Alexander's "The Power of Now" review examines one of recent history's most controversial and talked about philosophical works.

Dragonflies are welcoming guests in the garden. They have graceful flights and swift acrobatics, but there’s more to their presence than meets…

Meanwhile on the Internet…

Pro Tip: Please don’t actually try these

Cucumber Trellis Ideas for a Bountiful Harvest

We must all have waffles forthwith.

Why do I write Middle Grade? Good question, faceless reader, and one I will answer forthwith.

This gurl has OFFICIALLY DECLARED , by declaration on this here blog post, hereby and forthwith-- 2014 the YEAR OF THE PINEAPPLE ! ...

Polyrhythmic Paradiddle Workout played as a groove between snare and cowbell changing between 16th, triplets, sixtuplets back and forthwith an Bass Drum /hi ...

Can't believe this track isn't up here already, perhaps there is good reason and I'll be shut down forthwith.... Wonderful song, beautifully sang.

Dante's Inferno, Illustrated by Gustav Dore Fraud Forthwith that image vile of Fraud appeared. Canto XVI. Credit to: Universalfreemasonry #DantesInferno #GustaveDore #Fraud #InfernoCanto #DanteAlighier

This is it! The week before the big Halloween Party. Which means I must finish my costume forthwith. And I am in need of one very specifi...

Important issues continue to face the Arizona Coyotes, but the most critical is lack of scoring. Since the commencement of training camp, coach Dave Tippett was forthwith about the Coyotes’…

I've always had a great deal of respect at how Indians treat the elephant that bears their nation's name. The Doha Zoo has a pretty fine example of this beast. On a brief visit there we watched as her keeper fed her and appeared to clean her teeth (that photo coming forthwith).

Scripture And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. —Acts 9:18 Quote In the sight of the Lord, it is not so much what we have done or where we have been but much more where we are willing to go. […]

Pablo does not approve. He's sittin' over there passing judgement on my weeding skills. Like he can do better, he's just a disembodied, floating wooden face with a disagreeable temperament.  I guess I need to do some weeding, forthwith. Or maybe he just doesn't like the material I'm working on.  Half rotten.... The leaves worm eaten and…

Find here: information about the Hoosier Chapter, Victorian Society in America (HVSA forthwith). The mission of HVSA is to interest and educate the public in the values and preservation of Victorian culture; to provide local activities and programs of interest and to support the national VSA. The Victorian Society In America is the only national non-profit organization committed to historic preservation, protection, understanding, education, and enjoyment of our nineteenth century heritage.

Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement Act 5 of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. A vocabulary application worksheet, a crossword puzzle, a word search game, and answer keys are included. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: amiable, bereft, blear, confer, confound, crack-hemp, currish, deign, dotard, forthwith, frivolous, gird, headstrong, heir, immortal, jarring, notorious, scornful, swiftly, swinge, toil, unapt, undone, and worshipful. By engaging with these activities, students will: Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences

St. Nicholas of Karpenisi (Feast Day - September 23) Verses Nicholas sold everything below, And acquired Christ above with the sword. Nicholas was born in the town of Karpenisi in Greece to pious parents (according to tradition he belonged to the Karanikas family), who raised him to be pious and educated. At the age of fifteen he went to Constantinople where he worked in his father's general variety store at a place called Tachta Kale (this is why he is called "the Huckster," or in Greek "Pantopolos"). His father, however, wanted him to be educated, so he had his son tutored in the Turkish language by a well-educated Muslim neighbor who was a barber. Soon the tutor plotted with a group of Janissaries to make young Nicholas a Muslim. One day, in the presence of these Janissaries, the barber presented Nicholas the Muslim declaration of faith in Turkish to read. He therefore announced: "Salabati [which means 'Glory to God']. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet." After being informed that he had just declared himself to be a Muslim, Nicholas responded: "I am an Orthodox Christian, and not what you say. I am duty bound to read whatever lesson the teacher gives me." Forthwith the Muslims present took Nicholas and presented him to the kaymakam, who stood in the place of Grand Vizier Ahmed Koprulu who, together with Sultan Ahmed IV, was off to war in Poland. The Muslims said to the kaymakam: "This man, Master, made a declaration of faith in our presence, and if you wish to be convinced of the truth, look where he has written the declaration of faith. He reads it every hour. Now we ask him to become a Muslim and he mocks our faith!" To this the kaymakam said: "Nicholas, why have you written and read the declaration of faith and now you don't want to become a Muslim?" Nicholas boldly responded: "Today, while my teacher taught me my lesson, he gave me this declaration and told me to read it. But I did not know it was a declaration of faith. I thought that since he is my teacher, it was necessary to read whatever he gave me." But the kaymakam responded: "Nicholas, because you read the declaration of faith, you must become a Muslim. I will give you whatever great office you want. I will give you riches, I will honor you, and I will glorify you in the Kingdom." To this Nicholas replied: "I am an Orthodox Christian and I believe in my Christ as the true God. I don't need the honors and offices which you promise me. I will not deny my Christ, and for the sake of his name I will die! I will therefore not become a Muslim." In saying this, Nicholas was fulfilling the words of the Master Christ, who said: "When they bring you before kings and princes do not think about how you will answer them, for you will be given wisdom to stop their accusations." The kaymakam ignored the confession of Nicholas, and forcibly ordered his circumcision and the other rites necessary to make him a Muslim, hoping in this way to get Nicholas to accept Islam. However, this only made Nicholas shout louder: "What! Are you circumcising me? I am an Orthodox Christian!" But Nicholas was told that now by his declaration and circumcision he was a Muslim. Nicholas refused to accept their lie as truth. Due to Nicholas' godly stubbornness, the kaymakam had him thrown into prison with murderers and deprived him of food and water. He spent sixty-five days in prison, and was given only enough food and water eventually just to keep him alive. He was then brought before the kaymakam once more in the presence of other Muslims who gathered and shouted: "Either he becomes a Muslim or he dies!" Of course, Nicholas refused to embrace Islam, so he was thrown in prison once again, where he was beaten often and severely. One day a rich Muslim man visited Nicholas in prison and offered him his daughter together with money and a successful workshop if he embraced Islam. To this offer Nicholas replied that he considered the riches and pleasures of this world as dust and shadows, and that the rich refuge of his heart was Christ, and he desired to live and reign with Him for eternity rather than deny Him and embrace Muhammad. Soon afterwards Nicholas was brought before the judge, who flattered him and urged him to not allow his life to be lost prematurely, and said that due to his youth he was not able to fully comprehend the truth of Islam, but to accept it nonetheless. Nicholas responded that he wanted to die an Orthodox Christian as soon as possible. Nicholas was therefore sentenced to death and taken to Tachta Kale. He had the flame of the love of Christ in his heart, and had such joy as if he was going to his own wedding. And when the executioner asked Nicholas to kneel, he stretched out his neck as far as he could to make the executioner's job easier. Having said his final prayer, Nicholas' head was struck off, thus sealing his confession for Christ with the blood of his martyrdom in the year 1672. Church of Saint Nicholas the Huckster in Karpenisi For three successive nights the body of Nicholas remained exposed, and a heavenly light illuminated him. Certain Orthodox Christians paid the executioners to allow them to gather his blood with their handkerchiefs for a blessing, and his body was taken and buried at the Monastery of the Theotokos called Kontoskale on the island of Halki. It also happened that the synkellos of the Ecumenical Patriachate, Gregory, who was from the Monastery of Xeropotamou, asked for and was given the skull of the Neomartyr. He placed the skull in his church, but after his death the relic was taken by Patriarch Dionysios IV. Later, however, monks from the Monastery of Xeropotamou claimed the skull as their inheritance and wished to have it return to Mount Athos. The people of Halki, however, refused to let it go. Meanwhile a trustee of the church confiscated it, and after his death and some miraculous events, the skull was given to the monks of Xeropotamou Monastery with much joy. The Life of Saint Nicholas was written by the French secretary in Constantinople, who was impressed by the faith of young Nicholas. Other portions of his relics can be venerated in Gregoriou Monastery at Mount Athos, Tatarnas Monastery in Evritania, and in the church that is dedicated to his honor in Karpenisi. His jaw is in Prousou Monastery in Evritania. Apolytikion in the Third Tone You brought victory to the Church, forever bringing to your homeland your gloriously triumphant contest, Nicholas. The imperishable glory of Neomartyrs, you showed us the path of the Lord as a youth, wherefore beseech with fervent entreaties Christ to ever grant us victory. Megalynarion The boast and offspring of Karpenisi and the God-illumined guide of the youth, the great man of valor of Neomartyrs, Nicholas the New, we honor you with hymns.

The Great Schema in the Orthodox Church requires the traditional monastic vows, plus special spiritual feats. According to Archpriest G. S. Debolsky: "In the understanding of the Church, the Great Schema is nothing less than the supreme vow of the Cross and death; it is the image of complete isolation from the earth, the image of transformation and transfiguration of life, the image of death and the beginning of another, higher, existence." As a monastic dignity, the Great Schema has been known since the 4th century. According to an ancient legend, this dignity was inaugurated by St. Pachomios the Great. However, as a form of monastic life, the Great Schema goes back to the origin of Christianity. Those who followed Christ's teachings on supreme spiritual perfection by voluntarily taking the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty were called ascetics to distinguish them from other Christians. They led a harsh and secluded hermit's life like St. John the Baptist, or like our Lord Jesus Christ Himself during his forty days in the desert. According to the Rule of St. Pachomios, the act of acceptance into a monastery had three steps and consisted of (a) "temptation" (trial), (b) clothing, and (c) presentation to the starets for spiritual guidance. Each of the three steps undoubtedly had its own significance. They marked the beginning of the three stages in monasticism which have become deeply embedded in the life of the Eastern Church: first, the novice (or rasoforos); the second, the monk (known as a monk of the Lesser Schema); and the third, the monk of the Great Schema. The Church historians Sozomen, Bishop Palladios of Helenopolis and Hieromonk Nicephoros maintain that St. Pachomios was the first to invest monks with the full monastic dignity of the schema. It should be noted that not all the fathers and ascetics of the Church divided monasticism into the greater and lesser angelic schema. For instance, St. Theodore of Studios did not agree with this division, considering that there should be only one form of monasticism, just as there was one Mystery of Baptism. However, the custom of dividing monasticism into two became widespread in the practice of the Church. The Lesser Schema thus became a kind of preparatory step to the Great Schema. Cenobitism came to be known as a "betrothal", and seclusion within a monastery as actual "matrimony". In accordance with the Rule the difference between the Lesser and Greater Schema began to be reflected in the habit. Those of the latter had embroidered crosses on their habit, while the former did not(7). Those who take the Great Schema vows must be like an angel in the flesh; they must attain that degree of spiritual perfection which is possible for man. Constant contemplation of God, life in Him, and silence is their vocation. The analavos of the Great Schema monks are the signs of perfect monasticism, symbols not only of humble wisdom and gentleness, but also of the Cross, of suffering, of Christ's wounds, of constant dying with Christ. The άνάλαβος (analavos) is the distinctive garment of a monk or a nun tonsured into the highest grade of Orthodox monasticism, the Great Schema, and is adorned with the instruments of the Passion of Christ. It takes its name from the Greek αναλαμβάνω (“to take up”), serving as a constant reminder to the one who wears it that he or she must “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23). The ornately-plaited Crosses that cover the analavos, the polystavrion (πολυσταύριον, from πολύς, “many,” and σταυρός, “Cross”) — a name often, though less accurately, also applied to the analavos — reminds the monastic that he or she is “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). With regard to each image on the analavos, the rooster represents “the cock [that] crowed” (Matthew 26:74; Mark 14:68 Luke 22:60; John 18:27) after Saint Peter had “denied thrice” His Master and Lord (John 13:38). The pillar represents the column to which Pilate bound Christ “when he scourged Him” (Mark 15:15) “by Whose stripes we were healed” (Isaiah 53:5; I Peter 2:24). The wreath garlanding the Cross represents the “crown of thorns” (Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2) that “the soldiers platted” (John 19:2) and “put upon the head” (Matthew 27:29) of “God our King of old” (Psalm 73:13), Who freed man from having to contend against “thorns and thistles in the sweat of his brow” (Genesis 3:18-19). The upright post and the traverse beam represent the stipes and the patibulum that formed “the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14), upon which “all day long He stretched forth His hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Isaiah 65:2; Romans 10:21). The four spikes at the center of the Cross and the hammer beneath its base represent the “nails” (John 20:25) and hammer with which “they pierced” (Psalm 21:16; John 19:37) “His hands and His feet” (Luke 24:40). when they “lifted up from the earth” (John 12:32) Him Who “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us by nailing it to His Cross” (Colossians 2:14). The base upon which the Cross stands represents “the place, which is called 'Calvary' (Luke 23:33), or 'Golgotha', that is to say, the Place of the Skull” (Matthew 27:33), “where they crucified Him” (John 19:18) Who “wrought salvation in the midst of the earth” (Psalm 73:13). The skull and crossbones represent “the first man Adam” (I Corinthians 15:45), who by tradition “returned unto the ground” (Genesis 3:19) at this very spot, the reason that this place of execution, “full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27) became the place where “the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45). The plaque on top of the Cross represents the titulus, the “title” (John 19:19-20), with “the superscription of His accusation” (Mark 15:26), which “Pilate wrote” (John 19:19) “and set up over His head” (Matthew 27:37); however, instead of “Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews” (John 19:19), which “was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew” (Luke 23:38), the three languages being an allusion to the Three Hypostases “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), this titulus reads, “The King of Glory” (Psalm 23:7-10), “for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2:8). The reed represents the “hyssop” (John 19:29) upon which was put “a sponge full of vinegar” (Mark 15:36), which was then “put to His mouth” (John 19:29) when in His “thirst they gave Him vinegar to drink” (Psalm 68:21), Him of Whom it was said that “all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22). The lance represents the “spear [that] pierced His side”; “and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34) from Him Who “took one of Adam's ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof" (Genesis 2:21) and Who “washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5). The plaque at the bottom of the Cross represents the suppedaneum of Christ, “His footstool” (Psalm 98:5), “the place where His feet have stood” (Psalm 131:7). It is slanted because, according to one tradition, at the moment when “Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit” (Mark 15:37), He allowed a violent death spasm to convulse His legs, dislodging His footrest in such a manner that one end pointed upwards, indicating that the soul of the penitent thief, Saint Dismas, “the one on His right hand” (Mark 15:27) would be “carried up into Heaven” (Luke 24:51), while the other end, pointed downwards, indicated that the soul of the impenitent thief, Gestas, “the other on His left” (Mark 15:27), would “be thrust down to Hell” (Luke 10:15), showing that all of us, “the evil and the good, the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), “are weighed in the balance” (Ecclesiasticus 21:25) of the Cross of Christ. The ladder and the pincers beneath the base of the Cross represent the means of deposition by which Saint Joseph of Arimathea, “a rich man” (Matthew 27:57) who “begged for the body of Jesus” (Matthew 27:58; Luke 23:52), “took it down” (Luke 23:53), so that as in body He descended from the Cross, so in soul “He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:9), “by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (I Peter 3:19). Through these instruments, “the Cross of Christ” (I Corinthians 1:17: Galatians 6:12; Philippians 3:18) became the “Tree of Life” (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24; Proverbs 3:18, 11:30; 13:12; 15:4; Revelation 2:7; 22:2,14), by which the Lord Jesus reified His words that, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). The Greek letters that appear on the analavos are abbreviations of phrases that extol the Cross as “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). From top to bottom: • ΟΒΤΔ - Ό Βασιλεύς της Δόξης - “The King of Glory” • ΙC XC NIKΑ - Ιησούς Χριστός νικά - ”Jesus Christ conquers” • ΤΤΔΦ - Τετιμημένον τρόπαιον δαιμόνων φρίκη - "Honored trophy, the dread of demons” • ΡΡΔΡ - Ρητορικοτέρα ρητόρων δακρύων ροή - "A flow of tears more eloquent than orators” (or, more likely: Ρητορικοτέρα ρημάτων δακρύων ροή) • ΧΧΧΧ - Χριστός Χριστιανοίς Χαρίζει Χάριν - "Christ bestoweth Grace upon Christians” • ΞΓΘΗ - Ξύλου γεύσις θάνατον ηγαγεν - "The tasting of the tree brought about death” • CΞΖΕ - Σταυρού Ξύλω ζωήν εύρομεν - "Through the Tree of the Cross have we found life" • ΕΕΕΕ - Ελένης εύρημα εύρηκεν Εδέμ - "The discovery of Helen hath uncovered Eden” • ΦΧΦΠ - Φως Χριστού φαίνοι πάσι - “The light of Christ shines upon all” • ΘΘΘΘ - Θεού Θέα Θείον Θαύμα - "The vision of God, a Divine wonder” • ΤCΔΦ - Τύπον Σταυρού δαίμονες φρίττουσιν - "Demons dread the sign of the Cross” • ΑΔΑΜ - Αδάμ - "Adam" • ΤΚΠΓ - Τόπος Κρανίου Παράδεισος γέγονε - "The Place of the Skull hath become Paradise” • ΞΖ - Ξύλον Ζωής - “Tree of life” There are other items and abbreviations that may appear on the analavos, but these are sufficient to demonstrate that this holy garment silently proclaims “the preaching of the Cross” (I Corinthians 1:18) through its mystical symbolism, declaring for its wearer, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). For more on the Great Schema, see here, here and here. For the complete service of the elevation of a monk to the Great Schema, see here.