the way things were

At the Ventura Mission

2011-12-26T20:08:00.003-07:00

Seeing Red

2011-12-21T23:00:00.003-07:00

Old Montana (a few more...)

2011-08-14T18:27:00.003-06:00

Frost Born Moon

2010-11-25T19:15:00.002-07:00

Doors

2010-11-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

The Look of Winter

2010-11-23T21:15:00.001-07:00

Evening Light on the Irish Hills

2010-11-15T21:44:00.002-07:00

Old Montana

2010-09-25T18:44:00.002-06:00

A Favorite...

2010-09-05T19:05:00.003-06:00

A treasure... every one!

Through New Glass - A Taste of Fall to Come (Thanks Dad and Mom S.)

2010-08-31T20:30:00.003-06:00

Rejoice, Thou Bride Unwedded!

2010-08-28T21:25:00.004-06:00

one evening, back in April...

2010-08-13T15:14:00.001-06:00

A Princeville Sunset

2010-08-11T22:20:00.003-06:00

Coming to a close...

2010-08-11T20:23:00.003-06:00

Kauai

2010-08-09T14:00:00.001-06:00

Sweet Summer

2010-07-23T22:33:00.002-06:00

St. John of San Francisco

2010-07-02T16:36:00.004-06:00

Thy care for thy flock in its sojourn has prefigured thy supplications which thou didst ever offer for the whole world. Thus do we believe, having come to know thy love, oh holy hierarch and wonder-worker John. Wholly sanctified by God through the ministry of the all-pure Mysteries, and thyself strengthened thereby, thou didst hasten unto suffering, O most gladsome healer -hasten now also to the aid of us, who honor thee with all our heart.

Oh holy wonder-worker John, pray to God for us!

Koke'e Point and the Na Pali Coast

2010-05-02T16:24:00.007-06:00

Anne

2010-05-01T18:38:00.002-06:00

The Old Church at Hanalei

2010-05-01T18:01:00.007-06:00

Island Red

2010-05-01T17:56:00.002-06:00

a shot or two from Tunnels...

2010-05-01T12:57:00.007-06:00

Waimea Canyon

2010-04-28T20:19:00.001-06:00

don't mess with... The Royal Kaua'ian Guard

2010-04-28T14:27:00.003-06:00

Kilauea -a favorite.

2010-04-27T22:48:00.007-06:00

For a swim and a snooze... Anini.

2010-04-26T17:05:00.006-06:00

Back again... with a little taste of Aloha.

2010-04-25T19:01:00.009-06:00

Decani Monastery Relief Fund - Children of Kosovo

2009-12-02T12:47:00.003-07:00

A Loving Appeal for the Decani Monastery Relief Fund

IC/XC
NI/KA

School Children in Kosovo Freeze

By Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes

President of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund USA

December 2009

Beloved Friends in Christ our Lord,

May the great peace and joy of our Lord God always be with you!

Once again Kosovo faces a humanitarian crisis, yet another horrific freezing winter, typically ten to twenty degrees below zero for several months.

This year is different because of an electricity problem which makes the freezing conditions even more challenging to the Serbian population in Kosovo/Metohija.

The new independent government is now charging their Serbian customers 29 Euros a month, and incredibly large percentage of their monthly income. If seventy percent of a Serbian village in Kosovo doesn’t pay their bill the whole village will have their electricity turned off.

Schools and the homes of the Serbian population therefore face a problem unlike any other year in recent memory. Putting aside of the question of a permanent solution to the energy crisis in the region of Kosovo/Metohija we offer a partial short term answer for this winters heating crisis. Many buildings and homes in the region have wood stoves, and, as we all know, wood and fire wood have been in short supply for many decades.

Here is what we can do for these suffering people! We can help provide heated school buildings for Serbian children by supplying fire wood to the four schools we support as well as the homes that these children live in.

Send a donation of your choice to the Decani Monastery Relief Fund designating your donation to: Firewood for Schools in Kosovo:

God love and bless you!

Humbly in Christ our Lord,

+Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
President of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund Inc. USA

"From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us strive to love God above all, and fulfill His holy will." -St. Herman of Alaska

http://www.serfes.org
father@serfes.org

Western American Diocese

Holy New Martyr Daniel, Pray to God for us!

2009-11-21T16:57:00.006-07:00

Fr. Daniil Sysoev ~ 1974-2009 - New Martyr of Russia

Sources in the Moscow police told Interfax that an unknown perpetrator killed Fr Daniil Sysoev, the well-known rector of the parish of St Thomas the Apostle on Proletarsky Prospekt in the Kantemirov district. According to our informant, the perps shot Fr Daniil in the head and chest and seriously wounded his assistant, Vladimir Strelbitsky. A police expert told Interfax, “I don’t think that any other priest in Moscow was murdered with an automatic weapon”. The police have officially reported this murder to higher authorities.

Earlier, Viktor Kupriyanchuk, the starosta of St Thomas parish, told our Interfax-Religion correspondent “details of the tragedy. Fr Daniil was shot in the head and is in serious condition in one of the city hospitals”. Mr Kupriyanchuk also said that the assailant wore a mask.

The most probable reason for the murder of Fr Daniil was his missionary activities amongst the non-Orthodox, a police source told Interfax. “Recently, he received numerous death threats from extremist organisations. On several occasions, Fr Daniil Sysoev appealed to the Federal Security Service”, our source said. According to him, Fr Daniil said that he received phone calls from unknown people, and that he received an intimidating e-mail with the threat “to cut his guts out”. “Rev Sysoev received the latest threat in early October. A stranger phoned him and said that he was sentenced to death”, our source said.

An articulate theologian, Fr Daniil Sysoev engaged in constant debate with extremist Muslims. The first threats against his life came some four years ago, after he held a public debate with Vyacheslav Polosin, a former Orthodox priest who converted to Islam. Fr Daniil is the author of Marriage to a Muslim (Брак с мусульманином) and The Orthodox Response to Islam (Православный ответ исламу).

On the other hand, another police source told Interfax that so-called Slavic Neo-pagans could have killed the priest. The source said the investigators are still checking all the various scenarios of the murder, but, we know this much definitively… there weren’t any abandoned weapons at the crime scene. “Slavic Neo-pagans aren’t professional hit-men, so, every gun is important to them”, he said. Our source said that the membership of Slavic Neo-pagan groups is primarily made up of young people, mostly unbelievers. He also reminded us that Slavic Neo-pagans had earlier exploded a bomb in a church, also on the south side of Moscow.

Professor Kirill Frolov, the head of the Association of Orthodox Experts and a friend of Fr Daniil, told Interfax-Religion that Fr Daniil received many death threats at his address over an extended period. “Fr Daniil, who was known for his active missionary work over the past two or three years, periodically received e-mails saying that if he continued his theological debate with Islam, they would treat him as an infidel”, he told us. In his opinion, there is reason to believe that Fr Daniel followed his usual routine. Prof Frolov believes, “He liked to stay up late at night… that is when he wrote his theological works and articles. The assailant chose a moment when the priest was nodding off”.

Fr Daniel was 35 years old. His wife and three children survive him.

Interfax does not have official confirmation of the above information.

20 November 2009

Interfax-Religion

Voices from Russia

The Prayer of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow

2009-11-19T17:31:00.002-07:00

Lord, I know not what to ask of You.
You alone know what my true needs are.
You love me more than I myself know how to love.
Help me to see my real needs which may be hidden from me.
I dare not ask for either a cross or a consolation.
I can only wait upon You; my heart is open to You.
Visit and help me in Your steadfast love.
Strike me and heal me; cast me down and raise me up.
I worship in silence Your holy will.
I offer myself as a living sacrifice.
I put all my trust in You.
I have no other desire than to fulfil Your will.
Teach me to pray. Pray Yourself in me.

Amen

May his memory be eternal!

2009-11-15T19:57:00.002-07:00

Patriarch Pavle of Serbia ~ 1914-2009

Holy Father Nektarios, pray to God for us!

2009-11-08T21:30:00.003-07:00

The offspring of Selybria and the guardian of Aegina, the true friend of virtue who appeared in the last years. O Nectarios, we faithful honor you as a Godly servant of Christ. For you pour out healings of every kind for those who piously cry out, glory to Christ Who has glorified you, glory to Him Who has made you wondrous, glory to Him Who works healings for all through you.

The Church of St. Spyridon

2009-10-31T11:49:00.005-06:00

Geronta's Studio

2009-10-30T13:03:00.005-06:00

Saving Face and Losing Lives

2009-10-14T21:33:00.001-06:00

Saving Face and Losing Lives

Posted using ShareThis

Stories in the Shade - Mount Athos and the monastic community of New Skete

2009-09-05T14:10:00.029-06:00

She Makes a Gentle Light

2009-08-11T18:42:00.001-06:00

At Mother's Table

2009-08-11T18:17:00.002-06:00

Of Wine Dark Seas and Ancient Marble -To Athens and the Church of St. Demetrius

2009-07-11T14:49:00.021-06:00

Celebrations!

2009-07-05T18:44:00.012-06:00

Christ is Risen!

2009-07-02T19:48:00.002-06:00

What hard travail God does in death!
He strives in sleep, in our despair,
And all flesh shudders underneath
The nightmare of His sepulcher.

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;
All night the cold wind heaves and pries;
Creation strains sinew and bone
Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bent, pent in seed, grows straight
And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising
the merely dead, graves fill with light
Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

~ Wendell Berry

... and a few more.

2009-06-28T21:28:00.006-06:00

Two or Three for Daddy P... (you're welcome, Dave)

2009-06-28T15:15:00.003-06:00

In the Hills

2009-06-26T18:59:00.010-06:00

A Sabbath Poem - by Wendell Berry

2009-06-23T20:19:00.003-06:00

What if, in the high, restful sanctuary
That keeps the memory of Paradise,
We're followed by the drone of history
And greed's poisonous fumes still burn our eyes?

Dishormony recalls us to our work.
From Heavenly work of light and wind and leaf
We must turn back into peopled dark
Of our unraveling century, the grief

Of waste, the agony of haste and noise.
It is a hard return from Sabbath rest
To lifework of the fields, yet we rejoice,
Returning, less condemned in being blessed

By vision of what human work can make:
A harmony between forest and field,
The world as it was given for love's sake,
The world by love and loving work revealed

As given to our children and our Maker.
In that healed harmony the world is used
But not destroyed, the Giver and the taker
Joined, the taker blessed, in the unabused

Gift that nurtures and protects. Then workday
And Sabbath live together in one place.
Though mortal, incomplete, that harmony
Is our one possibility of peace.

When field and woods agree, they make a rhyme
That stirs in distant memory the whole
First Sabbath's song that no largess of time
Or hope or sorrow wholly can recall.

But harmony of earth is Heaven-made,
Heaven-making, is promise and is prayer,
A little song to keep us unafraid,
An earthly music magnified in air.

Apologies

2009-06-13T21:23:00.002-06:00

I am begging my patient viewer to forgive me in that I continually fail to format the individual photographs in a remotely normal browsing size -my deepest apologies. I'll try my best to do better, you have my word (whatever that's worth!)

The Feature Presentation or "Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get..."

2009-06-13T20:45:00.016-06:00

Montana Evenings

2009-05-30T09:25:00.011-06:00

"At the setting of the sun"

2009-05-30T09:02:00.001-06:00

Oh no she didn't!

2009-05-18T12:56:00.002-06:00

The Preview...

2009-05-16T23:03:00.001-06:00

St. Anthony the Great on Intelligence

2009-05-15T12:57:00.002-06:00

"A truly intelligent man has only one care -wholeheartedly to obey Almighty God and to please Him. The one and only thing he teaches his soul is how best to do things agreeable to God, thanking Him for His merciful Providence in whatever may happen in his life. For just as it would be unseemly not to thank physicians for curing our body, even when they give us bitter and unpleasant remedies, so too would it be to remain ungrateful to God for things that appear to us painful, failing to understand that everything happens through His Providence for our good. In this understanding and this faith in God lie salvation and peace of soul."
St. Anthony the Great - 170 texts on Saintly Life

The City of Bari, St. Nicholas and Lattes...

2009-05-14T12:38:00.016-06:00

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

2009-05-11T18:40:00.002-06:00

I arise today
Through a mighty strength:
The Invocation of the Trinity
Through a belief in the Threeness
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's
Birth with His Baptism
Through the strength of His
Crucifixion with His Burial
Through the strength of His
Resurrection with His Ascension
Through the strength of His descent
on the Day of Judgment.

I arise today
Through the strength
of the love of the Cherubim.
In obedience of Angels
In the service of Archangels
In hope of Resurrection
to meet with reward.
In prayers of Patriarchs
In predictions of Prophets
In preaching of Apostles
In the faith of Confessors
In innocence of holy virgins
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of Heaven:
Light of sun, radiance of moon
Splendor of fire, speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind, depth of sea
Stability of Earth, firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me
God's might to uphold me
God's wisdom to guide me
God's eye to look before me
God's ear to hear me
God's word to speak for me
God's hand to guard me
God's way to lie before me
God's shield to protect me
God's host to save me.

From snares of devils
From temptations of vices
From everyone who shall wish me ill
Both far and near
alone and among many.

I summon today all these powers
Between me and these evils:
Against every cruel, merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul
Against incantations of false prophets
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics
Against craft and idolatry
Against spells of witches
and smiths and wizards
Against every knowledge that
corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison and burning
Against drowning and wounding
So that there may come to me
an abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me
Christ behind me, Christ in me
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down
Christ when I sit down
Christ when I arise
Christ in the heart of everyone
who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of everyone who
thinks speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength
The Invocation of the Trinity
Through a belief in the Threeness
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of Christ
May Thy salvation, O Lord,
be with us forever.

Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of Christ
May Thy salvation, O Lord,
be with us forever.

Oh... Whatever! (If I had a towel, I'd throw it over that silly clock)

2009-05-05T20:29:00.002-06:00

A Brief Intermission... The Thaw

2009-05-04T17:51:00.010-06:00

London City

2009-05-03T19:03:00.026-06:00

In Essex

2009-04-30T20:07:00.016-06:00