Food

My sister brought home some Goji berry juice today. I just read the pamphlet and am pretty inspired. It boasts of being one of those super foods, and has a photo of Kevin Trudeau's new book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" on the cover. Matthew thinks it's hilarious; he's such a skeptic!

I went online to reaseach the legendary Li Qing Yuen who, the legend goes, died at age 252 in the year 1930. He drank Goji berry soup every day. I soon got sidetracked by some other amazing super foods: Chlorella and Spirulina.

That page keeps talking about how our bodies are overfed but malnourished, and how everything our body could ever need is found in vegetables, and specifically in these algae that grow in fresh water. Return to Eden, anyone? Chlorella and Spirulina are algae...but they reportedly contain more protein than any other source on the planet, even beef! And they even have B12, which I don't think any other plant has (usually obtained through fish- although my dad has sometimes claimed that beer, on the twelfth cup, provides you with 'B-12'). And it's supposed to curb your appetite.

As Lent always reminds us, it isn't the quantity of food, but the quality; it isn't what goes into the mouth that defiles, but what comes out of it; and, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Our being is threefold: spirit, which needs spiritual food; mind, which needs intellectual food; and, body, which needs material food. All three must be fed in order for us to feel 'full'. So many people have spiritual hungers that they try to feed physically. I know this from personal experience. These days, fasting is really showing me how utterly skewed my being is to the phsyical.

My next post will probably be about olive oil. Stay tuned.

Moţet

Here is a photo of a couple being carried off in a procession after their wedding in the modern land of my ancestors.

My surname, Moţet, is pronounced "mo-tz-et". The fact that it will soon be changing to Davidson makes me curious as to the history of my paternal clan.

My surname is a mis-spelling if the word moţit, which means 'from the land of the Moţi'. My ancestors would have originated from that region, known to this day as the land of the Moţi, in the north of Transylvania. There are over 70 theories as to the origins of the people in this region, ranging from Celtic roots to Dacian roots (the most probably origin).

My grandfather has a genealogical tree for the family which shows that our surname came about because of a group of 10 brothers who were priests of the Church. They migrated south from the land of the Moţi, and were referred to as Moţit to signify where they had come from. Eventually the name started to be written down in records, and someone mis-spelled it 'Moţet'. At some point in our genealogy, the Moţet family was declared noble-blood by the king at the time, due to one of our family members being the advisor at the right hand of the king.

The name is pretty rare, and I am glad that there are still Moţets out there, outside of my immediate family, who will uphold it.

Choral Performances to Benefit St Arseny Church Camp!

The details are as follows:
Kenosis Male Chorus with Resonance Singers present "Give Rest O Christ": Sacred music of Purcell, Rachmaninoff, and others.
Proceeds to St Arseny Youth Camp (www.starsenycamp.ca).

Two performances:
+ 8 pm, February 15th, St Andrew's United Church in Fort Langley.

+ 8 pm, February 16th, St Mark's Chapel, UBC, Vancouver.

For Tickets call (604) 626-3296 ($12.50 in advance, $15 at the door, $8 with student ID).

Please pray for all those involved, and spread the word!

Recent Events

Some interesting things have happened lately...

My beloved Matthew has become a catechumen. The picture shows him during the service for the catechuminate entrance with his sponsor Kurt Jordan from Vancouver. Matthew received a toy Cat and some Chumen from our friends Callie and Joel at a surprise party the evening of his catechuminate entrance (which we did manage to keep a surprise! heee hee!).

The same day, we blessed Elk Lake. Fr John and Fr Kosta (of the Greek Orthodox Church in Victoria) concelebrated on the shores of the lake, and there were close to two hundred OCA, Greek, Romanian, and Ukranian Orthodox there. There were a few local and national newspapers that snapped photos and ran them the next day. It was a beautiful and highly moving service, amid the chilly winds, and Graham from our church actually jumped into the lake to fetch the cross...as did a member of the Greek community. The service ended with both men holding the cross up together in the water. Brrr!

This week is my first week of class. I am so happy to only be taking one class this semester!

It is an evening class, only once a week, and the topic is very very exciting: Canadian Environmental Policy. It is a seminar-style class, with student presenters and lots of discussions. I am fully looking forward to writing the massive term paper, which will be formally peer-reviewed by the class. I can't remember the last time I ever got this excited about school!!

Clubs and Course Union Days at UVic are also this week. We have a booth for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Today Fr John, Fr Kosta, Pr Melissa, Katherine and Iwere all present at the booth, answering questions about Orthodoxy and handing out information on the weekly bible studies and bi-weekly Matins services at UVic. It is very exciting as we are meeting many awesome people and starting some interesting discussions.

Please keep Matthew and I in your prayers!

Lack of Posts

Here's a comic that really doesn't apply to me...

...firstly because confession in the Orthodox Church doesn't look like this at all...

..and secondly because even if it did, it would be a lie to say that anything is going on my blog site, let alone my sins.

Ghita...

This girl, Cleopatra Stratan, is pretty amazing. She is three- THREE- years old! She already has a full-length, double platinum album, music videos, and has sung live concerts. This song, "Ghita" (ghee-tuh) is about a girl asking questions of a friend that has left her in search of opportunity (presumably in the city, or a new land).

It is not difficult to see why this particular song is so popular, especially in Romania. Besides being amazingly cute, the fact that a little girl is singing the song makes us remember those who are 'left behind'- and those who are left behind empathize greatly with the girl's situation. In the words of my mother, "our relatives in Romania cannot get closer to the Otopeni airport than this little girl". Their loved ones have left the country, and the ones left behind are not always able to follow them. Considering the decades of closed borders and communist regimes, low incomes, and the thought of going into a world of unknown languages, technologies, and mentalities, it seems as impossible for any adult to leave the 'old country' as it would be for this three-year-old girl. And yet, she misses her love, and is sad and helpless.

The video will pull at the hearts of all those who are in Romania who have experienced anyone close to them leaving the country. It rings true to anyone who lives in a country that many are immigrating away from.

The topic of immigration and subsequently, identity, is a very interesting one to me. With the opening of borders to goods and to people, we are less tied to our land and country. We can go wherever we wish to go- not with the intention of leaving one land and becoming established in a new land- but for the sake of opportunity, jobs, or convenience. In Europe, the Schengen accord allows most Europeans to travel to and fro as they wish, without a visa, and even to settle and work wherever they wish, without much paperwork. The economic, monetary, and increasingly political union in Europe, the EU, makes this moving about that much easier. We have created a 'free-market' of domiciles, and in making it easy to migrate, we have failed to place importance on the changes in identity that should take place when one immigrates to a new land. We see ethnic ghettos formed as immigrants who moved to the so-called 'land of opportunity' of the West cling to their former identity- one which they never intended to depart from when they departed their land. How can there be effective democracies when people are so segregated and uninterested in being actively involved in the life of the country they reside in? How can we be civilized humans with healthy societal relations when the biggest motivator for many to be where they are is money? The whole classic sense of a state and cultural identity is being re-defined to exclude land and place; to what extent can and will this actually occur? What are the implications? This is a fascianting socio-political issue to me.

Anyway, here are the roughly translated lyrics for the song in the video:

My jacket's hanging on the hook
Outside there's no sun
There is nothing good in the field
I'm thinking of Ghita (the boy's name)
I was asking around
But it seems that you've left
To search for some food (ie, sustenance)
It's hard for me, so very hard
It's hard but I don't know what I want
I know that you like me too
Ghita tell me what you're up to

Either come to me
Or say yes or no
I beg you don't make me mad
Ghita what's going on with your life?

Refrain:
Ghita
I'm waiting for you at the little gate
Next to the school's gate
Come
Only not the way you usually came
Empty-handed
Who
Would wait for you the way I do
The whole night only for you
Ghita
Show me a girl
That would love you as much as I do

St Nicholas of Myra: THE MOVIE!!!

My dearly beloved Matthew has alerted me to this website for the St Nicholas of Myra movie! Here is their latest press release:

EXCLUSIVE: Nicholas Of Myra Movie Teaser To Premier On Christmas Day
12/04/06

On December 25th, the official www.nicholasofmyra-movie.com website will proudly present the worldwide premier of the motion picture teaser for Nicholas of Myra: The Story of Saint Nicholas.
The highly anticipated two minute preview will feature the first motion picture footage to be released from the epic film. Western New Yorkers can look for a sixty second promotional spot, advertising the exclusive Christmas Day event, to appear on local Time Warner cable stations. The spot is set to begin airing on December 6th, the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas. It will then continue to run during holiday programming until the teaser's exciting premier on December 25th, when, beginning at exactly 12:01am eastern time, www.nicholasofmyra-movie.com will offer the world its first glimpse at Nicholas of Myra: The Story of Saint Nicholas.

The Only REAL Santa Claus...

Many of the things we do this time of year are inspired by Saint Nicholas, a well-known Orthodox Bishop and Saint. Anonymous gifts, gifts 'from Saint Nicholas', candy canes (to remind us of St Nicholas' bishop staff), stockings near the fire, golden coins or apples or oranges in the stockings...these are all actions that have been inspired from the life of this great and holy man of God. The custom of giving gifts, especially to the poor and to children, developed as part of the repertoire on the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas, December 6th. Gift-giving in the advent season was done for the Feast of St Nicholas, to remind us of St Nicholas who points us to the Christ-child, and whose example of humility and almsgiving is to be imitated on our journey to the Nativity. It was a far cry from our commercialized Santa Claus today, who brings presents in the night on the Feast of the Nativity, and inspires children to ask each other "what did you get?" instead of "what did you give?"

The following is a brief children's story on the life of the only real Santa Claus...

The real Santa lived a long time ago in a place called Asia Minor. It is now the country of Turkey. His name was Nicholas.
Nicholas' parents died when he was just a teenager. His parents left him a lot of money which made him a rich young man. He went to live with his uncle who was a priest.
Nicholas heard about a man who had lost all his money. He had three daughters who were old enough to get married. But in those days young women had to have money in order to get married. This money was a "dowry" and it was used to help the new family get started. If you didn't have dowry money, you didn't get married.
This family was so poor they had nothing left to eat. The daughters were going to be sold as slaves because they couldn't live at home any longer. They were very sad. They wouldn't be able to have families of their own. And they would have to be slaves—no longer able to decide where they would live or what they would do.
The night before the oldest daughter was to be sold, she washed her stockings and put them in front of the fire to dry. Then all of them went to sleep—the father and the three daughters.
In the morning the daughter saw a lump in her stocking. Reaching in, she found a small, heavy bag. It had gold inside! Enough to provide food for the family and money for her dowry. Oh, how happy they were!
The next morning, another bag with gold was found. Imagine! Two of the daughters would now be saved. Such joy!
And the next night, the father planned to stay awake to find out who was helping his daughters. He dozed off, but heard a small "clink" as another bag landed in the room. Quickly he jumped up and ran out the door. Who did he catch ducking around the corner?
Nicholas, the young man who lived with his uncle. "Nicholas, it is you! Thank you for helping us—I hardly know what to say!" Nicholas said, "Please, do not thank me—thank God that your prayers have been answered. Do not tell others about me."
Nicholas continued helping people. He always tried to help secretly. He didn't want any attention or thanks. Years passed and he was chosen to be a bishop. Bishops look after their people as shepherds look after their sheep. And that is what Nicholas did. When there wasn't any food, he found wheat; so no one went hungry. He always helped people in trouble. All his life Nicholas showed people how to love God and care for each other.
The people loved Nicholas. After he died, they told stories of the good and kind things Nicholas had done. Sailors took these stories about Nicholas everywhere they went. Some of the stories were about his special care for children—helping and protecting them when danger threatened. And so more and more people learned about good, kind Nicholas. They wanted to be like him. He is an example of how we should live. And that is why he became a saint.
This is the story of the real Santa Claus, St. Nicholas. To this day people say that St. Nicholas, or Santa, is the special friend of children.
—Carol Myers, from www.stnicholascenter.org



Troparion - Tone 4 In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Nicholas, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion - Tone 3 You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as a priest, For you fulfilled the Gospel of Christ By giving up your soul for your people, And saving the innocent from death. Therefore you are blessed as one become wise in the grace of God.