I hope that this posting on this blog will soon become more regular, but it’s likely to take at least a few more days. I’m posting this from my parents’ dial-up connection, which is incredibly slow, and there are still some practical aspects of life that need to get sorted out before I say more. However, things are taking shape and I hope that I’ll be more settled soon.
Last weekend I visited Deacon Stephen Hayes and his wife Val in Pretoria, and they introduced me to various Orthodox people and places in the Johannesburg and Pretoria area. He posted a report here. It was a good visit, but there are lots of impressions to process!
One other thing worth noting: I’ve only just realised it, but Father Maximos of The Anastasis Dialogue is back – only it’s now called Practical Ecumenism. There are also some very interesting thoughts by Abbot Nicholas on the Reform of the Reform and I look forward to the future posts promised. One of the things that has struck me recently is that it is all-too-easy for Orthodox to think that current Catholic liturgical woes are simply the result of the Second Vatican Council, a view that is far too simplistic. As Abbot Nicholas points out, the roots of the crisis are much deeper. This was always one of my favourite Catholic blogs and I’m pleased that it’s back.
October 9, 2010 at 11:48 pm
You might be interested in this scholarly and complex account (by a Roman Catholic) that tries to explore the roots of the liturgical reform with special reference to the Orthodox / Eastern Catholic view of the sacred liturgy:
http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=133278&SearchType=Basic
October 11, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Thanks very much – it looks interesting.
October 15, 2010 at 2:38 am
Very interesting! I do know that there were only (as a result of the long deterioration of relations) very poor translations of the Acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council circulated in the west. They are so bad as to actually say the opposite of what was intended! And Charlemagne himself rejected the Council on the basis of this awful translation (somewhat understandably, although he seems to’ve been a bit tetchy about iconography on his own).
I hope you’re settling in well! Have you kept the name Macrina through your chrismation? I want to add you to our list of people commemorated weekly in a Supplications to the Theotokos service we have.
October 16, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Thanks, Kevin, it is interesting. And yes, I have kept the name Macrina.