gipper (+RIP) on Torture:

1. "...torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession..."

2. "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."

Another Blogging Hiatus

Two reasons: Holy Week, and a paper I must prepare for The Medieval Congress at the University of Michigan in Kalamazoo.

Blogging will commence after next week.

Ahh yes, I like logical thinking

Credit

Biretta tip: The OrthoCuban

Moscow Patriarchate Approves of Pope's Uncompromising Position on Ethics

From the Ochlophobist: In my opinion, this is the real "ecumenical" work, and the form of ecclesial dialogue that is truly appropriate and beneficial.Instead of having fancy wine & cheese meetings in Ravenna, we should be shutting down abortion mills together. Instead of having common prayer services in churches, we should be praying together in jail.

Let's do it!

Biretta tip: The Young Fogey

KLA Attrocities Finally Revealed

Our invasion of Serbia bears its fruit. Thank you, Madame Albright and Mr. Clinton!

Suffering L'Aquila

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Of your charity please pray for the people devastated by the earthquakes in Central Italy, most especially L'Aquila.

For those who perished, +may their memory be eternal!

+Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetuam luceat eis.
+Requiescant in Pace

Viva Italia!

A Monarchist Version of Functional Libertarianism

Would YOU Sign the Declaration of Independence?

This is one source of our current troubles--a utopian experiment that led to the central-state-empowering Constitution, to democracy and to the abolition of monarchies, to the Civil War and greater centralism, to American entry into WWI, to the punitive Treaty of Versailles, and thus to the rise of German nationalism and Hitler and WWII, tens of millions dead and the Holocaust, nuclear bombings of Japan, the Cold War, etc.

No thanks. Give me back the modest taxes under King George III, and rule from over the Atlantic.

The young Fogey adds: BTW good George III didn’t cause the grievances of some colonists; Parliament did.

For these reasons I am tending towards support of our joining the Commonwealth of English-Speaking Nations, under the nominal rule of Her Majesty the Queen.

Hat tip to The Young Fogey

My Scriptorium Daily Article on Archbishop Demetrios' White House Speech

Read it here

Finding Folk Orthodoxy

By Arturo Vasquez

A couple of years ago, I wrote a provocative piece on my experiences with Eastern Orthodoxy in this country. In it, I wrote that in my past encounters with Orthodoxy, what I usually found was a boutique religion for the white middle class, or alternatively, an ethnic church closed off from the rest of society, and not much else in between. In terms of the former, the most likely suspect to convert to Orthodoxy is a (usually white) religious maverick who wants to re-discover the “New Testament Church” as founded by Jesus Christ without the “popish” baggage that Roman Catholicism has to offer. Compared to the suburban white-washed suburban mega-parishes and the “supersitious” masses of the Latino barrio parish, Orthodoxy seems to have all of it i’s dotted and t’s crossed. There is, of course, the presence of the ethnic Orthodox, who often don’t come to Divine Liturgy on time or only grace the shadow of the church for a baptism or wedding, but they are a small price to pay for being in a church that doesn’t have “idolatrous” statues or the “Filioque” (that sum of all errors). The convert can thus enjoy his “true religion” detached from all of the cultural baggage of the “old country”. He may even seek refuge in an old, long fogotten past, being nostalgic for an “Orthodox Western Europe” that never was.

My own religious project since I wrote that polemical essay two years ago has changed substantially. It is very easy to find out what the Church says about itself. One only need look at such books as Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma or a similar book to find out what you should believe. That is the religious center of the Faith; the safe region, the core of what the clergy say is to believed by all. But what role, if any, does the periphery hold; what is the role of belief that grows spontaneously outside of the control of the “official Church”? And what relation, if any, does the official Church have with these beliefs? Living in the 21st century, and having passed through the paradigm shifts of early modernity, it is very easy to dismiss half of the things that our grandparents believed in as superstition or remnants of a pagan past. My nagging suspicion, however, is that without these things that were at the periphery ( or underground, unofficial, or quasi-forbidden), the center cannot hold. The death of the religious imagination of our forefathers is leading to the death of religion itself.

Read the rest here

The Diversity Scam

From Rod Dreher

John McWhorter, an African-American Obama-supporting Democrat who often gets mislabeled a "conservative because of his criticism of racial preferences in job placement and college admissions, talks truth about the diversity scam.

My inability to cherish my brown students as the invaluable quintessence of diverseness is in no way "conservative." For example, I am all for adjusting admissions procedures to account for class as opposed to race. If a brown student went to a school where there were no Advanced Placement classes or had a tough home life and yet gives all indication of being a hungry and diligent student, less-than-astounding SATs should not keep him from admission to a good school.

This is also true, however, of his white equivalent. By the time I left U.C. Berkeley in 2002, admissions were based not on pigment but hardship. This meant admitting brown people who had grown up the hard way - but also white ones and Asian ones. It felt right.

Hat tip to The young Fogey

Reforming the Monarchy

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Gordon Brown and Buckingham Palace have discussed plans to change the rules of succession to the throne, including giving royal women equal rights.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said:

"To bring about changes to the law on succession would be a complex undertaking involving amendment or repeal of a number of items of related legislation, as well as requiring the consent of legislatures of member nations of the Commonwealth.
"We are examining this complex area although there are no immediate plans to legislate."

Proceeding slowly is the wise course of action, given the complexities of reforming a law of succession that has been in place since Queen Anne in 1701. Still, I think ending the restriction against a monarch marrying a Roman Catholic is long overdue, given the fact that a great number of Brits today hardly go to church, with an increasing number claiming no religion and a steady growth of Islam.

But still, proceed slowly. Change is necessary, but ought to come slowly. I believe the English monarchy provides a principle of order, stability and continuity to the government. Healthy change is the means of social preservation, and the monarchy has shown itself quite able to change when it needed in order to serve the people of the realm more efficiently.

Read BBC News article here.

Rejoice, O Virgin!

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Hymn for the Annunciation by Genevieve Glenn, OSB

The apple tree spread wide its shade
To shield the garden from the sun;
In dappled light the Virgin prayed
That, cloud or clear, God’s will be done.

The apple blossoms frothed and fell
In pools of white about her feet,
Wing-brushed when heaven came to tell
Of earth’s release and sin’s defeat.

She trod the blossoms to the ground,
For she would bear a finer fruit
Whose flesh would make the sick grow sound
And heal the wounded world at root.

The apples on the market stall
Are tempting to the eye and tongue,
But her fruit has surpassed them all:
High praise to Christ, our life, be sung!

Troparion Tone 4:

Today is the beginning of our salvation/ and the manifestation of the mystery which is from eternity./ The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin,/ and Gabriel announces grace./ So with him let us also cry to the Mother of God:/ Rejoice, thou who art full of grace!/ The Lord is with thee.

Kontakion Tone 8:

Queen of the Heavenly Host, Defender of our souls,/ we thy servants offer to thee songs of victory and thanksgiving,/ for thou, O Mother of God, hast delivered us from dangers./ But as thou hast invincible power, free us from conflicts of all kinds/ that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, unwedded Bride!

Happy Feast to all who come by here!

Dr. Ron Paul the Great on the Murder of Capitalism

Audit, then eliminiate, the Federal Reserve. Now!

Down with crony capitalism! Long live real capitalism!

St. Benedict Relic Found in British Museum

A sad note on the advances of modern liberalism

The last act of the French Revolution came to a close on March 12, 2009, but hardly anyone was watching. The demonic forces unleashed over two hundred years ago took on the aim of destroying all monarchial authority in Europe. The rulers of the once Christian nations of Europe, or at least their governing authority, had all been executed, except for the tine nation of Luxembourg. On March 12, without much fanfare, the parliament of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg voted to end government of their small nation by the Grand Duke.Luxembourg was the last European nation to be governed by a real monarch. Although the tiny nation has had a parliamentary chamber, that body functioned as parliaments were originally designed to function. It was an advisory body to the Grand Duke. After new legislation was voted on by the Chamber of Deputies, Article 34 of the Constitution stated: “The Grand Duke sanctions and promulgates the laws. He makes his resolve known within three months of the vote in the Chamber.” This provision permitted the Grand Duke to perform the proper function of a monarch in a mixed form of government. He served as a check on the potential excesses of political parties legislating when they encroached on the principles of the natural law. As a hereditary ruler for life, the Grand Duke is immune from elector politics. He can thus serve as an outside supervisor of the results of the legislative process. This is exactly what he did last year in an act which precipitated the March 12 vote.In 2008, the Chamber of Deputies voted to approve a law which authorized the intentional killing of human beings, commonly referred to by its morbid proponents as euthanasia. Such a law is contrary to the natural law. For, as St. Thomas observed in his Summa the civil law can not always punish everything that the natural law forbids but it may never sanction such evil. Now we know both by reason and divine authority that euthanasia is prescribed. It violates the first principle of the natural law - self preservation. The Church has confirmed this deduction of reason on several occasions by pronouncing euthanasia to be immoral. Even the sensus Catholicus of this overwhelming Catholic nation was clear; the populace of Luxembourg opposed the bill pushed through by the Socialist and Green parties.Henri, the current Grand Duke, fulfilled his moral obligation as a good Catholic monarch and refused to sanction this evil legislative act. As a reward for doing the right thing, the so called “conservative” Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, called for an amendment to the Constitution stripping the Grand Duke of his authority to sanction laws passed by the Chamber of Deputies. The March 12 vote approved the removal of the word “sanctions” from Article 34. Prime Minister Juncker made clear the intention was to remove the right of the Grand Duke to approve of or reject laws. According to Juncker he must be required to promulgate all acts passed by the Chamber. The Luxembourg monarchy has thus entered the realm of Walt Disney monarchs inhabited by the remaining figure heads of Europe such as England, Spain and Belgium. They can parade around for tourists in quaint costumes and live in nice palaces, but they have no authority to protect and defend their nation by governing it.

Read the rest here.

Biretta tip: Ad Orientem

Conservative Bullpucky

By Dylan Hales

From Taki's Blog

While a large segment of the Alternative Right believes it is time to abandon the term “conservative” altogether, I’m not so sure. From where I stand, turning over an intellectual tradition that includes men like Russell Kirk and Robert Nisbet to a movement that regards Sean Hannity as a serious thinker is surrendering far too much. The reputations of these great men should not become the property of neoconservatives or the warmongering faux-nationalists that now dominate the GOP. Efforts to stop this may be futile—or too little too late—but out of respect for our tradition, efforts should be made.

Hat tip: The young Fogey

St. Joseph, Foster-Father of Our Lord

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All hail to the man to whom the Incarnate Word would have addressed the word "abba," and from whom He learned the challenging arts of manhood. In short, this is the man who taught the God-Man how to be a man!

Et descendit cum eis et venit Nazareth, et erat subditus illis...et Iesus proficiebat sapientia aetate et gratia apud Deum et homines. Acts 2: 51, 52


Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.God the Father of Heaven, (have mercy on us.)
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, (have mercy on us.)
God the Holy Spirit, (have mercy on us.)
Holy Trinity, One God, (have mercy on us.)

Holy Mary, pray for us
St. Joseph, "
Noble scion of David, "
Light of the Patriarchs, "
Spouse of the Mother of God, "
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, "
Foster-father of the Son of God, "
Sedulous Defender of Christ, "
Head of the Holy Family, "
Joseph most just, "
Joseph most chaste, "
Joseph most prudent, "
Joseph most valiant, "
Joseph most obedient, "
Joseph most faithful, "
Mirror of patience, "
Lover of poverty, "
Model of all who labor, "
Glory of family life, "
Protector of virgins, "
Pillar of families, "
Consolation of the afflicted, "
Hope of the sick, "
Patron of the dying, "
Terror of the demons, "
Protector of Holy Church, "

Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, (spare us, O Lord.)
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, (graciously hear us, O Lord.)
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, (have mercy on us.)

He made him the lord of his household. (And prince over all his possessions.)

Let us pray. God, Who, in Thine ineffable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph to be the Spouse of Thy most holy Mother; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in Heaven whom, on earth, we venearate as our protector. Who livest and reignest world without end. (Amen.)



Kontakion to St. Joseph the Betrothed:

Let us bless and praise
the All-Virtuous Betrothed of the All-Holy Virgin
the Friend of God and divine Servant
the All-Worthy Joseph,
thy memory we celebrate with joy
that we my receive mercy from him Who called thee father!

Akathistos ikos 9:

Rejoice, thou wast chosen to nuture and guard the Christ-Child who nutures as God the whole world!
Rejoice, thou wast found worthy to see the God-Man face to face, to hold him in thy hands and to kiss his All-Holy Face!

This is a great feast in Italy, and among Italians everywhere, so in that spirit:
Viva San Giuseppe!!!!

Belfast Child

One more for St. Paddy's Day

The Belfast Child, by Simple Minds (my favorite piece by this 80's Scottish band)

Offered in honor of my best college chum, Stephen Ryan, who passed away in 2003

+Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetuam luceat ei.

+Requiescat in Pace

Eirin go bragh, old chum! :-(

Irish Lent

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I couldn't let this one get by:


An Irishman moved into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walked into the pub and promptly ordered three beers. The bartender raised his eyebrows, but served the man three beers, which he drank quietly at a table, alone.

The next evening the man again ordered and drank three beers at a time. Soon the entire town was whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers. Finally, a week later, the bartender broached the subject on behalf of the town. “I don’t mean to be prying but folks around here are wonderin why your always order three beers and drink them alone?”.

“Tis a wee bit odd I would be supposin” the man replied. “You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America and the other went to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order two extra beers, whenever we would partake, as a way of keeping up the family bond.”
The bartender and the whole town were pleased with his answer and with the reverence for family and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and source of pride to the hamlet.

Then one day the man came in and ordered only two beers. The bartender served them with a heavy heart. This continued for the rest of the evening … ordering only two beers. Word flew around the hamlet quickly. Prayers were offered for the soul of one of the brothers.
The next day, the bartender said to the man, “folks around here, me first of all, want to offer our condolences to you for the death of your brother, you know - only two beers.”

The man pondered for a moment then replied, ” You’ll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well. It’s just that I, meself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.”

Biretta tip: Father Benedict Seraphim

Sanctus Patricius, ora pro nobis!

I arise todayThrough a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the threeness,

Through the confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the Judgment Day.
I arise todayThrough the strength of the love of Cherubim,

In obedience of angels,In the service of archangels,

In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In prayers of patriarchs,

In predictions of prophets,

In preaching of apostles,

In faith of confessors,

In innocence of holy virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of sun,

Radiance of moon,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of wind,

Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,

Firmness of rock.
I arise todayThrough God's strength to pilot me:

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

From snares of demons,

From temptations of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

A blessed St. Patrick's Day to all!

Now go have the perfect Lenten meal:

Theology and Liturgy

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Another divorce which needs to be mentioned is that between theology and liturgy. For an Orthodox theologian, liturgical texts are not simply the works of outstanding theologians and poets, but also the fruits of the prayerful experience of those who have attained sanctity and theosis. The theological authority of liturgical texts is, in my opinion, higher than that of the works of the Fathers of the Church, for not everything in the works of the latter is of equal theological value and not everything has been accepted by the fullness of the Church. Liturgical texts, on the contrary, have been accepted by the whole Church as a “rule of faith” (kanon pisteos), for they have been read and sung everywhere in Orthodox churches over many centuries. Throughout this time, any erroneous ideas foreign to Orthodoxy that might have crept in either through misunderstanding or oversight were eliminated by church Tradition itself, leaving only pure and authoritative doctrine clothed by the poetic forms of the Church’s hymns. - Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Vienna

Biretta tip: Mere Catholic Miscellany

The Music of the Spheres

“There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;Such harmony is in immortal souls;But whilst this muddy vesture of decayDoth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”- William Shakespeare, from The Merchant of Venice

A BBC program that chronicles the history of an idea.

From the hymn This is my Father's World:

This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.

Hat tip to Arturo Vasquez

Risking Fearful Judgment

By my good friend and employer, John Mark Reynolds

President Obama has a misplaced faith in humanity that is blind to history and to the crimes of the twentieth century. Capacity is not permission. We might learn many things by any number of risky and barbaric experiments, but the foundational God given rights of life and liberty prevent us from doing them. A desire to do a thing is not a good reason to do it. Our desires are easily manipulated and the loudest suffering too often draws our attention. It is so easy to do small evils, which accumulate to great wrong doing when we hope to benefit. Tenderness to human life is in short supply in this age. We abort millions of children in the name of convenience. Socialist nations in Africa pursue policies that destroy their economies and starve their peoples. China engages in the brutal suppression of whole people groups and runs slave labor camps. Sudan practices slavery and terrorists blow up buildings in the name of God. This is not the age to be sanguine about our compassion.

And:

Fortunately, God’s judgments are tempered with mercy. No president has been immune to the temptation to allow short term good to cloud his judgment. President George W. Bush allowed the torture of terrorists and this assault on human dignity was a grievous wrong. This new presidency, however, was particularly marked by promises of hope and change and so the fall from grace is bitter. Sadly, the Obama presidency is now permanently tarnished by a rejection of moderation and a Frankenstein’s confidence in science.

Fr. Coughlin on the Federal Reserve

His anti-semitic rants are morally reprehensible, and should be condemned.

Thus my disclaimer.

But this speech, given some time in the early thirties, is right on about the pernicous effects of the Federal Reserve manipulating our economy through fiat money. Fiat money invites big government manipulation of the economy and the kind of corporate welfare we are witnessing now.

Here's Father Coughlin preaching truth to power as he speaks against the Federal Reserve.

Again, dead wrong about God's elder children, but right on on this issue, stemming from a traditional and sensible view of real free market economics based on the teachings of the Salamanca Schoolmen.

Atheists Call for "Debaptism"

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From BBCNEWS.com

The Church wonders aloud why, if atheists and secularists believe baptism is so meaningless, they are letting it upset them.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on Baptism:

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.[82] Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.

Nor can it be taken back.

From the Moscow Patriarchate:

As St. Paul says, we are called upon to confess one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism (Eph. 4:5). The Church teaches one Baptism because rebirth through grace experienced by man in this Sacrament is one and unrepeatable, just as one and unrepeatable is our natural birth, our death and the Resurrection of Christ.

And again, it cannot be taken back.

This from the Anglican Diocese of Southwark, where this gentleman was baptized as an infant:

The local Anglican diocese, Southwark, refused to amend the baptismal roll as Mr Hunt had wanted, on the grounds that it was a historical record.
"You can't remove from the record something that actually happened," said the Bishop of Croydon, the Right Reverend Nick Baines.

The bottom line: If you leave the faith, you leave the faith, period! But don't expect the Church to take back what she cannot take back, pretending it didn't happen. The Anglican Bishop of Croydon gives a minimalist view of the significance of the sacrament as a public record, but it is, at the very least, that, and to pretend otherwise is like trying to remove your image from a photo through photoshop. It can be done, but it does not change the reality of what occured. That's why anyone leaving the Church is received back by way of confession and communion; he or she is never re-baptized. You can choose not to act on your baptism, but you can't undo it. The Church just considers you an excommunicate, by your own choice.

Two from the Young Fogey

Why liberals should love the free market by Vincent Patsy

Why the Global Economy Is a Ponzi Scheme and We Are All Bernie Madoffs by Joseph Romm

A Secular Person Reads the Whole Bible (and discovers both his western and Jewish cultures)

"Just as an exercise, I thought for a few minutes about the cultural markers in Daniel, a late, short, and not hugely important book. What footprints has it left on our world? First, Daniel is thrown in the "lions' den" and King Belshazzar sees 'the writing on the wall.' These are two metaphors we can't live without. The 'fiery furnace' that Daniel's friends are tossed into is the inspiration for the Fiery Furnaces, a band I listen to. The king rolls a stone in front of the lions' den, sealing in a holy man who won't stay sealed—foreshadowing the stone rolled in front of the tomb of Jesus. Daniel inspired the novel The Book of Daniel and the TV show The Book of Daniel. It's even a touchstone for one of my favorite good-bad movies, A Knight's Tale. That movie's villain belittles hero Heath Ledger by declaring, 'You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting'—which is what the writing on the wall told Belshazzar. "

And this:

"The Bible has brought me no closer to God, if that means either believing in a deity acting in the world or experiencing the transcendent. But perhaps I'm closer to God in the sense that the Bible has put me on high alert. I came to the Bible hoping to be inspired and awed. I have been, sometimes. But mostly I've ended up in a yearlong argument with God. Why would He kill the innocent Egyptian children? And why would He delight in it? What wrong did we do Him that He should send the flood? Which of His Ten Commandments do we actually need? Yet the argument itself represents a kind of belief, because it commits me to engage with God."

Hat tip: The Young Fogey

God in a Broken Frame and Shattered Glass: Another Look at Sacred Imagery

by Arturo Vasquez














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“Catholicism in the end is a religion of the concrete: a religion filled with ceremony, trinkets, and daily things used for extraordinary purposes. Bread and wine, rosaries, cloth, incense, and old, worn pages come together to create a religion that you can touch, taste, and smell. At times, these things can compel us to be better than what we are now; they often lead us to repentance and to a life committed to a God who is above all human sense and thought. It can appear to be magic to the casual observer, but the real magic here is not in the plaster or the paint, but rather in faith.”

Biretta tip: Mere Catholic Miscellany

Ash Wednesday

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Today, we have heard the solemn sentence: “Remember, Man, that thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.” We stand with Adam, lamenting the loss of Paradise, but looking forward with the hope of redemption and the ultimate goal of why we were created: to be deified in Christ, becoming by grace what He is by nature. The Church proclaims this reminder of our mortality not to be morbid, but to awaken us to the reality of the fact that sin has caused the corruption of our nature, and therefore we have but a little time left in this life. She seeks to awaken us with a hard and necessary reality check. If you seek warm fuzzies, the Church has none to offer you. What she gives you instead is a cross to bear, made lighter by His sacrifice, surely, but one which we must bear in this life in order to reach our ultimate destiny. Lent is a reminder of the nature of the sojourn in this life we are all called upon to undertake. But this “vale of tears” leads ultimately to victory and the joy of resurrection. We have heard the cold, hard sentence that sin has brought upon us, but thank God, that is not where the story ends. It ends with the joyous proclamation of paschal joy, for in Christ’s resurrection, we too have the hope of rising with glorified bodies, and seeing Him face to face.



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A blessed Lenten journey to all!

Orthodox Shrove Tuesday

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Yup! It's here, that celebratory day where all is prepared for the solemn observance of that "bright sadness" known as Great Lent.

But this celebratory atmosphere preceding Great Lent is not just something we crazy Western Rite Orthodox do, though you would never know it reading some blog enteries like this one: "The Great Fast, as the Orthodox also call it, begins not with parties, suppers or benders, but with one of the most moving services in all of Christianity. In the evening of Cheesefare Sunday, the church serves Forgiveness Vespers."

What the good author seems to forget is that in Russia, Cheesefare week is a festive time, with "parties, suppers and benders," chilled vodka and champagne flowing everywhere and pastry shops open almost around the clock, in addition to a generous consumption of pancakes, or blinis. This festive week is known as Maslenitsa, or "butter week." As the above photo shows, it can be somewhat "carnivalesque" (this is a Maslenitsa festival in Melbourne, Australia).

For parishes observing the Latin and English rites in the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate and ROCOR, Shrove Tuesday is a time for making one's confession before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent for the Western Rite. Celebration marks this special Tuesday before the imposition of ashes on Wednesday, when we will hear the solemn sentence "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return." Shrove Tuesday is a day of pancake suppers, a day to have that last celebratory dinner before the beginning of the solemn season of the Great Fast, on the way to resurrection glory.

Confession, pancakes, celebration: not a bad way to begin the Great Fast, whether you call it Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras (without the excesses, of course) or Maslenitsa.

Dissertation Update

As many of you know, I am in the final stages of completing my dissertation at the Claremont Graduate University. I thought I would have this done two weeks ago, but the process of editing footnotes is taking longer than I thought. It has to be done this semester, so you might say this is the "drop dead" term-if I don't get it done, it will never be done, and I can kiss off getting my Ph.D at Claremont.

So, Deo volente, this labor will be done, and will have been turned in by the 20th of February, 2009, which is the deadline for my turning in my "Intent to Receive a Degree" form. Again, if it doesn't happen this semester, it will not happen at all.

Regular blogging will commence once the dissertation is turned in to my committee.

On second thought, no!

No, I won't be closing this blog down, by the advice of many friends who enjoy it. I will, however, be on a long hiatus, as I am trying to finish a dissertation that needs to be turned in SOON!

After February, I will be back on the helm of The Permanent Things in order to bring you thoughtful essays about faith, the life of the mind, and politics. I am thinking of bringing onboard someone who will co-author this blog for me, since it's good to hear from others. I'm thinking of tapping a friend in England who might just be perfect in presenting you with good, thought-provoking essays on Austrian economics, foreign policy (U.S., U.K. and E.U.), and other such goodies.

Stay tuned!