Time to Think in the Tiny Russian Village…
I wrote the above link and quote yesterday!
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I went to bed thinking and I thought in my dreams and I woke thinking and I am still thinking; In fact….I must grab another cup of coffee and sit outside this morning and think some more….I will be back…
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I think a bunch, but, I think on my feet 99% of the time. Once in awhile, I have to stop and contemplate things. Those are dangerous times! When I have to stop all activities and mull over what I experienced. Mulling is defined with me as, “When I must deeply understand something, I mull over it!” When black and white as an answer does not fit the situation…
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Yesterday I met the ???? (I was told in English he was a Bishop!) His name was Matthew (Yes, he is a bishop.) and he allowed me to call him Matt. “Ματταθίας” (Mattathias), was probably one of the most intelligent men I have met. He had spent six years studying in the UK and was very fluent English. In fact it was to me as he said to him, to speak English and converse was a tremendous pleasure. Never much chance to use English in his line of work, is how I understood it… 😉
Mathew was the top Orthodox? Blockquote below is directly from Orthodox Wiki…
Those of the major orders are the bishops, priests, and deacons, the same offices identified in the New Testament and found in the early church. Bishops include archbishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs. Priests (also called presbyters or elders) include archpriests, protopresbyters, hieromonks (priest-monks) and archimandrites (senior hieromonks). Deacons also include hierodeacons (deacon-monks), archdeacons, and protodeacons.
Now I become lost for I can not tell you the actual title of the gentleman I met. In fact I am confused as to what status Father Pavel is in the ranks? I believe Father Pavel is a priest and he is over our monastery, but I am asked to call him Father Pavel. Just as Bishop Matthew told me to call him Matt! (Yes, Father Pavel is a priest.)
We exchanged phone numbers at his (Matt) insistence and I am glad he insisted. For I realized later how profound everything was that happened to me yesterday. Surreal is how I describe it all and definitely not in a bad sense…
Maybe he will comment as to the positions within the Orthodox? He wanted the address to this site and I know he will be looking at it. Windows to Russia is a vast database of Russian knowledge. The monastery and the Tiny Russian Village is and has become an intricate part of the blog…
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I am not going into deep discussion about what was said and what we did. But, I will say that; I experienced a Orthodox church service, I sat at the table with the Orthodox priests and Bishop, I had tea and food with them, they presented me gifts, we walked around the bell tower inside and we sat and talked for several hours about various issues and other things related with the village, monastery and the world…
Oh and a tidbit of information; We do not say and or call Jesus, just Jesus: I am confused at this. For I used the term Jesus and the priests laughed, not making fun laugh, but still they were amused. They tried to explain what term to use to call him, and it was explained that they do not just use Jesus. It was not a bad thing, but it was something that I realized, different about religious upbringing…
It was a moment of enlightenment for me and I truly think that Matt was sincere and very glad to meet me. He wants to get together again later in the year. He understands that I must leave Russia several times a year. This was something that I sensed he contemplated with ideas known to him only at that time. We both had underlining expressions, that were passed as markers of future endeavors and I realized that he placed my position in the Tiny Russian Village as important and my desires to learn about the monastery as a benefit to the monastery…
As I have said before; I have become a Russian Villager in a very Tiny Russian Village and a very Tiny Russian Monastery…
I will be talking more about this in the future, today I still have thinking to do and I still have some soul searching to do. I have talked about the Old Soul of Russia and yesterday, I met it face on as I walked and talked with the entourage of Orthodox priest surrounding their Bishop!
It was sincerely an important point in my life and as I have found out, Russia is full of these points of necessities to growth of the inner soul. This is something that has to be experienced and not something that can be given to you by only words…
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I have also made it clear that Russia is a country of intellects; yesterday I had my thoughts confirmed about the intellectualism of Russians. Orthodox clergy and upwards are highly intelligent and very insightful. It made me feel good to be amongst them and while maybe I should have felt out of place, I felt comfortable sitting with these men from the Orthodox Church!
I saw the interesting interaction between the Orthodox Church and her people that attend the services. I call it the “flock” and they are strong believers in Orthodoxy. Once again, it is something to experience and words will not tell the tale of how the interaction between the two entities of groups. Absorption, listening and gathering data is the only way to assimilate such an encounter!
Have a nice day. I have more thinking to do…
WtR