Christ Is Risen!

For the Orthodox and a few others, today is Pascha,the Resurrection of the Lord. Pascha means Passover, and it was the term used in the early Church to describe Christ’s passing into death and Resurrection as the penultimate Passover, as by so doing he trampled down death by death.

I’m going to steal a bit from my X post as I’m running on about four hours sleep in the last 24 hours. For all that I am conscious, I am not awake.

Orthodoxy celebrates Pascha as a moveable feast, while the Roman Catholic Church, and through it most Protestant Churches, have made it a fixed feast as it is supposed to make life easier. Arguments can be made for both ways, but I will say that keeping it moveable allows Christ’s death and resurrection to be celebrated as close to the actual anniversary as possible.

Historic records and early Christian tradition place the Crucifixion as taking place on 14 Nissan of the Jewish Calendar, which was March 25 on the Roman (Julian) calendar in use at the time. Which is also why Christmas is celebrated on 25 December as the Passion and Death is considered the theological precipitating event for the Birth of Christ. It is worth noting that the Annunciation, the conception of Christ, also takes place around the same time.

Today, the date for Orthodox Pascha is calculated based off several factors including the lunar calendar. As a result, most years there is a difference between Orthodox and Roman Catholic dates; but, sometimes they are the same (like last year).

It has been a LONG week and a half of services and more. If you want bright eyed and bushy tailed, go find a squirrel. 🙂

Aside from the midnight service this morning (which for me started about 7pm Saturday), the highlight was the baptism of 27 converts to Orthodoxy Saturday morning. I’m honored to be the sponsor/Godfather to one of them, a young Navy vet. Traditional Churches have seen a large influx of people interested in learning about traditional Christianity, and ours is no exception. At pretty much every service these days it is not unusual to see one or more first time visitors. Not just first time to our Church, but to an Orthodox Church — and sometimes their first visit to a Christian church. What is heartening is how many keep coming back.

There is something rather profound going on not just in America, but in the West in general. Quite a few of those coming to visit are young, as in mid- to late-teens and early twenties. There is also a percentage of older who are returning to Christianity. All the groups are looking for something that I can only describe as values. They have heard of, or experienced, faith without foundations, flitting around to the latest social causes and trends. Such faith is that of Birnam Wood, having no roots or foundation in Christ. Or, if Shakespeare is not to your taste, think of Dante’s shifters for such places of worship.

The good John Donovan, former proprietor of the Castle, turned me onto some writing by another that I want to cover soon. I’m actually not only re-reading the post he sent, but the posts that preceded it. I think he is right as it applies to his joining the Catholic Church and my embrace of Orthodoxy: We do it not because it is easy, or that we thought it would be easy; rather, we chose it because it is NOT easy and demands the best of us.

These new converts have seen what comes of always doing the easy thing. They understand that doing the right thing (in almost any context) is almost never easy. As such, they have started as inquirers, then after a time applied to become catechumens, worked through that process, and then those who made it through that are baptised into the Faith. It rarely is a quick process, and even then never easy. My own conversion was hurried a bit (6-8 month process as opposed to a year) as I was facing the prospect of yet more open heart surgery: surgery that didn’t happen as after my Baptism my heart was found to be completely healed from damage caused by the lightning strike. If you are wondering why I’m on the path I seem to be on…

The baptismal service was a bit long this year. For all that some of the readings and such were done (semi-quietly) as the baptisms were done, it still ran about four hours I think.

First, the cats, er, catechumens, were herded to the appropriate spot with their sponsors. I should also mention that we pretty much had to have a substitute choir to chant and sing as our music director and two or three of the rest of us (we are a small choir) were sponsors/Godparents and not available for our normal duties.

Once in place, there were the preparatory prayers for each catechumen. Then came the anointing with oil, that is applied to ten locations (12? Brain not working) on the person with corresponding prayer. Then comes the baptism by water, with three full immersions. A couple of the toddlers were not happy about that (not unexpected), but it was delightful watching the somewhat older children eagerly participate. I found out one young man of seven had not only installed a countdown app on his phone and programmed it for the start of the event, but had even slept on the floor of his room with his head against the door so that he would wake up as soon as someone started to open it.

Once dried off (mostly) and in their baptismal robes, the participants are then Chrismated. Following that, there is a procession (hey, processions are a part of the Orthodox DNA even if we don’t get to march all over Constantinople these days) which leads them up towards the altar so that they can participate fully in the liturgy that follows. As part of that, they partake of the Eucharist for the first time. Interesting thing is that they are required to wear their robes any time they are in the Church for the next 40 days. As part of that, they are to go first at many events, from venerations to partaking of the Eucharist. At the end of the service, the Chrismation is wiped off (in the earliest days of the Church, the person spent a week in the Church and only then was it removed).

With 27 to be baptized, it took a while. For me, sitting (well, standing mostly as Orthodox tradition is to stand for most of the service) with my Godson and some of his family, it was a delight to actually experience the Liturgy. When you are as involved as we are as chanters, you are focused on doing things right, what comes next, how do we handle X, etc. To experience the service as a regular participant was a needed reminder and delight.

Our midnight service uses a very old hymn rather extensively and I will leave you today with it and hope you enjoy it and it moves you. It is sung rather, er, energetically, if not in a martial manner, as well as joyously.

In the ancient Greek:

Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν
θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήσας
καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμασι
ζωὴν χαρισάμενος.

In English:

Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life.

In Church Slavonic:

Хрⷭ҇то́съ воскр҃се и҆з̾ ме́ртвыхъ,
сме́ртїю сме́рть попра́въ,
и҆ сꙋ̑щимъ во гробѣ́хъ
живо́тъ дарова́въ.

I wish you a Blessed and Wonderful Pascha!

Urgent Prayer Request

Over on X, the redoubtable Homer Hickam (Rocket Boys, other books and movies, and a heck of a nice guy I met a time or two when we both worked at NASA MSFC) has put out a request for prayer for the Artemis II crew.

“Just a perhaps unnecessary reminder: The Artemis II crew, as successful as their mission has been, is involved in a dangerous enterprise with a spacecraft that has a heat shield that showed some unfortunate characteristics on Artemis I. If you are prayerful at all, please pray for their safe return to the “fleecy skies and cool green hills of Earth.”

As I put it in a private group elsewhere, they are going to hit the Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 24,000 mph, encounter temps in excess of 3,000 degrees F, and other delights. I’m on record here and elsewhere as suggesting this flight should have been delayed because of problems, the least of which involve the heat shield. The heat shield on Artemis I did indeed display some “unfortunate characteristics” as Homer put it. I am praying and will continue to pray for them. Jon Stokes on X reminded me of this prayer, attributed to Robert A. Heinlein, which I will share:

Almighty ruler of the All,

Whose power extends to great and small,

Who guides the stars with steadfast law,

Whose least creation fills with awe-

Oh grant Thy mercy and Thy grace

To those who venture into space.

By the way, if you know where the quote in Homer’s post comes from, we are friends even if we have not yet met. (smile).

Please do pray for them, as pushing the envelope is always risky. They are a good crew, knew the odds, and cheerfully went forward knowing that what they were doing puts us back on course to the stars. They were and are willing to take the risks to push things forward. Let us pray they get back safe and help us continue to push the envelope. Our future is out there. Never forget: Earth is the cradle of humanity. Children can’t stay in the cradle forever. Time to get moving.

Pilgrimage: Video

I promised to share some video during this trip, and plan to do so. I intend to post some short things directly here and over on X. However, hoping I might be able to do some longer videos, so needed a channel.

My preference would have been Rumble, as I don’t trust Google for anything ever since they shortened their motto to ‘do evil.’ However, trying to set up an account on Rumble was an exercise in frustration. Cloudflare wanted to verify I was human every time I signed in or pushed a button, and then I had to select interests and sign up for podcasters (not an interest) they were pushing. No way to move forward unless you did this, so I quit trying and walked away.

So, I now have a YouTube channel (Ailbe Studios) dedicated just to sharing things from my pilgrimage (and hopefully a few others to come) as well as about Orthodoxy and my spiritual journey. No promises on how much video or how soon, but I will be doing some, Lord willing. If I get talked into doing videos on preparedness or other topics, that will be a separate channel. More soon.

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun! It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Pilgrimage: Chef’s Kit

For a number of reasons, I usually travel with a portable chef’s kit. I have my professional chef’s kit (Messermeister) with all my pro knives and a few other things that come in handy. However, I really don’t don’t like to put that into checked luggage at the best of times, and especially in a backpack that may or may not be secure.

So, I decided to get the above kit, had it on my Amazon Wish List (thanks!). Three decent knives, cutting board, sheaths/covers for the knives, and even a sharpener. Semi-hard case protects nicely. Price was such that while more than I would like, I won’t cry (too hard) if something happens to it.

However, it was lacking a few things and the ‘lightweight’ cutting board was anything but in my opinion. Total kit weighed in at 3.08 pounds. So, pulled the bamboo cutting board, bought some inexpensive plastic mats, and cut them down with the landlord’s jig saw (with his permission) and now have three cutting boards at need at a fraction of the weight. In fact, it dropped the weight down to 1.74 pounds.

However, like I said, some things missing. So, a folding camp spatula has been added, a can opener (yes, could have saved even more weight with a military opener, but I wanted something easier to use), a proper corkscrew/bottle opener, a kfork, two sizes of kspoons, a scrub pad/sponge, and a tea towel are now resident in the kit. Total weight, 2.78 pounds. Not ideal, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

NOTE: the kspoon, etc. thing comes from an experience a former cigar buddy had. He had an employee who was not the sharpest spoon in the drawer, and among other things referred to knives as ‘kah-nif-ees’ which led to jokes about kah-spoons, kah-forks, etc. It still makes me smile a bit. As does his thinking Rhodes Scholars were ‘Road Scholars’ because they could read maps and find their way any where and everywhere…

Like to have something like this as I can not only use it to cook at the apartment, but it is ideal to have on any long train trips as I can pick up sausages, cheese, and other delights and have food and drink without the need to get off the train. If I do that, will share. Reminds me, need to see if I can include my titanium cup in the luggage to have for that as well. Paper napkin for a plate and you are good to go. Also, if I have to camp or semi-camp while out and about, again, covered for food prep and such.

More soon.

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun! It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Pilgrimage: Legal Prep

No, not talking about passports and visas (you should have already done such). Instead, talking about wills, power of attorney, and other paperwork you need to have in place before traveling, especially if you do any ‘adventure’ traveling. This isn’t adventure per se, thought it will be a good adventure Lord willing, but if anything goes wrong I want people to have what they need to help me and to know what I want done.

So, I’m having a new will done. I did the last one online; but, for reasons I’m not going to discuss in public, I am having a lawyer do the documents this time. That way they should be air-tight, and such that governments nor anyone else can stick an oar into.

In addition, I’m also updating my Power of Attorney for Healthcare and taking care of a few other documents so that if anything happens to me, especially while I am overseas, the people here will have access to anything and everything needed to take care of me, or to bury me. My only caveat is that I be given an Orthodox Christian funeral. If I were to die on the pilgrimage, I have left instructions to bury me there. I don’t see the need to bring me back here, even if the travel insurance covers it. By the way, this is the second formal written public notice of my intentions in that regard.

Depending on your circumstances, you need to have things worked out in all regards — health, estate, guardianships, etc. — before you head out. Especially if you are married and have children, you need the I’s crossed and the T’s dotted.

I will admit, the costs of such services has gone up a LOT since I last used a lawyer, but it is worth it to have things air tight. That said, feel free to hit the tip jar as that was a major and unbudgeted expense.

UPDATE: Not thrilled with the legal beasts, as they did not have it done last week as promised; there were too many difficulties with meeting this week which they assured me they could do; and, they insisted on all sorts of extra boilerplate instead of keeping it simple. So, a three page will became 22 pages, etc. I think I walked out with six separate documents when I wanted three; and, one copy of all documents was app. 3/4 inches thick. BTW, fair warning: never ask me for an honest opinion unless you really want it, as at one point when reviewing documents earlier this week when asked what I thought I responded that ‘it looks like the explosive release of a year’s worth of legal constipation.’ No joke, I actually did say that to them. At least it is done. Remember: whatever you plan for never happens, so plan for the worst, pray for the best, and accept what comes.

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, and to start a truly new life, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Pilgrimage: Clear Your Stuff!

This post by Ian over at the Bugscuffle Gazette is a good read for anyone planning to travel, particularly by air. When I was doing a lot of travel years back, I did my best to keep things separate, especially after I pinged for nitrates one time (still not sure why).

But let me suggest you take it a step further, and be sure your personal electronics are as clear as you can make them. When you travel abroad, keep in mind that various countries and unions claim the right to inspect those electronics — and that the U.S. can and does do warrantless searches ‘at their discretion’ when you return. On top of that, people don’t just try to scan your credit cards and passports (or anything else with a chip) for nefarious reasons, they can and will go after your computer and phone as well. In fact, in one country years back it was so bad I refused to take a laptop there.

I’m already in the process of preparing my electronics. My suggestions are as follows:

First, back up every device. In fact, if you are sharp you should follow the rule of three. One backup at your house or place of business, one secured across town at a trusted secure site, and one across the country at a trusted secure site. If there is a fire or flood at your place, get the one from across town and reload and rebuild. If something more catastrophic happens, that’s why you have one in a separate geographical region.

Second, offload as much as you can onto backup discs. For me, I’m going to dump taxes, financial, and other items that I’m not going to need on the trip both to free up space and to ensure that those files are not there to be stolen. It is like physical items: if you don’t need it, don’t take it. This is not just for computers, but also for mobiles as many these days use them as a computer. Clean those platforms, and not only are you safer you may find them working a bit better.

Third, do install and run security/antivirus software; and, then, do a secure erase of unused space. Both government officials and ill-intentioned types can and do try to find out what you’ve erased recently and might have had on there. For the ill-intentioned, they are looking for financial and other data (sometimes blackmail too). The governmental types can also be looking for political and other memes, as few places have a first amendment and protection for same. I strongly recommend dumping memes and other political things before going overseas.

You want to treat your electronics as you do your luggage: only carry what you need. If it’s not on there, it can’t be stolen. If it’s not there, it can’t be rooted through like your dirty laundry. Personally, I’ve not had any problems with this over the years, but there is always a first time. Travel lite, travel secure, and be safe — and remember that preparedness always pays.

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, and to start a truly new life, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Pilgrimage: Specialty Clothing

I’m trying to pack as lite as I can, and I now have some new permanent press pants that will be my mainstay. The only thing I plan to take more than about four or five of is socks, as I am a big believer in having clean socks each day and spares if they get wet during the day. Not an issue at the apartment with a washer, but my time on Mount Athos and at various monasteries could be a different matter. That said, thanks to your help, I have from my Amazon Wish List a Scott-E-Vest and a Scott-E-windbreaker/raincoat. The vest was highly recommended to me by Father David at the Romanian Orthodox Church after he wore one on his recent sabbatical to Romania. According to him it can even be worn with a cassock, which is not a consideration for me on this trip.

A Scott-E-Vest

The vest and coat are both set up as “personal area networks” with ways to physically and otherwise link your personal electronics. This is all well and good, and I may explore that more while on the trip, but for me the real reason to get them is as follows.

First, they have multiple pockets that are zippered and otherwise secured. In fact, a rather critical pocket for wallets and such has a zipper and then an interior, RF-shielded pocket that is also secured. Both are designed to thwart pick-pockets and similar people of ill-intent. It also can make getting through security a bit easier as rather than carrying a lot of stuff myself, I can have it in the vest or jacket and send them and the contents easily through the X-ray machine.

As I mentioned, the vest comes with an shielded pocket to thwart the growing problem of people trying to scan your credit cards, passport, etc. and steal the information. The cards are a big problem in that they can then clone and spend most of what you have in the bank before you are even out of the airport. Having the shielded pocket cuts down on the risk. Now, me being me, I have an RF-shielded wallet, my cards and passport are in special sleeves for shielding, and I have a jammer that is exposed as soon as I open my wallet to further complicate the life of anyone trying to scan me. Thank you all who have bought stuff off the list!

I’ve been using the vest a bit and like it. The only issue I’ve had so far is with the zipper getting undone. It really isn’t the fault of the zipper or the vest as much as it is the way I am built. In my prime, I had a 34″-36″ waist, with a 50 inch chest, and shoulders that took about a size 50-52 suit. The waist is a little bit larger these days (working on it), but it is not a build that most off-the-rack is designed to handle. Really glad I went a size larger (I usually get XL) as it would be a bit too snug if I hadn’t. If I do have to zip up, being careful in my movements seems to do the trick, and I haven’t really had problems just zipping up far enough to block someone being able to get at a zippered interior pocket.

Other than that, the largest problem has been remembering what I put in which pocket. Still working out optimum placements, but figure a lot of that will shake out during the trip.

No issues with the jacket so far, and it is water repellent so I plan to use it as my rain coat. Given that my fedora is waterproof, and I can get an umbrella there at need, think I’m set on rain gear. Oh, the jacket has a retractable hood as well, so good up top. Not too worried about the pants, some of the pants are water and stain resistant.

More on the vest and coat later, as this trip will be a good test of them. So far, really like them. Again, thank you all for your time and help!

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, and to start a truly new life, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Pilgrimage: Apps

One of the many ducks nibbling me to death right now is adding some apps to my new phone to help with things while I’m on the pilgrimage. This will be a work in progress in that I may be adding another app or two, and I will report as I go on how well things work. Right now, I’ve added Revolut, CashApp, Venmo, Moovit, and iTranslate.

Revolut was recommended, highly, by the priest at the Romanian Orthodox Church, who just got back from a sabbatical in Romania. It is one of the most used, if not the most used financial app in Romania and Bulgaria by all accounts. I’ve played with it a little, but not a lot so far. More as things move along.

CashApp (ping me at awolf 57 boilerplate here you know how protonmail and here is the dot and then comes the com if you want to send a gift that way) is one everyone knows. Doing it more as a precaution as there appear to be a few places that use it overseas so being prepared.

Venmo (again, ping me at the above if you want to send a gift that way) is primarily so I can pay my rent while I am on pilgrimage. My landlord has it, it is the one he uses most, so on it went. It has also been the most “fun” in getting set up in some respects. The “Add Funds” button wasn’t showing so Raju in customer service had me delete and reload the app, only for the second agent I chatted with to tell me it won’t show up until I’ve used it an unspecified number of times. So, will use it as I can, and so long as I can pay rent life is good.

Moovit is a public transit app with extensive coverage in Europe. It covers Sofia very nicely and was highly recommended by people on the ground. Given that Sofia has subway, trams, trolleys, and busses, I need the help with navigating and it is reported to have excellent step-by-step guidance up to telling you to “get off here” and more. I’m really looking forward to trying it out.

iTranslate is a very highly rated app, again recommended by people on the ground. It can handle text, voice, images, and more. For all that Bulgarian is similar to Russian, it is NOT Russian and there are some interesting differences. I’ve already detected some Italian/Latin influences. I’m working on learning some basic phrases, as I’ve found it is always very helpful to be able to say please, thank you, and such in the native language. The fact that you try goes a long way to getting help (and tasty things). Again, more as I use it.

More soon, and if anyone has any suggestions for good apps, do let me know. Three of the above were highly rated by local sources, and I will let you know how all do. Meantime, hope most or all of the initial set-up and such is done so I can now focus on other things.

Also, items off the Amazon Gift List have arrived, and are very much appreciated. Have dropped a line of thanks to someone who added a message with an e-mail addy so I knew who to thank. I couldn’t do this pilgrimage without your help! Thank you!

Please check out my Winter 26 Bleg!

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, and to start a truly new life, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.