Shownotes for 20110420.
Click here to listen to the podcast!
This show departs from the usual format. It presents some of the sounds of Lent and Holy Week as they were voiced at St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket this year. Homilies from the Sundays of Saint John of the Ladder, Saint Mary of Egypt, and the Entry of Lord into Jerusalem are interspersed.
Here is what we have today:
- Sunday of the Cross: Beneath the Cross of Jesus; Alleluia; Homily on the Cross; Cherubimic Hymn; Anaphora; Communion; Blessed be the Man; Benediction
- Sunday of St. John of the Ladder: Second Antiphon through the Entrance (Ukrainian); Holy God (Ukrainian); Alleluia; Homily on the Ladder; Cherubimic Hymn (Ukrainian)
- Palm Sunday: Lord I Call Verse; Festal Tropar w/ Litya blessing; God is the Lord w/ hymns; Polyeleos (Psalm 135, complete) w/ Magnification (excerpts); pre-Gospel hymns; post-Psalm 50 hymns (excerpts); Holy is the Lord; The Praises (excerpts); Resurrection Hymn of Matins; Homily at Liturgy; Prayer at the Amvon w/ Blessed
- Bridegroom Matins: The Six Psalms; The Bridegroom (excerpts); Kathisma Hymns; post-Psalm 50 hymns; Canon (excerpts); Thy Bridal Chamber; Praises (excerpts); Litany and Bowing of the Heads; Apostikha; Having Suffered
It’s a live recording, so you get insights into our Liturgical life here at St. Michael’s (and what sermons preached without using my notes sound like – scary!).
The usual format, complete with (toned down) satire, news, and a lesson on false vs. true spirituality (to include the Church’s controversial teaching on the immortality of the soul) will return soon (no really – after Pascha podcasting will once again become part of my routine. It just hasn’t been possible during Lent!). I think our old friend Pawlo Amerikanchuk may even be coming by to tell some stories about life in the Appalachian “Autonomous Sich of Rus’ivka”. So no nehpilim, singularities, ghosts, or UFO’s this show, but we’ll be back in spades after Pascha.
In the meantime, enjoy the music! As I always, I look forward to your comments (to include your critiques and constructive criticism).
Speaking of which, some people wonder why I say the things that I do about church politics, especially about autocephaly – a topic that is so emotionally charged. Some think I am wrong – some even find my comments offensive. Forgive me. I am a political scientist – moreover, I am a comparativist. That means that when I want to understand (and forecast) the dynamics of specific situation I generate hypotheses about how things might work, then test them using several cases, making sure that there is variation in both the independent (i.e. potential causes) and dependent (i.e. the outcome) variables. The use of methods like this is one of the things that made me so useful in my past life as an intelligence analyst, but that doesn’t mean that what I found was always welcomed (or, in all sincerity, that I was always correct! Science/discovery is a communal process that takes both dialog and time). As a soldier and a civilian analyst, I always worried about commands that discouraged the presentation of dissenting analysis. As citizens in a democratic and egalitarian polity, we know that such a climate is inefficient and dangerous; and while we recognize the ill effects in extreme cases like Stalin and Hitler, we are less willing to recognize how widespread a temptation it is in every human institution. Even (perhaps especially!) in ones comprised of good and honorable people (the mechanism there is not terror, but a desire to please and avoid offense).
While I think that political science – and especially the logic of the comparative method – is useful for objectively studying religious phenomena in a fallen world, my desire to avoid causing offense (and especially temptation!) may mean that in the future I use these tools exclusively for less sensitive topics (like church growth, spiritual warfare, and ideological hegemony). Ditto for the use of satire.
After all, a priest wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, would he?
With much love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony (the sinner)
