A Variety of Topics: Saints, Seasons, Society, the Moral Life, plus Travels mostly to Greece, and more, by Father Bill Olnhausen
Saint Nektarios the Mischievous Beginning in 2002, Saint Nektarios of Silivria, the Wonderworker of Aegina, started doing mischievous things for me – some startling, some subtle. At first I might have attributed them to coincidence, but as they continued, I felt sure they were not. What in the world was he up to? I couldn’t […]
Read More »The icon above is contemporary, available from https://www.trinitystores.com/artwork/christ-desert Crete, c. 1550 Submit this question to the internet, and almost everybody will say: No, of course not. How could we possibly know that? All we know is that (if He existed, a few will say…) He was a First Century Jew. I think they’re wrong. […]
Read More »Humor When I first went to college, a church of my denomination sponsored a supper for us newcomers. As we ate, one guy made a cute (clean!) remark. We laughed. The pastor looked at us severely and said: “Life is a serious matter. We should not make jokes about it.” We never went back. I […]
Read More »Let’s jump back to July 27, his feast day. Panteleimon, the Great Martyr and Unmercenary Healer How to pronounce Παντελεήμων? Not easy unless you’re Greek. Say “Pahn teh LEH-EE mohn” a few times slowly, and you’ll probably have it. It means “all merciful”. A “Great Martyr” (Μεγαλομάρτυς) is a martyr who has undergone dreadul tortures, has […]
Read More »July 20 is the feast day of Mother Maria who died in 1945, seventy five years ago, in a Nazi gas chamber. On February 10, 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo at her “monastic” house in Paris. While she had been traveling, the Nazis had arrested Yura (son of Maria and her second husband) […]
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