Simple Math

11 Months + A Hair Straightener =

I always find myself repelled by efforts to reduce doctrine to simplified formulas. Doctrine – the teaching of the faith should not reduce our understanding but enlarge it – to the very point of silence – and beyond. It is why it is so frustrating to try and explain icons. No one has an argument with the presence of words in the Church – the icons do the same things words do – only with color and in the language of silence. I can enter the Church, remain in silence and yet see (and hear!) something other than the incessant chatter of my own mind. The icons speak with the texture of the Kingdom – opening windows and doors that transcend every height and depth, things present and things to come.

- Fr. Stephen Freeman, Glory to God for All Things

They gave their lives and glorified Christ;They gave their lives, and remained alive.

- from a hymn of praise about the Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora

"O gentle Lord, a man of great sin am I, and because of my many sins I am greatly downcast. According to Thy mercy, forgive me my sins, all my sins, O God, from my early youth. And grant me strength for future times, that with new sins I will not burden my yoke, that to the end of my life I may do Thy will, and burn for Thee with greater love. Amen."

- St Paisius the Great of Egypt

I can't wait for this.

(almost) 6 months