READING GROUP: Next Meeting - Thursday, April 11

Dear Friends,
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 11, 5:15PM. Please check your e-mails!
Don't forget to bring your copies from Dionysius the Areopagite Works (click on the title to read the book online for free!).

Reading Group

Dear Friends, 
Our next meeting has been scheduled for this Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned for information related to time/place!
Newcomers should register today or tomorrow at the latest (for registration, use this form: Reading Group - Registration Form (in Romanian)).
See you all on Thursday!

THE EAST / WEST CULTURAL PASSAGE STUDENT SYMPOSIUM: CULTURES IN TRANSIT

THE DEPARTMENT OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES
and
C. PETER MAGRATH RESEARCH CENTRE FOR CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES

Are proud to announce a new edition of

THE EAST / WEST CULTURAL PASSAGE STUDENT SYMPOSIUM:

CULTURES IN TRANSIT
Sibiu, 21-22 April 2010

Papers are invited in the following fields:
Literary Studies
Language and Translation Studies
Cultural Studies
Suggested topics include:
Literature and national identity
Literatures in translation
Literary translation and its vagaries
Translating cultural background
Film dubbing and subtitles
From the margins to the centre: The literature of ethnic and cultural minorities in university curricula
Romanian culture and literature abroad
The critical reception of Anglo-American literature in Romania
Hollywood: The global ‘think tank’
Students are encouraged to choose case studies in these fields and contact professors who might serve as supervisors of their research in view of preparing 15-minute presentations to be delivered at the symposium. All presentations will be given in English and a selection will be published in the proceedings volume.

Additionally, students may sign up for a Creative Writing workshop conducted by Dr Claudia Doroholschi of the University of the West, Timisoara.

Deadline for submission of paper proposals: 15 March 2010.

For further details and questions please use the gadgets on this blog to contact me or leave a comment to this post!

The Most Useful Tools for Students?

All websites containing such lists claim that their selection is the best of the best. Undoubtedly, most people take the bait and start downloading applications or, in this case, signing up for free web services. This site contains a list of web tools that students could find useful, but also a lot of junk... Feel free to browse through the list of web apps and don't forget to check my blog on a regular basis for more free tools for students. Click HERE or to see the list!

Recommended reading:

Canons of the Orthodox Church is an Orthodox website containing an electronic version of a book by Archd. Prof. Dr. Ioan N. Floca, Canoanele Bisericii Ortodoxe (a book published by Editura Institutului Bibilic şi de Misiune a Bisericii Ortodoxe Române in 1993 and republished in 2005 by Deisis). Unfortunately, the website is in Romanian, but we could try to translate a few excerpts into English (please contact me if you would like to volunteer!)

Romania: Recommended Destinations

"The Fr Zosim Oancea Museum at Sibiel holds the largest existing exposition of icons on glass in Transylvania, a miracle of artistic creativity and religious inspiration born of the riches of the Orthodox Christian tradition and the imagination of Romanian peasant painters.

A unique fusion of Eastern tradition and Western technique, icons on glass emerged and spread throughout this extensive region of Romania in the first decades of the eighteenth century, reaching their apogee between 1750 and the end of the nineteenth century and almost vanishing in the period between the two world wars.

Begun in1969 under the aegis of Fr Zosim Oancea, the people of Sibiel and with the help of institutions and private donors, the collection in this museum with its almost 600 masterpieces, represents all the main types of icons on glass along with works by some of the most famous icon-painters – when their names are known.

A visit to the museum at Sibiel also presents the opportunity to discover the person who gave the museum its name: Fr Zosim Oancea, a truly exceptional man and priest to whose intelligent vision and indefatigable tenacity we owe this extraordinary museum in the heart of Romania." (Source: www.sibiel.net)

Pentecost - Trinity Sunday

Pentecost (Ancient Greek: πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day") is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year. The feast is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday, Whitsuntide, especially in the United Kingdom. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks or 49 days after Easter Sunday, hence its name. Pentecost falls on the tenth day after Ascension Thursday. Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, which commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus, Pentecost now also commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2 in the New Testament. For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described as "the Church's birthday".

Recommended reading:

• Holy Pentecost by Father Alexander Schmemann
  
• How to Celebrate Pentecost at Home by Fr. Anthony Coniaris
• Cincizecimea, punctul de plecare al sfinteniei, si tensiunea ei eshatologica (Romanian)
• Icoana Cincizecimii (Romanian)
  

Hymns

Troparion (Tone 8)

Blessed art You O Christ Our God
You have revealed the fishermen as most wise
By sending down upon them the Holy Spirit
Through them You drew the world into Your net
O Lover of Man, Glory to You!

Kontakion (Tone 8)

When the most High came down and confused the tongues,
He divided the nations;
But when he distributed the tongues of fire
He called all to unity.
Therefore, with one voice, we glorify the All-holy Spirit!

Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources

Still need evidence that Jesus lived on earth as a historical figure? Read this article written by Michael Gleghorn, Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources, and you'll find out what Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Josephus, or Lucian had to say about Jesus Christ, Our Lord!

Web Tour: Recommended Websites

1. THE FALL OF ORTHODOX ENGLAND. The Ecclesiastical Roots of the Norman Conquest, 1043-1087 by Vladimir Moss available on line HERE!
2. Liturgica.com: Orthodox Liturgics, Books and Music.
3. Irish Ties to the Orthodox Church. On the Trail of the Seven Monks of Egypt. Links between Coptic Orthodox Christianity and the early Irish Church.
4. Personal Experience Of The Holy Spirit According To The Greek Fathers by Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia.
5. Children and Television by Novice Joseph.

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