tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post7002273789994404958..comments2023-06-20T11:16:33.611-04:00Comments on on the temple doorstep: . . . but sometimes things do come togetherabuianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-16653316464162823522007-09-06T13:11:00.000-04:002007-09-06T13:11:00.000-04:00I doubt that anyone will read this, but I'll put i...I doubt that anyone will read this, but I'll put it up anyway. It interests me enough to record it somewhere, but not enough to create a wholly new post out of it. I'm reading Solzhenitsyn's <I>Gulag Archipelago</I> and just came to a wonderful quote, especially since it was written more than 37 years ago!<BR/><BR/>Speaking of a prisoner he met from the Russian emigre, "We would often lie beside one another on the wooden bunks. I tried to understand his world as best I could, and our encounter revealed to me a concept confirmed by later encounters--that the outflow from Russia of a significant part of her spiritual forces, which occurred in the Civil War, had deprived us of a great and important stream of Russian culture. Everyone who really loves that culture will strive for the reunion of both streams, the one at home and the tributary abroad. Only then will our culture attain wholeness. Only then will it reveal its capacity for benign development. . . . And I dream of living until that day."abuianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-74802053254959781152007-05-20T23:58:00.000-04:002007-05-20T23:58:00.000-04:00Thanks for the photo link!Thanks for the photo link!Arimatheanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06783088995172601340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-82075462811159397342007-05-18T10:52:00.000-04:002007-05-18T10:52:00.000-04:00Photos of the signing and Ascension DL have been p...<A HREF="http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/enrt07/enakt.html" REL="nofollow">Photos</A> of the signing and Ascension DL have been posted on ROCOR's Web site. I like the shots of Putin--he looks like some little boy who wandered away from his parents to find a good spot where he could see :-)abuianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-18242894652870850882007-05-17T20:13:00.000-04:002007-05-17T20:13:00.000-04:00Thanks for the info. I really wanted to be there a...Thanks for the info. I really wanted to be there at the DL last night, but unfortunately I had a conflict. I agree on #4 that the outcome remains to be seen. Personally, I'd be surprised to see ROCOR cave in this case. I even noticed today on the site of a ROCOR parish that at least one of their bishops has allowed a grace period of five years during which they are not obligated to commemorate the MP in DL. If that kind of measure is necessary, and if as late as the past month <A HREF="http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2007/5enholyland.html" REL="nofollow">notable dissenters</A> were still walking out, I don't see them fading away too quickly :-)abuianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-39483691684340911882007-05-17T19:19:00.000-04:002007-05-17T19:19:00.000-04:00At last night's Ascension Liturgy no Paschal hymns...At last night's Ascension Liturgy no Paschal hymns were sung.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the Naharnet link. A few observations:<BR/><BR/>1. Melkite Deacon Paul Weyrich reports that Putin is an observant Christian who attends the Liturgy and makes his Confession regularly.<BR/><BR/>2. In the Soviet Union, the KGB held responsibility for managing all religion. The bishops were essentially appointed by the KGB, and 90% of them reported to KGB handlers. Many of those bishops, including the patriarch, remain in power today. It is not at all surprising that they maintain a cooperative relationship with Putin and company.<BR/><BR/>3. This sort of church-state cooperation is, for better or worse, business as usual in Russia, very much in continuity with the Soviet and Tsarist past.<BR/><BR/>4. It will be interesting to see who plays whom here - whether the Kremlin will coopt ROCOR as an agent of Russian international influence, or whether ROCOR will give the Moscow Patriarchate the backbone to assert its independence.Arimatheanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06783088995172601340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-59324822688560227072007-05-17T17:06:00.000-04:002007-05-17T17:06:00.000-04:00It just occurred to me that with the Feast of Asce...It just occurred to me that with the Feast of Ascension we're technically past the Paschal season. I hope it was not an unpardonable offense to sing the Paschal Troparion. It still seemed appropriate to the occasion and my mood about it :-)abuianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974528.post-71222606710015690852007-05-17T13:23:00.000-04:002007-05-17T13:23:00.000-04:00Interesting article on Naharnet (Lebanese news so...Interesting article on <A HREF="http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&DBD6258050D7694BC22572DE0048CA7B" REL="nofollow">Naharnet</A> (Lebanese news source) about Putin's presence at the ceremony and his role in the reunification.abuianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14177125847519190290noreply@blogger.com