Wrapping up 2026 - Crossing the Threshold

 

As we reach the middle of November, I have decided it is time once again to wrap up the blog a little earlier for the year so I can turn my attention to holiday preparations and my annual December updates on the unabridged life story project. Every year at this time, I step back to look at the road traveled over the past twelve months, and if I had to sum up 2026 in a single phrase, it would be crossing a threshold.

When I opened the year back in January, I talked a lot about standing at the edge of an "unknown frontier" and sitting at what felt like an endless red light on Harford Road, waiting for things to move. Looking back from the vantage point of mid-November, that light did eventually change, even if the road ahead still has plenty of curves we have yet to navigate.

Professionally, June marked the end of a very intense two-year season teaching theology in inner-city Baltimore. Leaving that post was a mutual decision, and in all honesty, it lifted a tremendous weight off my shoulders. While I will always appreciate the teaching experience I gained and the handful of genuinely bright students and loyal colleagues who made the daily grind bearable, stepping away from a chaotic environment and an unresponsive administration gave me room to breathe again. Of course, they gave me some challenges with my unemployment benefits, as they essentially said I "voluntarily quit" despite the fact the decision had already been made in their meetings and they just wanted to make sure I was "on board" with it. I saw that as an act of providence, and agreed that I would not receive a contract renewal. However, after running low in savings and then having to resort to credit accounts to meet my monthly bills, it caused some serious financial challenges for me and even as I write this (mid-November) I am still awaiting an appeal hearing. Since then, the job search—with all its modern frustrations of AI resume gatekeepers and silence—has been a test of patience, reminding me of Jacob wrestling through the night and refusing to let go until the blessing comes. It came to a head yesterday when it seemed like the entire world was caving in on me, but thankfully the prayers of others and a reassurance that everything would work out shocked me back into focus. With the sting of my 2024 transition still fresh - I am still recovering from some aspects of that - it naturally led to a little stress and fear on my part. I trust however that by the time the next year dawns, I may have a nice retrospective to open 2027 with. 

Spiritually, 2026 was a year of profound discernment and realignment. Watching the ongoing inconsistencies and departures from historic Magisterial teaching in the Western hierarchy made it clear that being "Catholic" in the true Vincentian sense—holding to what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all—transcends Vatican bureaucracy. Visiting St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington, D.C., at the end of August was a turning point. Hearing the ancient Komitas Badarak chanted and feeling that immediate, cell-deep sense of coming home confirmed what has been in my bloodline and my spirit for nearly forty years. Pursuing reception into the Armenian Church and starting Armenian language studies has felt less like a departure and more like a long-overdue homecoming. Despite the fact I am still patiently waiting for the priest to get back to me to discuss the formal process, I am pretty much resolved that this is the best course of action for me spiritually.  Finding out I had Armenian royal heritage back 9 years ago was a revolutionary thing, and as I explored it more, I also discovered ties to Georgia and to the Assyrians as well - that was the proverbial cherry on top of an already amazing legacy I have in my DNA. As I am of the belief that a family tree is never complete, I am anticipating more interesting surprises as I dig more into my deep roots.  In the interim, I have decided for now that attending the local Ukrainian/Byzantine Catholic parish in Baltimore - St. Michael the Archangel - is my best recourse until I get some fruit produced with my inquiries with the Armenians. My very wonderful and wise confessor, Fr. Timothy Grassi, encouraged this as well, noting that the Christian East has a fairly stable liturgical tradition that contains great spiritual riches (he is right, but I did already know that). So, the journey continues for now, as life is indeed a pilgrimage, and the work of sacramental grace will not be done until we graduate one day to our eternal reward. 

If there is one area where 2026 exceeded every expectation, it was on the creative and publishing front. After years of carrying around unfinished manuscripts and "bucket list" ideas, I finally put my nose to the grindstone and brought six books to print this year—bringing my total authored output to eleven volumes. From the 38-lesson Genesis study, the sermon archive, and my cookbook, to completing my apocalyptic novel Appointed for Consecration and writing private, semi-fictional love stories for my fiancée Azenith, this year proved that adversity can indeed fertilize creativity. Even experimenting with AI to bring my old architectural sketches from the 1990s to life and drafting the blueprint for the St. Isaac of Nineveh Academy reminded me that the old dreams from my twenties are still very much alive. This makes me think that there is probably some fruit to be harvested from my own labors, and I already have plans for two books in the works for next year. The first will be a sort of eschatological text which will provide the other theological bookend to my Genesis study, and it will be something which will be a little different. The second book I am planning is my own perspectives on the Convergence Movement, including a detailed history and how it ties into other renewal movements over the centuries. The eschatological text will also provide some theological background for my fictional novel, as it will be a more formal study of the very things that volume fictionalized. The biggest transition in publishing this year from my previous work is that I went with KDP, whereas in the past I have always used Lulu.  However, Lulu has instituted some rather ridiculous new formatting that I cannot figure out, including how to get a title on the cover - its system now is a bit asinine, so I am glad KDP helps simplify that. As I like the quality of my cover art better - I design the covers myself with my own imagery and fonts - I probably will stick with KDP for the long haul. I don't just print books for marketing purposes though, as my college and graduate school papers, my blogs, and other special things I use for personal record-keeping are bound and printed as well. Sitting behind my chair on my bookshelf is now a whole section of just my own work. And, that will probably continue to grow in the final three years of blogging I have ahead as well as at least four more possible books.

On the personal side, life remains a blend of gratitude and anticipation. I am deeply thankful for Barbara's continued friendship and sisterhood as we have weathered health scares, hospital visits, and the daily realities of sharing a roof in this temporary Baltimore rowhouse.  It is unreal at how symbiotic our relationship really is, as we rely on each other a lot still. But, even long before we were married, we were best friends, and that will not change anytime soon. At the same time, my heart is fixed on the future with Azi and her daughter Amirah in the Philippines. Going public this year about our engagement and the new family legacy we are building together was liberating, and I continue to pray for the day when the distance between Baltimore and Luzon (or Palawan, as that will be basically our honeymoon spot - beautiful island!) is closed for good. If all works out, I want to plan my visit over there at some point during the late spring or early summer, and it is a day we both are dreaming of.  If you have ever weathered the challenges of a long-distance relationship, you know what I am talking about - thanks be to God we at least live in a digital age, as Facebook Messenger and video chats are our lifeline together right now. Please keep us in your prayers, as this is a difficult thing for us, but I know that once we are finally together, it will be all worth it as Azi is a precious gift to me, and our love and commitment has grown more despite a half-world distance.

Now in my 57th year, I am keenly aware that time moves faster with every passing season. With just three years remaining until I retire this blog at age 60, my focus is shifting toward preservation, consolidation, and making sure the lessons learned over half a century are properly recorded for posterity. You will see a number of in-depth insights I want to share this coming year, and I have a plan worked out to do so now.  I will give more detail in January when the new year starts as to what those will be.

To those of you who have followed along, read these ramblings, and kept me in your prayers throughout a complex and demanding year—thank you. May you and yours have a blessed and peaceful Christmas season, and may 2027 bring clarity, open doors, and God's abundant provision to us all. I will see you in the new year back here on the "virtual front porch." 

The Long Night

 When one reads the early saints and Fathers of the Church, one document that often is referenced regarding trials of life is St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul. What this describes is a time of extreme adversity, when it seems like God is silent and things look bleak.  We have all been through those "dark nights," and they are not a pleasant experience - I hate those moments in all honesty.  I have experienced more than what I feel is my share of them over the years, and while ultimately the outcome is often better than expected, it's still not something I want to recall.  But, thankfully we are in good company.  

Remember Job, that little book in the Old Testament that talks about how a man was allowed to be tested by Satan and lost everything but his life.  However, in the midst of that, Job never cursed God. I have to be honest though - I don't have the stamina of Job. I am more like Jacob in Genesis 32:22-32, when he wrestled with the angel. Many commentators over the centuries have asserted that who Jacob really wrestled with was God himself, and to be honest I tend to lean toward that interpretation myself as there seems to be contextual warrant for it.  Despite if it was an angel or if it was God himself Jacob tussled with, the important thing in this story is what Jacob did - he got God (or the angel) in a arm-lock and demanded "I won't let you go until you bless me!"  Understand the implication of that - Jacob knew something had to be better than what he was facing, and a combination of fear and impatience made him grab hold and refuse to let go until he got resolution.  The examples of Job and Jacob were different, but they had the same result - holding out for the blessing.  In Job's case, his refusal to disparage God led to his restoration; in Jacob's, it was claiming his birthright. Both these stories are in the Holy Scriptures for a reason - neither Jacob nor Job were wrong. There are times we have to hang on despite the circumstances surrounding us, but how we hang on makes us a Jacob or a Job.  A Job refuses to lose faith; a Jacob refuses to lose focus. Faith and focus are both integral, but depending on who a person is, one or the other may be emphasized more. The emphasis doesn't mean the person is discarding one for the other - rather, it means the individual has a created personality that makes a response to adversity different. The Jobs of the world will have steadfast faith that doesn't doubt or question, but the Jacobs will seek consistency and hold God to his promises. Neither of these approaches are wrong, and at times a person needs to be both.  Being a Jacob and holding God to his promises is not sinful, and it doesn't mean lack of faith - it means staking a true claim.  Let me explain that. 

There have been many popular TV preachers, evangelists, and self-proclaimed teachers who try to make the Jacob example a means of seeking selfish gratification. They will tell you to "confess" this or that, and to "claim" that Rolls Royce, 60-room mansion, or millions in a bank account because in that thinking, you can create things with your words. That is why these types of people call themselves "Word of Faith" or "Positive Confession" teachers, and why the phrase "name it and claim it" has perhaps become one of the biggest mockeries of authentic faith in recent times. That type of teaching has no Biblical basis, because the people who hold to that often do so for things that either they are not entitled to or that satisfy other desires that are not in line with God's plans. Like any false belief, at its core is an actual truth that has been distorted and manipulated by greedy hucksters often with the title "Reverend" in front of their names.  The crap they peddle sells, but it falls short. Nothing has done more harm to the body of Christ than these "preachers" preying on others like this. So, when I am talking about "claiming a promise," I don't mean the same bromide that Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and their kind dispense.  I mean it exactly as God intended it, and there are some stipulations to that I want to discuss next.

Philippians 4:19 is a verse often cited for this, and it states a basic premise that it doesn't require years of studying the original Greek to figure out - "My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory." Note the word that stands out, needs. God knows people's needs, and if we do seek him, he is obligated to take care of us by his own promise. However, those needs do not include million-dollar checks, luxury vehicles, or sprawling estates. Rather, they mean exact that, needs. If you are short on rent for instance, it is essential to remind God that this is a basic need - shelter - and he has to take care of you. If you're down to your last drop of milk, or food to feed your cat, or need money to cover an important expense, those are needs. Those are what we can claim from God because he did promise that, and we should grab on with the tenacity of Jacob until God grants them. And there are also those things that we earn that we have a claim on - if we have work experience and education to get a job in our chosen field, then we should lay a claim to that job and trust God to grant us. This is not something that we are asking to be given on a silver platter, because the blood, sweat, and tears of our labor have already paid for it and we are just collecting on what should be legitimately ours. These are things where we can stake a claim, because they are either earned merits (apart from salvation) or they are fundamental needs. Jacob wrestled God too for a birthright that rightfully belonged to him as well - sure, he didn't gain it under the best circumstances (a bowl of lentil soup caused his weary brother Esau to relinquish it to him - Esau, if tradition was correct, had bigger issues anyway as some sources indicate he was exhausted from assassinating the first Antichrist, Nimrod), but it was still gained by a consensual agreement with his brother. Taking the context of the story just before Jacob had his encounter with God (or an angel), he was desperate and scared himself - he thought Esau was out to get him for the deception of the relinquished birthright, and in a sleepless night he needed an answer. While he probably didn't expect to get into a brawl with the Creator of the universe, he also didn't waver - it was as if Jacob knew with whom he was contending, and that is why he demanded the blessing.  And, it worked - Jacob got a name change (Israel) and the promise it was all going to be fine. Turns out it was - Esau wasn't looking to harm or kill his brother - he wanted to have a happy reunion with him, and that they did. There is a whole other lesson that could be just on that - the things we feel most threatened by tend to work out better than we expected, so why do we fret over them?  Again, Jacob was just coming to collect on something that was already his to begin with, so he was not expecting to be handed a fortune on a silver platter. He staked claim to what was rightfully his.  

I know I will probably get some flak from the false altruists who seem to think that if you don't suffer and are miserable, then somehow you are less "holy." God never wants us miserable, and misery is ultimately not from him - he may allow a season of it, but it is not meant to be a measure of holiness. For those who think otherwise, they embrace a heresy of salvation by works - self-inflicted suffering doesn't make anyone more holy, and in fact, it may have the opposite effect of making the one who engages in it pompous, self-righteous, and judgmental of others who don't live to their standards. That is the major flaw of groups like the more strict Holiness and Pentecostal sects - they think that if you deprive yourself a Pepsi, or if you don't wear certain clothes, you will somehow be more "holy." Honestly, who cares if you enjoy a Pepsi or not - consider the Pepsi a small blessing maybe! God will not send people to hell over drinking Pepsis or wearing make-up if you are a woman - those are not sins in themselves, and I think God has bigger priorities than that. God is also not against economic stability or having a few nice things either - as long as those things don't become an idol to someone, it's fine. And, if you earn it, enjoy some of the fruits of it. This works-based spiritual merit that I hear Christians across denominational traditions spout is a bunch of garbage too, and in many ways they are no better than their "blab it and grab it" rivals as they are promoting essentially the same thing without realizing it. So, to both the over-claiming "positive confession" crowd and the fake altruists, you both need to find new hobbies.

The bottom line is that when you are waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and things look bleak, there comes a point in human limitation when you want answers. The example of Jacob tells us it's OK to hold God to certain promises, especially when it may involve the salvation of souls - there are people only you can reach out there, and because John 3:16 applies to every human being on the planet, God has a promise to keep to them too, and therefore your hindrance is their hindrance. Remind God of that, as the soul is ultimately the thing God wants us to freely give him, and Christ's Passion and Resurrection gives us the chance to do just that because we cannot do so of our own effort - no one can repay the debt of concupiscent sin; only Jesus's Blood can do that. So, when we pray for what we need, we may inadvertently be petitioning for the needs of some others too - the ones God called us to. Remember that, and keep your focus as you rightly hold God to his own promises.

Thank you for allowing me to share again today, and will see you next time. 

Venturing Into Georgian Literature Part 2 - Ilia Chavchavadze

 

Ilia Chavchavadze (1838-1907)

As we continue to talk about Georgian literature, the second writer I want to talk about is Ilia Chavchavadze.  Unlike Constantin Gamsakhurdia, Chavchavadze was more religiously-oriented, so much so that he was later canonized a saint in the Georgian Church.  His most noted work is a poem called The Hermit, that was originally written around the year 1895.  This is a poem rich with religious symbolism, as it exalts the ascetic life as ideal to separate from the noise of the surrounding world.  In Chapter V of the poem, there is the conviction that the nobility of the soul transcends earthly ambition, and it also preserves eternal youth, even as the physical body ages.  The youth is seen as an example of what Jesus said in the Gospels when he admonishes his disciples to have a childlike faith.  The road to this eternal youthfulness, he writes, is through the disciplines of fasting and other ascetic acts. In Chapter VII, he compares this ascetism as a form of worship, the walk of the pilgrimage of life toward the greater reality, the eternal hope.  In this, he is similar in his tone to works such as the Philokalia and the Russian classic Way of a Pilgrim.  It is completely an Eastern Christian concept that emphasizes mystical union with God over physical adversity, and that the latter is the way to the former - he shares that with many Latin Church writers and ascetics too, including St. Francis and St. Ignatius of Loyola, and indeed, the Ignatian Examen's one petition "to labor and not seek for rest," mirrors what Chavchavadze expresses in this poetry.  But there are some other interesting profundities as well.

In Chapter VIII, there is an interesting reference in the last part of the verse that talks about Our Lady, especially that in coming conflict and adversity - war and genocide, as we will see only 8 years after his passing - in that it is not only to be prepared for, but is inevitable.  He talks about the judgment of God being poured upon a disobedient world, and while there is an eschatological dimension to this, later readers would understand he possibly had some sort of insight into the decades of turmoil that came during the 20th century. Ironically, at around the same time Chavchavadze was composing this in Georgia, a continent away in Portugal a similar event about to happen ten years after his repose that we now know as Our Lady of Fatima's apparition - as a person myself who believes in the supernatural, could it be that perhaps he had some prophetic insights into what was coming, and then Fatima more or less confirmed it a continent and ten years away from his death?  This, I believe, also led to his codification of the "secular trinity" he proposed of "Homeland, Language, and Faith" in which, much like Fatima noted, if those three things fell, his nation would also.  He saw the possibility of a godless totalitarianism rising that would threaten many, and this would lead to his martyrdom by a band of Bolshevik agitators in 1907 because he became more vocal about this in poems like The Hermit, which called people back to a godly foundation upon which "Homeland, Language, and Faith" rested - in many ways, he shared that fundamental conviction with Gamsakhurdia also, although the latter was more of a political activist. 

In reading more of the poem, we see that Chavchavadze considered a stand for the truth a form of asceticism, requiring the same vows and commitments a monk or nun makes, and it potentially could lead to martyrdom.  He dressed a deep nationalist sentiment in the holy vestments of true faith, and to him, they were inseparable.  This is why his message may be something we might want to pay attention to in our time, especially in recent years with the rise of Islamic radicalism and Marxist ideology.  These were forces that Chavchavadze's generation fought against as well, as the genocidal rhetoric of the Turks to the west of Georgia, and the rise of Marxism to the north in Russia, would become a twin threat to the distinctively Christian civilization of the Georgians. While it is not established that the Georgians were as targeted later as were the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, it is fairly certain that the Genocide of 1915 also claimed Georgian Orthodox martyrs as well. The Bolsheviks, and later the Nazis, would also target Georgian Christians too - the martyrdom of St. Gregor Peradze at Auschwitz in the early 1940s is a perfect example.  Now that we have analyzed this, let us look at what we can apply from his writings today. 

When Chavchavadze talks about the the "secular trilogy" of Homeland, Language, and Faith, it is not the same as the "Christian Nationalism" we often see in some segments of the Right in our politics in the US today. It is in a similar vein as what Komitas Vartabed did for the Armenians, and later Said Akl would do for Lebanon - in that regard, there is a basic anti-colonialist dimension to it that resists both the secularizing forces of Western leftism and the Islamized Arabization of the Middle East.  Many people fail to understand that both of these are probably the most blatant example of negative colonialism, but Chavchavadze understood that, and it was carried forward by his fellow Georgian writer Gamsakhurdia. While a deep and rich Christian faith informs and shapes homeland, language, and faith, it does not try to sanitize secularism as somehow "Christian" like some in the West tend to do at times.  I believe personally that Chavchavadze was talking about a society where Christianity influences culture, instead of assimilating the wrong aspects of culture. The triad of Chavchavadze suggests that faith is a key factor in a civilization's survival, and because of that, with literacy and geographical connection it forms the essential skeleton of a civilization.  The thing he feared was that if one of these were compromised, it could endanger the future of a culture. Only later would this be realized on a tremendous scale, when dictators such as Mao and Hoxha tried to do exactly that and it created a vacuum.  

Therefore, what we learn from writers like Chavchavadze and Gamsakhurdia is the importance of the central narrative convictions - when the younger generation is inevitably curious about where it comes from, where it's going, and what could be improved upon without compromising the legacy, there will be a foundation for them to build upon.  Continuity and consistency is the core idea at the heart of the writings of Chavchavadze, Akl, and Komitas, and in many instances the survival of their nations depended upon it. In the West we have some writers who are trying to emphasize that - Catholic thinkers such as Nicolas Gomez Davila and Plineo Correa de Oliviera do this, and to a lesser degree it is emphasized by individuals such as Rod Dreher, Anthony Esolen, Charles Coulombe, and others in their books.  And, that leads to a couple of conclusions based on my reading of Chavchavadze.

In order for a culture to survive, Chavchavadze points out three important foundational things - homeland, language, and faith. When putting this into context with other writers from different cultural expressions, this task has a two-pronged plan of action.  The first requires ideologues, writers, and theorists - they are the ones who articulate the ideas.  The second requires the militant activists - these are the vanguard that defend, uphold, and propagate the vision. While at times these two classes of individuals tend to be at odds, in reality they share a complimentary view of the preservation of their society. One drafts the manifesto, and the other turns it into a plan of action.  The success of one depends on a concordant mission with the other, in other words. This works the other way as well, as negative and evil movements are also structured this way as well - Stalin was essentially Marx's activist, and Hitler acted on the ideas of individuals like Dietrich Eckhart, Guido von List, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain. The mechanics remain the same even with polar oppositional ideologies, and an evil system such as Nazism or Communism evolves the same way as a more noble system does, but with different fruits, outlook, and motivation. So what does that mean for America too in the wake of the 2026 midterms?  Let's make practical application of that now.

For the most part, what differentiates a movement like Chavchavadze or Said Akl from figures such as Stalin, Hitler, and Mao is quite simple - the inspiration and motivation.  Tyrants such as Hitlar and Stalin drank from poisoned wells that didn't recognize the "secular trinity" of Chavchavadze - they sought conformity of all of society in their vision, and often the ulterior good of their own societies meant little to them. This is why on the Left in particular you have this iconoclastic, quasi-Gnostic view of reality; for them, what cannot be controlled must be destroyed.  Taking that from a more Christian-based perspective however, the approach is radically different - Christian culture seeks to preserve what is good, reform what is deficient, and eject what is bad from society. While eternal truths and deep faith never change, a certain degree of reasonable adaptability is essential for survival. For instance, new technologies - they can be embraced. The stipulation in this case however is that what is to be adapted or embraced must not be in conflict with fundamental convictions. This has a Thomistic dimension too in that it recognizes the role of grace - its directive to heal, elevate, and perfect nature.  This is why a denial of basic reality and a destruction of the past are why the ideological Left has such a bad and blood-stained track record wherever its "vision" has been imposed - if you destroy a good foundation, in time the whole system crumbles. This is what I believe was at the core of Chavchavadze's convictions too, as can be gleaned from his writings.  He wrote with the eloquence of an ancient sage or prophet, but he also wrote with the authority of someone who knows truth and how to utilize it properly to renew his own society.  And that leaves some closing thoughts for our society today.

When a society tries to even mess with biological fact - that a man is a man and a woman is a woman - it means that it has accepted a neo-Gnostic iconoclasm that is destructive.  This is where most of the West is today. However, the void of secularism does not remain empty for long, as that faith dimension requires a focus, and unfortunately it is esoteric occultists and radical Islamists that are contributing to that. The rise of radical Islamism such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, as well as the parallel rise of neo-paganism and non-theistic Satanism, indicate that there are people who want to destroy the paradigm Western civilization was based upon and instead create their own "new order," and in order to do that, they have to destroy things. This is why many of them are trying to dumb down the language and they are obsessed with destroying historic monuments and statuary.  In real time, they are dismantling the ideas that Chavchavadze saw as integral to the survival of a culture - homeland, language, and faith. By destroying the foundation and creating an entirely new one based on less-reliable ideology, it spells doom for a civilization.  That is what Chavchavadze was trying to warn his own nation of Georgia in particular about, but it also applies to the rest of humankind too. The lessons then from Chavchavadze we should take away are that you don't destroy the good, but first preserve it and then build upon its foundation. This in turn assures national survival.

Thanks again for muddling through this with me, and will see you next time. 

 

Making Plans

 This is not an end-of-year report yet (that will come in December) but I did want to interject a brief pause between my analysis of Georgian authors to just give a bit of a report on what is going to be happening in the coming year here.  I have gotten my hands on a couple of tools that are streamlining my work now, and it also has brought back to life a few things I used to be interested in but forgot.  This year so far, I have published six books, of which four are currently available on Amazon, one is available on Lulu, and the other I decided to just keep as one printed, unmarketed book.  At this point, next year there are a couple of new plans for books in the works, one being on the Convergence Movement and the second a book on eschatology.  I feel like now that I have one bookend - origins, with my Genesis study - in place, it is only fair I have an eschatological text to provide the other bookend.  At the center is my earlier study on Ephesians (which is also available on Amazon) which too puts Christ at the center of the whole schemata. I also plan to eventually put together a study on the Creeds, as I feel that is a fundamental thing to do as well, and perhaps that can be part of next year's book writing plans. 

I also have plans for the blogs as well, and this is where my older ideas I had left dust-covered will be dusted off, polished, and given a new, fresh look.  When I was researching for my autobiographical work The Fourth Watch, I came across a small, precious artifact of my past that got a few wheels turning.  When I was in my early 20s and a lot more idealistic than I am now, I had a dream of creating something called the Saint Isaac of Nineveh Village, which would provide what was essentially a self-sustaining community for what I estimated to max at 1500 families of Assyrian, Armenian, and other Middle Eastern immigrants. The original document was six pages, and I was able through the miracle of modern technology take photos I made of each page and turn them into a Word document, designed like a brochure. When I was able to do that the past week, it was quite impressive - while obviously I don't have the means to even make a portion of that happen, it was still a great idea and I am glad I preserved it. While that is not the focus of our discussion here, something in it sparked what that would be in relation to future blog articles. Taking my cue from other popular Pentecostal ministers of the time, I included at the end of this proposal a list of "Future Publications," and a few of them are still good ideas in all honesty. One in particular caught my attention, and this gave me the idea of the blog posts I want to plan to do next year.  I want to give some background on it, and then I want to talk about four different posts I think I can evolve from the original idea.

In the early 1990s, as an enthusiastic young Pentecostal "preacher boy" and a student at Southeastern University, I was an avid reader of both of Strang's two major publications, Charisma and Ministries Today. The former was more for a general readership, while the latter was essentially a sort of professional magazine for Pentecostal and Charismatic ministers, but they actually overlapped a lot. One of the things both magazines had were a lot of ads - there were ads for books and teaching media from a variety of Pentecostal, Charismatic, and even some Evangelical ministries, and unfortunately for Stephen Strang then, he did not vet who or what advertised as long as they paid the money to do so - that too could be an article on its own as well. One of the things I came across in the ads was a full-page one for a series of books written by a guy named Dr. Ernest Martin, and one that stuck out was a book titled The People That History Forgot. It had a red cover, and essentially what looked like a pagan priest standing in front of a gold altar on it. The ad was flashy, the content looked interesting, so when I got a few extra bucks I ordered it.  When it came, it ended up being filled with a lot of weird antisemitic, anti-Catholic, and other garbage, and I eventually threw it out although for the reason I note here I should have kept it.  The articles I plan to do in 2027 are going to pick this Dr. Ernest Martin apart, and getting back to my Saint Isaac of Nineveh proposal, one of my future publications was to be on that topic as I listed it there.  I am making good on the promise to write on it, but it comes just over 30 years later. This exposure of Ernest Martin also led to some other related things, such as the influence of Herbert W. Armstrong (out of whose movement Martin came) on people who had access to his free literature back in the mid-1980s, the strange commingling of Armstrongism with aspects of Fundamentalism such as the iconic Chick tracts on the theologies of some rural Pentecostal churches, and also child trauma in those movements.  As spiritual abuse is something I myself survived as well as my own personal research into it, I find articles like this are integral to aid people to be more effective agents of discipleship so that they can be protected from odd stuff that often comes in the name of "Christianity." Like many of my other articles, these will be infused with testimony of my personal experience with all that, and its purpose is to be both catechetical as well as encouraging. Therefore, keep your eyes open for those next year. 

Some of what I want to include in the upcoming books will be sort of excerpted for other articles next year as well, as there are many important things to understand. The books will give more detail, form, and structure to the content, but I know not everyone will get the books so I am including some snippets here. That gives you a few things to stay tuned for then.

That gives an idea of what I am currently working on, so will see you next time when we dive into the work of Ilia Chavchavadze.

Venturing Into Georgian Literature Part I - Konstantin Gamsakhurdia

 As we venture into the subject of Georgian literature, there are two authors that stand out to me. The first is Konstantin Gamsakhurdia, who I have actually admired for decades. The second is Ilia Chavchavadze, who was also canonized in the Georgian Orthodox Church as a saint. Both of them have different writing styles, but both are talented writers. This first of two parts will focus on his work, The Right Hand of the Grand Master. 

Konstantin Gamsakhurdia (1893-1975) was considered a legend of Georgian literature, and his fierce anti-Communist stance also made him an icon for Georgian nationalism.  He became fiercely anti-Communist in 1921, and is of importance to American conservatives because he was one of the earliest to make a strong stand against what would become political correctness later.  It was in 1939 he would write his magnum opus, The Right Hand of the Grand Master, and that will be the focus of this discussion.

In studying Gamsakhurdia's life, I see a bit of myself too. He navigated a system he was repulsed by, and even tried to work within it, but those underlying convictions were still present and they informed his narratives in his writings. The parallel I make with myself is that I too have had to navigate a system I was fundamentally against, that of a school environment where I worked that pushed nonsense such as "social justice" and "liberation theology." When you are in a situation like that, you learn to utilize the very things you are opposed to as weapons. In my case, I took classic Ignatian concepts, and weaponized them against an extremely liberal campus minister. In Gamsakhurdia's case, he used Beria to leverage against Stalin in the Soviet political structure, and he even wrote some pieces that on the surface looked "socialist" enough until you saw the real message underneath - this is true particularly of his 1935 work Stealing the Moon. It was subtle enough to pass underneath the noses of Communist censors, but the message was clear enough to his own nationalist associates. The coming of World War II also aided Gamsakhurdia in publishing, as for a short time Stalin was so preoccupied with his German counterpart Hitler that national crackdowns were not priority, and Gamsakhurdia seized the opportunity to, as we would say here, "strike the iron while it's hot."  Ironically, when Georgia was finally free of Soviet rule in 1991, they chose his son Zviad to be the first President of a free Georgia, and although there was some controversies over Zviad's leadership, it spoke volumes that the Georgian people chose the scion of their greatest nationalist voice to lead them. 

Konstantin Gamsakhurdia

Now that we have given some background, we'll now take some passages from The Right Hand of the Grand Master and discuss them. 

In the opening chapter, the protagonist is speaking in first voice, and he meets a friend of his named Euphemius.  Euphemius is inside the interior of an ancient Georgian church, and he is lamenting the fact that although it is indeed a house of God, it is also a work of art, and the defilement it has endured over the centuries has caused him and his family much pain.  To answer him, the protagonist says on page 14 the following "Tomorrow morning we shall climb up that scaffolding and I'll show you something which, I'm sure, will fill you with inspiration. In my opinion, my boy, belles-lettres must come out in defense of a wronged hero. A writer must bring to light a hushed-up deed of heroism."  Here, the premise of the story is laid out by the author - repair and restoration is not just about that alone, but rather the preservation of heroic legacy.  Keep in mind the author comes from a devoutly Christian people who have been for centuries the victims of aggressive Islamist colonialism, followed in the early 20th century by Soviet totalitarian tyranny, ironically under his own countryman Joseph Stalin. The next morning as they began work on the scaffolding, two things stood out to them.  First, an inscription of a hand holding a set square that says in the ancient Georgian tongue, "The hand of the slave Arsakidze, may his sins be forgiven."  The second is a bas-relief carving of a young Georgian man and an older meaner-looking Persian who looks evil.  The younger man was identified by Euphemius as Konstantineh Arsakidze, and the evil-looking older man his master, Parsman the Persian. After showing these to the protagonist, his friend then pulls a coin from his pocket with the words "King of Kings Giorgi - The Sword of the Messiah." In the next chapter, we learn who Parsman was - he was a Persian who had been captured by King Bagrat Kuropalat, the previous king who was the father of Giorgi, and he was conscripted  to serve the court of the Emir who had taken over Tbilisi.  Giorgi is identified in Gansakhurdia's notes as the historical King Giorgi Bagratian the First, who ruled from 1014-1027. This Persian Parsman was also an occultist of some sort, and had chemically enhanced dead carrion as a way of getting rid of a bunch of pesky birds (rooks). Bagrat Kuropalat had defeated two Islamic emirs, and they were forced to pay tribute to him at around the time prior to Giorgi's ascension to the throne. This means that both the "Great Master" of Gamsakhurdia's story and that bas-relief of a hand were those of Giorgi the King, and the rest of the story portrays Giorgi as a sort of King David figure (i.e., David The Builder, another name from Georgian antiquity).  The story Gamsakhurdia is then unfolding is a fictional account of the real King David IV, known as "the Builder," who ruled from 1089-1125, and that means that his grandfather, Bagrat IV, would have been the actual king of that time, having ruled from 1027 to 1072, and it was he who had routed the Turks out of Georgia and secured its independence.  The dates of the story do not quite add together, but the real hero is Konstantineh Arsakidze, and he was the chief architect of the grand cathedral the king commissioned.  However, the story has its drama as it turns out that Konstantineh and the king end up being in love with the same woman, Shorena, and that causes complications.  My first analysis of this probably missed a detail or two, so bear with me on that. 

Much as the Biblical story of King David, Gamsakhurdia's message in the story is that often a flawed man is a true hero, and as the literal "builder" of the glories of a civilization, Konstantineh ultimately legitimizes the king's legacy despite the tension between them over loving the same woman.  The dimensions to this story are profound, and as today as I am writing this it is Election Day, it makes me think of Donald Trump. Trump is a flawed man - we know that, he knows that, and his enemies really know that. But, he is divinely appointed to lead a nation in need of a reclamation of its legacy, which is being stolen by foreign elements.  The parallels will not be lost on a casual reader, as there is definitely a message here. The best man for a given time to take up the mantle of a leader may not be the most moral example, and he is probably a man who makes mistakes, screws up, and will collect a strange array of enemies as a result. The question is not his morality in that case, but rather his leadership quality. There is a deeply-hidden moral in Gamsakhurdia's tale that can be read on a lot of dimensions for its time, and indeed, his own son would embody some of this over 50 years later from when the story was written. It is pragmatic, but judicious, and it also tells us that the most unlikely of "saviors" may come from the most flawed of men, but even flawed men have the potential to become heroes.  That is Gamsakhurdia's story I believe in a nutshell.  But, there is going to be one last thing I want to explore regarding his insights at the end of the book, which we will pick up next. 

The key aspect of The Right Hand of the Grand Master to me is found in the postscript at the end of the book, when Gamsakhurdia shifts from the voice of the first-person fictional protagonist back to his author voice.  In the postscript, he was discussing some of the symbolism, in particular the severed hand holding the object on the bas-relief of the cathedral, that of Arsakidze.  He noted that when people asked him of this, it reflected a geopolitical reality.  On page 417 he notes what that is: "The fate of every state is determined by its internal political situation. World history furnishes ample evidence of this. Internecine feuds were the cause of the fall of ancient Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, Georgia under Tamar's children Rusudan and Giorgi Lasha. So I place the home affairs of Georgia under Giorgi I in the center of my novel."  He then makes a further observation of his character Arsakidze when he says that "the immortal work of art is the product of his self-devotion and zeal, inspired by the love for his Homeland."  Let's take those and give what I gleaned from them.

First, a nation that is divided against itself will have a poor chance at continuity, and civil discord often causes societal collapse if it gets out of control.  This is why when a bureaucracy gets too large, it foments discontent - I believe that Gamsakhurdia was making an indirect reference to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 here.  Anarchy then is the doorway not only to societal collapse, but indeed it can lead to totalitarian tyranny. It is also one reason why Gamsakhurdia was considered a Georgian nationalist - he believed that the cohesive cultural unity of a people would ensure its national survival. I cannot help but wonder if this was something that Gamsakhurdia learned from his Armenian neighbors, who had undergone a brutal genocide at around the same time as the Bolshevik Revolution was happening in Moscow? I don't know a lot about how Gamsakhurdia viewed the neighboring Armenians - that would be worth exploring - but due to close proximity it is undisputably certain that Georgian Christians also suffered from the genocide of the so-called "Young Turks," as other Christian minorities (Assyrians, Maronites, Copts, Greeks, and others) did. Dealing with radical Islamic Turks and Bolshevik revolutionaries later no doubt had some bearing on the narrative of this story.  The indication by just some casual research on the topic is that Gamsakhurdia did have a great level of cultural admiration for the Armenians, and he also visited there frequently.  I envision a possible exploration of the connection between Gamsakhurdia and major Armenian intellectual figures such as Komitas Vartabed later. I use this to preface the next part of this discussion - the carved hand of Arsakidze.

If you remember the earlier part of the story, it was Arsakidze who was the true architect of the ancient cathedral, and his zeal and love for his homeland made this a labor of love.  This communicates something - art is a reflection of the heart and soul of a nation.  And, literature is the heart and soul of a nation transcribed.  Gamsakhurdia does something here that many fiction writers (including in my own work of fiction) do - the projection of themselves onto either the main character, or aspects of themselves on different characters.  Arsakidze's labor of love in constructing the great cathedral is the author's way of saying he is doing this not for fame or wealth, but as a labor of love expressed for his people too. In that context then, the fictional construction of the cathedral is Gamsakhurdia's story.  Learning to see how literature, art, and music reflects the soul of their creators teaches us an important lesson, and let's get into that now.

There was a series on about 25 years ago called The Legend of the Seeker, and the story reflects how a young hero called "the Seeker" will fulfill a prophecy of liberation against an evil warlord who is terrorizing the known lands then.  This evil warlord, Darken Raul (who, it turns out is also the Seeker's half-brother!) wages a campaign to destroy the Seeker and his companions, an old wizard (Zed, who also happens to be the Seeker's grandfather) and a woman called a "Confessor" by the name of Kailyn, who is essentially a human polygraph designed to alter the will of an adversary by "confessing" them. On one episode of this, the Seeker (who is named Richard) finds a crucial book called "The Book of Counted Shadows" that contains what is needed to overthrow and destroy Raul for good, and Raul also wants this book.  The book is eventually found hidden securely in a town library, and an artist there named James has the power to paint a reality - he creates a portrait on campus that can become real, in other words.  He transports that library to this "world" of the painting to protect it from Raul's goons, and in essence, James brings his soul to life in the painting. Obviously, we cannot exercise a magical bending of reality like that, but at the same time we can, like James, place our soul into a work like that. Arsakidze did that in the story as well with the construction of the cathedral, and Gamsakhurdia notes the concept of creative immortality - although a human body can die, its work can be immortalized like the cathedral in the story.  And, more to the point, like Gamsakhurdia's own novel, to which I believe he was indirectly referring. There can be a lot to unpack with this, and indeed we shall. 

You have heard me write about Central Narrative Convictions, or CNCs, before, and Gamsakhurdia's work is a way those are expressed via his exercise of what Fr. Norris Clarke calls the "transcendental properties of being," meaning truth, beauty and goodness. In his fictional narrative, Gamsakhurdia does answer questions like: who are we? Where are we? What's wrong? and "What's the remedy?"  A true work of art reflects that "story" that results from answering those questions, and it expresses them in a way that embodies the transcendental properties. And that is a reason his work is one of my favorite pieces of literature.

Now that we have a brief - and perhaps incomplete - overview of Gamsakhurdia's The Right Hand of the Grand Master, in the next part of this we will examine in similar detail Ilia Chavchavadze's work The Hermit. Thanks again for joining me, and will see you next time. 

Calling Out Inconsistency

 As I open this month with the first entry I hadn't planned on writing, I am frustrated.  I am frustrated with a state bureaucracy that will drop a lien on you quickly if you owe a tax bill, but then drags their butts when it comes to your need.  I am frustrated with an equally complacent church bureaucracy that does the same thing. And, now I am on the warpath against both.  I recently wrote a book, and part of that book was what I called "A Sovereign Statement," and it cited philosophical and theological underpinnings that established that the human person is created in God's image and thus is subject to the dignity and rights they should be merited. Problem is, both church and state these days have been infected with the cancer of evolutionary thought, which asserts that only those deemed "worthy" are entitled to basic dignity, and in the case of the Church, it is a violation of the mandate Jesus laid down in the Gospel. The state can at least fall back on the excuse that it has no religious interests, and thus it can function as fully secular and thinks it can do what it wants - there are consequences for that too, but that is for another discussion.  Today, I want to focus on the Church, because in case you haven't witnessed it yourself, it is in a crisis. While a lot of the crisis is due to the last two Popes - both of whom had very anti-Catholic positions on things - and Vatican bureaucrats like the heretical Cardinal Fernandez, it trickles down to the parish level as well.  In the past year, this became glaringly apparent at the parish we did attend here, Saints Philip and James, which is supposed to be administered by Dominican friars. Yet, the inconsistency, coldness, and outright non-Christian attitudes of those friars shattered any hopes for me remaining as part of the Roman Catholic Church - it cemented a decision for me to join instead with my ancestral people, the Armenians, instead.  For those of you who ask what happened, let me tell you the story, as it is in many parts.

The first crack in the foundation came a few months back, when Barbara was having some serious health issues. So, at Mass one Sunday, as we were leaving and the vicar, Fr. Michael, was greeting people on the way out, she mentioned this to him.  Now, had this been Father Grassi, our former priest in Charles Town, he would have stopped right there and prayed for her.  Fr. Grassi is a diocesan priest, and not part of a religious order either - keep that in mind as I progress here.  Father Michael's response to Barbara was not to pray for her, or even care - he just casually said in sanctimonious language, "oh, it's your cross to bear."  That did not sit well with her either, and after thinking about it, I understood why. Father Michael is part of a religious order, the Dominicans, who have historically been identified with the preaching charism. Dominicans were typically evangelistic, and they also exercised in the past a high quality of pastoral care that made them a solid order in the Church. There are many good Dominican friars, to be fair, who still are faithful to that, and this is by no means an attack on their order. On the contrary, it is an observation and criticism of one who took those vows, and then fell short of his calling. The Dominicans at Saints Philip and James don't adequately reflect the charisms of their order - they instead mirror the general apathy and spiritual decay that characterizes a lot of the Baltimore Catholic community.  Father Michael also noted that his spiritual director is a Jesuit priest - I find that a bit odd, as usually a spiritual mentor to a friar generally is someone in their own religious order, so why in hell is Fr. Michael consulting Jesuits for spiritual direction?? Given the state of the Jesuits these days - while there are good Jesuits, the order as a whole has lost its way - I find it odd that a Dominican friar is going to one for spiritual counsel instead of seeking out a wiser, older friar to mentor him in his own order.  It definitely explains a lot about Fr. Michael's response to the suffering of his own parishioners. But, it gets even more interesting, so let's continue.

Fr. Michael comes across as jovial, friendly, and supposedly welcoming - the first impression you get of him is that he is a "caring pastor" of his flock.  That is, until you actually talk to him.  He speaks in generalities for the most part, and despite how "welcoming" he claims to make one feel, he fails to actually get to know his own parishioners on a more personal level.  If you want to be pastoral, know your sheep - I even learned that in Bible college as a young preacher boy with the Foursquare denomination years ago. Even Jesus models that example when he talks about in the Gospels about seeking the lost sheep, even if the 99 others are still there grazing in the meadow - it means God cares for the individual, and his shepherds who are given that Apostolic authority in Holy Orders should model that as well. I perfectly understand that some parishes are big - Saints Philip and James averages about 600 per Mass on a given Sunday - but that doesn't excuse flippant apathy in exercising one's call. After all, a diocesan priest like Fr. Grassi has three times the attendance Saints Philip and James does, but he knows his parishioners - he makes the effort and he doesn't have near the pastoral support that Fr. Michael does. There are five more Dominican friars in residence at Saints Philip and James, and therefore with a larger congregation there should be pastoral support with that many friars being assigned there.  Fr. Grassi does more effective pastoral outreach than do six Dominicans in a significantly smaller parish, yet they fail.  I point back to the general spiritual decay of Baltimore's Catholic Church - the state of it is so appalling that it is a wonder many churches are still open, and indeed a lot of them have closed. Saints Philip and James brags about having 600 people per Mass - what they fail to mention is that they are also now home to three other parishes the Archdiocese closed, and that is why the numbers are more, not because of effective pastoral leadership.  The next aspect of this I want to talk about is Fr. Michael's priorities as a pastor, and they are misplaced.

In the parish bulletins from Saints Philip and James each week, Fr. Michael writes a column, which in itself is normal as the parish priest often has a commentary in the bulletin in most parishes. The fact he writes a column is not the real issue, but rather what he focuses on as priority. A week or two before Fr. Michael flippantly dismissed Barbara with the "cross to bear" comment, he spent an entire commentary in the bulletin talking about Baltimore's pub life, and essentially he was glorifying bar-hopping. Now, I am not against anyone having the occasional social drink - it is fine, even for a priest in a social situation, to have a drink in a proper setting. However, when you start giving a point-by-point review of every pub within a 12-block radius of the parish and you are the pastor, it is not a good look for you.  Shortly after, around the time of the Easter Vigil, he acted more excited about the fact the parish social hall now has a bar and a keg than he did about the miracle of the Resurrection itself, and I found that disturbing as well. When your pastor comes off as a lush, it is not a good look, even if he is truly not and in all fairness he may not actually drink a lot - still, talking about bar-hopping in a parish bulletin sends a message that perhaps your pastor may have a little problem.  Again, he may not actually be guilty of this - it is fair to withhold judgment on that until more empirical data suggests otherwise - but making that the central focus of a weekly bulletin commentary sends a bad message.  Let's assume for instance that maybe an Evangelical Protestant is visiting. As a former Evangelical myself, I can tell you that they have strong convictions about even the rare social drink. While a more informed Catholic may understand the context of what the priest is writing about, all that Evangelical is going to see when they read the bulletin is that the priest is a drunk, and it affirms every anti-Catholic allegation they have been taught for perhaps decades. A potential opportunity for evangelization is shot as a result, and more than likely that Evangelical, who may have actually been open and seeking, is now a lost opportunity.  Fr. Michael, if you are reading this, do you even comprehend the consequences of that?? If so, let me give you a piece of your own advice - that is now your cross to bear, but it also could be another's blood on your hands.  But, lest you think that is the end, then came the very incident that compelled me to finally sever ties with that parish as well as rethinking my own future in the Roman Catholic Church. 

This happened in late July and entailed two distinct things that happened. One, I had applied for a campus minister position at Johns Hopkins that I was more than qualified for.  I submitted the right material and everything else, only to be told by Fr. Michael's henchman, Fr. JoseMaria, in a message that looked AI generated that I was not going to be considered. When I asked why, I was told I was essentially not "pastoral enough," this from a guy who is so aloof in the parish that he barely talks to anyone. That was the first incident. The same week that happened, Fr. Michael decides to launch into another of his polemics in the parish bulletin, this time against the SSPX.  I had already talked about that in detail, and therefore it doesn't bear repetition.  Summarily though, the fact is there is not even an SSPX chapel within 40 miles of Baltimore, so why should he even waste energy on it. I did an email confrontation with Fr. Michael about this, only to be told he would not engage in dialogue or debate about it, and that he was right and everyone who disagreed with him was wrong. It was then and there I decided that it was time to find a new church.  Fr. Michael fell short of his pastoral duties, but never even bothered to take into account that his own parishioners were being told their money was welcome but they were not - screw that! And, a couple of weeks later, I made a decision after visiting an Armenian Badarak in DC that would change the trajectory of my own faith pilgrimage.

But, lest you think Fr. Michael was finished, he wasn't.  A couple of weeks ago, there was a news story about a violent Islamic terrorist that shot up a military base in Texas receiving the death penalty, and at around the same time, the very disordered Pope Leo XIV decided to unleash an encyclical stating that all instances of the death penalty were bad, and therefore it should be forbidden by the Church. This was an incorrect assessment by the Pontiff, as historically capital punishment has always been allowed under specific circumstances by the Church - it was not to be arbitrarily implemented of course, but there are those times when it may be a necessary form of justice, and I would say a demoniac Islamic terrorist killing innocent military personnel on a base would definitely warrant it under any definition of a specific circumstance.  At around the same time, there were 12 Jordanian Christians massacred, followed by the massacre of another 40 in Ethiopia. To give you an idea of where Fr. Michael's priorities lie, he spent an entire commentary in a parish bulletin basically defending a terrorist, while no mention at all was made of the Jordanians and Ethiopians who were gunned down in cold blood.  That made me hot under the collar, and struck at my core convictions as a Templar Knight, and it was time for the Templar to school the Dominican.

Part of the conviction of a Templar is to defend the defenseless, even at the cost of one's own life.  In addition to defending the defenseless, part of our Templar code also means we doggedly defend truth, the truth of Holy Tradition.  If Fr. Michael were truly practicing his own Dominican vows, he would be proclaiming truth rather than denying or diminishing it, and the role of the Templar and the Dominican would be complimentary. By defending a terrorist and ignoring true martyrs, Fr. Michael violated his own vows, making him an enemy of the truth. In Crusader times, not only would he have been excommunicated for that, but a contingent of Templars would have scooped up his sorry butt and threw him (literally) out of God's house for defiling it.  When I was researching my own family history for my new book, I looked into my ancestor, the Rev. Claude Phillipe de Richebourg.  Claude Phillipe was a Huguenot minister who later became an Anglican priest in the colonies, but prior to his conversion, some sources said he was a Dominican friar as well. I don't know the exact reason why Claude Phillipe became a Calvinist minister rather than a Dominican priest, but could it be that even back then (and it was not unheard of) there were some Dominicans who acted more like Fr. Michael and maybe that turned Claude Phillipe off?  This is all of course speculation, but in a way I guess I can admit that perhaps I should be thankful Claude Phillipe did, or I might not be here today. And, looking at his ministry as a Huguenot Anglican vicar, Claude Phillipe I don't believe forgot some of his Dominican principles - reading accounts of him, he was at times a bit confrontational (which I inherited to an extent) but he also seemed to have a conviction to follow the truth as best he understood it. That to me is an integral Dominican quality, because one cannot preach the truth if they don't know the truth. And, that also means that there is no room for falsehood or error either, and it should not be tolerated. I am summoning all that as I make my stand against the "Establishment" in the Church, and if it means going elsewhere and telling Pope Leo to fold it in five corners and stick it where the sun don't shine, then so be it!  Being an authentic Catholic does not require allegiance to a particular Pope, nor does it mean tolerating and accepting error even if it is dressed in "official" garb. The true Catholic needs the freedom to go where they can freely practice their faith, and in looking at Claude Phillipe's example and his Calvinistic errors aside, at the root of who he was there was this Catholic core, and that is why I think it was so easy for him to embrace the Anglican patrimony.  My late Calvinist Anglican ancestor then was probably more Dominican in conviction than Fr. Michael, supposedly a consecrated friar in the order, ever was.  That speaks volumes.

I have probably gone on enough, and I am praying that Fr. Michael, Fr. JoseMaria, and some other wayward clergy who forgot their way will read this, and that it strikes directly at their hearts and the very place that will make them rethink what they are doing.  I don't hate these priests - I can't hate them - but I am disgusted at how they have so blatantly fallen so short of their consecrated callings that it brings scandal to the Church.  There are unfortunately many more like them out there, and it is the reason why soon I believe a Great Schism will take place, and I will always stand on the side of orthodoxy.  See you next time. 

Approaching my 57th Year

It is Halloween, meaning October has ended. That means November will commence in less than four hours from when I am writing this now. I am feeling exhausted at this point, having taken a mental and emotional beating over some challenges I am currently facing. I won't get into those here, as it is not my intention to do the whole HeeHaw routine of "Gloom, despair and agony on me." At some point, I will share a little bit about all that in retrospect, but my objective is to ford the rapids and get across the Rubicon first. So, this week's thoughts are extremely extemporaneous and I may take a day or two to complete the thoughts.

Writing in a sort of desert at the present time is not easy, as most days seem to run into each other with similar routines and such. I kept focused by engaging in some writing projects and taking care of some other things that have been laying dormant for some time. I find it somewhat satisfying to see some things that have been sort of dormant for years come to life.  This year alone, I have taken a lot of my ideas and turned them into seven published books, including two fiction stories. Those seven, plus the other four, brings my total published work to eleven volumes now. It was not really difficult to do most of them, as the books sort of wrote themselves on my blogs over the past 16 years. However, it is a great accomplishment to see things actually in print now, and that is a good feeling. I am planning on at least two more published books over the next couple of years. One will be a sort of big band history book that will encompass the fruit of my music collection. The second is a book that will be a synthesis of my work with Armenians, Assyrians, Copts, Maronites, and other Middle Eastern peoples, as well as my own evolving views of the role of Israel in eschatology, and how it all fits with things like the Great Catholic Monarch, the how the more military/warfare aspect of the faith comes into the picture - this is integral, given the sort of faux pacifism hawked by the current Pope and other Vatican talking-heads.  Those two books will be extensive, and they will require a number of resources I don't currently have yet as my entire original library was almost completely lost. That leads me to reiterate some future plans coming up too.

As I am approaching 57 now, it means I am allowing myself three more years to keep posting blog content. I have actually been quite prolific over the past few years, as I have been averaging between 90 and 100 pieces in one year, which is far beyond the original twelve per year I planned on posting originally when I started these blog pages. All of the years have been preserved as bound volumes, and i have essentially cut and pasted everything up to now in the new book to go to press in a couple of months. I feel personally that by the time I reach 60, I will probably more or less have everything published I need to say, and I want to focus then more on two things. First, the master life story project. That is a multi-volume, unabridged history of my family, my life in stages, and a few lessons learned over half a century of existence. I have actually already handwritten most of that out in notebooks, and just update each current year in a new book I have out and ready to work on in December.  Working on updating information every year is the reason why my blogging and journal entries slow down in December, because it generally takes me about two weeks to recap an entire year, but the details will be so meticulous that anyone reading it in posterity will not have a problem following my life from the time I was very young until I turn 60. However, I am not going to just stop at the life story - I plan on taking things to the next level at that point by maybe instituting a podcast or something to give a more multimedia dimension to my work. I may even start that sooner if perhaps I get a decent place to settle in where I have the space and facilities to work on it. And, that leads to a couple of other ideas that have surfaced over the past few days I want to explore.

I am not a huge fan of AI, and believe me, when I do utilize it I spend a lot of time cussing it out because it tends to flub details and other things when you employ it. However, despite its imperfections, AI has potential as a valuable tool if used responsibly. Over the past couple of weeks I have actually been using it to generate a self-analysis of my own writing, as well as comparing it with some of my peers. In the process, an idea came that got my attention - the possibility of an "academy" to practice teaching others. As part of the application process for seeking jobs as an adjunct instructor, one of the things I have done is to hypothetically do a sample course syllabus, and after doing one, I did some others, and I frankly like what I saw. Again, AI makes goofs, and I have to cull back over what it generates to straighten out details, but the idea is good. I am thinking about looking into the possibility of doing that, and maybe getting a sort of incorporation so I can turn it into something solid. It would be one way to generate some real-world teaching experience, and may even be a source of a little bit of extra income. One of my objectives after the first of the year then is to look into this more.  

Now, as par for the course when I am writing this stuff, I have something to soapbox about. A couple of weeks ago, the Catholic parish we used to go to, Saints Philip and James, has gone more off the deep end. Although it is supposedly a more "orthodox" parish, I found out quickly that the Dominican friars of the parish - in particular Father Michael and Father JoseMaria - are about as off-kilter as the former campus minister at the school I just finished teaching at. Despite many more pressing issues that are going on in both this city and the world in general - crime, urban blight, the slaughter of Christians in Jordan and Ethiopia, etc. - Father Michael as the "pastor" of the parish chose instead to focus his attention elsewhere. I already talked about the SSPX issue he blew up unnecessarily, but there are other things. In the wake of the Jordanian and Ethiopian Christians being slaughtered, Fr. Michael was strangely silent in the church bulletin. Instead, he focused on the fact that Pete Hegseth, who is the Secretary of War now, is scheduling the public execution of an Islamic terrorist that shot up a military base in Texas a few weeks ago.  Using Pope "Leo the Liberal's" faux justification for opposing capital punishment, Fr. Michael went off on Hegseth, Trump, and everyone else, and it was if he was defending the terrorist being executed. Looking back to when this happened in the parish bulletins, Fr. Michael didn't say a damn word about the families of the military personnel that were murdered by this Islamic psychopath, and I didn't even see anything offering prayers for their families. I also did not hear a damn thing about praying for the victims of these slaughters in Ethiopia and Jordan, and even less about the thousands being targeted in Nigeria right now, who are his Christian brothers! To be honest, it sickens me as to the sheer inconsistency and hypocrisy of Fr. Michael and so many others of these nominal shepherds, and it is one reason now why I am pretty much resolute about pursuing being received into the Armenian Church instead - I belong there anyway.  Until a cleansing takes place in the Western Church, I don't want anything else to do with it. It is time for a radical change, and that change comes now. 

I was having an online conversation with a dear friend, Catholic theologian Desmond Birch.  Desmond wrote what is perhaps one of the best resources I have ever utilized called Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph, and I have had my own copy of that for over 25 years. At any rate, when he, I, and a few other people were having an online discussion, Desmond made a very unexpected statement - he believes we are now either in, or on the threshold of, the Minor Chastisement that many Catholic saints and visionaries talked about. One aspect of that prophecy noted a couple of integral things that seem to be playing out. First, a schism is supposed to happen in the Roman Church at some point, due to the apostasy of many of its leaders.  It looks like the Church is on that trajectory now, as Leo has continued his predecessor Francis's campaign of persecuting faithful Catholics while elevating heretics. There are more things about this I could get into, but we'll save that for another time. Secondly, there is to be some sort of mass conversion of the Jews to the truth of the Gospel, and there is a stage set for that as well. Third, Islam will also experience a decline, as more and more Muslims leave that oppressive system and either seek out Catholic or Orthodox Christianity, which would actually be a return, another "grafting in" if you will, of lost sheep. My friend Stephen Missick has been saying this is happening on a greater scale than we realize, and his observations may have some merit as some recent things I read suggest that Iran is no longer a Muslim-majority nation. That sort of makes perfect sense regarding Iran, because unlike other nations surrounding it which were forcibly Arabized or Turkified, the Persian people of Iran have kept their unique heritage, and they are seeing how Islam tried to rob them and they are sick of it. If Islam declines, it will be a literal game-changer for the world map, as it means then the entire Middle East will be transformed into something resembling what it did prior to the seventh century. That future book project I mentioned is going to be addressing this more in the future, and by the time I have a working draft ready to publish of it, things could change dramatically over there.  I really do pray for that day to come, when millions of people enslaved under the demonic doctrines of Mohammed will finally be free, and then the light of Christ can reach them, reclaiming many of their families that were lost through forced conversions over centuries. It is truly an exciting time we live in. 

I think that should be enough insights for the week, so we'll see you next time.