This Blog is History

If you've found this blog, congratulations!

This is my old blog, where I used to write grumpily in college. 

I currently blog at: 

www.orthodoxphilokalia.wordpress.com

Thanks for visiting, and God be with you.

Why I Hate Facebook (and why I can't stop using it)

About every two months I deactivate my facebook account, and then after two months I log into it again. This seems to be rather bi-polar, but if you knew me, it would not seem odd considering my personality. Why such a love/hate relationship with this social-networking interface?


Facebook is a poor substitute for face-to-face communication. It bears resemblance to all other reduced, but necessary and convenient forms of communication (such as the letter, the telephone, the e-mail, and the text message). However, I actually prefer all of these communication media to facebook. I can't explain why, but I seem to find all of them useful and convenient. I even find facebook useful, but maybe not convenient, and I certainly find it annoying. "Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life." This is their motto on their homepage before you log in or sign up. I don't personally find it true. I find facebook to be a vain, byte-sized, hyper-reduced medium of social interaction in which we fool ourselves into thinking that we are connecting, when we really are just participating in a pretentious electronic interface. The name itself is deceiving: facebook. While we interact with avatars of our faces, we don't really see each other.


I spend too much time on facebook. Don't get me wrong. I don't spend hours a day. Maybe 2-3 hours per week. To me this is excessive. Why? Well, you see, within about five minutes I'm done responding to every single "notification" and I've finished "liking" and commenting on all my friends' new statuses, which I don't find particularly enlightening or interesting anyways. I don't suppose they find mine to be of much interest either. After that, I waste anywhere from 5-30 minutes doing nothing useful or accomplishing little communication - in other words, wasting my time. So, really, for me it boils down to a lack of self-control and a misdirected endeavor to fulfill the desire for human interaction. To be fair, I do end up chatting with people on facebook during most sessions. But have you ever noticed how incredibly time-consuming one chat session can be? A five-minute conversation can take a half-hour! How absurd.


Most of my closest friends use facebook very little. Or, at least less than I do. Or, at least less than I used to. I mean that it has not helped me to connect with the people most important to me. Nor does it help me connect with the people who are less important to me, or with my long-distance friends. If I want to connect with these folks, I call them or visit them in person. Facebook does not suffice for me to communicate well with the people I love.


I don't have a PC. So I have to leave home to find a public computer in order to "connect" with people. Couldn't I just call them on the telephone?


I find it creepy that anyone of my friends can see what I "publish." So I have changed my privacy settings where only my "close" friends can view my status updates and other things I "post." I will most likely also go through and delete many of my "friends" (or maybe I won't). Let's be real: I don't have 681 friends; not in real life. Maybe 681 acquaintances, but to call them friends feels like a lie to me.


To be fair, let me explain why I like text messages. I find them to be unobtrusive. If I have a matter that is not urgent, I like to send a text message rather than make a phone call, which can feel over-dramatic in our age when texting is so commonplace and acceptable. When I text my friends, they get it immediately (or nearly immediately), whereas they have to "check" facebook to see what I've "communicated" to them. Also, when I am at work it is better for me to send a text than to make a call, and certainly more convenient than using facebook (I don't have web service on my cell phone).
__________


Why I don't stop using facebook (or why I haven't permanently deleted my account). 1) I somewhat appreciate the "event" feature, which enables you to easily invite as many friends as you like to whatever event you may be planning. This feature also keeps me up to date with and invited to my friends' events. 2) I hope to use facebook in the future to promote my music, but I haven't finished recording yet. 3) People in my life think I'm being prudish by despising facebook. Perhaps at first I was being prudish. But now I feel I have genuinely come to dislike the entire enterprise. Nevertheless, people whom I love dearly appreciate when I use facebook, so I am peer-pressured into using it.

Who knows? Maybe one of these days I will permanently delete my account, or have enough self-control to keep it deactivated for a very long time. As for now, I will most likely bounce back and forth between the two poles of facebook activity and deactivation.

Hopes and Points of Interest

I have some new, some old ideas (hopes) for my blog . . . things I would like to post mostly for my own benefit, rather than trying to attain or please any type of readership. I want to post things that will aid me in making progress in intellectual goals. Here I am not trying to make any promises to myself, but to set forth ideas for experimentation at least:

+ Latin translations of western patristic material, such as Augustine, Aquinas and Francis of Assisi. Hopefully more ideas to come.

+ Notes on what I'm reading and critical questions.

+ Direct quotes from books, hopefully to be used later in research and writing.

+ Thoughts on the theology and life of the Orthodox Church.

+ As usual, the occasional story from my life.

Like I said, I'm hoping to make no promises to myself here, but just put down some ideas for things to post that would help me accomplish some intellectual goals.

Peace to all.

St. John Chrysostom's Easter Homily

Dear brothers and sisters of our glorious and risen Lord Jesus Christ,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Every Easter in Orthodox parishes all over the world, the following homily is read during the great vigil of the Christian passover, when Jesus passed over from death to life.

If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival.

If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.

If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.

If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; for he shall suffer no loss. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation. If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one he gives, and to the other he is gracious. He both honors the work and praises the intention.

Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward. O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy! O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day! You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today! The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you! The calf is fatted; let no one go forth hungry!

Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness.

Let no one lament his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free.

He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into hades and took hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted his flesh! And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, "Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions." It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!

It took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen!

"O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?"

Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!

Christ is risen, and life reigns!

Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!

For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.

To him be glory and might unto ages of ages. Amen.

No Time for . . .

. . . Song Commentaries.

I have sadly discovered that I simply don't have the time right now to devote to writing song commentaries every week. My hope is that perhaps when summer rolls around I will have the time to do them, but for now it is nearly impossible with school. My many apologies to any of you who were genuinely looking forward to reading them, though I shouldn't flatter myself.

Peace in Jesus Christ.

Antiochian Orthodox Prayers

Friends, I thought I would post a link to the more full prayer forms I try to use daily in the morning, noon and evening:

http://www.antiochian.org/orthodox-prayers

Enjoy.

Trisagion (Thrice-Holy) Prayers

The following is a prayer form I use two or three times a day, of the Eastern Orthodox Church. I find it very helpful and beautiful. I hope you may as well.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to you, our God, glory to you.

O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who are in all places and fill all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, or Gracious Lord.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal One, have mercy on us (3x).

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy God, visit and heal our infirmities for your name’s sake.

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.