Fridays at Church
After holding my conference (where only 11/39 people showed up) and spending some time in the department studying and talking to Raph, at around 17.20 I left for St. George Antiochian Church (It is close to Jean Talon Metro). It is customary in the Orthodox Church, during the Lenten period, every Friday to celebrate the Salutations to the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary).
Salutations is in fact the Akathist Hymn, a big poem composed at around the 6th and 7th century A.D. commemorating the intervention of the Virgin Mary to protect Constantinople (Instabul) from the attack of the Persian army. It was named Akathist (in Greek, Akathistos= the one that does not sit) because traditionally people sung it standing up. The Akathist is divided in 4 parts (staseis) each one sung during the first 4 Fridays of Lent. A combination of the service of the Small Compline and one of the "staseis" of the Akathist gives us the service of the Salutations (in Greek Chairetismoi), named after the initial word of each verse of the poem that is "Chaire" (="hail" or "Rejoice"). The Friday before the 5th Sunday of Lent, the whole Akathist is sung. Generally, the service of the Akathist is one of the most beautiful in the Orthodox Church, an astonishing combination of word and melody.
The service started at 7.00 pm but before (at 6.00 pm) there was a Lenten dinner offered, absolutely fabulous. There was tabuli, rice, hummus, stuffed vegetables, grapes, strawberries, a truly full meal (Yes, I know what you think, No meat ??). The service ended at around 8.30 and then I got back home.
The truth is that I missed our nice gatherings with the guys from the department at TH; I hope you had a wonderful time eating pizza and playing scrabble.
And for the record, (in case I am found guilty of inconsistency) the reason I held my conference yesterday and didn't go on strike (a just cause worth fighting for, if you ask me) was that me going on strike yesterday would have an impact not on me directly (I could be asked to make up for it, that is true), but mainly on other people that would really like to see their midterms and to find out what they did wrong. You may agree or disagree with this view, but honestly this is what I believe.
Salutations is in fact the Akathist Hymn, a big poem composed at around the 6th and 7th century A.D. commemorating the intervention of the Virgin Mary to protect Constantinople (Instabul) from the attack of the Persian army. It was named Akathist (in Greek, Akathistos= the one that does not sit) because traditionally people sung it standing up. The Akathist is divided in 4 parts (staseis) each one sung during the first 4 Fridays of Lent. A combination of the service of the Small Compline and one of the "staseis" of the Akathist gives us the service of the Salutations (in Greek Chairetismoi), named after the initial word of each verse of the poem that is "Chaire" (="hail" or "Rejoice"). The Friday before the 5th Sunday of Lent, the whole Akathist is sung. Generally, the service of the Akathist is one of the most beautiful in the Orthodox Church, an astonishing combination of word and melody.
The service started at 7.00 pm but before (at 6.00 pm) there was a Lenten dinner offered, absolutely fabulous. There was tabuli, rice, hummus, stuffed vegetables, grapes, strawberries, a truly full meal (Yes, I know what you think, No meat ??). The service ended at around 8.30 and then I got back home.
The truth is that I missed our nice gatherings with the guys from the department at TH; I hope you had a wonderful time eating pizza and playing scrabble.
And for the record, (in case I am found guilty of inconsistency) the reason I held my conference yesterday and didn't go on strike (a just cause worth fighting for, if you ask me) was that me going on strike yesterday would have an impact not on me directly (I could be asked to make up for it, that is true), but mainly on other people that would really like to see their midterms and to find out what they did wrong. You may agree or disagree with this view, but honestly this is what I believe.
posted by Immortalis at 11:19 π.μ.
1 Comments:
Another reason not to go on strike yesterday is that it was only the SSMU (undergrads) who declared a strike yesterday. (That probably explains your low attendance.) As a graduate student and a TA, you were not expected to strike.
So don't worry, you've got no justifications to make for working yesterday.
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