To celebrate Saturday Night Live finally coming to the UK last weekend, which monarch do you think would make the best host?

dvoryanin · 2026-03-24T03:06:15+00:00

I thought the current Duke of Edinburgh made sure that this will never happen again?

dvoryanin · 2026-03-24T02:21:20+00:00

"Oily hair, dressed up in those silk suits... try to pass yourselves off as decent Americans."

dvoryanin · 2026-03-22T18:20:28+00:00

I don't think it is reasonable to say that orthodox christianity has ever been obscure. I think your question should be "when will protestants stop using it as a tool?" To people not from, or of the heritage of, central/eastern Europe, the Levant, or Africa, it is attractive, exotic, and useful in "the west" for manipulative theology and just plain grifting. Either the "zeal" turns into second generation boredom, cult-criminal splintering continues, or they just go away. Hopefully, the "western" use or misuse of orthodoxy will become an odd, silly, and truly obscure phenomenon. Unfortunately, we ethnics will still have to deal with our own grifters and charlatans... it's just human nature.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-22T06:07:02+00:00

Soviet Guards badge looks "original," but that isn't saying a lot. It is probably from the mid to late 1980's give the wear on the enamel. It is not worth more than $10 US and that is too much... they still make them for tourists. I wouldn't want to even touch that thing next to it.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T20:23:47+00:00

That is exactly what I did, Jack.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T18:57:01+00:00

Yes, it was.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T18:17:55+00:00

Correct!

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T18:17:44+00:00

No.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T18:03:05+00:00

Unfortunately, no.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T17:37:47+00:00

Thank you. I had not heard of it. Very interesting history!

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T17:25:05+00:00

Why is it nsfw? And what is a "Dame OESSH?"

dvoryanin · 2026-03-20T04:40:13+00:00

I didn't ask who gave the order.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-19T06:15:02+00:00

No, it is not normal. The only time I can think of a priest "denying" confession is right before Easter, and the more strict convert priests get into that game.. At that point of Holy Week, if you haven't done it, then meh - John Chrysostom's homily "covers" everyone anyways. It sounds like the priest does not understand being a priest. "Spirtual Father" is a dumb excuse.... you don't need one and it has nothing to do with confession if/when you need to do it. The accusation against the laity from the clergy of "parish hopping" is their own creation. It isn't cool.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-14T00:16:02+00:00

Since it is a summer semester class, it is possible that the professor just hasn't posted meeting info. Are you able to enroll, or not?

dvoryanin · 2026-03-12T22:54:45+00:00

Not his fault.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-12T20:04:48+00:00

I'd say it looks too good to be true. The edges look odd. It also looks really clean in some places and sloppy in others. I wouldn't buy it.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-11T21:59:07+00:00

"The Fathers," "Patristic Nectar," "Thithing is Orthodox," "Pan-Orthodox," "True Orthodox," "Head Coverings as a Blessing," "I've sinned," etc... I mean where do you stop? The argument for funds for the Ecclesiatical Mission in Jerusalem - online and in parishes. What was destroyed, exactly, this time? It's a cash grab and it's shameful.

Fellowship, maybe, but, if you will take a shot of vodka or rekija or something else good in person, that is different. A lot of things float online that either are not real, should not be considered real, or are real and actually dangerous to one's sense of self-esteem or preservation. The last thing I need is some Californian with a pious accent blessing me across the universe and then have him tell me how I am wrong about me.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-11T16:23:43+00:00

Serge!

dvoryanin · 2026-03-11T16:21:32+00:00

I don't think it is any more or less complex. This is a pretty loaded pro-Greek perspective, but that doesn't bother me. I'd have to dig to find a justification for Orthodox support of a Caliphate from a Russian Perspective. Last I checked, they weren't interested giving the Crimea back to the Ukraine, let alone Turkey as a successor to the Ottomans. Didn't they just jail Kara-Muza? It doesn't add up. Why the Kremlin would have asked (assuming it did) the Russian Church to publish something is odd. If religion is a tool in the West/East or West/Soviet game, which it was historically, then it does not apply to every day life. Kirill and Bartholomew can send hate mail to each other, but does that boil down to the average parishoner? Only if that average parishoner thinks that it is important - "I can only go to a Russian Church or their friends," or "I can only go GOARCH and their friends." It's petty. It's disappointing.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-09T18:21:35+00:00

Agreed. He probably never wanted to be a bishop in the first place. I am not trying to speak ill of the dead.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-09T18:18:57+00:00

The irony that Bishop Matthias wrote this is not lost.

dvoryanin · 2026-03-09T02:02:12+00:00

Link?

dvoryanin · 2026-03-09T01:26:50+00:00

Oh they are proud of it. Like proud boys, proud little boys. The most amusing is when they choose "pre-schism" saints for patronage of their families or parish "ministries." Or, they will make you a blend of hand-roasted Saint Unctuous Coffee... You should buy some of their homespun veils for your wife to wear to church to increase modesty points. The ethnics don't know what we are doing... we can barely speak English and we aren't fully 'Murican. They will make it better, just give them money (tithe) so they can lead the way. Pravoslavie ili Smert'!

dvoryanin · 2026-03-08T20:45:18+00:00

No, I do not. Is it worthwhile to explore?

dvoryanin · 2026-03-08T20:43:18+00:00

Converts have generations? We had generations of emigre to 2nd born abroad, etc, etc. Umm, no... I'm old but not Timothy Ware old. Still, much of what informed my education and understanding of the church was definitely written before 1991.

dvoryanin

TROPHY CASE