Wednesday April 27, 2005

Sunday of Orthodoxy at St. George Cathedral

Yes, I know the Sunday of Orthodoxy was well over a month ago -- but the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese's Orthodox Observer only comes out once a month. Here's a screenshot of their recent article on the celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy in Worcester, led by Archbishop Demetrios (a living saint, IMHO) and the hierarchs of SCOBA.

And an interesting article from the Orthodox Christian News Service, A Tale of Two Cities -- 2005 Update, which compares Orthodox life in Worcester and Pittsburgh, where I grew up.

The Orthodox bishops in Pittsburgh are good men, every one of them. The latest addition is Bishop Thomas Joseph, a friend and classmate from St. Vladimir's Seminary. And the people of Pittsburgh -- well, there are none better. I have every hope that things will look up from here.

(2005-04-27 06:22:25.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Tuesday April 26, 2005

Before there was Pascha, there was Pesach...

My grandmother, Bess Cohen, was the fifth of the seven children of Max Schneider and Anna Silverbloom who survived into adulthood. I think there were four other brothers and sisters who didn't -- including a pair of twins, if memory serves -- but I suppose this wasn't that uncommon for the beginning of the 20th century. All of those Schneider siblings -- Charlie, Lee, Tom, Eve, Bess, Etta and Esther -- married (some more than once) and had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It's quite possible that there were some great great's of the elder siblings running around, since my kids are (almost) old enough to make me a grandfather. Fortunately, thus far they've held off. To the best of my knowledge.

My grandmother passed away in February of last year, at age 96. Her two kid sisters, Etta and Esther, are still vigorous in their mid-90's, and were the senior Schneiders in attendance at last Saturday's Schneider Family Centennial Seder, celebrating the coming to America of Max and Anna and their family in or around 1905. They weren't so hot at record-keeping back then, so everything -- including the ages of the original seven -- are approximations.

We all met up in Florham Park, New Jersey, for the Passover Seder, since the Schneiders had settled in that general area (and there are still lots of us there), and the organizing cousins pulled out all the stops. We had a hospitality suite -- I should probably mention that we were in a lovely hotel, as we outgrew home-based Seders many moons ago -- with family photos dating back almost 100 years; two song books, one produced in memory of my mom, whose played the piano each year at the rousing post-Seder sing-along; a custom Hagadah (Passover service book); a family cookbook that my Aunt Nan pulled together; a five-generation family tree from my cousin Micah that covered the better part of a ballroom wall; even a comemorative tee-shirt, courtesy of my cousin Shelly. All told, there were over 115 of us there, only about a third of whom I'd ever met before. And I have to say, they're a pretty cool bunch.

The New Jersey Jewish News published a lovely article: Enter Schneiders, exit loneliness, which has much more detail than I've been able to capture here, and lots of great stories from Seders past. Well worth a read. There's a photo album too. Well worth a look... if you're in one of the photos. :)

Now here's the interesting part.

My wife and kids had such a lovely time with the extended family that Marta suggested we should always have the Seder on a weekend, to make it easier for more people to attend. True, this contravenes Old Testament law -- and likely messes me up for Palm Sunday, big-time. (This year, because of the centennial, and because I knew it would make mom and my grandmother very happy, I made an exception and attended the family feast.) But the Schneiders have alway done things a little bit differently. The latest poll results from my cousin Bobby suggest that at least 60 of our relatives were in favor of the new plan.

So, next year, in... New Jersey, most likely!

(2005-04-26 07:33:56.0) Permalink Comments [3]

Thursday April 21, 2005

The Life of St. Mary of Egypt

This past Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrated the memory of St. Mary of Egypt (fixed feast April 1), honoring her as the very image of penitence. If you haven't read her life, it's well worth your time; it was composed by St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and uniquely, is read liturgically as part of the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at Matins on the fifth Thursday of Lent.

Troparion - Tone 8

The image of God was truly preserved in you, O mother,
For you took up the Cross and followed Christ.
By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away;
But to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal.
Therefore your spirit, O holy Mother Mary, rejoices with the Angels.

Kontakion - Tone 3

Having been a sinful woman,
You became through repentance a Bride of Christ.
Having attained angelic life,
You defeated demons with the weapon of the Cross;
Therefore, O most glorious Mary you are a Bride of the Kingdom!

(2005-04-21 10:17:07.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Thursday April 14, 2005

Rocketboom (daily vlog with amanda congdon)

From Garfield's artcle: "At Rocketboom.com, chirpy, irreverent host Amanda Congdon delivers oddball news and snarky observations in a primitive studio (or maybe a one-bedroom)."

I've watched the last week's worth -- she is/they are a hoot!

(2005-04-14 09:28:15.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Bob Garfield's 'Chaos Scenario'

Fascinating article, subtitled 'A Look at the Marketing Industry's Coming Disaster', on 'What happens if the traditional marketing model collapses before a better alternative is established?'

If?

I think 'when' is the better question.

Even the good TV has gone bad, as CSI gets worse with every spin-off, on-brand and off. (I have to confess, though: I have a real soft spot for NCIS, mostly because their cartoon characters are a lot more fun to watch than the huffing and puffing prototypes on the more 'serious' iterations.) Not even worth mentioning the dynasties that started bad.

TV advertising has gone down hill with them. Does anybody remember the adZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz from this year's Super Bowl? I was hoping for excitement on the order of another wardrobe malfunction, and all I got was Sir Paul McCartney huffing and puffing out the oldies. A dose of any of the ED remedies currently blanketing the market would have helped the show. (Of course, if it had run for more than four hours, it would have meant an embarassing trip to the emergency room...)

But the alternatives aren't much more feasible or appealing, at least for now. The glitzy, personalized billboards served up to Tom Cruise in Minority Report, based on retinal scans, are still a ways away. And as Chas Edwards notes in his blog entry on 'TV's Micro-Targeting Future',

Seemingly everyone wins when a commercial featuring all-wheel drive airs on TV sets in Rockland County, N.Y., but not on TV sets in Westchester, N.Y., if the snowstorm turns to rain while crossing the Hudson. But here's the rub: This kind of ad targeting means dozens if not hundreds of 30-second commercials for every single advertising campaign, each spot racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in video production costs. In other words, creative costs could quickly outpace the media costs to place those spots on the air. Likewise, the investment in ad agency staff required to plan, place and track dollars spent across hundreds of channels, websites and radio networks—rather than just a handful in a typical ad campaign today—could put agencies out of business overnight.

So scratch that approach for the near term. And finally, as Garfield asks in 'Chaos Scenario',

Content will be enormously diverse, agrees Forrest Research research director Chris Charron, but will it constitute a legitimate advertising medium? “A lot of people talk about these social networks and blogs and the blogosphere as being great ways to attract consumers and attract eyeballs and potentially good advertising opportunities, but history shows that is not the case, even recent history. Remember GeoCities? I think they were bought by Yahoo for $3 or $4 billion. Well, it never became a very viable advertising outlet and that’s because it wasn’t a great context for people to place ads. Advertisers weren’t interested in putting them on a personal homepage for Chris Charron for my friends and relatives to see.”

Of course, if any of you advertisers would like to drop $3 or $4 billion (the billion also applies to the $3, by the way) to advertise on my blog, I'm fine with it, and I'm sure Sun would be happy to help... for a slice of the pie. I hope you all haven't given up on blog ads just because of that GeoCities thing.

If at first you don't succeed...

(2005-04-14 06:33:46.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Tuesday April 12, 2005

They Know Why I Fly

My new best friend, Kim Creaven, is the advertising director for American Airlines Publishing, the fine folks who bring us American Way and Celebrated Living magazines, plus CBS Eye on American, and many of the nice touches you'll find in the Admirals Clubs.

Why is Kim my new best friend, you ask?

Because she just sent me the latest issue of American Way AUTOGRAPHED by my very favorite editor, Sherri Gulczynski Burns, and my very favorite columnist, Jim Shahin. And I got way more than autographs: I got PERSONAL NOTES. I'd tell you what the notes say... but they're personal.

Sorry. :)

This one is going in my permanent collection.

This is one to show the grand kids.

(I don't have any grand kids yet -- just saying.)

I am in editorial wannabe heaven here. I thumb my nose at other airlines and their boorish, boring magazines. American Way rocks.

Kim, Sherri and Jim rock.

These people know why I fly.

(2005-04-12 10:14:13.0) Permalink Comments [30]

Friday April 08, 2005

Paris Hilton and me... in the same article!

I kid you not.

Check out the Marketing Sherpa case study entitled Sun Microsystems Tests High-Impact Brand Revival Campaigns Online: 3 Broken Rules. (Better hurry, though -- it's only available for free viewing for a short while longer.)

They also posted some cool screenshots and such from our quarterly NC Web launches.

No shots of Paris, though. Bummer...

(2005-04-08 17:43:33.0) Permalink Comments [0]

Monday April 04, 2005

The History of Our Salvation:
Reading the Old Testament During Lent and Holy Week

O almighty Master, who hast made all creation and by thine inexpressible providence and great goodness hast brought us to these all-revered days, for the purification of soul and body, for the controlling of passions and for hope of resurrection, who, during the forty days didst give into the hands of thy servant Moses the tablets of the Law in characters divinely traced by thee: Enable us also, O good One, to fight the good fight, to complete the course of the fast, to preserve inviolate the faith, to crush under foot the heads of invisible serpents, to be accounted victors over sin; and, uncondemned, to attain unto and worship the holy resurrection. For blessed and glorified is thine all-honorable and majestic name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.

-- Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The Liturgikon: The Book of Divine Services for the Priest and Deacon (Englewood, New Jersey: Antakya Press, 1989), pp. 370-371.

From the first Presanctified Liturgy of the Lenten season, the Old Testament is offered to us for instruction and inspiration, and revealed to us as our guide through the forty days-those forty days which we keep in memory of Moses' sojourn on Mount Sinai, during which God gave into the hands of His servant the tablets of the Law in characters which He Himself divinely traced. This is, of course, a reference from the Book of Exodus. The second Old Testament citation in this prayer hearkens from the earliest chapters of the Book of Genesis, in which God curses the serpent who has just led Adam and Eve into temptation:

On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

And on Holy Saturday itself-the final day of Holy Week and the very eve of Pascha-at Lauds and again at the Vesperal Liturgy, it is "The Great" Moses himself, the central figure of the Old Testament, who reveals to us the meaning of this great day, as we sing in the doxastikon:

Moses the great mystically prefigured this present day, saying: "And God blessed the seventh day." For this is the blessed Sabbath, this is the day of rest, on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works. Suffering death in accordance with the plan of salvation, He kept the Sabbath in the flesh; and returning once again to what He was, through His Resurrection He has granted us eternal life, For He alone is good and loves mankind.

-- Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware, translators, The Lenten Triodion (London, England: Faber and Faber, 1978), pp. 652-653, 656.

It is no accident that the central figure of the Old Testament, Moses, and the central events of the Old Testament, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, and the Israelites' forty year pilgrimage in the desert, frame for us our forty day pilgrimage to Pascha.

Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia describes Great Lent as "an annual return to our Biblical roots. It is, more specifically, a return to our roots in the Old Testament; for during Lent, to a far greater degree than at any other time of the year, the Scriptural readings are taken from the Old Testament rather than the New." (Ibid., p. 38.)

Alexander Schmemann, of thrice-blessed memory, goes even further:

One can say that the forty days of Lent are, in a way, the return of the Church into the spiritual situation of the Old Testament-the time before Christ, the time of repentance and expectation, the time of the "history of salvation" moving toward its fulfillment in Christ. This return is necessary because even though we belong to the time after Christ, and know Him and have been "baptized into Him," we constantly fall away from the new life received from Him, and this means lapse again into the "old" time. The Church, on the one hand, is already "at home" for she is the "grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit"; yet, on the other hand, she is also "on her way" as the pilgrimage-long and difficult-toward the fulfillment of all things in God, the return of Christ and the end of all time.

Great Lent is the season when this second aspect of the Church, of her life as expectation and journey, is being actualized. It is here, therefore, that the Old Testament acquires its whole significance: as the book not only of the prophecies which have been fulfilled, but of man and the entire creation "on their way" to the Kingdom of God

-- Schmemann, Alexander, Great Lent (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), pp. 38-39.

And so as we go on our way to the great feast of Pascha, the Old Testament is our book, our guide, and our constant companion.

[READ IT ALL-HTML]
[READ IT ALL-PDF]

(2005-04-04 10:15:23.0) Permalink Comments [3]

Statement of the Antiochian Archdiocese on the Passing to Eternal Life of Pope John Paul II

We join in mourning the loss of Pope John Paul II, the great leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time we rejoice in his ministry, and the legacy of compassion that he leaves to the world. We bring to mind the teaching of St. Ignatius of Antioch in his exhortation to Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna on the role of the bishop:

Lift up all men, as the Lord lifts you; put up with all in love, as you actually do. Be diligent in unceasing prayers; ask for more understanding than you have; watch with a sleepless spirit. Speak to each individual after the example of God; bear the sickness of all, as a perfect athlete. Where the labor is greatest, the gain is great.

(Ignatius to Polycarp 1:2-3)

It seems clear that Pope John Paul II, in his episcopacy, was true to this teaching. He touched many people of all races and religions by his example of caring, love, and compassion. He also served as a strong example of what it means to suffer and die with grace. He has “fought the good fight.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP had met Pope John Paul II on two occasions and was impressed by his faithfulness, and holiness. Surely his soul is resting in peace and his memory is eternal.

(2005-04-04 08:28:03.0) Permalink Comments [0]

And on the topic of Lenten reading...

I highly recommend these daily "Dynamis" sermons from David Patton, based upon the Orthodox Church lectionary and delivered to your email inbox one day in advance. Dynamis is a project of the Education Committee of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas.

For more information, visit the Dynamis page on Yahoo groups or the Dynamis home page. To subscribe, click here.

(2005-04-04 07:10:57.0) Permalink Comments [0]

Kyriacos Markides: The Mountain of Silence
A Search for Orthodox Spirituality

I was in California all last week, and the cross-country flights on Monday and Friday gave me time to finish this splendid book.

At first, I have to say, I found Markides somewhat irritating. He was like a cub reporter following a saint, and I was pleased to be irritated -- on Fr. Maximos's behalf -- at the obvious and simplistic questions, at the secular "doubting Thomas" approach to many of the elder's stories and sayings, at the frequent comparisons to this off-beat charismatic healer or that far-away guru du jour.

But once I got into the thick of the book (which, at 272 pages, isn't all that thick), I began to appreciate two things. First, that Markides's questions were clearly not simply his own, but were on behalf of the likely majority of his readers who would have exactly the same questions. This is not a book written for "Orthodox cognoscenti", but for lay people of any tradition. It assumes no prior familiarity with the Athonite spiritual tradition -- and from that perspective, it is entirely sucessful in finding and revealing the Orthodox spirituality which is the subject of the search.

The second thing I came to appreciate was the clear organization of the book, which is surely Markides's doing, since unedited conversations are never this organized. Not with any Orthodox I've ever met. :) (Present company included.) The table of contents is revealed as the curriculum for a comprehensive general introduction to Orthodox faith and spirituality, with each chapter well organized and relatively self-contained. You could do far, far worse than to begin an exploration of the Orthodox Church with Markides and Fr. Maximos as your guides.

The bottom line -- and why I gave this book five stars -- is that it helped me and inspired me to pray. Starting Lent with this book has made it a better Lent (thus far, anyway) than I've had in a few years. It has both comforted and challenged me, both confirmed what I believed and taught me things I never knew. It changed me -- and you can't ask any more of a book than that.

I highly recommend it to anyone, Orthodox or not, beginner or... well, in the company of Fr. Maximos and the elders whose wisdom he shares with us, we're all beginners.

[GET IT]

(2005-04-04 06:51:06.0) Permalink Comments [3]