Troparion:
First-enthroned of the apostles,
teachers of the universe:
Entreat the Master of all
to grant peace to the world,
and to our souls great mercy!
Kontakion:
Today Christ the Rock glorifies with highest honour
Peter, the rock of faith and leader of the apostles,
together with Paul and the company of the twelve,
whose memory we celebrate with eagerness of faith,
giving glory to the [...]
Troparion – Tone 4:
First-enthroned of the apostles,
teachers of the universe:Entreat the Master of all
to grant peace to the world,
and to our souls great mercy!
Kontakion – Tone 2:
O Lord, You have taken up to eternal rest
and to the enjoyment of Your blessings
the two divinely-inspired preachers, the leaders of the Apostles,
for You have accepted their labours and [...]
A hymn tune, instead of a song itself, but it is such a joyful tune that I cannot help be happy; thus, for me at least, its German name Lasst uns erfreuen [translated, I believe, as "Let us rejoice"], is rather apt. This tune comes from Cologne, Germany, in 1623 out of the Ausserlesene [...]
In the midst of a horridly [emphasis[*] on horrid] busy week at work, it was nice while taking a short break to be transported to the Middle East by John as he begins a travelogue on his journey through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine — and, he writes, “inadvertently, Israel”: looking forward to that one! [...]
For a while at least: I will miss it.
We revised a fair bit and worked on conversation and writing to round off the two hours. While I am nowhere approaching fluency, or even ‘informed tourist’ status, I feel I have learnt a fair bit over the past ten weeks.
I obviously have revealed a bit [...]
My current e-mail signature is:
Even a very modest ascetical effort is pleasing to God and He regards it as an exquisite gift. Not only does God not blame the one who comes with this limited effort, but He accepts these modest things that are brought to Him with all our hearts as if they were [...]
Fr John, our new priest, arrived today for his first Divine Liturgy at our parish; our Bishop also was present.
Thanks be to God: he truly appears to be a humble man and one with a great care and concern for the spiritual lives of those in our parish. May God continue to bless, guide [...]
The first [and probably last! ] in a series.
Poor Ella having lost her basket, but I do love the song — and her most wondrous voice: what a voice! And this version from the movie Ride ‘Em Cowboy is rather fun: and I love her laugh at around 1:49 in.
The only book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series my library doesn’t have. I am nearing the end of The Full Cupboard of Life [book 5] and — as I have been — I went on-line to reserve the next one in the series so I could be sure I had it [...]
In Arabic for my liking that is. For example:
ﻣﺼﻨﻊ [maSna'] – factory
ﻣﺤﻞ [maHall] – store
ﻣﺴﺮﺢ [masraH] – theatre
ﻣﻜﺗﺐ [maktab] – office
ﻣﻄﺎﺮ [maTaar] – airport
ﻣﺪﺭﺳﺔ [madrasa] – school
ﻣﻄﻌﻢ [maT'am] – restaurant
ﻣﺤﻄﺔ [maHaTTa] – station
ﻣﺘﺤﻒ [matHaf] – museum
The “ma” sound in Arabic, if I recall our teacher correctly, indicates the place at which something is done, [...]