Protecting Veil - Latest Comments

Re: Orthodoxy and Psychology – Fr. Alexis Trader’s New Book

Rene — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:40:15 -0000

Might you know why they can't offer an easy $9.99 kindle version since it's about 70% profit and very easy to distribute to large audiences?

Re: Book Launched! Book Launch Sale! Blog Posts Launched! Papadiamandis Conference!

ProtectingVeil — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:43:43 -0000

Yes, the Apanta sold by Domos Publications is, as far as I know, the set to get!

Re: Book Launched! Book Launch Sale! Blog Posts Launched! Papadiamandis Conference!

Lucas — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:54:17 -0000

Herman,
Thanks for your reply; while I'm definitely interested in his works in English translation (have been thoroughly enjoying the Denise Harvey volumes), I was wondering about them in Greek. Do I understand correctly that the Triandaphyllopoulos critical edition is the set to get? Thanks!
-Lucas

Re: Book Launched! Book Launch Sale! Blog Posts Launched! Papadiamandis Conference!

ProtectingVeil — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:44:30 -0000

Hi Lucas! Are you interested in a Greek or an English edition? Domos Publications in Athens produces the definitive Complete Works in Greek (contact info here: http://www.ekebi.gr/frontoffic..., and in English Denise Harvey Publications has done a wonderful job of publishing Papadiamandis's works in translation: http://deniseharveypublisher.g.... This is the first volume of his complete works in English: http://deniseharveypublisher.g... and Ms Harvey just published a new translation of Papadiamandis's novel, The Murderess: http://deniseharveypublisher.g...

Re: Book Launched! Book Launch Sale! Blog Posts Launched! Papadiamandis Conference!

Lucas — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:54:55 -0000

Herman,
Do you have a recommendation on an edition of Papadiamandis's Complete Works & where to get them?

-Lucas

Re: Orthodoxy and Psychology – Fr. Alexis Trader’s New Book

ProtectingVeil — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:51:27 -0000

Thanks for the head's up, Pater...I'll definitely take a look at it!

Re: Orthodoxy and Psychology – Fr. Alexis Trader’s New Book

Monk — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 03:32:47 -0000

There is a new review of Ancient Christian Wisdom and Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy by Archbishop Chrysostomos appearing in Orthodox Tradition and available on line at:

http://orthodoxinfo.com/phrone...

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

ProtectingVeil — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:44:29 -0000

Thanks for sharing, Nektarios! When you read those books were you aware of the Orthodox Church yet, or did they simply point you back towards Christ as you knew Him in the Western confessions? Do you recall ever sensing a disconnect between what you were experiencing in Anglicanism and what you had read in those books?

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

Philoxenia — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:59:41 -0000

My path to Orthodoxy came by the slow but sure working of the Holy Spirit & came upon me without my having any idea what was happening. I had set aside church like a traveller who boards the train leaving his most valuable luggage behind. This was useful as returning to the church had to be through new eyes.
I was at an antiquarian store in Portland, Oregon, & looking for things to read in my sleeping car on the train home, when I found a cache of Orthodox books on a shelf, obviously a small collection from someone who had left their baggage behind; so I bought them all, about fifteen I think, & I was deeply moved by what I read, having read nothing like it before. The most memorable were Archimandrite Sophrony's The Monk of Mount Athos; St. Xenia Press' Maria of Olonets; The Way of the Pilgrim; L. M. Andreyev's Russia's Catacomb Saints; & I. M. Kontzevich's Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Ancient Russia.

I did return to church, but it was the Anglican Church, & I stayed in this manner for about fifteen years; the progress is slow but sure, & then one day a friend suggested I visit the Greek Orthodox inquirer's class. There was no pressure, but I found it so congenial to my natural spiritual temperament that I might wonder why it had taken me so long to find it. I came down from that very first class thinking "I can do this." Recognizing the door is a big step, but going through without looking back is even bigger. I didn't come from the Anglicans "slamming doors & breaking dishes," but I simply knew this was the right call for me to hear & obey. I have a very old Russian Icon called the "Unexpected Joy." I think it very much suits me.

Nektarios

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

ProtectingVeil — Mon, 23 May 2011 10:02:52 -0000

Interesting...when one becomes really reflective of one's experience of entering the Church, it becomes even more clear (again!) that each person's experience is truly unique...and that God truly does know people's hearts and, like a wise Fisherman, how to draw them in.

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

Twomblyd — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:51:19 -0000

The short answer is Yes.

The longer answer is more complicated. Overall, I'd say that the worship of the church drew me in once I was convinced that I was welcome to become part of it. My first visit to an Orthodox worship service was at the wedding of a relative; the wedding service was beautiful, edifying--and strangely distant. No one went out of their way to make me unwelcome (the opposite was the case, in fact), but it was not a situation in which I felt invited into the community. When I finally visited what became my home parish, it was at the invitation of a friend with whom I'd had many conversations about the Faith. The service itself (Great Vespers for the Feast of St. Nicholas) was still very foreign to me, but I think getting past the first internal hurdle of wondering if I was truly welcome allowed me to perceive what I could later identify only as holiness; the next day, unrelated to the verbal content of the service, I took the first steps of trying to turn away from a particular sin I'd struggled with for years.

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

ProtectingVeil — Sun, 22 May 2011 00:55:11 -0000

Thank you Mary...it was edifying to hear your story...I'm glad you found your way home!

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

Mary — Fri, 20 May 2011 22:53:12 -0000

1) My parents are Protestant missionaries, and I was raised being taught everything about Christianity. Intellectually I understood about Christ, but I was too proud and self-righteous to really know Him. Despite myself I had some sort of awareness that I didn't know God, and that this was not good. I asked Him to reveal Himself to me as He truly was and to break down anything that stood in the way of me knowing Him (esp. pride). This was in my freshman year of college. The next 8 years were hellish. I won't go into detail, but let's just say, I was fairly spiritually, morally, psychologically and even physically hurt by the time I came to the Orthodox Church. God was very merciful to me. In Orthodoxy, I found the love of God. It was in the Orthodox Church that I finally understood that salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ. I did not understand that as an Evangelical Christian. I became Orthodox because it is in the Church that I met God.

2) I've read a number of books on Orthodoxy, but one book that really had an impact on my conversion was a biography on St. Seraphim of Sarov. I can't remember the title. As I was reading it I felt as though I was understood and loved by St. Seraphim. He seemed to speak into my heart. It was very healing.

3) I visited an Orthodox Monastery while I was still an inquirer. When I was there I had a tangible experience of God's love. After I left the monastery I wanted to become Orthodox right away, but I waited another 8 months.

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

ProtectingVeil — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:28:38 -0000

So...in a sense, the really decisive event was finally experiencing the worship of the Church? I'd have to say this was also the case for me...although my initial experience was hampered (it seems to me now, in retrospect) by (among other things) serious liturgical and architectural (in particular, pews) problems that made it nearly impossible for me to experience the beauty of the liturgy. It wasn't until my second experience (at an Antiochian mission with a particularly good liturgical and aesthetic sense) that I actually experienced the worship of the Church. I've often wondered if my experience is unusual (in the sense that perhaps I am overly affected by aesthetics?)...or have other converts had a similar experience: where one is initially unable to understand/experience the Church's worship because the externals (aesthetics, pews, organs, language, etc.) are simply too difficult to overcome (or, rather, they distort things to such an extent that the internal life of worship becomes disfigured/inaccessible)?

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

David Twombly — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:12:56 -0000

This'll have to be the Cliff's Notes version, but here goes:

1. I found not only (the) Truth, but also love and grace (and lots of individuals quietly embodying those virtues in their lives) at my local parish.

2. Honestly, the Jack Chick tract "Are Roman Catholics Christians?" upended my inner life when I was about 13; I spent much of my life afterward seeking confirmation for my gut feeling that Chick's take on Church history was off. Various books and articles by Gillquist et al revealed the possibility of "something else" to me, but the specifically Orthodox (in this case, Patristic) book that pointed me more squarely toward the Church was On the Holy Spirit by St. Basil the Great.

3. I attended Inquirer's classes on and off for awhile; that and attending services (the Divine Liturgy and Vespers, especially) regularly for an extended period allowed me to "live" the Church and (as was the case for Kenneth mentioned) develop relationships that continued to grow deeper and stronger over time. I don't want to understate the importance of the reading I had done and was doing, but I'd been reading a long time before I ever had the nerve to attend a service (and that at the longstanding invitation of an Orthodox friend).

Re: Art, Orthodox Mission, and Papadiamandis

Kenneth O'Shaughnessy — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:33:29 -0000

While he was not Eastern Orthodox, I was moved this direction by G. K. Chesterton, and primarily his fiction. I nearly followed him into Catholicism.

Re: Why Did You Convert (or Revert) to Orthodoxy?

Kenneth O'Shaughnessy — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:13:25 -0000

1. I came to realize that ecclesiology was paramount, if salvation was a result of being in "the body of Christ" - and that body had to actually be as it was described in the scriptures. The Church that fulfilled this description is Orthodox.
2. I read "The Orthodox Church" by Bp Kallistos Ware, and the Ante-Nicene church fathers. That, some history, and various articles online mainly on the goarch.org website took care of the historical and doctrinal issues.
3. Being involved in the church and the liturgy was primary for me - not just the services, but fellowship. My wife asked what we had to do to "join the church" during a church camping trip.

Re: POLL: Did You Like Our Use of Red Text in Precious Vessels…?

ProtectingVeil — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:22:20 -0000

Thanks Paul! I think you're right...we'd like to repeat the same aspects in the new book...we shall see what it means, cost wise!

Re: POLL: Did You Like Our Use of Red Text in Precious Vessels…?

Paul_brighton_cross — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:51:22 -0000

Do you like our use of red? --Yes, very much. Footnotes in red is an excellent idea. The red is not just utile but makes the book a thing of beauty. Also like the header/ender devices/borders/crosses.

Do you like the way we set-up the page numbers on the side of the page at point 1? --Yes. Innovative, and again, useful.

Do you think we should repeat these things in our new book? --Yes, if it's economical.

Re: Orthodoxy and Psychology – Fr. Alexis Trader’s New Book

ProtectingVeil — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:39:19 -0000

Just so...my apologies! Thank you for bringing this to my attention (the main thrust of the post was to send folks to the other blog posts...but I should still have posted the links!) I've fixed it!

Re: Orthodoxy and Psychology – Fr. Alexis Trader’s New Book

Mother Macaria — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:27:20 -0000

Dear Herman,

You did not mention where this new book of Fr. Alexis Trader is available for purchase or if wholesale terms are available.
--Mother Macaria

Re: “Neither should wealth impress you, nor honor, but always walk justly…”

Zacchaeus Nifong — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:09:40 -0000

nice

Re: New Orthodox Liberal Arts College

ProtectingVeil — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:11:09 -0000

My pleasure! I'll definitely continue to plug St. Katherine's and to keep your work in my prayers. All the best!

Re: New Orthodox Liberal Arts College

Vbrannock — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:30:36 -0000

Thank you so much for helping to spread the word about St. Katherine College. We will be accepting applications this summer for classes beginning fall 2011. Please keep SKC in your prayers and don't hesitate to contact us with any questions.

In Christ,
Vicki Brannock
Executive Director Communications and Recruitment
Saint Katherine College
858. 876.5284
vbrannock@stkath.org
http://www.stkath.org

Re: Regina Spektor, “Laughing With”

ProtectingVeil — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:34:40 -0000

Do many of the other tracks have religious themes?