street theologian: December 2006

More Reading Recommendations

I have scant access to the internet (well I do but it's dialup...blech!) here at home in Florida. I'll try harder next week. Here are some more reading recommendations from a friend in Canada:

1.My Life in Christ St. John of Konstad
2.Spiritual Psalter of St. Ephraim
3.An Orthodox Catechism on the Faith and life of the Church – Fr.
V.C Samuel
4.The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of repentance - Fr
Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev
5.The Meaning of Suffering and Strife & Reconciliation - Fr
Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev
6.St. Seraphim of Sarov- A Spiritual biography - Fr. Lazarus Moore
7.Elder Cleopa of Sihastria - Ioanichie Balan
8.St. Macarius the Spirit Bearer: Coptic Texts Relating to Saint
Marcarius the Great
9.Unseen Warfare – Lorenzo Scupoli
10.In the Spirit of Happiness – Monks of New skete

In addition, as many books on Orthodox prayers and on Holy Qurbana
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George Varghese
Fort Mcmurray, AB
Canada

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRIST IS BORN!

Christmas in Florida...palm trees...balmy weather...there's nothing like it anywhere else. Peace be with all of you!

History of Religion

Check this out from mapsofwar.com

Draw your own conclusions
HT: www.hotair.com

Christmas Carols

I've been buried by my exams for the past week. I'll be up for more regular posting after tonight when I'll be FREEEEEEEE. In the meantime, I'd like to know what makes a song "Christmas-y?" Is it the faint sound of tinkling bells in the background? Sometimes I can't just tell by the lyrics. I haven't liked any of the new Christmas songs I've heard on the 24-hour Christmas radio stations or on my yahoo launchcast music player. The old Christmas carol, with semi-religious lyrics are still the best. Even still, I there are only about 10-15 real Christmas songs on rotation performed slightly differently by different artists. I've rediscovered this one recently:

But is Bethlehem actually a port city??? *shrug*

IOC STOTS Blog!

The brothers at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary have a new blog! Check it out here:

http://stotsindianorthodox.blogspot.com

Relics of St. Paul Found....Possibly- AP

"ROME - Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul, buried beneath Rome's second-largest basilica.The sarcophagus, which dates at least as far back as A.D. 390, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project's head said this week ... Church tradition holds that Paul died a martyr's death by beheading in the first century A.D. — and that in ancient times two churches were successively built over the spot where the saint was buried. The second church, built by the Roman emperor Theodosius in the fourth century, left the tomb visible, first above ground and later in a crypt.

When a fire destroyed the church in 1823, the current basilica was built on the same spot, and the ancient crypt was filled with earth and covered by a new altar."
-Associated Press