The Lord is compassionate and merciful

Sunday, July 24th @246 — in the sky above Europe

I am leaving the conference, having left a piece of my heart there. I feel an intense joyful sadness, the indescribable feeling that I’ve only felt before when watching the plaščenica (epitaphion) be lifted up around the church during the lamentations.

I always get a little like this when going home, but this time is different. I’m remembering the feel of the sun on my face, the cobblestones under my bare feet, and the sound of the river, the shine of the cupolas and the ‘zvoni zvoni zvoni’ of the bells every morning. I will miss the waterfall sounds of 6 or 7 languages at once and being surrounded by friends. I miss the campfire where we ate bigos, roasted sausages, and sang ‘Andrii Popa’ and ‘Country Roads.’

Putting on an ie, singing the Liturgy, then watching the sun illuminate the morning sky with friends while drinking French liquor, speaking some Romanian with Ștefan and Ana, stumbling through Polish by way of Ukrainian and Russian, listening to a Serbian poet recite his poetry as well as Polish verses that excellently depict the week.

Driving to Grabarka singing ‘O Brothers Let’s go Down to the River to Pray’, circling the church with the cross as we chant ‘Кресту Твойему поклоняемся Владыко’, engineering the liturgical singing for the midnight liturgy (especially the Alaskan communion hymn), the rushed and joyful goodbyes —- these are the memories I will keep forever.

What next? I’ll start a new job soon, but before that I’ll take a trip with my family to Cicero to visit the weeping icon. La amsentetoj forflugis, la kongreso donis al mi fortecon emocie.

Most-holy Theotokos save us! Glory to God for all things!

O kto, kto Nikolaja ljubit
O kto, kto Nikolaju služit
Tomu svjatyj Nikolaj
Na vsjaki čas pomahaj,
Nikolaj, Nikolaj!

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O who loves Nicholas the saintly,
O who serves Nicholas the saintly,
Him will Nicholas receive
and give help in time of need,
Holy Father Nicholas!

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O kto, kto živet v jeho dvori
Pomoščnik na zemli i mori,
Izmet jeho ot napasti,
Nedast jemu v hrichi vpasti,
Holy Father Nicholas!

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