Devshirme � Blog Archive � Menstruation And Holy Communion

Devshirme � Blog Archive � Menstruation And Holy Communion: Metropolitan Methodios distributed the writing below to us at our monthly clergy brotherhood meeting this morning. It is from St. Gregory the Great to St. Augustine of Canterbury and is the last word on the “issue” of women receiving communion while menstruating. Some of his language reflects the time in which this was written (6th century) but the bottom line is that a woman’s period should not keep her from receiving communion (no matter what Yiayia may say about it : ).

Logismoi: C.S. Lewis & St Silouan

Logismoi: C.S. Lewis & St Silouan: Third, and most interesting to me and, I presume, my readers, he had a meeting with his spiritual director, the Rt Revd Simon Barrington-Ward, the former (Anglican) Bishop of Coventry and a friend of Lewis at Magdalene College, Cambridge. At this particular meeting, Barrington-Ward was trying to explain ‘what Lewis meant by “wordless prayer”, a significant theme of Letters to Malcolm and one that had occupied much of the first year of my doctoral research.’

Ranks of Angels - Russian Orthodox Church of Three Saints � � � �Храм Трех Святителей�

Ranks of Angels - Russian Orthodox Church of Three Saints � � � �Храм Трех Святителей�: The Celebration of the Sobor [Assemblage] of the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts Michael, and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Hosts was established at the beginning of the IV Century at the local Laodician Council, which occurred several years before the First Ecumenical Council. The Laodician Council by its 35th Canon condemned and renounced as heretical the worship of angels as creators and rulers of the world and it affirmed their proper Orthodox veneration. A feastday was established in November -- the ninth month from March (with which month the year began in ancient times) -- in accordance with the 9 Ranks of Angels. The eighth day of the month was decreed for the intended Sobor [Assemblage] of all the Heavenly Powers -- in conjunction with the Day of the Dread Last - Judgement of God, which the holy fathers called the "Eighth Day" -- since after this age in which the seven days [of Creation] have elapsed will come the "Eighth Day" -- and then "shalt come the Son of Man in His Glory and all the holy Angels together with Him" (Mt 25:31).

10 Tips for Creative Writing Submissions and Getting Published :Writing Forward

10 Tips for Creative Writing Submissions and Getting Published :Writing Forward

Barack Obama, Pro-Life Hero

Barack Obama, Pro-Life Hero | Sexuality/Gender | Religion Dispatches: Writing in the National Catholic Reporter in early August, Nicholas Cafardi made the provocative assertion that between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, the president is the more pro-life candidate. A significant part of the Duquesne law professor’s argument is that Obama favors “support for vulnerable pregnant women and alternatives to abortion [which] will make abortions much less likely, since most abortions are economic.” A few weeks later, just thirty-four days before the election, that argument became even stronger.

Who should I vote for for US president?

If I were American, who should I vote for?

Who should you vote for? US Presidency 2012 quiz

Democrat	-9
Libertarian	-9
Republican	-15

You expected: Dem
Your recommendation: Democrat/Libertarian
Click here for more details about these results

Orthodoxy and Creationism: by Deacon Andrew Kuraev | Salt of the Earth

Orthodoxy and Creationism: by Deacon Andrew Kuraev | Salt of the Earth

What's the difference between these two brains? - Telegraph

What's the difference between these two brains? - Telegraph: To neurologists who study the brain, and who have worked out how to interpret the images, the difference between these two brains is both remarkable and shocking. The brain on the right lacks some of the most fundamental areas present in the image on the left. Those deficits make it impossible for that child to develop capacities that the child on the left will have: the child on the right will grow into an adult who is less intelligent, less able to empathise with others, more likely to become addicted to drugs and involved in violent crime than the child on the left. The child on the right is much more likely to be unemployed and to be dependent on welfare, and to develop mental and other serious health problems.

BBC News - Five million paid less than Living Wage, says KPMG

BBC News - Five million paid less than Living Wage, says KPMG: One in five workers in the UK is paid less than required for a basic standard of living, a report has claimed.

Cold caller firm pays out for wasting businessman's time - Telegraph

Cold caller firm pays out for wasting businessman's time - Telegraph: Richard Herman, 53, was so upset with firms phoning him up and trying to sell him goods and services he decided to charge them for the time they took out of his day.

Paperback Writer: NaNoWriMo Ten

Paperback Writer: NaNoWriMo Ten: Kleimo's Random Name Generator -- This generator uses US census data to produce name lists of up to 30 for males, females or both genders. You can also set the obscurity factor from 1 (extremely common names) to 99 (extremely uncommon names.)

Mehdi Hasan: Being Pro-Life Doesn't Make Me Any Less Of A Lefty

Mehdi Hasan: Being Pro-Life Doesn't Make Me Any Less Of A Lefty: What I would like is for my fellow lefties and liberals to try to understand and respect the views of those of us who are pro-life, rather than demonise us as right-wing reactionaries or medieval misogynists.

One of the biggest problems with the abortion debate is that it's asymmetric: the two sides are talking at cross-purposes. The pro-lifers speak about the right to life of the unborn baby; the pro-choicers speak about a woman's right to choose. The moral arguments, as the Scottish philosopher Alasdair Macintyre has said, are "incommensurable".

Another problem is that the debate forces people to choose sides: right against left, religious against secular. Some of us, however, refuse to be sliced and diced in such a simplistic and divisive manner. I consider abortion to be wrong because of, not in spite of, my progressive principles. That I am pro-life does not make me any less of a lefty.

BBC News - Mau Mau struggle for recognition at home and abroad

BBC News - Mau Mau struggle for recognition at home and abroad: From the reaction of the Mau Mau veterans in Kenya, you might have been forgiven for thinking they had won their torture case against the UK government.

Straight from the Heart

Straight from the Heart: Like many Orthodox, I am fascinated by God’s annual gift to His Church of the Holy Fire, which He kindles faithfully in the Church of the Resurrection (or "the Holy Sepulchre") in Jerusalem every Holy Saturday. I first heard of the Holy Fire from reading (of all things) H.V. Morton’s famous travelogue of his visits to the Holy Land, his In the Steps of the Master (first published 1934). It’s fair to say that this English churchman was not impressed. He wrote that he thought it “an extraordinary thing” that “a frenzied ceremony that might have occurred in a grove of Adonis should have taken place at the Tomb of Christ”, wherein “hundreds of simple, but apparently mad, Christians believed that God had sent fire from heaven”. Morton didn’t believe God did send fire from heaven. He wrote, “The crowds have been told time and again that the Holy Fire is a piece of symbolism, but nothing will shake their belief that on this day it descends from heaven into the Tomb of Christ.”

Datablog: deaths after police contact or in police custody | News | guardian.co.uk

Datablog: deaths after police contact or in police custody | News | guardian.co.uk: 1,433 people in England and Wales have died either in police custody or following other police contact since 1990, according to data compiled by Inquest, a charity specialising in the investigation of contentious deaths.

950 deaths took place in custody, 317 following a police pursuit, 112 were the result of a road traffic incident involving a police vehicle and 54 were police shootings.

The highest total was recorded in 2003, when 104 such deaths were recorded. Fourteen of these fell within the operational jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police, of which one was a shooting.

Police Officer Who Shot at Amadou Diallo to Get Gun Back - NYTimes.com

Police Officer Who Shot at Amadou Diallo to Get Gun Back - NYTimes.com: More than 13 years after the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has agreed to restore a service weapon to one of the four New York City officers involved, a decision that Mr. Diallo’s mother characterized as a betrayal.

Half of the Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong - Reason.com

Half of the Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong - Reason.com: Dinosaurs were cold-blooded. Vast increases in the money supply produce inflation. Increased K-12 spending and lower pupil/teacher ratios boosts public school student outcomes. Most of the DNA in the human genome is junk. Saccharin causes cancer and a high fiber diet prevents it. Stars cannot be bigger than 150 solar masses. And by the way, what are the ten most populous cities in the United States?

Map of Individualism (vs Collectivism)

Map of Individualism (vs Collectivism): I believe that individualism is an innate (hence genetic/hereditary) trait of character. It's opposite is collectivism. Please check the thread How individualistic are you ? for a preface. I believe that the individualism-collectivism dichotomy is responsible for many fundamental cultural differences between European countries.

Collectivist and individualist cultures - Psychology Wiki

Collectivist and individualist cultures - Psychology Wiki: Cultures are typically divided into two categories: collectivist and individualist. Individualist cultures, such as those of the United States and Western Europe, emphasize personal achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition. Collectivist cultures, such as those of China, Korea, and Japan, emphasize family and work group goals above individual needs or desires.

Police have shot dead 33 people since 1995 - only two marksmen have ever been named | Mail Online

Police have shot dead 33 people since 1995 - only two marksmen have ever been named | Mail Online: Since 1995 a total of 55 officers have opened fire on and killed members of the public, but in only two cases have their names been revealed.

The figures can be revealed as the inquest into the death of 32-year-old barrister Mark Saunders continues – and the policemen who shot him dead in May 2008 are allowed to remain anonymous while giving evidence.