tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85932861059206706032011-12-12T13:28:10.087-10:00Because a thing worth doing is worth doing badly.John Martinnoreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-53292491295423936912011-06-08T10:36:00.000-10:002011-06-08T10:36:00.354-10:00

All my current blogging activities are now concentrated on my new blog, centered around life at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary at Jordanville, New York.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-85980696477992692432010-07-29T19:00:00.003-10:002010-07-29T19:22:24.012-10:00

I spent some time searching for videos of Orthodox elders in English. Greek, Romanian, and Serbian elders are represented here. I haven't found any Russian elders on Youtube, but I'll add them when they come available.I also include a 5-part documentary on the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-34942228272376798532010-07-20T17:15:00.003-10:002010-07-20T17:47:17.485-10:00

Note: My roommate, who is also moving out, invited me to take some old “Orthodox journals” he stores in a file cabinet downstairs. I found many issues of Orthodox America, as well as leaflets (more like Xeroxed samizdat) like this. More to come in the next few days.This Has Been From MeHave you ever thought that all that concerns you also concerns Me equally? For what concerns you concerns the

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-3749689207465474802008-03-03T11:45:00.002-10:002008-03-03T11:46:52.603-10:00

Since all the cool kids are ditching Blogger for Wordpress, I decided to join the club. If you feel like it, you can join me at The Impractical Christian.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-37126606958660423362008-03-02T20:38:00.003-10:002008-03-02T20:45:03.681-10:00

When your heart inclines to evil, and the evil one begins to undermine your heart, so that it is completely removed from the rock of faith, then say to yourself inwardly: "I know of my spiritual poverty, my own nothingness without faith. I am so weak, that it is only by Christ's name that I live and obtain peace, that I rejoice and my heart expands, whilst without Him I am spiritually dead, I am

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-44329779762367703832008-03-02T20:31:00.004-10:002008-03-02T20:45:54.208-10:00

My Godfather lent me his copy of St. John of Kronstadt's My Life in Christ. Every day until Holy Saturday (April 26) I will post excerpts from this wonderful spiritual work that I found personally helpful. Here is St. John's introduction:I do not precede my book by any introduction: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is but a gracious enlightenment which was bestowed upon my

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-76820048540030816392008-03-02T18:43:00.001-10:002008-03-02T18:45:03.896-10:00

IT may be a very limited aim in morality to shoot a 'many-faced and fickle traitor,' but at least it is a better aim than to be a many-faced and fickle traitor, which is a simple summary of a good many modern systems from Mr. d'Annunzio's downwards.'The Defendant.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-75999059990095169042008-02-19T17:03:00.004-10:002008-02-19T17:39:17.387-10:00

While the great Shakespeare was writing his tragedies in ink, the Serbs wrote their tragedies in blood…While Milton was writing ‘Paradise Lost’, the Serbs felt more deeply than anyone else in the world that they had indeed lost Paradise…While Adam Smith was composing his great work ‘The Wealth of the Nations’, the Serbian people possessed only one great wealth - a strong faith and the hope of

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-61861522252581113892008-02-10T23:29:00.000-10:002008-02-11T00:40:13.461-10:00

From the video:"This is from the opus 31 setting of the Liturgy by Sergei Rakhmaninov. This video is dedicated to the New Russian Martyrs. The image sequence begins with the trial of St Veniamin of Petrograd, then, icons of the martyrs follow, with individual and corporate icons alternating. This is to show that the martyrdom of the New Russian Confessors was both a personal and united podvig (

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-87157465641923025092008-01-25T00:15:00.000-10:002008-01-25T00:16:29.964-10:00

...had prophetic Judaism and its successor, Christianity, made their appearance in the twentieth century, they would perhaps have classified not as religions but as medical sciences akin to psychiatry.... In no way would they have been confused with religions which by various magical practices and beliefs promise escape from an alleged material world of evil or of false appearances to an alleged

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-43894674068949997762008-01-23T10:31:00.000-10:002008-01-23T10:32:37.253-10:00

Do not malign as base and wicked the one whom yesterday you praised and commended as good and virtuous, because your love has turned to hatred.Do not invoke your brother’s shortcoming to justify the evil hatred that has taken hold of you. Rather, even if you are held by resentment, persist in your praises, and then you will easily return to the same salutary love.Do not, because of your hidden

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-37128756821266093282008-01-22T11:21:00.000-10:002008-01-22T11:23:19.864-10:00

"No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor." (I Corinthians 10:24)This is the principle of the saints of God, both now, at one time, always and forever. This is the principle on which society is built. Upon this principle can be established the most perfect, the most God-pleasing and the most prosperous human society. This is the saving principle for every type of difficulty

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-54044130644322425162008-01-21T17:05:00.000-10:002008-01-21T17:08:25.826-10:00

“No one would be an idolater if we were true Christians: if we kept Christ’s commandments when we are wronged and our property is stolen; if we blessed when we are abused; if we did good when we suffer hardships. No one would be such a brute, that he would not hasten to piety if we kept to this approach.”-St. John Chrysostom, Homily on I St. Timothy

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-295024854137535652008-01-21T10:31:00.000-10:002008-01-21T10:31:35.735-10:00

How to Form an Orthodox Conscience by Father Alexey YoungAn Orthodox Christian conscience is created by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ acting within us. It is difficult to form this conscience. But once a Christian acquires it, an alarm is sounded in his heart and mind whenever he comes close to improper actions, lack of charity toward others, false ideas, and deviations from the holy

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-136620318698495862008-01-19T14:31:00.001-10:002008-01-19T14:31:38.799-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-19747344411004593722008-01-18T22:48:00.000-10:002008-01-18T22:49:26.446-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-19480645516887257292008-01-16T11:36:00.001-10:002008-01-16T11:36:49.590-10:00

From the pages of the Gospel the Lord calls out:"Go ye, go ye. There are few workers. Preach My Word"The Apostles did not hide the treasure of Christ. They spread it about, through the whole world. In torments, sufferings before the face of death, they told the good news of Truth, of Life, of Light, of the fount of salvation and the only way into the Kingdom of God. Without fearing death, bold,

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-83368889034430212222008-01-15T21:57:00.001-10:002008-01-15T21:57:55.352-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-42341595724071533142008-01-15T21:04:00.000-10:002008-01-15T21:05:14.730-10:00

The word of God is food for the soul. The word of God is both strength and light for the soul.... All the saints emphasized the necessity of reading the Holy Scriptures. St. Seraphim of Sarov says: 'The soul must keep itself nourished with the word of God; because the word of God is, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, the bread of angels that feeds the soul that is hungry for God. Most of all we

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-40940975144245424302008-01-15T19:16:00.000-10:002008-01-15T19:17:49.444-10:00

Like everything in the world, our human nature is wisely constructed. We are capable of acquiring and preserving knowledge, and we are capable of forgetting. Often even forgetfulness is useful and laudable.Have you met with failure? Don't be too long in lamenting. Forget it! Chalk it up as a lesson for the future.You lost something and can't find it? In this transitory world there's nothing

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-79076063694638577722007-12-25T21:25:00.001-10:002007-12-25T21:25:36.363-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-36602538761534616672007-12-07T18:51:00.001-10:002007-12-07T18:52:20.008-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-30901822153169272912007-12-06T06:12:00.000-10:002007-12-06T06:13:48.432-10:00

ST. NICHOLAS'S DAYALL the old wholesome customs in connexion with Christmas were to the effect that one should not touch or see or know or speak of something before the actual coming of Christmas Day. Thus, for instance, children were never given their presents until the actual coming of the appointed hour. The presents were kept tied up in brown-paper parcels, out of which an arm of a doll or

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-65875684623233707282007-10-11T15:05:00.000-10:002007-10-11T15:11:41.934-10:00

This video was posted only yesterday, yet it's already reached nearly 60,000 views!

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-1722791018943995602007-10-06T14:42:00.000-10:002007-10-06T14:43:49.713-10:00

WE will eat and drink later. Let us remain together a little, we who have loved each other so sadly, and have fought so long. I seem to remember only centuries of heroic war, in which you were always heroes -- epic on epic, Iliad on Iliad, and you always brothers in arms. Whether it was but recently (for Time is nothing) or at the beginning of the world, I sent you out to war. I sat in the

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-90577381538695145102007-10-05T09:09:00.000-10:002007-10-05T09:13:34.463-10:00

9/30:WHEN a man really tells the truth, the first truth he tells is that he himself is a liar.'What's Wrong with the World.'10/1OF all the tests by which the good citizen and strong reformer can be distinguished from the vague faddist or the inhuman sceptic, I know no better test than this -- that the unreal reformer sees in front of him one certain future, the future of his fad; while the real

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-28951509867112816812007-09-29T12:51:00.000-10:002007-09-29T12:52:17.298-10:00

ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELSHISTORIC Christianity has always believed in the valour of St. Michael riding in front of the Church Militant, and in an ultimate and absolute pleasure, not indirect or utilitarian, the intoxication of the Spirit, the wine of the blood of God.'George Bernard Shaw.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-1036045212745806292007-09-29T12:49:00.000-10:002007-09-29T12:51:15.576-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-53692571911644503142007-09-28T23:54:00.002-10:002007-09-28T23:54:46.431-10:00

I SHOULD not be at all surprised if I turned one corner in Fleet Street and saw a queer looking window, turned another corner and saw a yet queerer looking lamp; I should not be surprised if I turned a third corner and found myself in Elfland.'Tremendous Trifles.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-50384422533841359462007-09-27T23:54:00.000-10:002007-09-28T23:55:13.374-10:00

INDIVIDUALLY, men may present a more or less rational appearance, eating, sleeping, and scheming. But humanity as a whole is changeful, mystical, fickle, delightful. Men are men, but Man is a woman.'The Napoleon of Notting Hill.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-73052749082462660882007-09-27T01:14:00.000-10:002007-09-27T01:36:41.408-10:00

I am now twenty-three years old. Eternally grateful to God, I also thank my parents, benefactors, friends, and all those who've helped me on the journey. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." Having just found out that my birthday coincides with the Julian date for the Exaltation of the Cross (a fast day in the

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-40387924877085174602007-09-27T00:18:00.000-10:002007-09-27T00:42:50.163-10:00

According to the Julian Calendar:O Lord, save Thy peopleAnd bless Thine inheritance.Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians,And protect Thy people with Thy Cross.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-82480208788800498932007-09-26T10:00:00.000-10:002007-09-27T00:18:35.404-10:00

IN short, one Pankhurst is an exception, but a thousand Pankhursts are a nightmare, a Bacchic orgy, a witch's sabbath. For in all legends men have thought of women as sublime separately, but horrible in a crowd.'What's Wrong with the World.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-41286780980710687502007-09-25T10:00:00.000-10:002007-09-27T00:10:18.757-10:00

PESSIMISM says that life is so short that it gives nobody a chance; religion says that life is so short that it gives everybody his final chance.Introduction to 'Nicholas Nickleby.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-24354994982749447462007-09-24T10:00:00.000-10:002007-09-27T00:06:32.432-10:00

IF the barricades went up in our streets and the poor became masters, I think the priests would escape, I fear the gentlemen would; but I believe the gutters would be simply running with the blood of philanthropists. 'Charles Dickens.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-12027269986519664852007-09-23T12:50:00.000-10:002007-09-23T13:10:03.101-10:00

AN error is more menacing than a crime, for an error begets crimes...A free lover is worse than a profligate. For a profligate is serious and reckless even in his shortest love; while a free lover is cautious and irresponsible even in his longest devotion.'Tremendous Trifles.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-88012156128296944642007-09-23T12:49:00.000-10:002007-09-23T12:50:21.234-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-75233731192651842462007-09-22T19:13:00.000-10:002007-09-22T19:15:13.769-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-48171145836096165562007-09-22T19:12:00.000-10:002007-09-22T19:13:47.398-10:00

SO with the wan waste grasses on my spear,I ride for ever seeking after God.My hair grows whiter than my thistle plumeAnd all my limbs are loose; but in my eyesThe star of an unconquerable praise:For in my soul one hope for ever sings,That at the next white corner of a roadMy eyes may look on Him.'The Wild Knight.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-38595575347658049972007-09-21T10:00:00.000-10:002007-09-22T19:12:23.788-10:00

ST. MATTHEW'S DAYTHE abyss between Christ and all His modern interpreters is that we have no record that He ever wrote a word, except with His finger in the sand. The whole is the history of one continuous and sublime conversation. It was not for any pompous proclamation, it was not for any elaborate output of printed volumes; it was for a few splendid and idle words that the cross was set up on

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-4221412061207405752007-09-20T21:30:00.001-10:002007-09-20T21:30:55.502-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-75676565299810142072007-09-20T21:03:00.001-10:002007-09-20T21:03:55.837-10:00

THE teetotaller has chosen a most unfortunate phrase for the drunkard when he says that the drunkard is making a beast of himself. The man who drinks ordinarily makes nothing but an ordinary man of himself. The man who drinks excessively makes a devil of himself. But nothing connected with a human and artistic thing like wine can bring one nearer to the brute life of Nature. The only man who is,

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-759023270349294132007-09-19T18:59:00.000-10:002007-09-19T19:08:33.569-10:00

Nowadays, people are expected to be "non-judgmental" and to accept other people and alternate points of view, oftentimes uncritically. In the brave new relativist world, any transgression, any nonsensical idea is acceptable, as long as it opposes traditional morality and religion. Modern Christians, having turned the ancient faith into a "slave religion" rightly condemned by Nietzsche, lack the

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-42577044784202783492007-09-19T18:57:00.000-10:002007-09-19T18:59:08.127-10:00

BRAVE men are all vertebrates: they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.'Tremendous Trifles.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-5500505899629963462007-09-18T00:47:00.000-10:002007-09-18T00:49:50.933-10:00

A must read.[excerpt]Our concerns with regard to rocks and fossils and mutations within species and the like are concerns of communion and icon and salvation, not concerns of ideologically bent historicist readings of such things as data. We are asking different questions of nature and arriving at different answers.[/excerpt]

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-1401438225032461532007-09-17T23:15:00.001-10:002007-09-17T23:15:47.305-10:00

ONE of the few gifts that can really increase with old age is a sense of humour. That is the whole fun of belonging to an ancient civilization like our own great civilization of Europe. In my vision I see Europe still sitting on her mighty bull, the enormous and mystic mother from whom we come, who has given us everything from the 'Iliad' to the French Revolution. And from her awful lips I seem

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-45372788864591577852007-09-16T10:00:00.000-10:002007-09-17T23:14:57.503-10:00

MANY people have wondered why it is that children's stories are so full of moralizing. The reason is perfectly simple: it is that children like moralizing more than anything else, and eat it up as if it were so much jam. The reason why we, who are grown up, dislike moralizing is equally clear: it is that we have discovered how much perversion and hypocrisy can be mixed with it; we have grown to

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-43113098314973666402007-09-15T21:26:00.000-10:002007-09-15T21:43:35.239-10:00

Full disclosure: I am a product of the TV and Internet generations. As far back as I can recall I was watching television of some kind. Aside from the usual PBS fare, I got my share of classic Warner Brothers cartoons (they don't make them like they used to) and British comedy (Blackadder, Monty Python, etc.). As soon as we got an internet connection through AOL, I was surfing the web,

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-58689887101463447392007-09-15T21:25:00.000-10:002007-09-15T21:26:12.733-10:00

THE only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.'Tremendous Trifles.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-74270452531308725082007-09-14T18:33:00.000-10:002007-09-14T18:37:50.972-10:00

Today, September 1st, begins the new liturgical year of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Although many Orthodox Churches in America follow the Gregorian Calendar, the majority of Orthodox still celebrate liturgy using the "old" Julian Calendar. The first day of September has been regarded as the beginning of the new year ever since the days of the eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire."Christ our Lord,

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-39262621791174800502007-09-14T18:32:00.001-10:002007-09-14T18:32:42.566-10:00

I NEVER said a word against eminent men of science. What I complain of is a vague popular philosophy which supposes itself to be scientific when it is really nothing but a sort of new religion and an uncommonly nasty one. When people talked about the Fall of Man, they knew they were talking about a mystery, a thing they didn't understand. Now they talk about the survival of the fittest: they

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-65750515837907216212007-09-14T18:31:00.001-10:002007-09-14T18:31:56.964-10:00

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-78464829967809458752007-09-13T17:53:00.000-10:002007-09-13T17:55:12.572-10:00

THE lunatic is the man who lives in a small world but thinks it is a large one; he is a man who lives in a tenth of the truth, and thinks it is the whole. The madman cannot conceive any cosmos outside a certain tale or conspiracy or vision. Hence the more clearly we see the world divided into Saxons and non-Saxons, into our splendid selves and the rest, the more certain we may be that we are

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-80423544004288192472007-09-12T22:09:00.000-10:002007-09-13T00:10:34.512-10:00

THIEVES respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. But philosophers dislike property as property; they wish to destroy the very idea of personal possession. Bigamists respect marriage, or they would not go through the highly ceremonial and even ritualistic formality of bigamy. But philosophers despise marriage as marriage.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-32685510230036664242007-09-12T17:46:00.000-10:002007-09-12T17:52:23.989-10:00

Good news (for me): This blog comes up #1 when looking up the words "Impractical Christian"; whenever I tried googling "Old Tode" I got nowhere.But besides the shameless desire for more hits, this blog's title was partially based on an article in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today called, appropriately enough, "Impractical Christianity". Here's an excerpt:"Pragmatism runs rampant in

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-90246762638559378432007-09-11T21:13:00.001-10:002007-09-11T21:17:03.200-10:00

With this, the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the nation is still disunited on its foreign policy. Dr. Ron Paul, presidential candidate, shows us a new yet very old solution: non-interventionism. Here is a link to his talk today at the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of International Studies, with an awesome Q&A session following.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-18327901522560502022007-09-11T21:11:00.000-10:002007-09-11T21:13:01.835-10:00

WHEN a man begins to think that the grass will not grow at night unless he lies awake to watch it, he generally ends either in an asylum or on the throne of an emperor.'Robert Browning.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-15614478295339067252007-09-10T23:50:00.000-10:002007-09-10T17:36:26.768-10:00

There was a young man who said “God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When there’s no one about in the Quad.” “Dear Sir, your astonishment’s odd; I am always about in the Quad And that’s why this tree Will continue to be Since observed by . . . Yours faith- Fully, God.”-Ronald Knox

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-82390488920639611292007-09-10T17:33:00.000-10:002007-09-10T17:34:56.788-10:00

ENGLAND is still ruled by the great Barnacle family. Parliament is still ruled by the great Barnacle trinity -- the solemn old Barnacle, who knew that the Circumlocution Office was a protection; the sprightly young Barnacle, who knew that it was a fraud; and the bewildered young Barnacle who knew nothing about it. From these three types our Cabinets are still exclusively recruited. People talk of

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-24271539685681303572007-09-10T17:30:00.000-10:002007-09-10T17:35:16.610-10:00

It's official: I endorse Ron Paul for the Presidency of these United States.In July, Ron Paul supporters here in Oahu walked around the entire island (a 130-mile trip) in four days. If i knew that this event was going on, I would've put on my walking shoes and joined them!

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-24877956147420825852007-09-09T21:53:00.000-10:002007-09-09T21:54:16.291-10:00

CHATTERING finch and water-flyAre not merrier than IHere among the flowers I lieLaughing everlastingly.No I may not tell the best;Surely, friends, I might have guessedDeath was but the good King's jest,It was hid so carefully.'The Skeleton'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-28006925704726745392007-09-09T21:42:00.000-10:002007-09-09T21:53:00.219-10:00

In his book The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to It, St. Theophan the Recluse identifies three levels of consciousness: spiritual, intellectual, and carnal. The moment I read his description of the three levels, I immediately thought of the three Karamazov brothers of Dostoevsky's book (which I have yet to finish): Dimitri was carnal, Ivan was intellectual, and Alyosha, the hero of the

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-3141904394204994992007-09-08T15:05:00.000-10:002007-09-08T15:11:17.787-10:00

A PHILOSOPHER cannot talk about any single thing, down to a pumpkin, without showing whether he is wise or foolish; but he can easily talk about everything without anyone having any views about him, beyond gloomy suspicions.'G. F. Watts.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-16214093407823626492007-09-07T17:57:00.000-10:002007-09-07T17:59:00.852-10:00

THE sin and sorrow of despotism is not that it does not love men, but that it loves them too much and trusts them too little.'Robert Browning.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-33175219796750495182007-09-06T21:48:00.000-10:002007-09-06T21:49:28.293-10:00

WOMEN have been set free to be Bacchantes. They have been set free to be virgin martyrs; they have been set free to be witches. Do not ask them now to sink so low as the higher culture.'All Things Considered.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-72998216946130490962007-09-05T23:38:00.001-10:002007-09-07T17:59:24.295-10:00

OUR modern mystics make a mistake when they wear long hair or loose ties to attract the spirits. The elves and the old gods when they revisit the earth really go straight for a dull top-hat. For it means simplicity, which the gods love.'Charles Dickens.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-15298173482517511452007-09-04T17:41:00.001-10:002007-09-07T17:59:50.370-10:00

THERE is a notion adrift everywhere that imagination, especially mystical imagination, is dangerous to man's mental balance. Poets are commonly spoken of as psychologically unreliable; and generally there is a vague association between wreathing laurels in your hair and sticking straws in it. Facts and history utterly contradict this view. Most of the very great poets have been not only sane, but

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-46058234780558566392007-09-03T14:06:00.000-10:002007-09-04T22:48:57.512-10:00

Although I do not wholly agree with his theology, in my humble opinion Josemaria Escriva was a righteous man who inspired many. In as much as he is a friend of Christendom, he is our spiritual ally. Memory eternal!

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-71378409366400849782007-09-03T14:00:00.000-10:002007-09-04T22:43:53.624-10:00

This song ought to be the anthem of paleos everywhere. It perfectly summarizes all that has gone wrong with the world. Plus it's got a catchy beat! I downloaded their live album, which is a delight.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-59590558866985600692007-09-03T13:56:00.000-10:002007-09-04T22:41:58.969-10:00

I've always had a bit of an "apocalyptic" bent in my thinking, stemming back to my evangelical days when I eagerly awaited the rapture. Now, I am a bit more subdued in my views, but, for better or for worse I still have the same bit of pessimism about the future. I'm not alone in thinking like this, as we can see in this film on the impact of peak oil (which I'm sure nearly everyone here already

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-49668969380685714842007-09-03T09:00:00.000-10:002007-09-07T18:00:10.981-10:00

IF votes for women do not mean mobs for women they do not mean what they were meant to mean.'What's Wrong with the World.'

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-84765446664376518162007-09-02T22:01:00.000-10:002007-09-02T22:09:40.037-10:00

Apparently, the works of Chesterton are well-known in Orthodox Russia. Here is a site with Russian translations of some of his works. The Orthodox journal Road to Emmaus has as one of its sample articles Chesterton's popularity in Russia from the Soviet era, when copies of his writings circulated through the underground samizdat press.

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-21016405997298451932007-09-02T13:10:00.001-10:002007-09-02T14:58:30.596-10:00

"It is later than you think! Hasten, therefore, to do the will of God." —Fr. Seraphim RoseToday is the 25th anniversary of the repose of Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina. Fr. Seraphim, in the world Eugene Rose, was the first prominent American convert to the Orthodox Church. His writings made a substantial impact on the development on American Orthodoxy, and the St. Herman Brotherhood that he

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-30450604950834748562007-09-02T13:08:00.000-10:002007-09-07T18:00:38.009-10:00

BATTLE OF SEDANTHE Germans have not conquered very much in history as a whole. About fifty years ago they beat the French and fifty years before that the French very soundly beat them. If we see history as a whole there is no more doubt that the French people is the more military than there is that the German people is the more musical. Germany is a great and splendid nation; and there are

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-22628079000797085442007-09-01T14:31:00.000-10:002007-09-07T18:01:06.127-10:00

IF a modern philanthropist came to Dotheboys Hall I fear he would not employ the simple, sacred and truly Christian solution of beating Mr. Squeers with a stick. I fancy he would petition the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into Mr. Squeers. I think he would every now and then write letters to the newspapers reminding people that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary,

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593286105920670603.post-17203304544111748912007-09-01T12:01:00.000-10:002007-09-01T13:44:23.660-10:00

To every honest reader who comes across this blog by link, address bar, and search engine, as well and to the reviewers (if any) also, greeting—and whatever else can be had for nothing.If you should ask how this blog came to be written, it was in this way: I have for many years lived in fear of the bugaboo of dying a mediocrity. So, in the futile attempt to gain literary immortality, at least

John Adrian Martinnoreply@blogger.com5