People Look East

I know that I quoted some of People Look East in yesterday's blog
but I did not post the audio to it so here ya go! 
This is especially for SCurry :)

Chapel at Zaffran Monastery, the Monastery of Mor Hananyo (St. Ananias), in Mardin, dating to the 5th century and a haven for the Orthodox as well as others, like the Armenians.  The Syriac around the altar reads, "By your Name, we conquer sin."

But today we look East, the quote is from the book of Baruch and the images come from a trip to Turkey that I went on this past spring.  We visited the Cappadocian region with its rich tradition of Christian beauty and theology and several churches of many communions, but particularly the Eastern (Antiochene, Syriac, Oriental Orthodox) Church.  Though Turkey changed hands many times over its long history, some holy places, though now mostly tourist locations, have been preserved.  Though often we were grieved by this and the vandalism and disrespect shown to the early Christian devotion, we realized that we too mar the Image in one another and ourselves, more often than we usually repent on account of it.  But, today, I use these as a reminder of beauty and light that have stood through history, violence, war iconoclasm and the beauty of the Orthodox church today and their beautiful, hopeful contribution from their branch of our Family.  I look forward to being gathered together, east and west, and seeing the church outfitted with the garment of Christ, as His Body, bright, beautiful, just and at peace.

Pantokrator surrounded by the Minor Prophets in Church of Panagia Pammakaristos, Istanbul

Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God. For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered, they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word of the Holy One rejoicing for the honour of God. Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and affliction: and put on the beauty, and honour of that everlasting glory which thou hast from God. God will clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and will set a crown on thy head of everlasting honour. For God will shew his brightness in thee, to every one under heaven. For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: the peace of justice, and honour of piety. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance of God.

~Baruch 4.36-5.9

 

Iconostasis of the Church of St. George, dragon-slayer, the Ecumenical Patriarchate where we met with His All Holiness, who greeted us in the name of our one Lord Jesus Christ and spent a solid ten minutes in good conversation with us

 

 

Church of St. George, Istanbul

People Look East, and sing today:

Love, the Lord, is on the way!

 

FY10Q1 part deux

So, February. Well, I can barely remember back that far but I know we went to the quaint little town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania where we will soon be moving! For more on that, please see our joint blog at: pfeiferpfiles.blogspot.com Your news for all things Pfeifer especially as we adventure through seminary. It also has some things like ways to be lifting us up and ways you can help.

Oh, first off, we decided to show off our Pittsburgh "pride" by cheering on the Steelers at the Fairfield Annual Super Bowl party. I know it looks like I'm flipping off the camera but I'm pretty sure I was just throwing a different gangsta sign. You know how it is.

Then, we attended Trinity School for Ministry's "Be A Seminarian" for a day program. But, check this out, one of my roommates from college lives IN Ambridge (the town is seriously like 2000 people and she and her hubby and 2 girls are 4 of them!). So, our other roommate flew down from NH to hang with us. I'm sure everyone is glad that I couldn't find a picture of the dynamic trio from the college days. Maybe later :) And I just have to include this next one because, you see, in college, I was actually known for the ridiculous length of my tongue which people knew because I was so much less mature than and would often use that as my crude gesture of choice when crossed. And look, here's my roommate's daughter, a perfect protege!Heeheehee. :P Isn't she the cutest? In case you can't tell, her tongue is also out. In fact, I think there's a whole sequence of us with out tongues out :)

So, our "Seminarian for a Day" time began with a little Valentine's bowling party with the church of our kind hosts. Hooray for Ambridge's 8-lane alley!

And here's the school:



Yup, that's the whole school. One block!
Pretty sweet, eh?
But it was really nice to go and check it out, even if there was two feet of snow on the ground. We felt there was great confirmation for us to be there especially because the community is phenomenal. So, that'll be the next piece of our adventure and like I said for more on that, check out our blog.
See ya for March, I gotta go cheer for the Blackhawks!