The Calm of the Cape

Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Our first family camping trip brings us to Cape Cod at a state park near Brewster. Everything here on this 65 mile long sand bar is measured by relative distance to exit numbers off of the one highway that runs end to end. “Oh, it’s near exit 10, but I live near exit 7.” This miniature paradise feels cozy and at the same time expansive. With ocean on either side of the arm, it does not take long to drive or even walk to the nearest stretch of sand and salt water. At low tide, a person can disappear on the horizon, walking out onto the wet sand and wading into shallow tidal pools. Continue reading →

Returning to the Fathers

Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

I listened today to an encouraging podcast on Ancient Faith Radio about Wheaton College’s inauguration of an Early Christian Studies program. I realize this is somewhat old news to some of you, but this podcast really made me think anew of the significance of this and how it points to a general trend among Evangelicals of turning to the Fathers to help them interpret the Bible.

This is how I and many others became Orthodox. I am so pleased to hear of this movement on an institutional level. Personally, I think it is through the prayers of C.S. Lewis, the patron saint of Evangelicals. May it continue…

Almost Home

Posted on Monday, August 6, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Funny on the day before taking a trip across the ocean, we already feel like we are in Boston even though physically we are still in Moscow. One really gets that feeling in the airport.

I personally spend the beginning of the day with a couple of friends walking in a large city park then having another tea with a very warm and lovely priest who speaks English like Charles Dickens. No, really, you wouldn’t believe how refined his speech is and how much he delights in our Mother tongue. He actually taught himself English by reading the Pickwick Papers by Dickens when he was a boy.

A very full and lovely way to say goodbye to Mother Russia!

Precious Moments for Repentance

Posted on Saturday, August 4, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Saturday, July 22/August 4, 2012, St. Mary Magdalene

As our time in Russia nears its end, every moment becomes more and more precious. In the morning, we all attend Liturgy at St. Nicholas of Ugresha Monastery just outside of Moscow. It has all the elements of a quintessential spiritual fortress: very tall and slender bell tower, large and substantial cathedral with ample relics for veneration (including one small one of our own St. Herman of Alaska!), plenty of smaller satellite churches for weekday services, and to top it all off, a quiet nearby pond to reflect the brilliance. After lunch, I embark on my adventure of the evening: following directions on the metro to a church that has an English-speaking priest to hear my confession. Continue reading →

Uncovering Joy in Following the Rules

Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

July 19/August 1, 2012, Uncovering of the Relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov

We travel to our friends’ house today in the afternoon and evening to celebrate the Baptism of their son and my new godson. That’s right. I became a godfather of a child in Russia! Another reason to keep coming back: heavenly family added to my earthly family here.

I was talking with our friend at the Baptism on Sunday, and she pressed me for the answer to the question I posed earlier in the blog about why Russians love St. Seraphim so much. I confessed to her that I had been working on the answer and had come to some conclusions, but I was pretty sure they were not correct or merely one-sided. Then I asked her what she thought. Continue reading →

The Harvard Square of Moscow

Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Novokuznetskaya metro station

What is it about a city square which gives it such life and vibrancy? More often than not it happens not by some kind of grand design imposed from without, but by a more organic development from below and within the city itself. One of these great urban centers of culture in Boston is Harvard Square with its proximity to the oldest American university, its abundant street musicians, libraries and bookstores, museums and laboratories, and everything else that contributes to a volatile, teeming place to meet and get inspired. The Zamoskvorechye region near the Novokuznetskaya metro station is the Harvard Square of Moscow. Continue reading →

All Up to Date Finally!

Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Thanks for hanging in there with me, everyone. I have finally posted all of the reflections from the Sochi trip. Am presently in our Moscow apartment enjoying the recovery from such a wonderful time on the Black Sea. Had some posts that were more like rants, so I decided to pitch them. I feel like there is plenty of negative material on the internet, and not enough positive culture building.

Hope you enjoy this and all the future posts.

Oldest Daughter’s First Post

Posted on Monday, July 30, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

Here is my oldest daughter’s first attempt at blogging. She wrote this herself first on a piece on paper, then typed it both in English and Russian. The Russian still needs some work, so check back in a few days, and it will all be correct, I am sure…

July 17/30, 2012, G. M. Margaret

In the morning we went to 3 different playgrounds. In the afternoon we rode the tramvai to a monastery.

17/30 июль, 2012 Д М Маргрет

утром мы пошли на 3 других пащадак

“Perhaps We Could Drink Some Tea…”

Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

I have given up finding the perfect cup of coffee in Russia. Such a thing just does not exist in a culture so based on drinking tea. A wikipedia article I researched reports that 82% of Russians drink tea on a daily basis.

Sure they have coffee available for the token foreigner who shows up and prefers it, but it is always an after-thought, a concession, appealing only in its exotic qualities. Tea is the native drink for Russians. Has been for over 300 years, and it is always available in large doses, the larger the better. Continue reading →

Celebrating an Anniversary with Singing

Posted on Monday, July 23, 2012 by Mendicant Monk

We celebrate the anniversary of our host’s marriage in the Orthodox Church. By all rights, not the “real” anniversary date since people in the Soviet Union were almost all married civilly, outside the church and then after the fall of communism came back to have their union blessed by a proper church sacrament. You wouldn’t know that this was just their second wedding anniversary from the celebration and the songs that accompanied it. The old-timers really hammed it up in a big way. Continue reading →