Concerning My Last Post

You'd think I'd learn ...

“Do whatever falls to your hands,
in your circle and in your situation–
and believe that this is and will be your true work;
nothing more from you is expected.
It is a great error to think that you must
undertake important and great labours,
whether for heaven, or, as the progressives think,
in order to make one’s contribution to humanity.
That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only
to do everything in accordance with the Lord’s commandments.
Just exactly what is to be done? Nothing in particular,
just that which presents itself to each one
according to the circumstances of his life,
and which is demanded by the individual events
with which each of us meets.”

~ St. Theophan the Recluse from “The Spiritual Life”

Never Mind--Don't Save the World.

Matushka Olga

Chris is nearing the end of nursing school and starting the search for a job. I'm trying to be a good wife by the prayers of Matushka Olga Michael, but I can't stop inserting my own desires into the mix. I found two Orthodox nursing homes in the northeast--one in Worcester, MA, and the other on Staten Island--and I encouraged Chris to apply. But soon this need to be across the country consumed me. Bigger cities--more people to take care of. I wanted anything but to stay here in Texas and toil away at my knitting.

But I started to think about Matushka Olga again: She lived in a tiny village in Alaska all her life, yet lived a holy life and undoubtedly will be glorified as a saint one day--America's first Orthodox woman saint. Why do I always get these illusions of grandeur and think I need bigger and better in order to serve God ... or rather myself? I rarely leave my house here (thanks, anxiety)--why would I think that would get better in New York City? And when I was in Carrollton, I utterly despised suburban living--why would that change in Worcester (other than there's a Jerusalem Patriarchate Church there and that's REALLY REALLY COOL)? Is my lot in life to stay here in Denton and knit and bake and deal with my illness?

Then this popped up on Facebook:

Yeah, I think I'm stuck in Texas. Tschüß bis später, illusions of grandeur.

Anyway, Chris has an interview with the county jail infirmary tomorrow. We're both eager about the possibility, and I think Chris has a leg up after teaching in prison out west, even if that ended poorly. (It wasn't the prison part, it was the teaching part. Why do think he's in nursing school anyway?) We'd covet prayers.

A Good Day

This is from the OCA website:

Holy Prince Peter (David in monasticism) and Holy Princess Febronia (Euphrosyne in monasticism), Wonderworkers of Murom. Prince Peter was the second son of the Murom prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He entered upon the throne of Murom in the year 1203. Several years before this St Peter had fallen ill with leprosy, from which no one was able to heal him. In a vision it was revealed to the prince that the daughter of a bee-keeper would be able to heal him: the pious maiden Febronia, a peasant of Laskova village in Ryazan gubernia. St Peter sent his emissaries to this village.

When the prince saw St Febronia, he fell in love with her because of her piety, wisdom and virtue, and vowed to marry her after being healed. St Febronia healed the prince and became his wife. The holy couple loved each other through all their ordeals. The haughty boyars did not wish to have a princess of common origin, and they urged that the prince leave her. St Peter refused, and so they banished the couple. They sailed off on a boat from their native city along the River Oka, and St Febronia continued to console St Peter. Soon the wrath of God fell upon the city of Murom, and the people begged the prince return together with St Febronia.

The holy couple was famous for their piety and charity. They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having received the monastic tonsure with the names David and Evphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were put in the same grave.

Sts Peter and Febronia showed themselves exemplary models of Christian marriage, and are considered the patron saints of newly-weds.