What does this inscription mean?

Of course most Orthodox people know, IC XC NIKA means "Jesus Christ Conquers".

Sin Bozhie = Son of God.

Tsar Slavie = King of Glory.

K T = Kopie and Trost, which means "Spear and Reed"

M L R B = Mesto Lobnoye Raj Byst', which means "The place of the skull became paradise."

G A = Golova Adam, which means "The Head (or Skull) of Adam".

Capitalism, Socialism, and Orthodox Christianity

Dr. Amir Azarvan and I were guests on the Illumined Heart Podcast, and had a discussion about the role the government should have in social welfare programs, and what we as Orthodox Christians should think about it. You can listen to it by clicking here.

You can read more of my thoughts on welfare, here.

The incredible Hutzpah of the Left on Gay Marriage

Click here to see the "controversial" answer of Miss California.

Click here to listen to some of the obnoxious abuse that has been heaped on Miss California (warning, it is offensive).

By now, most people are aware of the fact that Miss California was asked by an obnoxious gay activist judge whether she thought every state should legalize gay marriage, and she gave a very non-confrontational answer in which she apologetically stated her own opinion that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and quickly stated that it was not her intention to offend anyone by saying so.

Her answer has been called controversial, despite the fact that her opinion happens to be the opinion shared by all of human history since the dawn of time up until very recently. Her opinion happens to also coincide with the stated opinion of President Obama, but I think the Gay activists give him a pass because they know he doesn't really mean it.

Even the ancient Greeks, many of whom held the opinion that a homosexual relationship was superior to a relationship between a man and a woman, never imagined calling a homosexual relationship "marriage". Marriage can only be between a man and woman because only a man and woman can produce offspring. We have laws that govern marriage because human societies have always seen the importance of identifying who a child's parents are (DNA testing is a very recent phenomenon), and what responsibilities the parents have to each other, to the children and what responsibilities children have to their parents. We have spousal benefits, because of the fact that having children and raising them requires that certain accommodations be made to facilitate that.

Two gay men do not need spousal benefits, because they can both work. If one becomes disabled, there are disability benefits available for him. There is no need to define their relationship legally, because they cannot produce children. If they want to provide for property rights for their gay lovers, there are legal means available for them to do so.

Most people are not in favor of being mean to other people... including gay people. Most people do not think gays should be beaten up, or otherwise mistreated. However, Gay Activists are not happy with being tolerated -- they want everyone to approve of their lifestyle. But you know what? This is America, and we don't have to approve of their lifestyle... and we certainly do not have to change the meaning of marriage that has existed for all of time to make them feel better about themselves. Aside from everything else, redefining marriage will not make them feel better about themselves, and they will have to move on to some other means of being obnoxious in their never ending pursuit of the elimination of any opinion about their lifestyle that does not coincide with their own.

They say they want tolerance... but who is being intolerant here? Miss California's answer was exceedingly tolerant, perhaps too tolerant. Their abuse of her ever since has been incredibly intolerant.

And to answer the specious arguments that the definition of marriage has changed over history, because polygamy use to be allowed -- polygamy literally means "many marriages", and it refers to the practice of a man who has had multiple marriages to multiple women -- each marriage, however, happens to be between a man and a woman. The man's wives are not married to each other. A polygamous man can divorce one wife, while remaining married to the other women. Christians have always been opposed to polygamy, because we believe that the ideal is for one man to marry only one woman for life. Polygamy, however is not a thing of the past (it exists in many parts of the world), and if gay marriage is allowed, it is hard to imagine how polygamy can remain illegal in the United States for long.

Some are saying Gay Marriage is inevitable. If it is, the Islamic take over that will follow such a deterioration of our culture, is also inevitable... and they will then ban gay marriage, and cut off the heads of the gay activists who are pushing this agenda. If it comes to that, they will long for the day when the most intolerant thing they had to deal with were Southern Baptists, like Carrie Prejean.

Even Canadians find Perez Hilton's attacks obnoxious:

Should this woman have been "punished with a baby"?

Pascha at Christ the Savior Cathedral

Metropolitan Laurus & Fr. Damian (Hart) Remembered

Fr. Seraphim Gan has written his reflections on the one year anniversary of the repose of Metropolitan Laurus, which you can read here.

Here is a video with pictures of the funeral:



Fr. Joseph Huneycutt has posted some remembrances of Fr. Damian (Hart), who was a true Southern gentleman as well as a good monk. Click here.

And Fr. Mark Mancuso has more, here and here.

It's Amateur Hour in the White House

Just the latest example.

Russia Today: New Patriarch

Patriarch Kyrill

Here is uncut footage of the announcement of the election results, the thanksgiving moleben, the acceptance speech, and the many years:

He made the inevitable... evitable

Not long after 9-11-2001, I vividly recall liberal bloviator Bill Maher responding to the statements of many experts that another major terrorist attack was inevitable by demanding that President Bush make it "evitable". Like many of us, I have been disappointed by many things Bush has done in his second term, but one thing for which he deserves credit is that he did make the inevitable evitable... and no thanks to folks like Bill Maher, who attempted to undermine him at every step.

Bush's approval rates have reached their lows. As time passes, he will get the credit he is due from history.

Speaking of Sola Scriptura (Podcast on "The Illumined Heart)

You can listen to a Podcast interview I did on the subject of Sola Scriptura by clicking here.

A Simple Approach to Reading the Entire Bible

There are some elaborate charts that tell you how you could read the Bible all the way through in one year -- which if you followed it, would be fine. However, I wonder how many people have ever followed such a chart all the way through, because it would require that you make regular reference to the chart, and remember where you were on the chart.

On the other hand, many people simply open up the Bible at Genesis, and then get bogged down somewhere towards the end of Exodus and Leviticus, and then quit.

One method I would suggest is much simpler to follow, and if you do, you not only will read the Bible all the way through in about a year or so... but you could continue to read the Bible and get a balanced intake of the various parts of the Bible rather than hit one section that is difficult and then lose interest.

I would suggest you make 6 paper book marks with the following labels.

1) The Law (Genesis thru Deuteronomy)

2) History (Joshua thru Esther in the KJV, and one should also include the Deutero-canonical books of Tobit, Judith, the books of the Maccabees, and 1st Esdras)

3) Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, Sirach, Wisdom)

4) The Prophets (Isaiah thru Malachi)

5) The Gospels

6) Acts, The Epistles, and Revelation

Ideally you would read 6 chapters a day. However, if that was too much, you could read three from the first sections one day, and three from the rest the next. You don't need to refer to a chart... just move your book marks as you go. When you hit the end of a section, move it back to the beginning.

The Orthodox Study Bible would be particularly helpful to use in this regard, because it has an introduction to each book that will help you better understand what you are reading, along with footnotes throughout the text.

Probably the two biggest reasons that people do not read the Bible, aside from general laziness, is that they don't understand what they are reading, or that they find it boring (which is usually a direct result of not understanding the text, or as noted above, getting bogged done in a difficult section of Scripture before getting a full sense of the entire scope of Scripture).

To understand the text properly, the first thing you need to do is pick a good translations. See this article for details, but the abbreviated recommendation for the average reader would be to start with the Orthodox Study Bible or the New King James Text. I love the King James Version myself, but unless you grew up hearing it read, you should probably read the New King James first.

It is also important to have some good study tools. You can see this article for a full breakdown of the various kinds of biblical reference material available, but for the average laymen, I would recommend a good Study Bible (again the Orthodox Study Bible being the best option currently available), a good Bible Dictionary such as this one, or this one, a good catechetical text, such as the Law of God, and perhaps some basic commentaries such as "The Bible and The Holy Fathers For Orthodox" by Johanna Manley.

It's also important to understand that the more you read the Bible, the better you will understand it, and so you should not allow a sense that you do not fully understand the text to keep you from reading it. You will also find that there is always more for you to learn... you will never exhaust its meaning.

Troika by Sergei Prokofiev

I often wondered about this piece of music, because it is often heard around Christmas or in movies with a Christmas theme. You can read about the movie this was composed for here.

Auld Lang Syne

Since Guy Lombardo isn't around anymore... we have to go to Youtube for such things.