"Comprise"

Are you familiar with the experience of a word, or person, or song, or some other thought that hasn't entered your consciousness for some time suddenly surrounding you, seemingly with no connection between the sources?

This happened to me yesterday with the name Gargamel.  I heard it on the television while I was at the computer and recognised it as a name from childhood, but couldn't remember from where.  As I looked up, I realised that it was an advert for the 2011 film The Smurfs.  Gargamel was the villain in The Smurfs cartoon, which was a staple of my childhood.  Later on that evening, reference was made to Gargamel in a programme aimed at people of my generation, who would be expected to remember The Smurfs.  It brought back fond memories of the various children's programmes that I used to watch, followed quickly by my usual lament that children today are subjected to nonsense that simply doesn't compare to the treasures that my generation had.

Another recent - but less felicitous - example is something that is usually just a minor annoyance to me but by no fewer than six examples of which I have been bombarded over the course of the past week.  While my writing is by no means from free of errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, I feel that I must address this one because it really grates on me more than most.  I do not know why: it just does.

When speaking of any collective body or other subject made of constituent parts, it is proper to refer to those parts as together composing the whole.  It is also proper to speak of this in the passive voice, by saying that the whole is composed of those constituent parts.

The problem comes when people replace the word compose with comprise, which has the effect of turning the sentence into nonsense due to the reverse meanings of these words.  To compose is for individual elements to come together to form a complete article, which can be said to be "composed of" those elements.  To comprise is for a body or other article to embrace or include within its make-up its various constituent elements.

Therefore, it is correct to say:

My science class is composed of students from around the world.

However, it makes no sense to say:

My science class is comprised of students from around the world.

The intended meaning is properly expressed by:

My science class comprises students from around the world.

That is to say, the science class includes in its make-up students from around the world.  It comprises them: it is not comprised of them.  In fact, it is difficult to imagine what the expression "comprise of" could possibly mean.

That's all.

Why choose Google+ over Facebook?

This is one of those occasional posts that have little to do with matters of faith. However, as most of the people I know through church circles do use Facebook, this seems as good a place as any. (Also, Blogger, part of the Google emporium, is hardy about to ban me for suggesting people leave Facebook for Google).

I joined Google+ last week and have, since then, found it to be far superior to Facebook. Currently, I run both accounts but I only plan to continue doing so until a reasonable proportion of my regular contacts set up Google+ accounts, at which point, Facebook will be used only for the parish group, and perhaps not even that.

In the meanwhile, here are the reasons why I prefer Google+:

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Orthodox iPhone

Q. How do you know if one of your friends has the iPhone?
A. He will tell you.

Unfortunately, the joke above is founded on reality. There is something of a social status attached to possession of the iPhone, a Blackberry, and such like, and the manufacturers of these contraptions play on it. It is, for instance, not possible for me to post to Facebook from my iPhone without the Facebook application leaving a public note in addition to my comment explicitly stating that I have done just that. For the first time ever, I have full access to all of my e-mail accounts on the go, yet if I send an e-mail to somebody, the signature line that automatically appears reads "Sent from my iPhone". At least I have the ability to change this but the default setting is nothing more than a boast. None of this is particularly lenten or indeed Orthodox in spirit.

So why do I have it? Well, this is not the place for discussion of my unseemly and unlenten lusting after material possessions or for extolling the benefits of the iPhone. Let it suffice to say that some of the practicalities of life, including church life, will be made considerably easier and more efficient now that I own one. So how do I go about easing my conscience and possibly helping others at the same time?

Well, there are applications and other software compatible with the iPhone that are designed to aid the spiritual life of Orthodox Christians. I have done much googling and have found the following that I have so far found useful. You can find these by searching for the titles in the iTunes store. iTunes can be downloaded here. I bring them together in one place here for the benefit of my sisters and brothers who may benefit from them and who may find it a difficult or tedious task to find them in various places on the internet.

Orthodox Calendar

This is the well-known calendar from the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (which can be viewed in the sidebar of this blog), but as an app optimised for the iPhone. It gives the Saints and other commemorations for each day, along with the main troparia and kontakia, the fasting rule, the full text of the daily appointed readings both from Scripture and the Synaxarion (Martyrology), and a selection of icons for many days of the year. While the default is to give the details for the current day, any other date may be easily viewed instead.

(I understand that the Greek Archdiocese of North America has produced something similar for those who follow the calendar of Meletios Metaksakis. I will not be linking to it from here but think that this knowledge may be useful to some readers).

Ancient Faith Radio

Just what it says on the tin. You can listen to the music or talk versions of AFR on the iPhone by downloading this app. I find the talk on AFR to be really rather good but my preferred option for the music is the next one.

Orthodox Christian Network

I have actually always preferred the music of the Rudder on OCN to that on AFR and I'm delighted that this is also available as an app. I would recommend this for Orthodox music on the go. Of course, the Ark is also available for people who like That Sort Of Thing™.

There is, however, a flaw in this app and the previous one. The iPhone allows for audio apps to continue running in the background while the user does other things, so it is possible to listen to music, news reports, and such like while sending text messages, browsing the internet, or whatever. For some reason, these two apps don't allow for this. If you try to go to another app while listening to either of them, the audio will simply stop, so you will have to choose between either forgoing your music while you do other things on the one hand, and listening to your music but restricting your ability to use the phone for anything else on the other. I hope they fix this in future releases.

Kindle

This is not a specifically Orthodox app, but there are numerous books available for purchase and download through Kindle, including many Orthodox books. Among them is the Orthodox Study Bible, complete with patristic footnotes. I would recommend exploring this app and seeing what other Orthodox treasures are there to be had.

Douay-Rheims Bible

For those for whom the cost of the OSB download would perhaps be a little steep, the Douay-Rheims Bible is available in a number of apps. It seems the nearest thing to a complete Orthodox bible available in English in this format.

PilgrimApp

Be slightly wary of this one. It is from an independent group and contains one or two minor things peculiar to that group. However, if you are willing to ignore the small amount of strangeness, you will find a superb selection of daily prayers, patristic quotations, catechetical materialas, a calculator of the date of Pascha and the moveable dates based thereon, as well as the text of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Despite my caution, this is the best Orthodox app that I have found so far.

While searching the developer's website for the purposes of this post, I stumbled upon PrayDaily, another app from the same source, which seems to be a collection of prayers for various times of day, various needs, mealtimes, and such like. I have not used it myself so cannot recommend it but it may be downloaded here in case you wish to explore it.

Orthodox Prayer Book

This contains a good selection of prayers for different times of day, before and after meals, and for many needs in life. There is also the provision to compose one's own prayers and thoughts for each day, and to save them for future use. Prayers take a reader service format, making them usable in the absence of a priest without the need for on-the-spot modifications. This is a very good app, attractively laid out, and ideal perhaps for commuters to be able to set aside some time during those busy days to pray without lugging a book around. In future releases, I would like to see a preparation for Confession included (along with evidence that at least some proofreading has taken place) but otherwise, this is an excellent app and I would certainly recommend downloading it.

Early Christian Fathers

This is the book as it appears on the CCEL website, which contains a wealth of patristic and early conciliar material. Anybody already familiar with that site will know what a treasure this is. (Also available are the "Confessions" of Augustine of Hippo, from the same source.)

These are the few that I have found, considered worth downloading, and used. I am sure that there are others and I would be grateful if reader were to share them in the "comments" section. For instance, there is the "Church Slavonic Bible", which I do not have but which I imagine could be useful for practising reading Cyrillic script.

Orthodoxy hasn't really taken off in this area in the way that Catholicism particularly and Christianity more generally have, and these things are difficult for an individual to gather together. The more we share with each other, the better for us all, I think.

The Lenten Prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian

O Lord and Master of my life, drive away from me the spirit of despondency, negligence, avarice and idle talk. But grant me, thy servant, the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto the ages. Amen.

Most Ancient of All Mysteries: the Great Omophor

One thing I came to love about Orthodox church life very early on in my journey into it is the way in which elements of liturgical life actually mean something. By this, I mean that they are not simply interesting things we do, whose symbolism is an optional extra for people who like That Sort Of Thing™, and which must be explained to them because it is so far removed from their everyday church life, but rather that they are a normal part of the life of the Church.

This is something that I never really experienced in my Anglo-Catholic upbringing. Yes, we did all of the stuff with all of the bells and whistles, and it was splendid, but it was never anything more than a local conceit. We were always well aware that there were those all around us with whom we were in communion and who saw what we did as something odd, peculiar, and a means by which to define us. Indeed, in many cases it was how we defined ourselves. Rather than the way we worshipped being simply the way we worshipped, it was a badge of distinction that we wore self-consciously. This was no fault of our own, to be sure, but simply the natural result of a situation in which what is right and proper is nothing more than a fringe belief, seen by the majority as something to be gauped at - whether enthusiastically, respectfully or disparagingly, the result is the same.

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My Latest MW Report

My most recent Mystery Worshipper report was published at the end of last week. I have been away from home for the weekend, hence the delay in highlighting it here. It has been edited perhaps a little more ruthlessly than I would have preferred but this is always the complaint of writers of any sort, I suppose. Anyway, here it is.

Is Outrage!

Many will recognise the post title as the catchphrase of Fr Vasiliy Vasileivich Smith, a fictional character created by Reader Alexis Riggle of the Orthodox Church in America. Fr Vasiliy regularly featured as a priestly agony uncle in the Onion Dome, a spoof Orthodox news website that ran for some years until last year. Since then, the phrase seems to have made its way into regular church conversation, used by people with no idea of its provenance.

I am pleased to report that, while the website is now no more, some of the better excerpts from it, including almost all of the contributions from Fr Vasiliy, have been published in a book that is now readily available for purchase from Lulu.com. Having long been a fan of the Onion Dome, I can assure you that it will be well worth it. Here is a site created to give a little more information. Please do buy a copy for yourself or a friend. If you really like it, why not add Fr Vasiliy as a friend on the Book of Faces?

My Conversion to Orthodoxy

Or rather, the beginning of my conversion to Orthodoxy, which I now realise is not necessarily always a forward journey.

Reading a friend's recent post on his blog, which I recommend to all with particular interest in traditional western liturgy, I very much empathised with his expression of his current frustration and sense of confusion and lack of sure direction. I was actually reminded of very similar feelings when I first began to experience discomfort in my former home. Patricius and I have very different starting points and shall quite possibly have very different ending points but it strikes me that he and Ex Fide, another friend who currently seems to feel unsettled with his former understanding of his current home, may find it beneficial to see that others have trodden similar paths before, whatever destination they eventually reach, (which may well be precisely where they are now, having found peace there once again).

Another thing that I realise is that most of you who read this blog now did not know me when I started it. It started life in early 2005 with the title Sarisburium: Full-Faith and Filioque-Free, (and was at the location now occupied by the Oremus blog of Hieromonk Aidan), reflective of my interest in the liturgical Use of Sarum and my journey into Orthodoxy. It was my first attempt at a blog, even before my Orthodox infancy, (embryonic Orthodoxy?), and was to serve as a place where I could share my thoughts as I explored Orthodoxy, and receive guidance and read the experiences of others. The blog has changed its title, appearance, location, and focus a number of times since then but most everything from those early days is still here and accessible from the archive section in the sidebar, and I am grateful to you all for your ongoing encouragement. Some of those who supported me in those early days are good friends today. Others have since left Orthodoxy and yet others have rejected Christianity altogether. Yet, they were all a part of my online support in those early days, and some of them were among those who asked for me to post a summary of my reasons for conversion to Orthodoxy in the first place.

Therefore, I take you all back in time to August, 2006, six months after my Baptism, when I wrote this:

Conversion

As I said, it was very much the beginning of a journey that has proved to be very surprising and often turbulent, but I think that it may be helpful to at least two of my friends who read my blog from time to time, and sharing it with you all gives you an opportunity to see where I have come from and me the opportunity to update my blog without actually having to be particularly imaginative this evening. :-) I promise that such recycling will not become habitual.

Finally, please pray for Patricius, Ex Fide, and all who are questioning and searching, and experiencing the unease of finding the stability that they had once known to be perhaps now less certain.

A Random Act of Culture

Or so it is called. I think it's really rather amazing.

The New "WaterAid" Advert

I don't like to push causes onto people and generally tend not to use my blog for such things. However, I would like to draw people's attention to this advert.



I think it's incredibly powerful and shows how, with a little bit of imagination, such appeals can be done in a way the truly engages the viewer without resorting to the sort of imagery that I am sure others find as disturbing as I do. That isn't to say that the reality ought to be hidden from us but I'm sure I'm not the only one who simply can't bear to watch at times and has been tempted to turn over for thirty seconds when images of starving and dying children suddenly appear on our screens without warning. With this advert, I actually watched from beginning to end and want to do something so I thought I would share it.

You can donate to WaterAid here.

Impressive

It's a spork!

I grew up with the Story Teller series. It was a staple of my childhood and I still have fond memories of nonsense poems, Aldo in Arcadia, and various well and lesser-known stories. This series has become something of a classic, with a magnificent cast and imaginative tales. I wish they would re-issue them. Among the nonsense poems was Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat, which includes the couplet:

They dined on mince and slices of quince,
which they ate with a runcible spoon...

For years I wondered what a runcible spoon was. I must stress that it was never an intensely pressing matter that caused lack of sleep, digestive problems, or anything quite like that. In fact, so insignificant a matter was it that for two decades I didn't think to look it up, but I simply had my curiosity piqued whenever I heard the poem, (which was, of course, during my daily viewing of Anne of Green Gables, in which the poem featured in a performance at the White Sands Hotel). 'Just what is a runcible spoon?' I would wonder. 'What does runcible mean?' 'Is it a spoon that is able to be runced, following the same logic as a flexible rule(r), which is a rule that can be flexed? If so, what is it to runce?' I never found any answers.

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Followers

This is just a quick note to say that I am grateful to all of you who read, both those who comment and who do not, for giving me a sense of having something worthwhile to say, even if I'm often not so sure that I do. I also want to extend a special thank you to those of you who have recently added yourselves as followers. You're very welcome and I would love to read any comments you may wish to leave.

August Church Tour: part 2

O holy Bertram, Ascetic of the Mercian woods, forsaking worldly wealth thou didst give thyself to God. Through fasting and prayer in a cave by the Manifold, thou didst acquire the riches of the age to come. Pray to Christ for us, that we too may be found worthy of his Kingdom.

- Tropar to St Bertram, tone 7

This time: Ilam, and plenty of photographs to share with you of the marvellous time I had on Saturday.

Long-time readers will know that I have a personal attachment to the spring and shrine of St Bertram in the village of Ilam. This shrine in the Anglican church of the Holy Cross somehow managed to survive the desecrations of holy places that took place in the centuries after the English reformation, and stands today a place of quiet pilgrimage for faithful Christians from various places. I made a private pilgrimage there on the day before my Baptism to get water to add to the font, and I have been back every year since then for the pan-Orthodox pilgrimage in August. This year had the highest turnout since I have been going, with about 80-90 pilgrims at the Liturgy, which was concelebrated by clergy from the Russian, Greek, Romanian, and Antiochian churches. I must say, as well, that I was very impressed by the decoration of the shrine, which was the most beautiful that I have seen it so far. The care and devotion that went into the preparation was obvious.

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August Church Tour: part 1

I promised here that I would try to remember to take my camera on my visits to different churches over these three weekends. Well, I managed to remember it today for my visit to this parish. It was my first ever visit to a Serbian parish and I must say that I am thoroughly looking forward to repeating the experience. While I have always been welcomed wherever I have gone, never before today had I felt more immediately at home on a visit to any parish.

I planned my journey last night and was surprised to learn that it would take me considerably less time to travel to St John's than it does my own parish. It involved getting a bus to Rochdale then a train to Halifax. I managed to make use of the wonderful feature on Google Maps that allows one to view street level for many built-up areas in order to work out exactly where the bus stop was and what buildings to look out for immediately before I reached it, (never having been to Rochdale before). I got to Rochdale station, bought my ticket, and made my way to the platform, where I was greeted by a curious site. I took a photograph.

It is St John's Catholic church. I asked about it when I got to Halifax and learnt that, despite its appearance, it was built as a Latin Rite church and was never Byzantine, which came as a surprise given its appearance as Rochdale's own Agia Sofia.

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Otche Nash

This is really quite lovely, especially the end. Young children praying in harmony always make me cry.

The Curtain Falls

I sent my parish priest an e-mail a few weeks back, asking whether we could either have the veil at the Royal Doors put on a drawstring or I could be given £1,000,000. I made it quite clear that I was quite happy to settle for whichever was easier. Anyway, to my disappointment, he appeared at church one Saturday shortly afterwards with a corded curtain rail which, he explained with great delight, he had procured from B&Q for some ridiculously tiny sum of money - think single figures.

Having reconciled myself over the course of the afternoon to not having just become a millionaire, I found some pleasure in the new rail, until it became apparent that the hooks didn't move properly along the track because the tension in the cord of this costly masterwork of engineering wasn't quite right. Not only that, but the whole apparatus came crashing down in the middle of Vespers, causing the aposticha to come grinding to a halt while the two of us on the kliros looked up in bemusement. It is my parish priest's frugality that has seen our parish survive difficult times so we have much for which to be grateful. However, on this occasion, I was very pleased today to stay in awaiting the arrival of a rather smart corded curtain rail from John Lewis. Having removed the unnecessary parts, (the designers assume that one will be suspending two curtains that meet in the middle, which is, of course, not my intention), and having worked out how it all fits together, I shall make my first attempt at ecclesiastical DIY during the course of this coming week.

Watch this space.

In the meanwhile, I leave you with this song, the opening lines of which seem particularly pertinent:

Room Escape Games

I got into these over a year ago and have become addicted. I'm not very good at them. I usually manage to gather all of the implements and then not have any idea of what to do with them, so I often cheat and look at the walk-through, only to feel defeated and try another one. I have also learnt not to even bother trying to do the ones with Japanese clues because being able to read the text is usually essential to escaping the room. The frustrating thing is when you get half way through the game before the first incomprehensible clue appears. Sadly, I don't have a translator to hand.

All in all, I quite enjoy them and find them immensely therapeutic, (except when I can't solve them on my own). Yet I feel as though it is my dirty little secret. I have never known any of my friends to speak about room escape games so I always imagine this world to be some strange, nerdy phenomenon of which nobody has ever heard and which is best left unmentioned in company.

The White Chamber is my favourite. It was the first room that I ever escaped on my own, without recourse to a walk-through. It is probably quite simplistic by the standards of the more seasoned player but, as I said, I'm not very good at these games. Some of them have very interesting twists so it isn't just about working out hiding places. There are puzzles and mathematical patterns. I did one today that, I discovered part way through, required some knowledge of chess, which I don't have. There are plenty of them to be found here.

Now, what I need for you all to is to tell me that you have been playing these things for years and consider them a normal part of the life of a well-adjusted human being.

Football Fans Greet the Resurrection

I have just come across this video. It is footage from a football match in Russia on the evening of Pascha. The fans may have missed Agapé Vespers but they certainly didn't hold back on the joy of the Resurrection as they shouted to one another on opposite sides of the stadium the paschal greeting with its response: Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

When I Was Your Age...

Many people speak fondly of people younger than they are, saying that they remind them of themselves at that age. While I am still young, I have had a few experiences like this with some of my younger friends and there is a real sense fulfilment in being able to help them and guide them through uncertain times in their lives.

However, what happens when we see traits that we recognise as being among the worst elements of our past selves? I must confess that often my first thought in those situations is that it's a miracle I had friends at all. It's like watching one of the more cringeworthy episodes of Frasier. You know the ones I mean. You find yourself having to hide behind a cushion/teddybear/egg-decorating kit (please don't ask why I have one of these) because you simply can't bear to watch as you realise that the embarrassing scenario unfolding and which you have no power to prevent bears some resemblance to your present or past life. Yet, though it is painful, you find yourself unable to leave the room or change the channel because something about your love for the programme keeps you there, dedicated to the end.

This is what it's like with friendships sometimes. Yet I try to remind myself that it is only through the care and patience of others, and them seeing other things in me, that I was able to grow up a little, (just a little, mind you), and I try to extend the same to others. Yet sometimes I fail miserably and just lose patience. I often think this is very uncaring and disloyal. What happens at those times? What do others do?