Sunday of Orthodoxy at St. George Cathedral

From the Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Celebrating St. Basil the Great’s liturgy

WORCESTER — Twelve priests and five deacons from different churches participate in the Sunday of Orthodoxy Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great at St. George Cathedral yesterday. The Sunday of Orthodoxy has been observed by Orthodox Christians on the first Sunday in Lent since A.D. 842. Following the tradition, members of the 12 Orthodox churches that make up the Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts celebrate the event together.

[Okay, really there were just three deacons -- maybe they were counting the two sub-deacons? But I thought a sub-deacon only counted as half a deacon? (Two thirds, tops, if he's good...) Or maybe the Archdeacon counted for three. Where are the Latins when you need them?!]

Wesa Ticked!!

Saturday morning, not much going on. So I turned on the tube, and found a re-run of Return of the Jedi on one of the cable channels.

As I watched, I saw details that I hadn't noticed my first six hundred times through. Kind of like spotting a second nose on my wife after so many years of being married to her.

Most extreme: at the end of the flick, after the rebels are victorious over the religious right (sorry, couldn't help myself there!), we see scenes of celebration taking place in the cities of the second trilogy, cities which we had not seen in any of the original episodes. On the planet Naboo, Gungans are shouting "Wesa free!" as breakfast rises in the back of my throat.

And if that weren't much, much more than enough, when the spirit of Anakin Skywalker shows up with those of Obi Wan and Yoda for a big old High Five, it's Hayden Christensen smirking at me, instead of the kindly old fella who looked like Uncle Fester under the Darth Vader suit.

Hayden Christensen.

Hayden Christensen.

What happened?

Blasphemy!

The only thing I liked about it is that, compared with Jar Jar Binks, the Ewoks were down right tolerable.

"Yub yub," I say.

That's Ewok for "Off with their heads!"...

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Postscript: Chris Gould was kind enough to have cataloged and illustrated most, if not all, of the "improvements" to the original versions. You can find them here:

• CHANGES TO EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE
• CHANGES TO EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
• CHANGES TO EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI

And on the topic of "all these changes and you couldn't erase Jar Jar Bloody Binks!!??",

• CHANGES TO EPISODES I, II AND III

And NOW, a word from Fr. Paul!

Fr. Mark Doku was kind enough to send me a copy of Fr. Paul Lazor's warm and "Personal Memoir" of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, delivered as this year's Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture at St. Vladimir's Seminary on January 28.

Fr. Paul is most dear to me and Marta since he (her confessor) and Fr. Tom Hopko (mine) married us back in... never mind.

Fr. Alexander, well, his were the first books I read (along with Fr. Timothy/Bishop Kallistos Ware's), borrowed from the Wellesley College Library, in my search for the faith in and around 1979. And it was his mid-Lent visit to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Boston, two years later, which "sealed the deal" for me. I was chrismated just weeks after that, and enrolled at St. Vladimir's a year and a half later, just as Fr. Alexander's cancer was being diagnosed. Thank God, he was with us for the first half of my three years at St. Vlad's, and as the Dean, he blessed me and Marta to get married. My mom and my aunt were in the Chapel the following Pascha, Fr. Alexander's last, and there's a great story there -- but for another time.

For now, read what Fr. Paul wrote from his heart, and get to know two of the most noble priests I have or will ever know.

[READ IT]

Munich

So, I'm home after a week of travel, not wanting to leave my warm house, not wanting to start my taxes. And Munich is on HBO.

While it was not epic in the sense of The Godfather trilogy (or the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- what is it about trilogies?), and while it was not platitudinous in delivering its message, its message was clear.

Violence begets violence. Revenge begets revenge. Blood cries out from the very earth. And the end result is not justice, is not righteousness, is not -- cannot be -- peace. Rather, it is destruction of the self, sacrifice of ones own soul.

I cannot help but be reminded of this passage from Genesis:

Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:8-15)

It is alienation: from ones home, from ones people, from God Himself -- and should retribution be taken on such a one so alienated, sevenfold vengeance would be the only result. The absolute entropy, the very metastasis of evil.

The most chilling moment of the whole movie was the final scene: Avner refuses to return to his homeland; Ephraim refuses to break bread with Avner, the simplest affirmation of his humanity; and in the background, tall but achingly vulnerable, the twin towers stand.

But even more chilling than that, scary as hell: when I sat down here, immediately after, to type this out, the headline from my comcast.net home page: Suicide Bomber Kills 121 in Baghdad.

[VIEW TRAILER]
[GET IT]