Friday, November 22, 2019

6 Steps to Get Your Self-Published Book Into Libraries | Jane Friedman

6 Steps to Get Your Self-Published Book Into Libraries | Jane Friedman:
While this worked for library systems in Ontario, Canada, the same steps should work for any local library system. I’m also sharing the template I used to approach libraries.
1. Research, research, research.

Look at the public library’s website to find out whether they have a system for accepting self-published books into circulation. Or you can contact the head librarian or the procurement librarian for the specific department that corresponds to your book genre. For example, I always looked for the head children’s librarian of the system that I was reaching out to.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

May Lay People Cense at Home? - The Catalog of Good Deeds

May Lay People Cense at Home? - The Catalog of Good Deeds:
Whereas in the church the censing was carried out by priests, Christians of old used to bring a pleasant fragrance to God in their homes on their own, as evidenced by the writings of the Fathers, the numerous lives of the saints, and the rule books of some monasteries. In particular, St. Photios the Metropolitan of Moscow says in his epistle that God-fearing laypeople, both men and women, should cense their own icons, as well as teach their children to do so, notwithstanding their young age, for this is the custom of the Orthodox.

Metropolitan of Limassol confirms that he recognizes only UOC in Ukraine - UOJ - the Union of Orthodox Journalists

Metropolitan of Limassol confirms that he recognizes only UOC in Ukraine - UOJ - the Union of Orthodox Journalists:
“Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol separates his position in mentioning the name of Epiphany as Metropolitan of Kiev, which was performed by Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria during the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in Limassol,” the statement emphasizes.

Met. Athanasios also commented on this situation on the metropolitan radio station.

In his speech, the hierarch emphasized that the bishops of the Patriarchate of Alexandria until the last moment assured him that Patriarch Theodore promised not to сommemorate Epiphany Dumenko. The patriarch himself also did not inform Vladyka Athanasios during the liturgy that he intended to make this commemoration.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

UOC Spokesman on recognition of OCU by Pat. Theodore: Weakness and betrayal - UOJ - the Union of Orthodox Journalists

UOC Spokesman on recognition of OCU by Pat. Theodore: Weakness and betrayal - UOJ - the Union of Orthodox Journalists:
Unfortunately, the Patriarch of Alexandria was unable to withstand external pressure from the Phanar, the authorities of Greece and the United States.

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, commented exclusively for the UOJ on the recognition of the OCU by the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

“Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria today mentioned Epiphany at the service, which means he recognized the OCU. And a year ago in Odessa he said: "Hold on to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry." He supported our Church, supported so much that Eustratiy Zoria from the “Kiev Patriarchate” called his words “Alexandrian jeans”. And now, everything is completely different,” Archpriest Nikolai shared his impressions.

He recalled that Patriarch Theodore studied in Odessa, was previously a representative of the Alexandrian Patriarchate in Ukraine and knows the Russian language, which is rare for the Greeks.

Patriarch of Alexandria not commemorated at Alexandrian representation church in Moscow / OrthoChristian.Com

Patriarch of Alexandria not commemorated at Alexandrian representation church in Moscow / OrthoChristian.Com:
For the first time in its history, the Patriarch of Alexandria and his representative in Moscow were not commemorated at the Alexandrian representative church in the Kitai Gorod section of Moscow on Sunday, November 10.

“I was at the Sunday Liturgy at the Alexandrian representation church in Moscow, and I regret to inform you that they did not commemorate Pope and Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria,” a parishioner wrote to the “Batiushka Luther” Telegram channel, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

This follows in the wake of Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria’s decision to recognize and commemorate the Ukrainian schismatics. Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations commented that this would result in Patriarch Kirill not commemorating Pat. Theodoros, though there has been no news as to whether the Russian Patriarch has made this change.

Ever Defiant, the Serbs Respond — Monomakhos

Ever Defiant, the Serbs Respond — Monomakhos:
“The schism was not started by the Russian Orthodox Church, but only by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and for it’s eventual deepening and prolonging, responsibility will be carried by the Orthodox Church of Greece, which, after some resistance, has given in and has acted according to the instructions of Phanar, Washington and God knows who else.

“It is still not too late: Archbishop Jeronime [sic] of Athens still has maneuvering space to stop and not to add to even greater and more severe schism in the Orthodox Church. Never, and not even now, [it] is not redundant to remind ourselves and others about the words of the holy fathers who teah that the sin of schism cannot be washed away even by the blood of martyr[dom].

Dostoevsky's Literary Burden of Representing Saints | Church Life Journal | University of Notre Dame

Dostoevsky's Literary Burden of Representing Saints | Church Life Journal | University of Notre Dame:
Perhaps no one in the history of modern literature was as conscious as Dostoevsky regarding the literary burden taken on when it came to presenting or representing an unassailably good person. Such a depiction was weighed down with representational disadvantages: it took talent but was not impossible to depict a great sinner who undergoes conversion or is capable of such; it took a unique talent, someone of Dostoevsky’s psychological acuity, to lay bare the psyche of the person alienated from others, self, and God and free-falling into incoherence. But how to depict a truly good man, indeed, a man who is nothing short of a saint, someone who has died to self and made himself available to others, was a task for which Dostoevsky was unsure that his or indeed anyone’s literary gifts were a match. Hagiography is a genre of long-standing, but no modern writer confuses it with literature, which requires characters that are not only believable in the modern world, but show the capacity to negotiate and transcend it.

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

The Evolution of Dragons in Western Literature: A History | Tor.com

The Evolution of Dragons in Western Literature: A History | Tor.com:
The origin of the dragon is such a mystery, even the exact etymology of its name is disputed. But you can mostly trace the meaning of dragon back to “serpent” (as with drakon in Ancient Greek and draco in Latin, for instance). If you dig deeper, its root derk- (or drk-) is the equivalent of “to see” in Ancient Greek—suggesting that drk-on also indicates “seeing one,” or “I see.”

Ironically, this power of sight was a one-way street: no one in the Western world could agree on what they saw of the dragon. As such, the earliest descriptions of them were fabulously inconsistent. Generally, dragons were titanic and powerful—but that was about where the common ground ended. Some accounts said that dragons were poisonous; others argued that they breathed fire; still others insisted that they were winged. In fact, if there was only one constant in ancient Western myths, it was this glaring certainty: dragons were stone-cold evil.