"Pascha...is the equivalent of prayer with fireworks."

Fr. Meletios Webber

listen here

Vank Cathedral

While we're on the topic of Armenians...
I was conducting research for one of my classes this week when I came across something very interesting. In the early seventeenth century, during the reign of Shah Abbas I of the Persian Safavid dynasty, a number of Armenian Christians settled in his capital city of Isfahan. There they built a church, which they completed in 1664. When I saw pictures of it, my jaw nearly hit the floor.

Before we get to the pics, let me just say that I am all for the construction of church buildings in a style consistent with the local culture. By that I do not mean local "pop culture." I mean architecture according to the established norms. I think that can be done without sacrificing important ancient liturgical elements or forsaking whatever it is that allows a proper expression of worship. Building in a style consistent with local heritage speaks to the populace in an architecural language they can understand. It makes that church a part of the enduring cultural legacy of the place, rather than just a visitor from the outside. I think, in other words, that it makes more sense to build a church in China that looks like this, rather than like this. But that's just me.

(Wanna see how this works here at home? Compare the Roman Catholic Baltimore Basilica--built in a neoclassical style that was consistent with a popular architectural style of the period in which it was built, but is enduring and relevant [sorry!] today--with the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles, which is...just...awful).

Whoever built Vank Cathedral in Isfahan certainly had an eye for Persian architecture and design. My guess is that they hired local artisans and builders, who applied the styles with which they were familiar.
As you look at these pictures, keep in mind that this is not a mosque, it is a Christian church.
(Click on the pictures for a better view)

360° panoramic view of the cathedral

Եղեռնի զոհերի հիշատակի օր (Genocide Remembrance Day)

Today Armenians around the world remember the slaughter of 1.5 million of their ancestors by the Ottoman Turks during the first World War.

The Genocide (Հայոց Ցեղասպանություն in Armenian) included forced marches, starvation, serial rape and other atrocities and was an effort by Muslim Turks to remove the Christian Armenian people from existence.

President Obama had made a campaign promise to identify the massacre as a "genocide" but later reneged on this pledge. He had criticized President Bush for failing to recognize the genocide as such, but, on last year's Armenian Remembrance Day 2009, he softened his language, calling it a "calamity" ("Meds Yeghern" in Armenian). The President has received criticism and condemnation for his backtracking, and some have even called for him to give up his Nobel Peace Prize until he makes good on his campaign promise to recognize the "calamity" as a genocide.

Turkey is an ally of the U.S. and recognizing the genocide as such might put that relationship in jeopardy. Armenian-Turkish relations have also improved in recent years, and the fear is that calling the mass killings a "genocide" might strain that relationship as well.

However, 43 states have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, and in March 2009, a bill was introduced to the House of Representatives by Congressman Adam Schiff, whose congressional district, California 29th, happens to include the city of Glendale, which has the highest concentration of Armenians in the United States. Congressman Schiff's bill, H.R. 252, states that "The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in their historic homeland." It compares the Armenian genocide to the Holocaust, calls for a reduction of aid to Turkey by $3 million "until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian Genocide," and demands that the President "accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide."

Learn more:
t h e f o r g o t t e n
Armenian National Institute
Fact Sheet: Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide 1915 Recognition Struggle
Armenian Genocide (Armeniapedia)

Take action:
Armenian National Committee of America
Follow H.R. 252 here

Liturgy at Holy Virgin Cathedral, San Francisco

Stolen Bells Recovered

From projo.com

Cumberland church bells recovered from scrap yards

CUMBERLAND — All six bells — Stephan, Sophia, Vera, Nadezhda, Lubov and Gabriel — that were stolen from the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church last week have been recovered. But only four of them could ring again in the small bell house in front of the church.

“Well, we miss the bells,” the Rev. Vasily Lickwar, pastor of the Orthodox parish on Manville Hill Road, said at a police news conference Thursday. “They are an integral part of our worship.”

The bell Stephan, named for Saint Stephan the first martyr, the largest at hundreds of pounds, is now in three pieces, and Father Lickwar said that bell and the second-smallest of the bells, Lubov, named for a second-century martyr, now shorn of its top, won’t join the others.

The police say James M. Haselton, 32, of Lincoln, was attempting to sell the bells at scrap yards in Woonsocket and Lincoln. The police said another arrest is possible.

Read the rest here.

Easter in Syria

I knew that Middle Easterners just love to celebrate by firing their guns into the air, but for some reason I assumed it was just the Muslims that did that. I guess I was wrong.

(You know you've been to too many military firing ranges when you watch this and think "gosh, that's going to leave a lot of shell casings for someone to pick up.")

Funeral of Archbishop Miron

Click to enlarge

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 20

Dallas Morning News: Cathedral of Hope in Dallas says it will host 'gay Jesus' play

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

This is an excellent series of podcasts by an Orthodox chaplain deployed to Afghanistan with a battalion of Marines. I strongly recommend listening to it. Click below for the first episode or click here for the AFR page.

Bells Stolen

Courtesy of Byzantine, TX

Where in the world?

This, again, has nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was interesting.
In the last seven days, people from the following countries have looked at this blog (in descending order of number of visits):

United States

Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Spain
Germany
Japan
Italy
Hungary
France
Denmark
Ireland
Taiwan
Netherlands
Kuwait
Poland
Singapore
Thailand
South Korea
Finland
Colombia
Mongolia
Czech Republic
Portugal
Switzerland
Saudi Arabia
Greece
Ukraine
Brazil
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Peru
India

Wieczna Pamięć!

From the St George Orthodox Military Association's Blog:

On April 10, Saturday, Archbishop Miron, Bishop of Hajnówka, Poland, was killed in the crash of the presidential aircraft Tu-154, reports the official website of Orthodox Autocephalous Church in Poland. Archbishop Miron was a member of a presidential delegation headed to Smolensk, Russia. All eighty-eight passengers, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, many other senior Polish officials and eight crew members all perished in the crash as the plane burst into flames while landing in dense fog.

Stefan Dmitruk reports:

“Miroslaw Chodakowski was born on October 21, 1957 in Bialystok. He graduated from primary school in Bialystok, then from the Orthodox Seminary in Warsaw and the Higher Orthodox Seminary in Jableczna.

On December 17, 1978 he was tonsured a rassophore monk, and nine days later was ordained a deacon. On February 15, 1979 he was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. In November of 1979, the Metropolitan of Warsaw, Metropolitan Basil, tonsured him in the small schema as a hieromonk, giving him the name Miron.

Hieromonk Miron served as governor of the monastery church, St. Humphrey the Great, in Jableczna. He was also Rector of the Orthodox Theological Seminary. In 1984 he was elevated to the dignity Ihumen, adopted as part of the clergy Bialystok-Gdansk diocese, and appointed pastor of the parish church of Annunciation of Our Lady in Supraśl. In 1990, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was appointed governor of the monastery in Supraśl.

On May 11, 1998, in accordance with the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church in Poland, Bishop Miron was appointed to the Hajnówka diocese, and on August 15, 1998, the Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appointed bishop Miron Brigadier General and Orthodox Ordinary of Polish Army.

In 2003 he earned a doctorate in theology from the Church’s history at the Christian Theological Academy, and on May 10, 2008, Bishop Miron was raised to the rank of archbishop.

May his memory be eternal!

Things You'll Never See in an Orthodox Church, Part 19

I don't know what's more painful: watching an Elvis impersonator perform in church, or listening to the audience clap on the "1" and the "3"...

Soccer fans

Here is another item for the "Types of Things You will Never See in the United States" file.

This gives me chills. It is a video that was taken recently at a soccer stadium in Russia. One group of fans is shouting and another is responding. What are they saying?
"Tastes great!" "Less filling!" ???
"Let's go Red Wings!" ???

No, they're shouting "Christ is Risen?" "Truly, He is Risen!"

"Christos voskrese!" "Voistinu voskrese!"

NPR: In Rare Instance, Greek Orthodox Easter Aligns With West

"Well, this is a phenomenon that no one has in recorded history. Usually the dates of Easter either coincide every four years or they're one week behind or two weeks behind, accordingly. But this year and next year, 2011, is a phenomenon of the Easters coming together back to back. And this I think God's speaking to us. Now, if we don't act on this, he's not going to have too much patience with us because it's never going to happen again for 800 years."

Read transcript here

Botafumeiro

Some of us were talking about this last weekend, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it. It's the famous incense pot called the "Botafumeiro," which, incidentally, is Spanish for "attractor of curious tourists." It is located in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain (which, by the way, also houses the relics of some guy named St James.)

Orthodox church brings traditional Easter celebrations to the mountains

From the WNC Sentinal

There are screens, projectors and cameras. Stages, lights and sound systems.

Churches that seem to double as concert halls. It’s an increasingly common sight.

In an age of technological enhancement, St Nicholas Orthodox Church may seem a bit untraditional, but only because it’s so deeply rooted in… tradition.

Incense. Saints. More candles than seats. And chanting… verses and prayers.

“It’s connected to the historical stream of Christianity, theology, belief and practice that has changed very little,” Fr. James Blomeley explained. “It’s entirely consistent now with what it was 1,000 or even 2,000 years ago.”

Before St Nicholas opened in Peachtree last August, the few Orthodox believers in the mountains would have to travel to Marietta or Chattanooga to attend services, Blairsville resident Van Crikis said.

Blomeley, the church’s priest, served as a deacon in an Atlanta parish for several years before being ordained last May. During the week he practices law in Murphy.

“I didn’t really know if there were orthodox up here,” he said. “The first Sunday I didn’t know if anyone would show up.”

He said he was surprised to see 20 locals attend the opening service. “They all thought they were the only orthodox in the area,” Blomeley explained. “They had no idea there was anybody else.”

For Holy Week the church held eight different services, actually fewer than the traditional full range, Blomeley said. “It is a lot of work, but for us Holy Week and Easter is just complete emersion,” he said. “When we actually get to Easter it really is the greatest of all feasts.”

Concluding a selective fast, the congregation gathered for bar-b-que at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
“It was your usual church potluck,” Blomeley said… except for the time. About eight people attend on an average Sunday, Blomeley said, noting that it ranges to 20 on occasion. While most of the congregation is older, one family and some locals in their thirties attend.

“Yes, there is an emphasis nowdays on technology and immediacy and cultural relevence…but what I find is that for a lot of people there is a search not for the surface, but for the depth,” Blomeley said. “The candles, the incense… it speaks to a lot of people.”

Blomeley said that he hopes the parish could one day leave behind the quaint compartment it currently occupies at Peachtree Place and construct a standalone church.

Before that happens, however, the parish has to become financially sustainable. At this point contributions cover the basics and utilities, but Blomeley is serving without a salary.

“We have more people now than we really thought we would at this point,” he said. Fifty to one-hundred families is what you shoot for to become a real parish… If we could get to that point over five to ten years I’d be tickled.”

But no matter how much it grows, the services will stay the same.

“We’re not for everybody,” Blomeley said. “Some find their fullfillment in the technological aspect of services, but others find it in the timelessness.”

Orthodox Christians rejoice following Easter Vigil

Over 5,000 people attended at the vigil in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, the Itar Tass news agency reported, citing the cathedral’s security. Among those present were the country’s leaders.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived at the country’s main cathedral to join the congregants for the all-night Easter vigil.

The vigil started at about 11 p.m. The faithful lit their candles from the Holy Fire, which is transported every year especially from Jerusalem. Close to midnight the congregants joined in the sacred procession around the churches, carrying candles lit from the Holy Fire. The people then spoke the traditional declaration, “Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed!”

Read the rest here.



From rt.com