Great Lent 2007

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Fr. Raphael,

That sounds very interesting. What type of comments would be appropriate to make here?

Thank you,
Rick


It seems that such a thread would best begin from here, although I am more than open to someone coming up with a more inspiring title than great lent 2007!

Perhaps themes from each Sunday (eg this Sunday would be the Publican & Pharisee) could be general anchor points for posts or discussion.

I wouldn't want to pre-define more than this however.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Alex Haig]

This is more of an academic question as I keep the new calendar, but on the Julian Calendar the Feast of the Annunciation is on Holy Saturday - what happens in the services?

With love in Christ

Alex

[Trudy]

Dear Fr. Raphael,

This is a wonderful idea, especially so that we journey together towards Pascha.

Would it be acceptable to you, if perhaps I shared a devotional thought or personal reflection on the week's theme? It won't be great writing, but nonetheless, it could only be of spiritual benefit to me to think on these things.

In Christ, Athanasia

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

This is more of an academic question as I keep the new calendar, but on the Julian Calendar the Feast of the Annunciation is on Holy Saturday - what happens in the services?

With love in Christ

Alex


Those who are on the Julian Calendar are really looking forward to this unique experience. For someone like myself who has only been on the Julian Calendar for 12 years, this will be the first Annunciation to occur during Holy Week. So to have it on Holy Saturday will be really powerful.

So far I have not had the opportunity to look in detail through the rubrics for this day. But the services where material to the Annunciation is included are: the Great Vespers with the Plaschenitsa for Great & Holy Friday. At the Small Compline which immediately follows the Vespers. Matins for Great & Holy Saturday (this is where most of the Annunciation material will be found). Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil for Great & Holy Saturday.

As I say I have not yet been able to look in detail at these different services. But if any are interested I could at a suitable time post the rubrics for these services.

It could also be Fr John Whiteford will have these rubrics on his site (www.saintjonah.org/rub) at some point. But it seems that in general he usually posts rubrics only about a month in advance.

So as I say at some point I could post the relevant sections of these services perhaps in the next few weeks if any are interested.

In Christ-Fr Raphael

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Fr. Raphael,

This is a wonderful idea, especially so that we journey together towards Pascha.

Would it be acceptable to you, if perhaps I shared a devotional thought or personal reflection on the week's theme? It won't be great writing, but nonetheless, it could only be of spiritual benefit to me to think on these things.

In Christ, Athanasia

Yes- all of these ideas are great.

In a way I think it would be best if we kept posting in the same way we do now, as different thoughts and ideas come to us.

Even my idea of using the Sunday themes is a loose one. I just have in mind that these may keep the momentum of the posts going through what really is quite a long period of time (10 weeks from this Sunday I think). As we already do now we shouldn't have a problem with someone posting on a different theme as long as this keeps to the over-all topic of the thread.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[John]

What about looking at http://www.monachos.net/great_lent/ ?

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

I think the post from Moses Anthony was meant to go here.



I haven't posted much in recent months; however the idea of a new thread, and Fr. R's idea struck a cord, for which I offer up the following.

Scattered throughout the pages of Orthodox Church history, are thousands of Christians whom the Church recognizes as saints. These "saints" have; through the rigors of ascetic endeavors, and the grace of God, come as close as the life of Jesus as one can while on the Earth. They have in a sense prepared themselves for the redemption purchased by our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean to say that through their their asceticism they receive Him, who risen from the dead by the glory of God, comes knocking on the door of the heart, for even greater access to to every are of their lives. This is the season of life to which we come.
All the world over, Christians have received from God various forms of religious piety: alms giving, prayer, and not the least of all, fasting. Each of these has its practice and outcome. In our giving kindness and mercy grow, while we in reality are giving to Our Lord. When we pray; that is when we genuinely communicate with God, we gain new eyes as the capacity for accomplishment is far exceeded. It has been said that "...more things are wrought by prayer, than this world dreams of." And when we fast, yes we deny ourselves this or that. However; what happens besides our hunger and thirst for the appeasement of the flesh. By the words of the prophet Isaiah, Saint John the Theologian, and The Lord Jesus himself; Your darkness will shine like the noonday, God will reveal himself to you, and will enter the open door of your heart and dine with you.
In the springtime of every year, weeks are specifically set aside that the "saints of God" might prepare themselves (by God's grace), to receive the revelation, the triumphant ascension of "...Him who comes invisibly up borne by the cherubim..." onto the throne of their heart. These weeks of preparation that this is not something done lightly, suddenly, or without previous thought, and consideration of several possible variables.
Therefore; the Holy Catholic and Orthodox Church in her wisdom offers to us the opportunity to "step by step", practice the asceticism of fasting, before walking fully into the Season of Great Lent. A season which is itself , a time of preparation to receive Him who conquered death by death, in all of it's manifestations.
This I believe, is the "heart of the matter". NO other Church gives us the opportunity, the admonition, to get ready to prepare, to receive the King of All. Doing without certain foods is just a minor part of this season; for who among would not love to have their darkness shine as the noon day. The King of Heaven is at hand, "...prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

the sinful and unworthy servant
p.s.
This is just some thoughts, which may or may not be acceptable, or need editing.

[Mary]

I never paid attention to the fast free weeks before. But I noticed it today, and I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever! We hear about the man who boasts about his fasting and then for the whole week following, we're told not to fast! What a simple way to put fasting in it's right place... I suppose it also forces you to break the habit of fasting on Wednesdays & Fridays and think about why you're fasting in the first place!

Mary.

[Nina]

I never paid attention to the fast free weeks before. But I noticed it today, and I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever! We hear about the man who boasts about his fasting and then for the whole week following, we're told not to fast! What a simple way to put fasting in it's right place... I suppose it also forces you to break the habit of fasting on Wednesdays & Fridays and think about why you're fasting in the first place!

Mary.

This is great Mary! I never thought of what you wrote and I really appreciate it sharing it with us!

[Rebecca Gabl]

My priest just pointed that out in yesterday's sermon. It never before had occured to me to wonder why this is a fast-free week.
Rebecca
...still searching for a Triodion supplement, if anyone has any ideas...

[Peter Farrington]

Interestingly, or not, in the Oriental Orthodox Tradition we are keeping a very strict three day fast called the Fast of Nineveh, or the Fast of Jonah, which seems to have originated in the Syrian tradition and was very early adopted by Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopians and Indians.

This is a short preparation for the rapidly approaching Great Lent and is broken on the Feast of Jonah on Thursday. It always takes place two weeks before the start of Great Lent.

Peter

[Andreas Moran]

Dear All,

As we approach the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, I offer the following thought. The parable clearly shows the love and forgiveness of the father, and Our Father. Yet in the Old Testament, we find something different. In Deut 21:18-21, it says: 'If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die'.

In speaking His parable, I wonder if Our Lord had this in mind? Was He, in His parable, contrasting the old covenant of the law with the new covenant of love?

In the parable, the father orders the robing of his son, and perhaps one may recall the prayers of the clergy at vesting, 'Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he hath clothed me with the robe of salvation, and the garment of joy'. With the ring, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the son is restored to his sonship.

The elder son is frozen in his own self-made hell of unforgiving. He can't even bring himself to call his brother his brother but sneeringly refers to him as 'this thy son'. He contradicts himself by accusing his brother of disobedience to their father, yet he himself refuses his father 'and would not go in'.

The acceptance of the repentant prodigal and the depiction of the character of the self-righteous elder brother is rather like the contrast last Sunday between the Publican and the Pharisee.

I suppose many of you will be familiar with the great painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt. Not, of course, an icon, but a work of religious art which I find one of the most moving of all. I have had the privilege of seeing it in the Hermitage, and really, one could sit there for an hour or more contemplating it.

With love in Christ to all,

Andreas.

[Mary]

Dear All,

As we approach the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, I offer the following thought. The parable clearly shows the love and forgiveness of the father, and Our Father. Yet in the Old Testament, we find something different. In Deut 21:18-21, it says: 'If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die'.

In speaking His parable, I wonder if Our Lord had this in mind? Was He, in His parable, contrasting the old covenant of the law with the new covenant of love?

With love in Christ to all,

Andreas.

Just answering from my human heart with all it's emotions and feelings. I have a son who is quite rebellious. He's not old enough to be a drunkard and he's not a glutton, but I would still like to stone him sometimes, for constantly talking back, never obeying without arguing, etc! =) Seems to me, this son who got stoned, chose to stay home and constantly antagonize his parents. He should've just left like the prodigal did! Sometimes I wish my son were old enough to send away!

Perhaps it was the fact that the prodigal left his Father's presence that helped him come to his senses in the first place! The older son, having never left, forgot what he had, so he thought his irresponsible brother was being given something more, something he himself didn't have. I'm sure, the parents who took their son to the elders (if indeed there were any who did!) - if their son had repented, would've forgiven him too. It seems to me, that this stoning is sort of a last resort thing, sort of permenant and irreversible. I'm sure they must've tried all kinds of things before getting to that point.

I don't think the Law in the Old Testament is without Love. And I dont' think the Love in the New Testament is without any law. In Romans 1:28-32, along with all the horrible vices that God abhors, is disobedience... Instead of seeing the punishment in Deuteronomy as lacking in love, I tend to see it as an indication of how horrible disobedience really is... just as bad as murder and adultery and all other things that you could get stoned for...

Please forgive me for jumping to respond to your post so presumptuously.

Sincerely,
Mary

[John Charmley]

Dear Andreas, Dear Mary,

I wonder if the contrast is not that between us and God? Our law, governed by our sinful nature would be, in the end, to go down the OT route. Our Lord came not to abolish but to fulfil the Law, but do do so in the spirit of God, whose love for us is revealed in the reaction of the earthly father to his prodigal son.

Are we not His prodigal children? And are we not glad that we have a Heavenly rather than an earthly father? Are we, in turn, not called to try to pattern our lives on Him?

He knows His creation so well, and in the character of the other brother He shows us how some of us, narrow-minded and uncharitable, and full of our own goodness, will react when those we consider 'unworthy' are saved. As a clergyman friend of mine used to say, with a smile, about some of his flock whose zealotry outran their charity,'I suspect they'll be a little crosser when they see who He saves.'

This is to scratch at the surface of the lessons we can learn from the story of the Prodigal Son. But if we all remember that we too are the prodigals, perhaps a little humility will be vouchsafed to us - stiff-necked generation that we tend to be.


In Christ,


John

[Andreas Moran]

Dear John,

It must be right for us not only to see the Prodigal in ourselves but the elder brother also. The expression 'zealotry outrunning charity' elegantly sums up the teaching of the Blessed Theophylact on this parable. He explains how the point is made against the Pharisees 'that they be not vexed that the Lord receives sinners'. We too must not grumble at the extent of God's compassion.

In Christ,

Andreas.

[Nina]

Since tomorrow is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, I would like to post something relevant from the writings of St. Nektarios.

"According to Saint John of Damaskos, repentance is a return from the unnatural to the natural state and from the devil to God through ascesis and toil; moreover, it is a voluntary return from transgressions toward the opposite virtues. ...Repentance must, of necessity, be sincere. It is sincere when accompanied by contrition of the heart, by the disposition to compensate Divine Righteousness, and to confess one's sins.

...repentance is an ethical rebirth of man and the starting point of a new, virtuous life.

...David, the prophet and king, is a true example of repentance. His mind and heart, soul and body, both the inner and outer man bear witness to his true change of mind and his burning desire to propitiate God. His Psalms, full of Divine fervor,-especially the Psalm of repentance through which he seeks the mercy of the Lord-are translucent mirrors in which his heavenly zeal and the exalted character of true repentance are reflected. This type of broken and humbled heart God will not despise.

Similar examples are also the repentance of Manasseh, the king of Judah; the Ninevites; the publican; and that of the prodigal son. The repentance of Zacchaeus simultaneously indicates both the manner in which the cure of sin takes place and the manner in which the offended [Divine] Righteousness is compensated. ...The myrrh of the repentant harlot, the tears of Peter, and the repentance of the thief are most expressive examples of true repentance and, concurrently, of God's love towards man.

False repentance is that exhibited by Pharaoh, who confessed his own sin ten times, asked for forgiveness ten times, received forgiveness ten times, enraged God ten times, and finally marched out against God's will. His foolish heart was not humbled by his sins, but remained hard and unyielding (cf. Ex. 10:16-20). His repentance was repentance due to fear, not repentance with feeling, not with consciousness of his sin. He repented out of fear of being punished or killed and not from the feeling that he sinned against God, not from the realization of his great sin. This is why he was submerged within the depths of the Red Sea, suffering rightly for his false repentance."

From the book "Repentance and Confession" of Saint Nektarios, (pp. 5-7).

[Nina]

From Monastic Wisdom:The Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast


"The more time passes, the closer the devil comes to his end, so he fights and struggles with extreme rage to condemn us all to hell. Especially now during Great Lent, which is coming, the thoroughly malicious demons incite many temptations and disturbances against us. Since we oppress them more severely with fasting and prayer during this time, they also become more fierce against us. So see it that you win crowns in this arena of struggling. You must become braver and array yourself face to face against those bodiless enemies. Do not be afraid of them.


You do not see how many of them fall and turn their backs with every prayer you say. You only see how much you are wounded. But they are also thrashed; they also suffer. Every time we are patient, they flee with leaps and bounds, and every time we say the prayer [The Jesus prayer], they are seriously injured. So at the time of battle, when you are firing shots and bullets, don't expect them to throw marshmallows and chocolates." (p. 107)


"Now Great Lent is approaching to lighten our nous and body. So I pray that we may all pass through it with health, and that with the grace of our Holy God we may also reach Holy Pascha. But a greater struggle and more caution are needed during Lent." (p. 272)

[Andreas Moran]

Dear Nina,

Thanks for that useful reminder!

Andreas.

[Nina]

I received this by email:

Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: As we near the end of Great Lent and approach Holy Week and Pascha...

To live a Christian life is to walk in light. Blinded by the daily cares of our lives, we do not see and do not realize the fullness of our mission on earth and the fullness of the gifts given us by God; we don’t even know ourselves. The gifts of our soul are left unused. We see ourselves and other people as powerless and say, "We are insignificant average people. What can we do? We should only try to earn our living." Thus belittling ourselves we often weaken our will to act, even though we are not little and not weak, but each one of us has a mission. Every human being in this world has a purpose and is God’s messenger on this earth. The Lord needs every soul, and every one of us is responsible for his own life, as well as for others. The issue is not our insignificance, but our unwillingness to assume responsibility. We often say, "That’s none of my business. Let someone else do it." By saying so we shift our responsibility onto others, thus blaming others; this causes us to be judgmental, which in turn leads to divisions.

To a large extent our life depends on ourselves. Since we are God’s messengers on this earth, each one of us has an influence on what is going on around him and thus on the world. If evil will neutralizes the power of good, then a will freed from sin has a great significance.

Every day we interact with various people, and in this interaction we can either show our worse side, or our better side. Unfortunately, we normally do not show that light and good that we have inside ourselves. The gifts we have are neutralized by the mundane nature of our life. We often do not know the values of our soul, and that is why our soul becomes somewhat darkened. Because in order to fulfill our purpose, we need to have our internal eyes opened, and only then will we see in our soul those values that are hidden from our internal sight. We need to discover those values in ourselves and help others discover them in themselves. Helping others to discover themselves, we get to know ourselves deeper. This is where fellowship with others is useful: it is our school of salvation and spiritual effort. Avoiding interaction with people is not always beneficial for a Christian.

In isolation a human being almost always becomes deficient. The more he separates himself from others, the more lacking he becomes. Living a solitary life, we cut ourselves from the common life, from the life of a whole body, and in this isolation we dry out because we are not being nourished by the common life. But when we interact with people, our undiscovered powers come into action. Thus fellowship with people enriches our soul, which blossoms when we get closer to others. An individual can compensate for what he is lacking by interacting with the whole body of humankind. People are God’s flowers; we should learn, like bees, to collect honey from these flowers, to enrich ourselves from individuality of others and open ourselves for others.

Often it is hard for us to interact with others, but we are called to a common life, and fellowship with others is a duty of a Christian. We can benefit a lot from every contact with another person. If we pay attention to those around us, then we will definitely find values—light and good. There is something beautiful in every human being, and it is only our sinfulness that prevents us from seeing that beauty. We meet people and most often evaluate them incorrectly, looking only at their outward appearance. We say, "This person is good looking, and that one isn’t." Often, when we see some shortcomings in a person, we stay away from him, taking his external appearance for his essence; we judge him without trying to overcome the obstacles separating us. We like to interact with people who are pleasant to us, when we naturally like one another. It is hard to talk to a person against whom you have a prejudice, but it is this difficulty that we must overcome.

The Lord wants to gather us together, but the evil one is trying to separate us. When we overcome separation, we recognize in each other that one and only thing that we have from God; the thing that comprises our strength and brings us good in life. Sin has placed separation throughout humankind. When people gain victory over sin, they get closer to one another, because they return to their original state of common human nature—one whole body of humankind. But sin steals from us. When we fail to overcome what separates us, we don’t see true life of others, but their mask, which we incorrectly take for real. Our separation and isolation distorts our life.

Normally it appears to us that we meet people by chance. Of course, that is not so! The Lord places us next to each other in family and in society so we can enrich one another, so that by having interaction and friction with one another people can light up the sparks of light. The Lord says to us, "Here is your task. I have put you in touch with this person. There is a talent in your heart that I gave you. Open that talent." Sending every soul into this world, the Lord gives it some talent and an area of activity, so the soul can blossom in its spiritual life. Because each individual is spiritually unique, if he fails to open up his spiritual treasure, it will be a spiritual death, disappearance of God’s light in that point of existence. That is why every one of us must care for his spiritual world to allow God’s light to shine in that world and not disappear. Why are we so unwilling and slow in using those powers that are in us? When we fight sin in ourselves, we allow seeds of good to grow in us; we weed out evil from us, and thus help reduce evil on earth. Even the smallest effort on our part breaks our inactivity, awakens the good that is dormant in us and manifests it.

Talents are given to everybody. The Lord will ask every one of us, "Why didn’t you do what you were supposed to?" Everyone in his life must uncover and multiply the talent given to him by God. Usually people say, "I have no talent." By this they mean the talent of a scientist, an artist or a statesman. But far more important are the talents of the heart given by the Lord to every human being, such as for example friendliness and compassion. It is up to us to uncover these talents as natural qualities of our soul. Of course, these talents can be uncovered only through live interaction with others. We are tied to one another with various ties, and we must use these ties to create unity of life. It is painful to realize that so many people complain about being lonely. Indeed, separation from others depresses a human being, while unity, on the other hand, provides encouragement, because then the person feels that he is not lost in this world. Unity among people is a rope connecting earth to heaven, to God Uniting. Unity that comes from the heart of one person to that of another is actually directed toward the One center, God, because unity among people is life, and separation is death.

Unity among people is good, and it brings us the joy of life. It is a law of life, and people unavoidably suffer when they break it. We are all created in the image of God. This means that we are united by the image of God. Coming together, we can gradually achieve unity of thought, soul and will; the unity of which Christ said, "As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us" (John 17:21). Yet in our mundane life we do not even consider our duty to look for the gifts we have from God, which can really bring us close to one another. We take separation as true existence and do not make an effort to break it. The state of separation deprives us of joy in our everyday life and prevents us from uncovering our true value.

We hear all the time: "There are no good people." How come? There are people amongst us who have education, intelligence and treasure of soul, and it is only because we are hiding inside the shell of our mundane life that we do not see it, thus hiding our talents and those of others. We are lazy slaves. We say that we cannot multiply our talents, even thought it is said, "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." We ought to look for a treasure in each and every heart. People often search for treasure, but not spiritual treasure, and it is spiritual treasure that we ought to look for. Someone might ask, "Why?" Let’s answer: "In order to get richer." We notice only people’s outward appearance and take from them external things, but we don’t notice and don’t search for a treasure that each person has inside. We should be looking for the talent of heart; this treasure is a source of good. But how do we go about doing it? To do this we ought to exert effort and work hard. As a Russian saying goes, "Without working you can’t even pull a small fish out of a pond." If even greatly talented people, having received a gift from God, have to labor hard to realize their potential, then an average person ought to work even harder.

When we approach a person, let us look closely at his heart, which is the center of a human being. Christ said that everything comes out of the heart: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil" (Luke 6:45). Goodness of heart is a gift from God, it can be multiplied tenfold, and it is easier to build up virtue upon the goodness of heart. St. John Chrysostom says, "Miracles do not consist in doing great and marvelous deeds, but when an evil person is transformed into a good one—that is a miracle, for it is then that the laws of nature are broken, an old person is discarded, and a new creature is built through fight against sin." When a person struggles against sin, he is perfected, i.e. becomes closer to God. By defeating sin in oneself, a person opens up the better aspects of his soul, at the same time discovering a treasure in another person, who did not even suspect that such a treasure existed. When burdened by sin, a person is afraid of other people, he does not walk through his life joyfully. He is thinking about how to avoid meeting certain other individuals. Having defeated sin, a person will easily approach others and share his goodness with them. If we look inside a person, we can see his true self. This is not easy, but we ought to force ourselves to do it.

When we are on good terms with people, we are illuminated with sparks of light; we receive something invisible which gives us life. The Lord sends us into this world, so that we can manifest the riches of our soul. If we gather all the small grains of good and light given to us even that will be a lot. If we gather specs of light, then we will also become saturated with light, and our hearts of stone will light up. This process of searching for light is a moment of spiritual enlightenment: then the beauty of what we are searching for fills our soul with beauty. While looking for a treasure in our soul, we will inevitably pluck the thorns and weeds out of our heart, and this cleansing is a true good, which will give us joy of life. This goodness is a step toward beholding God, as the Scripture says, "The pure in heart shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). By having such individual moments of bliss a person is preparing for himself a place in the abode of light.

Divine light that we discover in ourselves makes us able to see spiritually, and when we can see, we are not going to invest all the resources of our soul into things that are insignificant. With divine light, as if with a flashlight, a person lights his path, and then he will see the same light in others. This light is present in every individual, but it is hidden by darkness, so that we cannot see it in others. When we feel this light, we kind of wake up, and everything changes around us, and the attacks of the enemy are rendered powerless. When illuminated by divine light, we turn our soul to God and gather the scattered rays of light into focus; then we not only shine ourselves, but we also evoke light in others.

When we have problems in relationships with others, when the evil one causes turmoil in our heart and fills it with darkness, then we ought to call God for help, invoking His name in our thoughts. Being possessed by a passion and walking in darkness, a person can do and say a lot of stupid things. We should turn to the Lord as quickly as possible, and He will dispel darkness with His light. By this creative act of turning to God, a person calls upon light, and the light from God comes into his heart, i.e. the Lord Himself descends into the heart, enlightens it and begins to reign in it. When God lives in the heart, then darkness is overcome, and this victory brings us into another realm of existence, a new joyful life. Peace and joy dwell in our hearts, and then we begin to feel the unity for which our soul thirsts so much. Working for the Lord, we are sort of transformed, entering into the realm of light, and the Lord Himself dwells in us, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

"Ascetic Feat of Fellowship" -- excerpts from the sermons of Archbishop Sergious (Korolev) of Prague (1881-1952). www.fatheralexander.org