Charismatic Orthodox Church

Look here - it's a hoot. The pictures of their Divine Liturgy, with a Deacon at the drums is hilarious. It'd be even funnier if they didn't look like they were serious.

St Thomas Aquinas on Merriment

In human affairs, whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others by offering no pleasure to others, and by hindering their enjoyment... Now a man who is without mirth not only is lacking in playful speech, but is also burdensome toothers, since he is blind to the moderate mirth of others. - Summa II Q168 A2

Liturgical Question

Good fellows, this question has been bugging me for years - now that I have a good number of Latin Traddies reading this blog, I thought I might ask you chaps:

When the Divine Office is sung by laymen, what (if anything) does one do about the Versicle 'Dominus vobiscum' and the Response 'Et cum spiritu tuo'? I've heard from one source (who is not to be regarded as authoritative) that it is replaced with 'Domine exaudi orationem meam' and 'Et clamor meus ad the veniat', but that leaves a rather awkward order when 'Dominus vobiscum' and 'Et cum spiritu tuo' are preceded directly by 'Domine exaudi orationem meam' and 'Et clamor meus ad te veniat'. I haven't seen any instructions on this matter anywhere - does the presiding layman sing the Versicle?

While we're at it - what changes to the order and texts are made if the Office is sung by laymen (or a lone layman even)? I'm curious because the Byzantine Offices have clear provisions for what is to be omitted or replaced when a Reader presides, yet the Romans don't seem to have an equivalent set of instructions. My thoughts were that this is because the Byzantine Offices are often done by laymen without a priest, yet in the Roman uses, the Divine Office has become a highly clericalised thing that was no longer considered really the common property of the faithful, hence the proliferation of votive hours (of the Virgin, of the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Cross...) in the West.

Anyone out there able to answer this one?

Pictures of China

Pictures of China - from a Ukrainian website via Andrij. Some of these are so stunningly beautiful, I suspect they've been photoshopped...


Rice cultivation above the cloud-lines

恭喜發財

The Year of the Dog we do now see,
Long life and peace be e'er with thee.
Prosperity and plenty may'st thou enjoy,
Wherefore we say GONG HEI FATT CHOY!

- Ed's doggerel attempt at an english equivalent of Chinese New Year poetry

Али-ПУТИН и 70 рассбойников

Али-ПУТИН и 70 рассбойников!!!
Путин, Распутин, Двапутин, Трипутин...

Translation:
Ali Putin and the 70 thieves!!!
Putin, Rasputin, Two-putin, Three-putin...

(from Andrij)

Wishing you 福 for the New Year

Don Jim, of Dappled Things, has pointed out an article in The Useless Tree explaining the significance of this Chinese character meaning Fortune:



As Useless Tree says, The character above is shown upside down. At New Year's it is common to hang "fu" upside down because the word for "upside down" is a homophone for "arrived," the hope being that "fu" will arrive at your door.

The character 福, of course, means "good fortune," "good luck," "prosperity." A full explanation of the origin of the character may be found here. Yet there is another translation and meaning which makes it appropriate for anyone of the Christian religion - Fu/福 is the standard character used to translate "grace" in Christian texts. The first line of the 'Ave Maria'/'Hail Mary' prayer (and naturally, also Gabriel's greeting) is 萬福馬利亞,主與妳同在 - which literally may be translated as "O ten-thousand fortunèd Mary, the Lord is with thee".

So, if the character 福 means 'grace' as well, then perhaps any Christians of Chinese ancestry may think it doubly appropriate to have the character 福 upside-down in their houses, thus giving the meaning 'may grace arrive'.

Google Moon!

Allows you to view the surface of the moon - fabulous!

Remember to zoom in to maximum magnification!

Perfect Major?

You scored as Linguistics. You should be a Linguistics major! English 100% Linguistics 100% Journalism 100% Sociology 100% Psychology 83% Philosophy 83% Mathematics 83% Theater 75% Anthropology 67% Art 67% Dance 67% Engineering 42% Biology 42% Chemistry 0% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com