The South<\/em><\/strong>, I am referring to that region formerly referred to as the Confederacy. And, for reality\u2019s sake, one must admit that Florida\u2019s been annexed by New York, portions of Virginia resemble Washington, DC, and Texas is, let\u2019s be really real, a country unto itself.<\/p>\nNonetheless, the question arises: \u201cOrthodoxy in the South?\u201d To illustrate, let\u2019s run through a Top Ten List:<\/p>\n
YOU KNOW YOU\u2019RE SOUTHERN ORTHODOX WHEN:<\/strong><\/p>\nNumber 10)<\/strong> At Pentecost, your church is decorated with Kudzu.<\/p>\nNumber 9)<\/strong> You spell \u201cfeast\u201d with only three letters: B B Q.<\/p>\nNumber 8)<\/strong> You say \u201cFather,\u201d \u201cBarsonuphios,\u201d and \u201cMonastery\u201d without any pronouncing an \u201cr.\u201d<\/p>\nNumber 7)<\/strong> You drive 3 hours to an Orthodox Church. But, could hop, on one foot, with your eyes closed (and a rock in your shoe), to the nearest Baptist Church.<\/p>\nNumber 6)<\/strong> Your services are all in English \u2014 at least that\u2019s what YOU call it.<\/p>\nNumber 5)<\/strong> There are women in your church known as: Photini Beth, Thecla Beth, and Elizabeth Beth.<\/p>\nNumber 4)<\/strong> There are men going by: Athanasius Lee, Euphrosynos Lee, and Vasiliy Lee.<\/p>\nNumber 3)<\/strong> You got white folks, black folks \u2014 even Democrats \u2014 in your parish, but no Russians, Serbians, Arabs or Greeks.<\/p>\nNumber 2)<\/strong> You know someone who knows someone who knows someone with a velvet picture of Elvis celebrating the Last Supper.<\/p>\nAND \u2026<\/em><\/strong> the number one sign that you are an Orthodox Southerner:<\/p>\nYou think grits are too good to be considered fasting!
<\/em><\/strong>
But, in all honesty, though there are cultural differences within this ethnic soup we call Orthodoxy, we\u2019re not as different as it appears. We just use different words to say similar things. For example, in The South<\/em><\/strong> we say: \u201cBless Your Heart.\u201d Someone once said: \u201cA true Southerner knows you don\u2019t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway; you just say, \u2018Bless her heart\u2019 and go your own way.\u201d<\/p>\nThen again, by adding that Southern phrase \u2013 \u201cBless your heart\u201d \u2013 you can say pretty much anything you want. \u201cOh, look at her, she\u2019s put on so much weight. Bless her heart.\u201d \u201cHe is so lazy, bless his heart.\u201d \u201cAnd, Ugly! Bless his heart.\u201d Well, you get the picture.<\/p>\n
Which brings me to the Evil Eye. The belief in the Evil Eye is common to most Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern countries, regardless of education, religion and urban\/rural context. In Lebanon it is part and parcel of everyday life, and one wouldn\u2019t buy a car without buying a protection along with it.<\/p>\n
The Eye is cast by a person, most often involuntarily and unconsciously, through envy or jealousy. So, for instance, a Middle-Eastern lady sees a cute little girl and gushes: \u201cShe\u2019s so cute! Ohh. Smallah, smallah, smallah!\u201d First glimpse of that newborn baby? \u201cSmallah, smallah, smallah!\u201d The bride in her bridal gown? \u201cSmallah, smallah, smallah!\u201d The groom in his ill-fitting tux \u2026 \u201cBless his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smallah<\/em> \u2013 which means \u201cIn the name of God\u201d \u2013 is a beautiful habit to protect against the sin of envy. \u201cBless your heart\u201d is a quirky little prayer, of sorts, to soften hard reality.<\/p>\nIn other words, to avoid casting the Eye, people always add \u201cSmallah\u201d (\u201cIn the name of God\u201d) when they are complimenting someone on their children or possessions. When someone showers one with compliments, he may jokingly say \u201cStop or you\u2019ll hit me with the Eye!\u201d A consequence of this belief is that Lebanese are accustomed not to speak of projects that aren\u2019t securely founded yet, lest they be affected.<\/p>\n
No different in The South; for instance: \u201cHush your mouth.\u201d My mom would often say this to me whenever I spoke of some horrible worry or the potential for future disaster: \u201cHush your mouth, son.\u201d (As if my saying it might just make it happen.)<\/p>\n
My point is, dig deeply enough and we\u2019re all the same; the same struggles, the same joys, the same sorrows. The same need. We need salvation. And to achieve that salvation we not only need God, we also need each other. We need the Church. And the Church is made up of nothing but sinners \u2013 no matter your ethnicity, no matter your language, social status, or particular illness.<\/p>\n
Our Lord said, \u201cGo, make disciples of ALL <\/em><\/strong>nations \u2026\u201d Nushkra Allah (Thanks be to God) this is happening \u2013 even in Texas, Florida, Virginia and The South<\/em><\/strong>. It is no longer foreign \u2013 Orthodoxy<\/em>. Rather, by God\u2019s grace and the patient endurance of those who came before us, the Ancient Faith, once lived primarily by Russians, Serbians, Arabs and Greeks is being joyfully embraced by Rednecks, Plowjocks, and City Folk; not only in the Bible Belt but in the Heartland, the Great Lakes, the Northwest & the Sandwich Islands. Smallah, Smallah, Smallah<\/em>.<\/p>\nMalo-po-malo (Russian: little by little<\/em>), by God\u2019s grace, we toil in this vineyard. \u201cBaptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit \u2026\u201d and, our Lord continues, \u201cI am with you always \u2026 even to the close of the age.\u201d<\/p>\nHow do we bring Americans to Orthodoxy? It takes time. It takes patience. It takes perseverance. It takes love, forgiveness and understanding. We all need each other, struggling together within the Church.<\/p>\n
I once heard a pal relate his getting a speeding ticket whereupon he asked the officer: \u201cSay, you see all these cars speeding past; out of all these, why me?\u201d The patrolman looked at him and smiled; he said, \u201cDid you ever go fishing?\u201d And before my friend could answer, he continued: \u201cDid you ever catch them all?\u201d<\/p>\n
The same held true even for our Lord and the Apostles. Alas, not everyone \u2013 Bless Their Hearts<\/em> \u2013 will come Home to the True Faith. As they say in The South, \u201cYou can\u2019t make a silk purse out of a sow\u2019s ear.\u201d Inchallah <\/em>(Arabic for \u201cgood Lord willing and the creek don\u2019t rise\u201d), malo-po-malo<\/em>, we\u2019ll make it. Nonetheless, as St John Chrysostom was wont to say, and this works well in any language: \u201cGlory to God for all things.\u201d<\/p>\nImage <\/span><\/em>Source<\/span><\/em><\/a> (Daffy Duck doing the evil eye).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the past, some have asked for podcast scripts. Due to our Diocesan Parish Life Conference, this week\u2019s podcast is an encore presentation from the archives; here it is, at least the majority of it, in written form. For the full audio version, click HERE.The question is often asked: \u201cHow do we bring Americans to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1691,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>In the past, some have asked for podcast scripts. Due to our Diocesan Parish Life Conference, this week\u2019s podcast is an encore presentation from the archives; here it is, at least the majority of it, in written form.<\/em> <\/em>