Tradition, tradition, tradition...
"Christ in Russia" by Helen Iswolsky (I'm not at all sure about the spelling of that last name, by the way, and am solely relying on my hem*brilliant* photographic memory) has absolutely nothing in it about Christ.
It should be titled "Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia."
I read the chapter about Easter customs.
(**There's some word family here: East--as in, where the sun rises every morning, and Easter--as in Christ the Son rises from the dead. But I'm too ignorant to know for certain where the root actually comes from.**)
This author, writing in the 50's during the Communist era, makes the point that no matter where Russians are in the world, and no matter what oppression they face, they still tenaciously celebrate a traditional Easter, according to their sacred calendar.
The one Russian phrase that I know how to say, coincidentally, is the Easter greeting: "Kristos Voskres," or "Christ is Risen." This is NOT because I've read it in a book (though I have), but because my great-great-grandmother was Russian. And every year, she would have her little grandson (my grandfather) over to her house to celebrate Easter. She taught him that greeting (amongst many other things which have been since lost in obscurity), and he told it to my mother, who told it to me. It's the only Eastern Orthodox custom with which I am familiar. My great-grandmother, also a full-blooded Russian, didn't keep up Easter customs so well. She was either born in America, or born very soon before. Her father (my great-great-grandfather) was an atheistic Bolshevik peasant, and his philosophies of life passed on to her more than the mother's did.
Hatred of God has a deeper seat in the heart than tradition. But isn't it amazing that I still have a wee bit of my ancestrial heritage living on, because of my great-great-grandmother? I wonder what traditions of my grandparents I'll remember to pass on to my children.
Oh, one other thing survived from Russia, now that I think of it: the potato pancakes. My mom still makes those...
It should be titled "Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia."
I read the chapter about Easter customs.
(**There's some word family here: East--as in, where the sun rises every morning, and Easter--as in Christ the Son rises from the dead. But I'm too ignorant to know for certain where the root actually comes from.**)
This author, writing in the 50's during the Communist era, makes the point that no matter where Russians are in the world, and no matter what oppression they face, they still tenaciously celebrate a traditional Easter, according to their sacred calendar.
The one Russian phrase that I know how to say, coincidentally, is the Easter greeting: "Kristos Voskres," or "Christ is Risen." This is NOT because I've read it in a book (though I have), but because my great-great-grandmother was Russian. And every year, she would have her little grandson (my grandfather) over to her house to celebrate Easter. She taught him that greeting (amongst many other things which have been since lost in obscurity), and he told it to my mother, who told it to me. It's the only Eastern Orthodox custom with which I am familiar. My great-grandmother, also a full-blooded Russian, didn't keep up Easter customs so well. She was either born in America, or born very soon before. Her father (my great-great-grandfather) was an atheistic Bolshevik peasant, and his philosophies of life passed on to her more than the mother's did.
Hatred of God has a deeper seat in the heart than tradition. But isn't it amazing that I still have a wee bit of my ancestrial heritage living on, because of my great-great-grandmother? I wonder what traditions of my grandparents I'll remember to pass on to my children.
Oh, one other thing survived from Russia, now that I think of it: the potato pancakes. My mom still makes those...
posted by Unknown at 9:42 AM
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