Weekend Update 3/6

Processing with Icons

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy. We processed around the property with icons and banners. We sang hymns. We recited—well, we shouted—a short passage from the Synodikon, the conciliar document that formalized the return of icons to Christian worship back in the year 843.

Of course, this is the time of year when we do a lot of processing: we’ll do that same sort of parade on Palm Sunday and on Great and Holy Friday and, again, on Pascha (and, on Pascha, there will be even more shouting).

But, when you get right down to it, there’s only one procession.

We’re all part of it, and it’s been going on for a long, long time.
It all started when the Holy Patriarch Abraham obeyed the Most Holy Trinity and left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. It continued when the People of Israel followed the Holy Prophet Moses out of bondage in Egypt and passed through the Red Sea.

That procession went through the Jordan River under the leadership of the Holy and Righteous Joshua, and it continued when the People of Israel returned to the Promised Land after their captivity.

The same procession was led by the Magi when they journeyed to find Christ Jesus. The procession then wound through Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and it later burst forth in triumph when our Lord and Master led the captives forth from Hades.

Mosaic credit: Aidan Hart (co-created by our own Martin Earle [with minor installation assistance from Baker Galloway])

And that procession continues to take place during each and every Divine Liturgy, because, in that service, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we join Christ Jesus in His Ascended Glory at the right hand of the Father.

Processing with Iguanas

But we humans aren’t the only ones taking part in this ongoing parade.
Whenever we process, the angels join with us, as well as all the creatures of this world. And whenever I think about processing with all the creatures of this world, I think about Father Elias and the Iguana.

Father Elias was born in America; he was married, and he and his wife had a daughter. But, later in his life, Father Elias became a monk on Mt Athos, one of the most important monastic centers in the Orthodox world.

In fact, Father Elias lived for twenty years as a hermit—which is about as serious as you can get, when it comes to the spiritual life. But, eventually, Father Elias developed a number of health issues, so he moved back to this country to seek medical care. He lived in various monastic communities in the States, but his daughter lived in Austin—and that's how we ended up meeting Father Elias, because, from time to time, he would visit his daughter. This was back in the early years of this century, and, while we were already on our current property, we were still meeting in the house we had remodeled. There weren’t a whole lot of us, and most of us were still fairly new to the Faith, so when an actual, real-life Athonite monk showed up one Sunday morning, we were just pretty much blown away.

And, boy, did Father Elias look the part: he had a long white beard and a tight little ponytail; his cassock was faded and frayed; his cap was shapeless and colorless; he was small and thin, but he was also very friendly and very kind.
For example, we did not know if there was a special way to greet a monk or a particular way to serve communion to a monastic, but he talked us all through that. And, eventually, he told us about his daughter and how he would be joining us from time to time when he was in town to visit her, often because she needed someone to house sit while she traveled for work and to walk her iguana…

Yeah, that’s what we thought, too.

An iguana?

Apparently, these big lizards require a whole lot of attention, and one of the things that Father Elias did while he was house sitting for his daughter is to take her iguana on its daily walk.

I never did see Father Elias when he was out in the neighborhood with the lizard, but no matter how committed folks might be to the whole Keep Austin Weird thing—

and, for a decade or so, there, it was definitely a thing—I can’t imagine that an Orthodox monastic in his cassock and his skufia strolling down the sidewalk with a seven-foot iguana on a leash didn't slow down traffic just a bit.

But even though I never personally saw The Monk and The Lizard together, I’ve got this almost iconographic image of those two in my heart—because, as we’ve said, over and over and over again this creation worships the Most Holy Trinity right alongside of us, and that means all of our processions include moose and walruses and prairie dogs and owls.

Join the Procession

And we want you in this parade, right alongside all the rest of us.

There are lots of ways you can do that: Join us for the rest of our processions during this Lenten Season; offer The Akathist for a New Temple with us (PDF/video); commission an image of an animal that you love for our Calming Room; pick up some of our Come See Something Beautiful apparel; restack this post; upgrade your subscription to paid; make a direct donation to our Building Fund.

Shoot, you can even bring a big ol' lizard, if you want.

But while you’re considering all those wonderful options, we’ll wish you a good third week of the Fast and play some wonderful Zulu processional music.