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Submit Your Reflection about "Restoring the Senses: Life, Gardening, and an Orthodox Easter."

Orthodoxy on the Air (April 10, 2007)
What a pleasure to hear of Orthodox Christianity on public radio! Orthodoxy is America's fastest growing Christian discipline (for want of a better word), but it seems that I hear about only Evangelical and Roman Catholic people and theology on the news, whether NPR or another network. The beauty and meaning of all the Holy Week services (starting on the Monday prior to Pascha) build inexorably toward the release and joy of Pascha, sometime after 1 a.m. Sunday. When we prostrate ourselves, and place flowers Friday evening on the bier that represents the tomb on Christ, I am once again with His followers, especially the women: "He is dead. How can this be? What will we do without him?" My heart aches, even though I know what happens in three days. And so it goes, ever so beautifully, until with everyone in attendence, I can cry out "Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is risen." Thank you so much for this wonderful piece, so perfectly Orthodox!

Jo Anna Tobey
Silverton, OR (KOPB, 91.5 FM)

Beauty of an Orthodox Easter (April 9, 2007)
I was preparing my Easter paska to put into the Easter basket that we Russians bring to church to be blessed at the midnight service when your program came on the air. Although I now live an hour from the nearest Russian church, I always attend the lenten and Easter services. Your speaker so beautifully described the sensual spirituality that is the hallmark of the Orthodox services. His words were accompanied by a lovely version of "Our Father" in church Slavonic. Listening to his poetic descriptions and the metaphorical relationship to his garden made me anxious to get to church that night. My basket was packed with baked kolbasi, colored eggs, grated beets, and horseradish as well as the the paska, and I wasn't even worried about the dark mountainous road I had to drive at 10:30 at night. Thank you for adding an intellectual and emotional layer to my Easter tradition.

Madeline Hnatowich-Dean
Corralitos, CA (KAZU, 90.3 FM)

The Armenian Apostolic Church? (April 8, 2007)
I am of Armenian heritage so was very interested in today's discussion with Mr. Guroian. I am an Episcopalian, but my parents were, and I still have, relatives who are members of the Armenian church so am very familiar with its liturgy, etc. I was puzzled by the references to the Armenian Orthodox church — I know of no such church. What I know is the Armenian Apostolic Church, and its leaders are always very firm in identifying it that way. In some ways it may seem to be like the Greek or Russian Orthodox churches, but I was always taught that the Armenian Apostolic Church is totally independent. I would appreciate having further comments about this.

Lillian Kezerian
Hartford, CT (WNPR, 89.1 FM)

The Kalevala (April 8, 2007)
In listening to your guest Vigen Guroian this morning, he mentioned how the creation story sounds to him as though God were singing everything into being. He mentioned how C.S. Lewis used this image in his Narnia story. I wondered if Mr. Guroian is aware of the Finnish myth called the Kalevala. I believe it is pre-Christian, and I know that Longfellow was inspired by its rhythm and rhyme scheme when writing "The Song of Hiawatha."

The point of all of this is that in the Kalevala, Vainamoinen who is the creator (not a god necessarily) sings all things into creation. I think that this points to the fact that many cultures carry a recognition of the truths of creation and of our spiritual origins, and that these ideas are sometimes lost to our modern, Christian interpretation because they are couched in the metaphors and images of cultures that we do not always understand or even try to understand.

I was curious of how Mr. Guroian views the ideas of other cultures and/or religions in relation to his ideas.

Gerry LoDolce
Spring City, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

We're Still in Eden (April 8, 2007)
I loved the reflections given on this program. Being a somewhat clumsy gardener, I'm amazed at the resiliency of plants and the willingness of the earth to respond to my efforts. Perhaps they can sense my love for them.

I believe that we all have an urge to create, to see things grow, and that urge is in us because we are made in the image of our Creator. Vigen Guroian's beautiful thought that Eden is still here, that we've never completely left it, brought to mind some words from one of my favorite movies:

"We live in Eden.
We've never left the Garden.
Look about you— this is Paradise.
It's hard to find, I grant you,
But it is here.
It's under our feet,
Beneath the surface,
All around us,
Everything we want.
The earth is shining under the soot…
—They Might Be Giants - James Goldman, author

Frances Jackson
St. Louis, MO (KWMU, 90.7 FM)

Armenia (April 8, 2007)
In 2004 I had the great honor and pleasure to visit Yerevan, Armenia and can therefore relate to Professor Guroian's comment on the special feeling that one experiences entering Yerevan. It is such a special place, culture, people, and food. I don't know why more Americans don't visit. The Armenian Vatican is not to be missed.

John Wherry
South Orleans, MA (Listens to SOF Podcast)

The Garden of Existence (April 7, 2007)
The simple but powerful thoughts, ideas, and penetrating observations was a wake-up call to remind us of the real wellspring of happiness. In Western societies we get caught up in devoting our lives to acquiring the material "things" Madison Avenue convinces are the purpose of life. Becoming conscious of truth, beauty, and faith is the most potent elixir of nourishing the core of our being — and the authentic formula for a rich and satisfying life in this "garden of existence."

Rob Montcrief
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Tears of Joy (April 6, 2007)
I have been thinking about planting a garden. This program has given me the needed nudge to set me to action. I could identify with Vigen Guroian's thoughts and connections between faith and his garden. So much of the Spirit surpasses words. I was reminded of a quote from freelance monotheist Karen Armstrong when she spoke of an Orthodox describing the Trinity, "When I think of the Three, I think of the One and my eyes fill will tears." Hearing Vigen Guroian's words about his garden filled my eyes with tears.

Davis Chung
Manassas, VA (Listens to SOF Podcast)

Clarification on Easter Calendar (April 6, 2007)
Your program mentioned the date of Easter. The major difference between the calculation of the date of Easter in East and West was not a major problem at the time of the separation of Constantinople and Rome in 1054. At that point, both East and West were using the Julian calendar and both had fixed the date of the vernal equinox on March 21st (as it had been at the Council of Nicaea in 325).

The Eastern and Western churches at Nicaea in 325 agreed to followed the calculations of the date of Easter done by the church of Alexandria, Egypt. That calculation puts Easter on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. After the split at Chalcedon in 451, the Eastern Coptic church of Egypt was no longer in communion with either Constantinople or Rome. Both churches developed similar calculations for Easter that were increasingly out of synch with the astronomical norms of Nicaea, as specialists in both East and West pointed out through the Middle Ages.

The Julian calendars are about 11 hours too long, which is not much from year to year in a single lifetime, but over centuries the slippage is considerable. For instance, in 2007 the astronomical vernal equinox according to the Julian calendar took place not on March 21, but on March 8. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar, creating what we now call the Gregorian calendar. One of its key goals was to re-establish the Nicaean Easter, and it did so. So, ironically the calculation of Easter in the Western churches follows accurately the original Eastern calculations elaborated by the astronomers of late classical Egypt.

Steven Hawkes-Teeples
Rome, Italy (Listens to SOF OnDemand)