Deo gratias.

It's old news, but I feel like putting it up here anyway.

Воскресения день, и просветимся торжеством, и друг друга обымем, рцем: братие, и ненавидящим нас простим вся воскресением, и тако возопиим: Христос воскресе из мертвых, смертию смерть поправ, и сущим во гробех живот даровав.

It's a beautiful day.

enfin, je l'ai trouvé

It's been so long since I've read French, but I seem to be plowing through it rather well with only occasional vocabulary problems. My Bescherelle remains untouched. The above link is given for your edification. I haven't checked whether it's the unedited version or not.

C’est pour cela sans doute que l’Esprit Saint, avant la naissance de Jésus, dicta cette prière prophétique : Attirez-moi, nous courrons. Qu’est-ce donc de demander d’être Attiré, sinon de s’unir d’une manière intime à l’objet qui captive le coeur ? Si le feu et le fer avaient la raison et que ce dernier disait à l’autre : Attire-moi, ne prouverait-il pas qu’il désire s’identifier au feu de manière qu’il le pénètre et l’imbibe de sa brûlante substance et semble ne faire qu’un avec lui. Mère bien-aimée, voici ma prière, je demande à Jésus de m’attirer dans les flammes de son amour, de m’unir si étroitement Lui, qu’Il vive et agisse en moi.

For the future: more commentary, fewer primary texts, more English.

Je désire être sainte, mais je sens mon impuissance et je vous demande, ô mon Dieu ! d'être vous-même ma sainteté.

Vous le savez, ma mère, j'ai toujours désiré d'être une sainte, mais hélas ! j'ai toujours constaté, lorsque je me suis comparée aux saints, qu'il y a entre eux et moi la même différence qu'entre une montagne dont le sommet se perd dans les cieux et le grain de sable obscur foulé aux pieds des passants ; au lieu de me décourager, je me suis dit : Le Bon Dieu ne saurait inspirer des désirs irréalisables, je puis donc malgré ma petitesse aspirer à la sainteté.

All my readings conspire to rise up around this point. How many are they that rise up against me, indeed.

on converts

This post will be, I hope, atypical.

I've been hitting my head against the wall after reading some articles by ex-Orthodox Protestants and the ensuing discussion. The nature of the discussion is beyond the point of this article. My concern is, rather, whether the following picture of ex-Protestant Orthodox is correct [Protestantism of whatever sort, I don't really know enough about those demonic delusions to specify]. Consider: a man who pops up showing little "real knowledge" of Protestantism, asks "leading questions" seeming to intend to imply that Protestantism is somehow wrong on some issue but which really don't have any purchase because the answers are quite in accord with Protestantism [at least, in the mind of the hearers], and has no interest in dialogue except to possibly convert others. I hope this does not sound familiar, but if it does, one should be easier on ex-Orthodox Protestants. All too familiar.

Oh, but I'm not done here yet. The proper response, of course, is to find common ground and build on it. Such clumsy antagonism is poor propaganda, and when your sparring partner displays such obvious wounds, it would be foolish to engage in polemics or to even treat what he is saying as discourse rather than behavior. Yes, one must note the discourse to find out what the concern really is, but direct response to argumentation is not fruitful.

guidelines and warnings.

1. Unsigned comments will be deleted.
2. Any other comments may be deleted.
3. All comments will be appreciated.
4. This is a "web-log" or "journal" or "diary", not a "blog".

I hope, Dear Reader, that we can live like this.

on iohannes cassianus

Mentioned elsewhere. I looked on the internet for a needed text, but the bastard Bowdlerizers refused to translate it. The library catalog refused to locate the modern English translation [it turned out to be on Reserve]. So I picked up the French edition, which has the Latin side-by-side. I'll grab the English and photocopy the relevant sections later. Unfortunately, it too is slightly Bowdlerized, and evidence of it is on the first page in the friggin' table of contents. Regardez, s'il vous plaît:

Latin text
III. Quod triplici ratione proueniat genitalis fluxus egestio.

La texte française
III. De telles attaques proviennent d'une triple cause.

"Telles attaques" indeed. One need not speak Latin [and I don't] to notice there's something missing. The rest of the chapters in De nocturnis inlusionibus, however, are quite interesting. It seems that he will go into a complete discussion of the Incarnation and our redemption from sin in discussing what to do about nocturnal emissions [well, and dreams and other things that go bump in the night]. Titles of the chapters produced below, pay attention to 8-13 [in the Latin]:

I. De iterato ad abbatem Theonam reditu nostro eiusque exhortatione.
II. Commemoratio interrogationis nostrae, cur maiorem abstinentiam maior interdum carnis inpugnatio consequatur.
III. Quod triplici ratione proueniat genitalis fluxus egestio.
IIII. Interrogatio, an ad sacrosanctam conmunionem accedere liceat nocturna inlusione pollutos.
V. Responsio, quando reatum contrahat passio dormientis.
VI. Quod nonnumquam etiam inimici factione haec contingat inclusio.
VII. Quod numquam dignum se conmunione dominica quispiam debeat iudicare.
VIII. Obiectio, ea quod omnes dominica communione piuandi sint, si nullus absque peccato.
VIIII. Responsio, eo quod multi sancti esse possint, nemo tamen absque peccato nisi Christus.
X. Quod solus filius dei absque ullo peccati uulnere uicerit temptatorem.
XI. Quod in similitudine carnis peccati solus uenerit Christus.
XII. Quod iusti et sancti omnes non fuerint in similitudine, sed in ueritate peccati.
XIII. Quod non sint tam grauia peccata sanctorum, ut eis auferant meritum sanctitatis.
XIIII. Quomodo intellegendum sit illud apostoli: non enim quod uolo facio bonum.
XV. Obiectio, eo quod ex peccatorum potius persona hoc apostolus dixisse credendus sit.
XVI. Dilatio propositae quaestionis.

French excerpt from IIII:

IV. GERMAIN: -- C'est une providence de Dieu, croyons-nous, que cette question ait été posée ouvertement. Il est un point, en effect, dont jamais nous n'avons pu être instruits, parce que la modestie nous ôtait la hardiesse d'interroger.

A pox on you, translators into English who fail to translate this dispensatio dei!

the inauguration.

ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μου̂σα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν...

Or perhaps more suited to me [if you'll forgive the unforgivable typesetting]:

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय ॥१-१॥

Or, best of all [though, as far as literature goes, not so much]:

ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ ἠ̂ν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἠ̂ν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἠ̂ν ὁ λόγος. Οὑ̂τος ἠ̂ν ἐν ἀρχῃ̂ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. πάντα δι' αὐτου̂ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτου̂ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῳ̂ ζωὴ ἠ̂ν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἠ̂ν τὸ φω̂ς τω̂ν ἀνθρώπων: καὶ τὸ φω̂ς ἐν τῃ̂ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

Or perhaps:

᾽Εν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ ϑεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ πνεῦμα ϑεοῦ ἐπεϕέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ϑεός Γενηϑήτω ϕῶς. καὶ ἐγένετο ϕῶς.

Good night everybody.