#Glory to God for all Things

[dramoor]

"Every flower is fragrant through the power of the Holy Spirit, in a delicate flow of aroma and tenderness of color; the beauty of the Great contained in what is small. Praise and honor to God, Who gives life, Who spreads forth the meadows like a flowering carpet, Who crowns the fields with golden ears of wheat and azure basilisks, and the soul – with the joy of contemplation.

Let us rejoice and sing to Him: Alleluia."

~Akathist Glory to God for All Things, Kontakion 3

(Photo © dramoor 2019)

[dramoor]

"Thou canst restore to its former beauty a soul lost and without hope. With Thee, there is nothing that cannot be redeemed. Thou art love; Thou art Creator and Redeemer."

~From Kontakion 10, Glory to God for All Things

Untitled (Expulsion) by Fred Tomaselli (2000)

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

I am periodically reminded of why I do not participate in community discussions - whether in person or on-line. My daughter says I'm neurodivergent. As part of that unofficial diagnosis from a college student, I see connections and make leaps in my thinking that others just don't see. Any time I participate, I am brought up short by people's reactions that I have not anticipated, and that seem to have no relation to the discussion at hand - indicative that my points were completely missed and led people into the weeds.

In the comments of this particular article, the subject of Western abuses in the name of Christianity came up. To my mind, specific liturgies and rites can't be immediately be castigated for their origins.

Society is a fabric, or a mosaic of many different parts. Orthodox societies are composed of different elements and components then are Western societies - think of those elements as different pieces of colored glass and mortar, or perhaps threads and pigments. The elements could be considered to have a flavor corresponding to their various cultures.

That Western Societies are dysfunctional is beyond question among outside observers, The United States, I think looks particularly dysfunctional, even to Western Europe. Rampant poverty, unsustainable production and consumption, societal distrust of almost every civil institution, the list could go on... Our tapestry is tattered, worn, with gaping holes - if it were a mosaic, I would say large pieces of colored glass were missing, or the edges have been chipped off.

Orthodox societies may not be perfect, and I would say could be as wildly distorted, if not more so than Western societies - I would offer the modern "Russian Federation" and Ukraine as cases in point.

However, my feeling is that Orthodoxy has the potential, as the Bride of Christ, to repair the cultural tapestry. Though modern political realities show that just as in the West, Orthodoxy can be distorted into a caricature, a mockery, of the Life in Christ, that is in no way a given. Care is needed.

Specific Rites, Liturgical variations, and all the rest need to be sensitive to the mosaic, the tapestry... Whatever is going to be created, or rather repaired, by their implementation. The goal should be to fix the tapestry, mosaic or whatever so that the culture can become a complete whole - or at least as close to a complete whole as can be attained on earth. The first time this happened, it was with the Greeks, later the Persians, and so on...

Throughout Orthodox history not only have the Bishops been instrumental in this, but the laity has been part of this creation also. There are cases in Church history where the laity has refused to abide by council rulings and persisted in reversing bad decisions. I could be wrong, but I think both Arianism and Iconoclasm were defeated this way.

Managers need not apply.

I have great faith in the triumph of Orthodox Christianity.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." -- 2 Timothy 1:7

[bixels]

Scary Sunset.

I'm concepting things way outta order in this story, but I'm sure you can piece things together. Context is for a storybeat where, after defeating and capturing Adagio (thus having all three sirens in her possession), Sunset enacts her revenge plot to release the sirens on Canterlot as Thea discovers she's been manipulated. In a confrontation, the two scuffle and fight over the siren orbs while Sunset struggles with her conflicting wants and emotions.

[gingermintpepper]

hi I love your tags so so much! they were so sweet and so interesting and creative and the whole Aphrodite type of beauty thing sounds really interesting do you have any articles and recommendations to read further into it??

-hogoflight

Hello my fine feathered (I am assuming possession of feathers if you are, indeed, capable of flight) @hogoflight! I'm always always happy to hear that people appreciate my frenzied rambling in the tags :D! I have a lot of articles and recommendations :D!! Ancient Greek notions of beauty and representations of it in their art and sculptures is a pretty well studied topic! There isn't any way for us now to know definitively what the beauty standard was (it varied widely from region to region and culture to culture after all) but here are a couple of my favourite reads about Aphrodite and what her representations tell us about idealised beauty!

Probably the most empirically extensive one I can list is Krönström's thesis which compares statues of Aphrodite and literary text referring to both the goddess and mortal women to determine physical ideals for women in five specific eras of Grecian antiquity. Including measurements of the statues there are many descriptions of Aphrodite as 'curvy' with a 'voluptuous figure' and with 'ample buttocks and bosom'.

"When the beauty traits are described in the texts, they are never extreme or anything that could not be found in normal people just that they are more beautiful in every aspect. Furthermore, the sculptures’ physical forms look healthy, they are tall and have distinct curves. Great examples of this are the Knida sculpture and de Milo (the Melian) sculpture."

Of course, these images are still idealised, and there was still a concept such as 'too fat' or 'too skinny' found in written records (and this thesis even includes analysis of pornographic writings and descriptions of the fashion and stylings of pubic hair of women from different regions!!) but from an interpretational standpoint? There is absolutely no reason why these can't refer to a fuller figure. Height was also a very important factor after all and over the course of many eras, it seems like being well proportioned in addition to the length and appearance of one's hair were the most important factors (and, like Apollo, greater beauty was given to those with curlier hair)

Mireille M. Lee's 'Other Ways of Seeing' essay which talks about the forgotten female viewers of Knidian Aphrodite which is also extremely illuminating on how Aphroditic sexuality and sensuality was perceived totally differently from the well documented male voyeuristic gaze (which was overly preoccupied with the statue's nakedness and therefore over-sensationalised the statue's physical appearance) vs women's perspective on the statue which is more centered on the beauty of simplicity in Aphrodite's garment and decoration and in her power and ability to captivate both in her finery and without it. I think it's especially useful in exploring the importance of finery, jewellry and adornment in representations of Aphroditic beauty.

"Some of the small-scale copies are heavily jeweled, especially those from the eastern Mediterranean, for example the Hellenistic gilded terracotta statuette in the Çanakkale Museum (Fig. 5) in which the goddess wears, in addition to the armband on her (right) arm, the following: a necklace with multiple pendants; cross-bands extending over both shoulders and hips, with a cascading pendant in the center; a coiled snake armband on the left arm and another snake on her left thigh, and a twisted anklet on her right leg. (The left leg has been restored, and might also have featured an anklet.)"

"Jewelry is especially associated with Aphrodite in Greek literature. As seen above, in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, the goddess adorns herself with gold jewelry, dress-pins, and earrings in the shape of flowers (162–3)..."

Finally, and to me, the most important one in the argument for an interpretation of Hyacinthus as fat, beautiful and fundamentally Aphroditic comes from Brilmayer's brilliant brilliant thesis done on Aphrodite's work and influence in Archaic Greek Poetry which does away with all of that masculine preoccupation with physical proportion, measurement and bodily ideals for a focus on a Sapphic Aphroditic ideal centered in clothing, ornamentation and, most importantly cunning as symbols of Aphrodite and ultimately a feminine idealised form of beauty. This paper also discusses Pandora and Helen in these terms and it is just kind of a wonderful read tbh.

"Combining Homeric and Hesiodic elements with her own ideas, she [Sappho] alters the way female beauty is viewed. For example, the Homeric war chariot – a symbol of male, military prowess - comes to symbolise the totality of Aphrodite’s power uniting in itself male and female qualities. Having addressed the concept of beauty directly, Sappho then concludes that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. With the help of Helen of Troy and her beloved Anaktoria, Sappho sets out to reinvent the concept of female beauty as a godlike, subjective quality that may be expressed in many ways, yet remains inspired by Aphrodite."

The conclusion to all of this of course is that Aphroditic ideal beauty is much more fluid compared to its stricter Apolline masculine standard. The nuances and understandings of both are of course, constantly being studied, analysed and scrutinised but really, if Dionysus who was both bearded and clean shorn, effeminate, birthed and rebirthed (and twice gestated!) and strongly associated with vegetation can be popularly portrayed as fat and handsome, why can't Hyacinthus?!

[horreurscopes]

i."Revelation - It's Grand Climax at hand!" Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1988.

ii. "Pure Worship of Jehovah​—Restored At Last!" Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 2018.

iii. Watchtower magazine, April 1989, May 1989.

Illustrators uncredited in publications and therefore unknown. 

[thebirdandhersong]

ladies and lads I would deeply appreciate prayer for a conversation I have to have in about 4 hours……. I have prepared well for it and thinking too deeply about it makes me sick to my stomach and sick at heart, but it is a conversation that must be had and I would love to approach it with wisdom and gentleness and sincerity, and not fear and anxiety and self-absorption.

[otakusapien]

Watched the first 6 episodes of Hailey's On It on Disney+ and thought, "If Hailey's big thing in the future is that she reverses global warming and saves the world, why would someone try to stop her?" and then the rich white kid with an inferiority complex showed up and I went, "Ah, that makes sense."

[ghostgirl777bylizzygrant]

All I ever wanted was the World

[septembersung]

My stress dreams almost always involve zombies but last night was a new and horrifying twist. Awake, I see connections to the Reavers from Firefly, but in-dream it was a dreadful and brand new reveal.

[in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene]

I do think Withers has a really subtle background character arc in bg3. Because at the start it is really clear he doesn't want to be here and he's being forced to clean up his mess by Helm and probably Ao. He doesn't really care either. Everything ends so nothing really matters, he'd like to go back to his paperwork now please.

Except he's stuck babysitting a bunch of traumatized dumbasses as they stumble into dealing with the most recent bad idea of his three fuck-up disappointments. So he brings them back when they die for a pittance, lets them pay for some vengeful ghosts to come back as flesh and blood to wreak bloody vengeance on the Absolute, and starts to... comment, on what's going on, as he follows them on their adventure.

Next thing you know Withers is like, doing things unprompted. He refuses to bring back Alfira (or Quil) but that's an act of compassion, keeping the poor girl from the Urge and letting her rest, his actual duty as a god of death. He tells Arabella to follow her destiny and does that thing to make her grief go away which honestly freaks me out but seems to be him trying to help her. He shows up at Moonrise and prompts us to consider why the Dead Three would want a bunch of soulless illithids that would give them no power, getting us to think of the big picture.

And by the end (especially if you do a resist!Durge playthrough) Withers is actively interfering and seems genuinely invested! He brings Durge back from the dead, free of their father! He encourages us before the final fight with the Netherbrain! He's real fucking smug that the Dead Three lost when he never seemed to care about the destruction they caused before! He throws a reunion party and many of his lines are genuinely touching or kind! Especially if a companion died permanently! He has tea with Gale's mom and Tara! He's like, socializing and shit! Yes, everything is temporary and we all die, but there's great beauty in fighting for that precious time and living it to the fullest!

Basically Wither's character arc is this meme, all because Helm made him go outside and touch grass.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I drew Ahti II and his never before seen, very best friend Karleeen (three e's is intentional) for Halloween! They're dressed as Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens :) Someone likened Ahti II to Azi once and given that he already had a dark-haired "best friend" who is part edgy animal... it was only natural to have this costume arrangement. Please don't spoil anything about the show though, I am only in the first few episodes of season 1!!

On another note, imagine having to buy pants with eight pant legs.

[arsene-fixates]

INFORMANT JUST GOT A FACE REVEAL.

MY FACE FEELS SO WARM

[s0fter-sin]

AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOT ITS TEETH IN ME BUT I’M ABOUT TO BITE BACK IN ANGER

[thebirdandhersong]

on a more serious note I would really appreciate prayer for an awful email I have to write (which I've been desperately putting off the whole week). It is a necessary one that I hate to write and I hate to do it but I have to and I REALLY don't want to.