Tradewinds June 2014 Web

Orthodox Christianity
Grief, and the land of the living (Part2)
Archimandrite Zacharias speaks to this matter:
“We remember the prophet Isaiah who, having seen the glory of God,
was called to repentance…. The Lord disclosed to His Prophet the
extreme tension that exists between the fallen world and the ‘land of
the living’ (Isa. 38:11, 53:8), and the great abyss which separates the
two. From then on, Isaiah saw the light of this world as darkness
compared to the light of the spiritual world which had been revealed
to him, and he mourned within himself: ‘O wretched man that I am.’ ”
It is only this overwhelming dynamic tension, this unendurable stress, the existential grief of the
catastrophic personal and communal loss, that has the potential to rip us from our passionate attachment
to created things and to violently propel us to noetic change, to ontological awakening, to spiritual rebirth,
to metanoia: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt.
11:12.) Any understanding of Christianity that lacks this vision as a central and essential pillar and goal,
must be a crippled and incomplete version of the ancient and whole Faith.
There is no greater tragedy than that of the acutely perceptive and famished soul who can find
no hope that the blessed state is in some way possible for us. And in our contemporary spiritually dense
and materialistic zeitgeist, one sees this condition far too often. Such a soul must finally come to rest in
despair, or in nihilist madness.
In contradistinction, the ancient and Orthodox Christianity has taught since the first century (and,
indeed, in continuity with the answer of Abraham, “Here I am,” and in continuity with Adam’s first
breath) that the blessed state is indeed available to us, inherent in us, incumbent upon us; and further, that
it is now our obligation to struggle to progress toward it; and that this state is, in fact, what the saints,
both past and contemporary, through their heroic surrender to the Divine Will, have realized.
Http://orthodoxedenton.com (252) 482-2006
Next month: Beginning the Course of Rehabilitation.
MOJO COLLINS TO PRESENT
MUSIC WORKSHOP AT DARE
COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
Manteo, NC - Dare County Arts Council
is pleased to announce a new musical
workshop with blues musician Mojo
Collins. The two-hour workshop will be
held on Friday, June 6th beginning at
4pm. This event is $25 for adults, and
is free for children 18 and under. Join
us at Dare County Arts Council, 300
Queen Elizabeth Avenue in downtown
Manteo. Please call to register for this
workshop at (252) 473-5558.
The workshop will be a hands-on
presentation of the history of folk and
blues music, with an emphasis on blues
and slide guitar technique. After the
workshop, participants and the public
are invited to enjoy a performance by
Mojo Collins.
About this workshop, Mojo says, “
this workshop includes history of folk
and blues music, and will show how
and where it originated, both in Africa,
South America, and its transition into
the southern hemisphere by way of
Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We
will also learn how the mountain people
of Appalachia brought their instruments
with them from Europe and passed their
musical traditions on to their descendants.”
Mojo will bring some handmade
instruments, which he will showcase
and discuss how they were created
and used for making music. Rhythm
instruments also to relate to Rhythm
and Blues. He will also perform with
these instruments, demonstrating their
sound and how they are played, including
the Diddley Bow. Mojo says, “The
music will enlighten and change the
mood of those who listen and appreciate
it… the music and rhythm provide
the mood and then dancing and singing
are added for enlightenment.”