I will never cease to be amazed...

... at the ravenous efficiency in which young boys can clean out a pantry.


Murillo, Boys Eating a Melon.

called to the Holy Mountain...

... The holy peninsula of Mount Athos reaches 31 miles out into the Aegean Sea like an appendage struggling to dislocate itself from the secular corpus of northeastern Greece. For the past thousand years or so, a community of Eastern Orthodox monks has dwelled here, purposefully removed from everything except God. They live only to become one with Jesus Christ. [read full National Geographic article]

game on...

... after continual defeats in Papist Scrabble I might finally have a chance to crush the Digital Hairshirt in a rousing game of MassWePray.



tip to Mr. Flavius.

communion host dispensers make Baby Jesus cry...

... the only proper use for the Purity Dispenser I can come up with is using it to bludgeon it's designer unconscious.




Hat tip The Buffalo.

the maiden of Kosovo...

... by Serbian artist Uroš Predić.




for a fellow slavophile.

first of january...

... by Mikail Abakumov

stupid things in any given parish...

... hell, why not just fill the fonts with Purell and bless that?



I draw the line at automatic communion chalice dispensers.

holy martyr Romanus...

Saints Romanus and Barulas, by Francisco de Zurbarán.

Saint Romanus, who was from Antioch, lived during the reign of Maximian. He presented himself before Asclepiades the Eparch, and rebuked him, saying, "The idols are not gods; even a little child could tell you that." Then the Saint asked that a child be brought in from the market, that he might be the judge of the matter at hand. Therefore, when the child was asked, "Which God must we worship?" he replied, "Christ." The child was beaten mercilessly and beheaded at the command of the tyrant. As for Saint Romanus, his tongue was cut out, and then he was cast into prison, where he was strangled in the year 305.


Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
O all-lauded Romanus, since the Church hath thee as a bright, majestic star, she is now guided by the light of thy great contests, and she doth praise and

The Church of the Resurrection in Ladashey...

... by Ilya Yatsenko.

why woman don't belong in the military...

... I grew in the naval area of Norfolk Va. Every male member of my family has served in the military. It is not unheard of for some women in the military to intentionally get pregnant to avoid deployment.

While I feel for this single mother's struggles, being a single mother myself, I have no sympathy for women who join the military then act surprised when they are called to duty and make excuses to avoid fulfilling their obligations. If you don't want to go to some god forsaken shit hole defending your country... then don't enlist.

more things I have learned thus far...

... if you don't eat before rounds and you have to change a wet to dry dressing and pack a particularly gnarly open wound in a stifling hot hospital room the temperature of hell while wearing head to toe PPE... you will pass out and bang the holy hell out of your head.

St. Margaret of Scotland...

photo by Fr Lawrence, OP

...In the midst of royal splendor Margaret chastised her flesh by mortification and vigils and passed the greater part of the night in devout prayer. Her most remarkable virtue was love of neighbor, particularly love toward the poor. Her alms supported countless unfortunates; daily she provided food for three hundred and shared in the work of serving them personally, washing their feet and kissing their wounds. [source]

your smoking makes Baby Jesus cry...

I see a Christmas gift in some one's future.

you might be a loser if...

... you use your credit card at 2am on a Friday night and the activity is so out of character the card company calls your cell that morning to have you verify the transaction... then the operator laughs at you.

russian beauty by Makovsky...

this photo never gets old...

malta monday...

... a view of Blue Lagoon in Comino with St. Mary's tower in the foreground.

the finest art in all of Christendom...

shake down...

shaking the tip jar at my generous readers once again. Another semester is starting and tuition is due. Since obama reneged on his campaign promise to pay off my student loans and buy my son a pony I am imploring you, kind readers, to donate a tuppence or two in appreciation of what you read here. All proceeds go to me to help offset expenses associated with nursing school. Thank you!

the unspoken truth of islam...

... if islam is such a "religion of peace" then why the hell is our president, liberal politicians, and the media so afraid to offend moslems? I think tip toeing around moslems delicate sensibilities sends a very clear message... they don't even believe their own bull shit.

Some how I would have thought a terrorist infiltrating a military base on our own soil would have elicited more reaction and condemnation... not limp wristed hand wringing over the possibility of sacrificing our military's precious diversity.

Treasonous General George Casey, U.S. Army chief of staff is quoted as saying "Speculation could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers and what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."

Effing sick.

stupid things on any given Sunday...

... last week before mass announcements were made; Father had enough!

He was demanding reverent silence from his congregation before and after mass! He was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore! He didn't even want to hear the kneelers slamming up and down because it disturbed the prayerful atmoshpere during mass.

Then he proceed to step away from the ambo and direct the contemporary music band to start a rousing rock-n-roll rendition of "Our God is an Awesome God".

I had to stifle my laughter and wonder when the liturgical mosh pit was being instituted. I was kind of looking forward to doing the Pogo down the communion line.



photo source: taken in Terry Nelson's basement.

the moving of the serbs...

The Moving of the Serbs, painting by Paja Jovanović, portrays the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Arsenije III Carnojevic, surrounded by soldiers, flocks of sheep and women with babies, leading some 36,000 families from his seat in Pec, Kosovo and Southern Serbia to what is now Vojvodina and further to Hungary in 1690, after Serbian revolts failed.


For this guy.

a sincere prayer request...

Please remember to keep a dear friend, the Right Wing Prof. who blogs at Central Pennsylvania Orthodox, in your prayers. He is battling stage 4 cancer. Please visit his blog and offer your encouragement and support.

if she home-schooled this would never be an issue...

props to Her Diginess.

blog roll additions...

... two clever blogs have earned the distinguished honor of being added to my side bar links.

Man Sized Target & Drawn to Catholicism

Excellent stuff, check them out.

I wish I'd seen this when I was pentecostal...

... because I never knew what they hell the congregation was doing on any given Sunday... and I have no rhythm.

the return of an old series...

... fine art fridays, today featuring more Russian art for the collection.


Olga Dolgaya, Young Woman in Head Scarf.

I must own this...

... and every other book found here.