October 23: St. James of Jerusalem

I was, uh, kind of busy yesterday (Friday, October 23), but I had to note this as soon as possible. Yesterday, the ACCA commemorated St. James of Jerusalem, the "brother" of the Lord, and the first bishop, after the Apostles of Jerusalem. Also known as "St. James the Just," he is believed to be the author of the New Testament Epistle of James, and the authorship of the "Liturgy of St. James" is attributed to him. (No, he had nothing to do with the production of the "KING James Bible.")

According to Eusebius, James the Just was martyred in Jerusalem a few years prior to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. According to both St. Paul and Eusebius, James was privileged to encounter the Risen Lord after the Resurrection.

St. James' Day is also the day upon which the ACCA was granted to autocephalous status. The year was 1991. Thus, as of yesterday, the ACCA has existed as an independent jurisdiction for 18 years.

A note of thanks and request for continued prayers

As I write this, I am lying in a hospital bed, having been admitted early yesterday morning due to having experienced a heart attack, my second. Fortunately, it appears that little damage has been done and I anticipate having a ROUTINE (as opposed to emergency) cardiac catheterization procedure on Monday. Thanks to all who are praying or are otherwise expressing their love and concern for me and my family. Please continue the prayers!

To correct some genealogical misinformation

In looking for something else (ain't that always the case), I have discovered a truly bizarre mistake concerning my genealogy, published several places on the Internet. I am posting the following here in order to correct this mistake.

To wit:

My father was Rex Ralston Blevins. My mother, his wife, was named Attie Marguerite Blevins (her maiden name was, in fact, Blevins as well).

Maud Godsey, or Maude Godsey, was Rex's MOTHER, not his wife. Maud, therefore, was my maternal grandmother.

Weird.

A Long-Delayed Post: Ordinations to the Priesthood

This post has been a long time in coming, since the end of May, in fact. It was delayed by my not being able to obtain pictures of the event. Well, the ACCA had its annual clergy convocation at the end of September, and I was finally able to the required shots. (As soon as I get pictures from convocation, I will post them as well.)

Back in May, the Cloistered Heart Myrrh-bearers Sisterhood and the associated Cloistered Heart God-bearers Brotherhood held an annual retreat. At that event, on Sunday, May 17, 2009, Mother Shirley Raper and Mother Jacqueline Dierring, both of the Sisterhood and veteran Deacons, were ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Victor Mar Michael Herron, Metran of the ACCA.

During the course of the Qurbana, after the Invocation of the Holy Spirit over the gifts consecrating them the Body and Blood of Christ, Mar Michael offers the Prayer for the ordination of priests. Avva Zakkai Patrick Pardee, Pastor of St. Demetrios in Knoxville, assists Mar Michael as Archdeacon.

Mar Michael lays hands on the ordinands, pronouncing the words of ordination. Avva Zakkai and Mar Michael then vest the new priests. First, Mother Shirley:

And then, Mother Jackie:
The Qurbana then continues. Mar Michael presides from the chair while Avva Zakkai and the new priests serve at the altar. Below, the three priests elevate the Holy Gifts: Together, they proclaim: "The Holy Mysteries are for the Holy!" The congregation responds: "One Holy Father, One Holy Son, One Holy Spirit, Who are One. Amen."

Mother Shirley is Priest-in-Charge of Holy Adoration Chapel, Sparta, Tennessee. Mother Jackie is Priest-in-Charge of Holy Trinity Chapel, Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Axios, Axios, Axios!

Many years!

Dormition and Assumption of the Theotokos (Old Calendar)

Today is August 15 on the Old Calendar, the unrevised Julian Calendar. Those Byzantine Orthodox Churches which follow it today celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos. From Fr. Jonathan:

"Sleep and Rise, Fair Maiden, Daughter of Your Son"

The Dormition and Assumption of the Theotokos

Today the Apostolic Churches, both East and West (who use the contemporary calendar), celebrate the falling-asleep of the Mother of God, "our most holy, most pure, most glorious and blessed Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary", followed by her assumption, body and soul, into Heaven, the first fruits of the general resurrection.

"And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." (Revelation 12:1)

From St. Gregory Palamas: "A Homily on the Dormition"

Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

In the Roman Church, today commemorates the victory of Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan imprisoned by the Nazis. Fr. Kolbe gave up his life so that another prisoner, a man with a wife and children, could live.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another martyr of the Nazi yoke, wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he calls him to die."

This theme of the Christian life as necessarily involving self-sacrifice and asketic struggle has come up in several places lately. Here are three:

Second Terrace: "When History Passes You By"

OrthoCuban: "On Wounds Borne For Us"

Anselm's Godblog: "Sacrifice"

and, the struggle on the cosmic level, within the human heart:

Glory to God for all Things: "The Last Battle"

Orthodoxy on the Gridiron: an Interview with Troy Polamalu

(Phiro tip: GetReligion)

Freelance journalist Gina Mazza talks with Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who is a convert to the Greek Orthodox Church. He and his wife, Theodora, recently became the parents of a son, Paisios.

In answer to Mazza's question, "What is your greatest wish for your child?", Polamalu responds:

"Without a question, my greatest wish would be for him to understand the spiritual struggle and to be a pious Orthodox Christian. That's what I want for myself, as well. Sometimes parents want their children to be what they never were. And that's one thing that I am gracious for Paisios to have: that he's able to grow up in the Orthodox church around monastics and priests that I was never able to experience as a kid - to grasp that, not take it for granted and really culture that."

Polamalu also says that if his son has to choose between becoming a priest and being a star athlete, he hopes that Paisios will choose the former.

Read it all here.

From Wikipedia (and Fr. Stephen)...

Wikipedia is somewhat controversial. Nevertheless, I have usually found it to be a reliable source of information (a bit of which, on certain topics, I myself have supplied).

My friend and colleague, Mother Charlie, Archabbas of the Order of Celtic Benedictines (see link on the right), called the following to my attention (and no, I contributed nothing to this particular article):

"Eastern Orthodox Christian theology"

I particularly like the lede paragraph:

"Eastern Orthodox Christian theology is the theology particular to the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is characterized by monotheistic Trinitarianism, belief in the Incarnation of the Logos (Son of God), a balancing of cataphatic theology with apophatic theology, a hermeneutic defined by Sacred Tradition, a concrete ecclesiology, a robust theology of the person, and a therapeutic soteriology."

And then, there is this, from Fr. Stephen:

"The Fullness of Faith"

One caveat: in the above, Father goes beyond a "concrete ecclesiology" to a typically Byzantine Orthodox closed ecclesiology which he then conflates with the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. However, it is better to know one place where the concrete Church actually is, even if one finds it only there, than to either, in effect, deny the existence of that real, historical, continuous Church (Evangelicalism), or (as in the case of Mormonism) to find it where it does not exist.