Reaching for the heavens

My Grandmother infomed me she is coming for a surprise visit.

She’ll be arriving tonight and staying the weekend.

Basically, here’s the situation:

I haven’t told my grandmother that I am fairly certain of my eventual conversion to Orthodoxy. Since returning from Russia, I have already set up a corner of my bedroom with my icons and all of my books on Orthodoxy. So, obviously she will notice that, and she will ask about it, and I will tell her, and then everything will be out in the open and I have no idea how this conversation is going to go.

Pray for me!

Church Museums

It makes me really sad to see a beautiful church turned into a museum. The Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood, for example, which is absolutely beautiful and one of the most recognizable symbols of the city of St. Petersburg, is not even a functioning church. People pay to see the inside as a piece of art, and occasionally it is a venue for small concerts. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see things like this- even the Hagia Sophia is a museum now, which is equally tragic.

Of course I think that a church can and should be appreciated as a piece of art or an element of culture, and I have no objection to people who are not Christian or who have no real interest in religion visiting these places. They are certainly worth seeing. At the same time, seeing most of the tourists around these places (usually foreigners in large groups) their attitude seemed very much in line with the soviet treatment of religious items: set them up as museum pieces, not as something that still has spiritual meaning and purpose, but rather as something representative of a strange and ancient culture that is not relevant to ordinary life.

I got a little annoyed about this, and not just because it’s an Orthodox church. I would never go into any place of worship —a place that really means something to people, that is probably the most important and sacred thing in their lives— and treat it like a fascinating cultural exhibit, or buy religious items as exotic decorations for my house.

One night, we went inside the particular church mentioned above for a concert consisting of liturgical music by Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, mostly from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. It was lovely, and I’m glad we were able to go and hear it, as well as to see the inside of the church, but at the same time… it’s totally out of context. It seemed extremely wrong to be listening to the liturgy inside a church, yet there is no service going on, and nobody is there to worship. I think it may be better not to experience the church or the liturgy at all than to improperly re-frame it within a secular context.

It’s very sad. The liturgy sung by an ordinary choir and a crowd of off-key believers on Sunday morning was infinitely more beautiful than a secular performance of liturgical music in a church that has lost it’s meaning.

Leaving for Russia TOMORROW.

I can’t even tell you how excited I am.

Christ is risen!

jamesfromta:

Whenever I hear the words ‘Christ is risen’ whether sung or proclaimed in English, Greek, Latin, Russian, Arabic and I am filled with hope. All thoughts of fear or doubt, all feelings of sadness and worry for the “what ifs?” are banished from my mind and I am filled with an incredible amount of joy and hope. He is risen indeed and we should proclaim that He has risen to all peoples until He comes again, it would surely be wrong of us to keep this joy and love from anyone. 

But these words, Christ is risen, are so controversial today. They change things. The Gospel message changes things and people know this. At these words the greatest earthly Kings and Queens to the poorest men and women have fallen down in humility before our Lord as brothers and sisters, united in faith and a self sacrificing love. A love that made many of them martyrs at the hands of the unGodly, from the first century until today, from the Middle East to Asia and to Europe. 

These three words, Christ is risen, resonate deep within us and we have no excuse not to proclaim this message, especially in free societies such as the UK. Let us continue to proclaim that He is truly risen and let this message ring throughout the world. 

Christ is risen! Χριστός Ανέστη! Христос воскрес! Christus surrexit! المسيح قام حقا قام

ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! 

Who could ever imagine so much joy?

ps- at this very moment “Christ is Risen” (Alexandr Dmitriyevich Kastalsky) started playing on my Pandora radio station