12 June 2009
This is an ambitious list, but I hope to get at least four of these books done during the summer. As I read, I will post my thoughts on this blog.
Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
Dillard
The Living
Dostoevsky
The Idiot
Endo
Silence
Gogol
Dead Souls
Greene
The Power and the Glory
Martel
The Life of Pi
Solzhenitsyn
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch
11 June 2009
Today was the penultimate day of school, and several hours ago I was walking home with a heavy bag and a stack of books under the crook of my arm. My thoughts wandered to the errands of the afternoon: returning books, paying fines, getting ready for tonight’s promotional ceremonies—when suddenly, in between Balboa and Cabrillo, I was stopped by a voice: “Excuse me, sir.”
I did the natural response, which was to turn around and listen to what this man, who was apparently working on his car outside, had to say. “Excuse me, but you dropped something.” “Excuse me, what time is it?” were among the sundry phrases I expected, but what he actually said, “Excuse me, you know that this is all superstition, right? That there is no God?” of course surprised me.
Being quite taken aback, I did not know how to respond for several seconds. The man looked quite older than me—perhaps past 50—and his time-worn appearance and the authoritative tone in which he said “You know that this is all superstition, right?” made him look like quite the confident American. My first internal response was that of surprise, not merely because of the “question” but because I did not have any obvious external indication of my faith. In my stack of books there was a very slim and unnoticeable work on repentance; the only other indication would have been a CD-R copy of the Service to St. Necktarios [sic] that I was holding with my index finger.
Whatever the case, I wasn’t in the mood for an argument, and my interlocutor’s demeanor did not show any curiosity or willingness to be persuaded on his part.
So, I went with my instincts: I crossed myself and said to him, “God bless you.” As I was walking away, the man shouted to me, “Which God? Zeus? There are thousands of gods…” I turned and made the sign of the cross upon him and the man with him, saying, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” Perhaps that was a bit overkill, but it seemed a good idea at the time. The man continued on his atheistical spiel while I went on my way.
Perhaps if I was more interested in rational argument or even more bellicose in character, I would have thrown my books down and engaged in a no-holds-barred syllogistic battle with the infidel. Perhaps if had a more irenic and mystical character, I would have posed a paradoxical word to the man to awaken him from his dogmatic slumber. But somehow I would doubt that any sort of rational or mystical posturing would have convinced him. I am reminded of the Athonite Elder who, when he was confronted by an unbeliever to produce some kind of proof of the Orthodox Faith, simply said “No” and walked away. I guess I did the same thing, sort of.
10 June 2009
Much has happened in the year since I last posted. I don’t have the time to go into detail about my misadventures in teaching but suffice it to say for now that I will be pursuing a different line of work next year. I’m going to post here as often as possible in order to gather my thoughts and bounce them off the squash court of cyberspace.
15 July 2008
Tomorrow will make it two weeks since I moved to San Francisco. Quite a lot has happened within a fortnight: St. John’s feast day, my trips around the City, a brief visit to Berkeley, a pilgrimage to Santa Rosa for Sts. Peter and Paul, the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen, and finally my current trip to Sacramento for teacher training. And there’s more! A planned pilgrimage to Platina is in the works; I get to see the charred ring of ash surrounding the God-preserved monastery myself. Once I get my mind settled I will make a detailed report. Until then, God keep you!
15 June 2008
Here are some of my inchoate thoughts on Pentecost. Obviously they shouldn’t be taken as authoritative by anyone.
For a very long time I wondered why Jesus had to ascend into Heaven in order to send the Holy Spirit. Why couldn’t He have stayed on earth with His apostles? It would’ve made it a lot easier for the Church. If anyone tried to persecute Christians, Jesus could’ve come up and showed His wounds and said “Here, see? I’m alive!”
Yes, if Jesus stayed with us we could’ve achieved worldly glory. But we wouldn’t have had the Holy Spirit, because according to the Gospel today, Jesus had “not yet been glorified.” Our Lord was glorified through His Cross and Resurrection, yes, but this glorification was not complete until He ascended to the Father. Through His resurrection, death was defeated and human nature was restored to its original state, but it was not enough. Human nature had to be glorified, it had to be deified. And thus through Christ’s Ascension human nature becomes deified, at least potentially so, allowing for us to receive the Holy Spirit. As someone raised with a Western mindset, focusing on Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Pentecost made no sense. But now, as an Orthodox, it makes complete sense to me. Hopefully I will go beyond mere words, and be made worthy of the deifying power of the Holy Spirit.
2 June 2008
It’s rather presumptuous to call myself The Impractical Christian, isn’t it? Especially since there are so many other “impractical” Christians out there, most of them even more impractical than me!
23 May 2008
I can tell you where I was the moment Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, the Deputy First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, was elected Metropolitan. It was at St. John’s Academy, in the basement of Holy Virgin Cathedral, San Francisco. Matushka Maria Kotar, the Administrator of the school, was trying to find every means possible to get news from Jordanville about the election. “We need smoke signals! CNN coverage!” (I’m paraphrasing, forgive me) Unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps) Jordanville is not the Vatican, and so we had to resort to phone calls and other primitive means to get news. At any rate, Matushka Masya wanted the bells to be rung as soon as word came that a new Metropolitan was elected.
And word came very soon. After all, our humble conclave consisted of eleven bishops. In a space of less than half an hour, a new Metropolitan was chosen. The bells! The bells! I rushed outside to hear those bells, the bells which rang by themselves the night that Vladyka Laurus reposed, now ringing loudly to celebrate the choice of a new leader for our flock.
The seventh graders, clapping their little hands over their ears, nevertheless shouted “More! More!” to the young bell-ringer. I’m sure I’m making a ton of mistakes in my remembrance of things, but the bells were something like this (this being from then-Archbishop Hilarion’s visit to a monastery in New South Wales):
It was truly one of the chief highlights of my stay in San Francisco, to say the least.
13 May 2008
Today I left the God-protected city of San Francisco for the (relatively-speaking) northern wasteland known as Seattle. Perhaps I should not call it a “wasteland,” for in this city the Holy Hierarch John of San Francisco reposed. Indeed, every city and creature is “God-protected”; if God were to withdraw His sustaining energies from Creation for a moment, we would be reduced to nothing.
Yesterday, after several days sitting in at classes, I finally taught two history classes at St. John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy. Thanks to St. John, I did well enough that I am going to return to teach in the Fall, God willing. San Francisco has some very high rents, so I humbly ask you, my readers, to pray that I secure affordable housing. Also, please pray for me, unworthy John, that my mind be enlightened by the Holy Spirit so I can teach well.
Hristos Voskrese!
6 May 2008
I apologize for hardly writing anything since Pascha except for some ludicrous postings on pop culture (which, indicating what’s popular nowadays, caused the highest number of hits on this blog so far). I certainly have quite a bit on my mind, though I wonder if it’s prudent to write about them her, as the original purpose of this blog was not to express my own opinion, but to form it through the reading of the Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy.
For the next several weeks, I will be away on a trip to the West Coast, including the God-protected city of San Francisco. There I will be interviewing for a teaching position at St. John’s Orthodox Academy. I will be back on the 18th. If I end up bringing my laptop I will try to write about my trip. At any rate, please keep me in your prayers.
Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen!
30 April 2008
I haven’t identified myself as any sort of Protestant since high school. I can’t stand much of the happy-clappy worship that happens in evangelical churches today. But, I can’t help but retain an affection for “Amazing Grace”. Despite its perhaps questionable theological language, the simple message of divine grace coming and saving a wretch like me still has an impact on my heart.
In our house American Idol is watched. Not by my choice. American Idol is an amateur singing competition. Tonight the songs selected were by pop-folk songster Neil Diamond. Who won or lost is unimportant for this post. What is pertinent was the moment when Mr. Diamond himself came out and performed his version of “Amazing Grace”.
It’s amazing how a little rearranging of the words and the addition of new, peppier music can totally change a song. “Amazing Grace” was changed from an expression of Protestant piety into a “pretty amazing” celebration of…I’m not sure what. I guess the song could still be construed to be about repentance. It could also be construed to be about a girl named Grace. But isn’t that to be expected, when popular culture, the World if you will, appropriates something meant to be sacred and makes it something rather secular?
Of course, “Amazing Grace” has already been appropriated by the Zeitgeist so many times that it lost all of its original meaning. So perhaps this was a bad example. But I think that if “Amazing Grace” is dead, what Mr. Diamond did was desecrate the corpse.
By the way, this is not a commentary on any of Mr. Diamond’s other songs, and I apologize if I’ve offended any Neil Diamond fans in my readership.
