Comments

13 responses to “Elder Sophrony and Appalachia”

1. 

   Stephen W

   March 23, 2009

   Fr. Stephen, These words of Elder Sophrony are amazing. There is nothing sugar coated here. I have had these same thoughts many times verbatim. The only difference is that I have not been able to say “I do not understand what He said, but what He said is enough for me. I will understand when I pass from this world to the beyond”. There is life or despair in these words. Although true, I wish that Elder Sophrony’s words were more encouraging. There are moments during the Divine Liturgy where I catch a small, fleeting glimpse and it “is” enough.

2. 

   Brandon

   March 24, 2009

   Bless, Father.

   Being a young former southern Baptist who converted to Orthodoxy. I’ve latterly gotten over my bitter/backlash phase, and have grown to appreciate the kindredness of some aspects of traditional southern religiosity and Orthodoxy. The old song that comes to my mind is “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” (or at least one of the numerous versions of it).

   “I’ll soon be free from every trial, this body will rest in the old church yard. I’ll drop this cross of self-denial, and enter in that home with God.”

3. 

   Katia

   March 24, 2009

   Father Bless,

   “… In this description of the collapse of man and the cosmos to the power
   of Satan by the human sin of turning from the Divine path set out for men
   and women by God to that trail of tribulations which, in exercising free will,
   men and women embraced when they succumbed to the wiles of Satan, it is
   essential that we understand that mankind and the world were not made vic-
   tims of Divine wrath and have not been abandoned by God. Such ideas are
   foreign to the Greek Patristic consensus; rather, that consensus holds that
   human beings were infected by sin and made slaves to a demonic power
   which challenges and works against Divine Providence. Humankind and the
   world were reduced, through the Fall, to dwelling in illness and imperfection
   (and this, again, by man’s free choice); but they were still subject to God’s
   Grace and were not wholly separated from Him. While they were debased to
   an abnormal, unhealthy state, man and the universe were not deprived of the
   potential for perfection and a return to normality. Moreover, before the Fall,
   as Bishop Kallistos writes, in the teachings of the Greek Fathers, “[h]umans
   . . . were perfect, not so much in an actual as in a potential sense.” That is,
   “[e]ndowed with the image [of God] from the start”—namely, as “icons” of
   God and His “offspring”—, “they were called to acquire the likeness [of
   God] by their own efforts (assisted of course by the grace of God).”39 This
   striving for perfection, then, was not erased by sin; rather, in many ways it
   took on an even greater significance, once man had deviated from the path
   towards ensured perfection appointed for him by God. Not only are these
   points important to keep in mind, but they stand in sharp contrast to human
   sin and degradation as they are often understood in Western Christianity. ”

   A Guide to Orthodox Psychotherapy – by Archbishop Chrysostomos

4. 

   Damian

   March 24, 2009

   I have to say I recently heard the Appalachian hymn “I wonder as I wander”, and I’ve fallen in love with their simple faithful lyrics. Do you know of any books or collections (or websites for that matter) collecting Appalachian hymns? I’m in Australia, you understand, not close at all to Appalachia.

5. 

   Katia

   March 24, 2009

   FAITH

   Blessed is he who with Holy Faith
   Raises, inspires his spirit,
   And strengthens his heart as with steel armour
   From the storms of life.
   For him trials are not terrible,
   Nor is remoteness, nor the depth of the sea;
   Grief and sufferings are not terrible,

   Nor is the power of death terrible.

   A. Ushakov

   Oh, my God! I give thanks
   For Thine having given my eyes
   To see the world – Thine eternal temple –
   And the earth, the sky and the dawn. . .
   Let torments threaten me, –
   I give thanks for this moment,
   For everything which I understood with my heart,
   Of which the stars speak to me. . .
   Everywhere I sense, everywhere
   Thee, Lord: in the night silence,
   And in the most remote star,
   And in the depth of my soul.
   I wish my life to be
   Unceasing praise to Thee;
   Thee for midnight and the dawn!

   For life and death – I thank!

   D. S. Merezhkovsky (1866-1941)

   Orthodox poetry is as beautiful as the Appalachian

6. 

   Lord Peter

   March 24, 2009

   Oh, indeed, a huge portion of the old mountain hymns are full of completely orthodox expression. Still waters run deep.

7. 

   Marsha

   March 24, 2009

   Damian,
   Jim Hendricks is a prolific performer of Appalachian Gospel Music. I’m sure if you google him, you will find plenty of CDs of this type of music. I didn’t check, but it might be possible, even, to find some on YouTube. I don’t know of a specific written collection, but I’ll keep my eyes out for one.

   Marsha

8. 

   Mark the Zealot

   March 24, 2009

   Let me also recommend Ricky Scaggs and the Whites CD, “Salt of the Earth. ” I has a lovely version of “Farther Along” and other Southern Gospel Songs. Some of them make me cry every time I hear them.

   Raised a Southern Baptist, I’m now Orthodox, but my parish in Franklin, TN is very Southern. I joke that in our own way, we are more ethnic than any other Orthodox parish.

   While I appreciate Fr. Sophrony’s thoughts, and can accept that much will be revealed after death (1 Corinthians 13:12), I am somewhat wary of the “pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by” theology represented by many of the old Southern Hymns (love them though I do). Should not we work towards the Kingdom of God now, rather than waiting for death to become divine?

9. 

   Damaris

   March 24, 2009

   Damian:

   The two great collections of American folk Gospel songs are called The Sacred Harp and Southern Harmony. The music in these books looks different, since it is “shape music.” That was an American sort of shorthand for untrained singers to sightread music. You can just ignore the shapes and read the music conventionally. The hymns range from magnificent to very odd. I especially love one called “Bozrah,” and “The Last Words of Copernicus” is one of my all-time favorites:

   Ye golden lamps of Heaven, farewell,
   With all your feeble light.
   Farewell, thou ever-changing moon,
   Pale empress of the night.
   And thou refulgent orb of day,
   In brighter flames arrayed —
   My soul, which springs beyond thy sphere,
   No more demands thy aid.

   I imagine you can find the books online, and Smithsonian recordings have Appalachian singers from the 50s performing them very roughly but authentically. If you prefer a more classical rendition, Boston Camerata’s production “An American Christmas” is really great.

   I hope this isn’t more than you wanted! I love this stuff.

10. 

    Damaris

    March 24, 2009

    Oh, and I like Ricky Scaggs, too. His “Soldiers of the Cross” (I think that’s the disc — it might just be a song) is also worth listening to.

11. 

    Damian

    March 25, 2009

    Marsha, Mark, Damaris – thankyou very much. It’s not too much, although I’ll have to pick a place to start – if you were to send me to one place to begin with, what would it be?

12. 

    The Pilgrim

    March 25, 2009

    Hello Damian,
    I would also look for a CD by Emmy Lou Harris called “Angel Band.” Wonderful Sunday front porch music. Her voice is angelic, and her faith is real. You can tell that she is not singing just to do the songs, she is singing them because she believes they are true.

13. 

    Damaris

    March 25, 2009

    Damian:

    I’d probably start with the Boston Camerata CD “An American Christmas.” We listen to it all year around, and we’ve learned to sing and play a lot of the songs on it.

    Best of luck —

    Damaris