What is everyone reading?

[hecma925]

Once on OCnet, you're here forever.

 

[Ainnir]

Somewhere on here someone made an OC.net rendition of Hotel California that I would love to dig up right about now.

 

[hecma925]

Somewhere on here someone made an OC.net rendition of Hotel California that I would love to dig up right about now.

Here it be:

On a dark desert byteway, cool threads with flair
Warm smell of incense, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My doubts grew heavy and my faith grew dim
I had to stop for the night
The cross stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"
Then I lit up a candle and yaya showed me the way
There were voices singing a troparion,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to OC.Net, call her a forum
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of topics at OC.Net, call her a forum
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is theological, no heresy here of any blends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in their bedrooms, just with a TV set.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Father,
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "Is outrage what you say, it's sacred, go commune, you must get in line"
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to OC.Net, call her a forum
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at OC.Net, call her a forum
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Domes over the ceiling,
Arguing theology is so nice
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And in the moderators' chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They judge us with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
deleting my profile and more
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax, " said the moderator,
"We are programmed to receive.
You can logout any time you like,
But you can never leave! "

 

[Asteriktos]

 

[Asteriktos]

Reading through the book The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (1897-1959): Struggles - Experiences - Teachings and came to some passages that I don't entirely know what to make of...

"When the violence of the war was at its height, other practical and technical methods were brought into play. Extended vigil, increased thirst, standing upright for long periods and particularly the 'passion-repelling stick' as the ever-memorable Elder called it, meaning beatings. And because the goal of this passion is purely pleasure and nothing else--since for monks and unmarried people no principle of need applies--it is justly tempered by a corresponding pain and suffering, 'driving out a nail by a nail', as the saying goes."

"'The war did not let up, so neither did I let up in my resistance, what with austerities and particularly with vigil and beatings.'"

"In the Elder's case, after this divine visitation the front opened up to a more severe contest, and the struggle became all the more harsh. Peace lasted a few days, then the war of the flesh redoubled. 'I wept, I fasted to excess, I kept awake for ever longer, but the situation did not change. The attack would quieten down for a little while, but then it would start up again with fury. I would beat my body with sticks until I was black and blue from the waist down, but the war continued twice as fierce.'"

 

[hecma925]

He had the grace to fight such a battle.

 

[Ainnir]

Just started Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. Might take it slowly.

Swapped it for The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder Paisios

 

[hecma925]

Swapped it for The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder Paisios

I like that one.

 

[biro]

Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower.

 

[Ainnir]

I like that one.

I'm finding it a lot more accessible and good for quote mining.

 

[J Michael]

And

And...

 

[Asteriktos]

View attachment 20610
[The Ladder of the Beatitudes]

Hadn't heard of that one, will have to check it out

 

[J Michael]

Hadn't heard of that one, will have to check it out

This is probably my third reading of it over the years. And I rarely read a book twice, let alone 3 times! It's well and clearly written and I find it inspiring and challenging at the same time. Hope you get it and enjoy it!

 

[Asteriktos]

 

[RaphaCam]

Right now I'm just studying books related to my bachelor's thesis, which is about the legality of some natural psychedelics in Brazil and the legal issues that arise from processing them.

 

[hecma925]

I like my psychedelics natural, gluten-free, and organic.

 

[RaphaCam]

I like my psychedelics natural, gluten-free, and organic.

I like magic mushrooms that grow on cow poop.

 

[hecma925]

I like magic mushrooms that grow on cow poop.

Nothing more organic than that. Just make sure the cow never had vaccines or antibiotics or soy.

 

[Christos3]

Exorcist. It's been over twenty years since I read this. I just purchased the revised edition. The author (Blatty) said the one originally published was basically a first draft.

Also Adam's Reign. A fictional story about the time right before Noah built the Ark.

 

[Asteriktos]

About to start it tonight. Biographical sketches ranging from 19 to 58 pages of the following: St. Clement of Ohrid (d. 9th), St. Theophylact of Ohrid (d. 1108), St. Vladimir II Monomakh (d. 1125), St. Sava of Serbia (d. 1235), St. Cyprian of Kiev and Moscow (d. 1406), and St. Maximos the Greek (d. 1556)

 

[Luke]

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture / Apostolos Doxiadis

 

[Asteriktos]

Does anyone know if this site legit* or not?

Patristic Publishing

*by legit I mean having legally obtained the rights to sell the works

 

[hecma925]

Probably all those titles are public domain.

 

[Arachne]

Yeah, I didn't go through everything, but all those titles are dated from before copyright, and even the translations seem old enough to be in the public domain. Looks legit enough.

 

[Asteriktos]

Probably all those titles are public domain.

Yeah, I didn't go through everything, but all those titles are dated from before copyright, and even the translations seem old enough to be in the public domain. Looks legit enough.

Probably many are, but I'm pretty sure some of them aren't. The way I found them was I was looking on amazon and they were selling one of the translations of Theophylact for like $3 as an ebook. And there are other things on there as well, like a full edition of the Philokalia, which so far as I know had no English translation until the one in recent decades.

EDIT--here was the one I saw on Amazon. I went to the title page in the preview of it and from there ended up at their website:

An Analysis of The Gospel According to St. Mark - Kindle edition by Theophylact, Blessed. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

An Analysis of The Gospel According to St. Mark - Kindle edition by Theophylact, Blessed. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading An Analysis of The Gospel According to St. Mark.

www.amazon.com

 

[Arachne]

The way I found them was I was looking on amazon and they were selling one of the translations of Theophylact for like $3 as an ebook.

Amazon is sneaky. They often add a modern foreword or something, so they can justify pricing the book at 'copyrighted but unpopular' rates. Their entirely free ones are often extremely basic, like lacking functional tables of content. The .99 ones are at least looked over before they are uploaded.

 

[scamandrius]

The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad
Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier
The Satyricon by Petronius

 

[Alpo2]

The .99 ones are at least looked over before they are uploaded.

Which often makes a huge difference. I don't buy my books from Amazon but in my experience when comparing free books vs books for a few euros in Play store, Kobo, Adlibris etc. the latter are usually at least readable and look somewhat like a normal book you would find in a physical bookstore. Whereas free books are usually not even worth checking unless it's from dedicated website like Gutenberg etc.

 

[Arachne]

 

[Asteriktos]

 

[Luke]

On the Tree of the Cross : Georges Florovsky and the Patristic Doctrine of Atonement / Edited by Matthew Baker, Seraphim Danckaert, and Nicholas Marinides.

 

[MalpanaGiwargis]

Orthodox Spirituality by A Monk of the Eastern Church
Be Cool by Elmore Leonard

I'm starting Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee as soon as I'm done with these.

 

[Asteriktos]

I'm starting Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee as soon as I'm done with these.

I read that one was kind of controversial, or at least the publishing of it was. Hopefully it's good regardless.

 

[hecma925]

It was OK. If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, you may or may not like it.

 

[Ainnir]

Swapped it for The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder Paisios

I actually finished a book! I really liked it and probably need to read it during the day, when I'm not half asleep. Knowing I couldn't visit Athos, it made me really want to visit a women's monastery and have just a tiny bit of that kind of a relationship. Now I need to finish The Holy Angels and The Royal Monastic.

 

[Asteriktos]

I actually finished a book!

I once started it but didn't get very far in (I think) Maybe next time I come across it.

Knowing I couldn't visit Athos, it made me really want to visit a women's monastery and have just a tiny bit of that kind of a relationship.

Hope!

 

[Arachne]

The annual re-read.

 

[biro]

“Why Did You Lie?” by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and The Silmarillion, by Prof. Tolkien.

 

[Asteriktos]

One of the books I'm reading for Women In Translation month (August)...

 

[Arachne]

An attempt at denting the TBR pile.