[Found here.]
Tag: stone
Daniil Sihastrul’s Contribution To The World
From Wiki:
Daniil Sihastrul (Romanian for “Daniel the Hesychast“) was a renowned Romanian Orthodox spiritual guide, advisor of Stephen the Great, and hegumen of Voroneț Monastery. Canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.
[…]
Daniil Sihastrul ignited a hermit movement in northern Moldova, having many novices in the woods surrounding Voroneț, as well as at the hermitages and monasteries in its surroundings. He encouraged Stephen the Great to fight for the defense of Christendom and to build holy places.
He has been considered a saint ever since his life time, being credited with healing the sick, exorcising demons, and removing suffering.
On first glance, it appears that St. Daniil was an eccentric loner who spent his life exorcising his mind from all thought in pursuit of purity of spirit for personal enlightenment, as that was apparently the aim of the Hesychasts. On the other hand, he was not a hermit full time, and used his stone temple as a place of refuge and contemplation. Given that he advised military strategist Stephen The Great, Daniil was well respected at the time (late 1400s AD).
Now what did Stephen The Great do? He stopped the Ottoman Empire warlords from overrunning Moldova, killing Christians and others indiscriminately, and from instituting islam and shari’ia law.
St. Stephen defeated Mehmet at a famous and decisive battle in a place called Vaslui (not far south of Iaṣi in the province of Moldova). Had he not done so, little would have stood between Mehmet and the Ukraine—and the obliteration of the rest of the Orthodox world. Mehmet met his match shortly after having sacked Constantinople. With the rest of the Balkan peninsula falling to Islam’s sword, Mehmet must have seemed unstoppable to Christians everywhere, yet none of the Western powers nor the Western Church would lift a finger against the Ottomans. Thus, Stephen stood more or less alone in defense of Christianity and his homeland [via].
Interesting times, indeed.
Oh, and here’s a photo of Deniis hawking his CDs. I’m not an historian, but it amazes me what one may find just by searching for the origin of an image.
Bíodh Lá Shona Naomh Pádraig, nó greim dom!
The four in front are not Irish, but the back three are. Just sayin’.
I bet the Erins go Bleaugh within the hour.
On the other hand, this is pretty cool.
There are a few remaining holed stones in Ireland. There is one in Co. Antrim and in Co. Louth and lucky for me there’s one in my native Co. Cork! This is the Ballyroon standing stone which is situated in West Cork on the Sheep’s Head road. This imposing stone is 2.25 metres in height unfortunately it is not standing and is only propped up on a smaller stone. The most striking feature is the beautifully carved round hole which runs through the stone. According to a local historian
The hole in the stone is narrow on one side and wide on the other. The man had a bigger hand and he put his hand through the wide side and the woman put her hand through the narrow side. They made their promises when they put their hands through the stone.
[1st image found in here; 2nd image with description found here. Previous St. Patrick’s Day posts here.]
My favorite Irish song is Nell Flaherty’s Drake for various reasons. Here’s the tune:
Stay safe driving home tomorrow so you can still wake up on Wednesday and call in to work stupid.
Sheep Listening To Some Old British Rock
Sheep and Standing Stone, Avenbury, England
Photo: http://www.barryandersen.com; Photographer: Barry Andersen
[Rock-n-Wool found here.]
Tacky Raccoons 