The Zenzoid Files

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If you are undertaking anything, before asking any other adviser, ask the advice of faith. Appeal in the words of the Apostle: Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? (Acts 9:6). Is what I would undertake pleasing to Thee, Lord? If it is pleasing, bless it; if not, do not let me do what is displeasing to Thee. And then listen to what the Lord tells you in your conscience, in your reason, in the counsels of pious and wise people and, having begun the course that you select, pray in your heart, O Lord, make haste to help me (Ps. 69:1).

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (1868)

Trust in prayer consists in uttering the petitions, thanksgivings, and praise with faith in the presence of God, and of His hearing them; and with fear of God, not doubting, nor being in the least uneasy as to their acceptance and fulfillment, but in absolute assurance that God has heard them and accepted them upon His heavenly Altar; and that, in accordance with the desire of our Mother the Church (if we pray in the name of the Church), as well as of our own heart, He will give us, as the all-good Almighty and most wise, all that we ask, and more abundantly than we ask or mean. But the heart that has a partiality for food and drink, that is greedy for these, and is weakened by them, has not much trust; neither the heart in which hatred and animosity are concealed, nor that is bound by avarice, covetousness, and envy, until it puts away its infirmities and amends itself.

St. John of Kronstadt
“My Life in Christ”

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Some of you may think I’m some kind of a freak for mountains. I’m not sure what gave you that idea but, OK, I won’t deny it. And I’m sure I won’t disappoint you in this post, either.

I was hiking in the Presidential Range a few months ago when all of sudden I realized how absurd it is to name these majestic and glorious mountains after something as trivial and venal as Ameedican politicians. Most of the Presidents after whom the summits of the Presidential Range were named had never even stepped foot in those mountains, much less had any kind of personal connection to them. Besides, God made the mountains; they weren’t constructed by a bloated pork-barrel project originating in the Federal District of Criminals. If mountains are going to be named after people, they should be people who know Him who made the mountains. So, I’ve re-named each summit after a saint in the Orthodox Church. The new name is chosen based on the saint(s) commemorated on the day of the re-naming hike.

My fellow mountain freaks (and you know who you are), I give you The Saints Range:

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OK, ya got me– they’re not really fireworks. They’re wild spring flowers from the Twinway Trail, near Zeacliff.

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Hiked up the Northern Saints with Steve. We went up Lowe’s Path to Mt. Elisha (formerly Adams) where we met up with a couple of Canadian hikers. We hiked with them to the Madison hut and then summited Mt. Methodius (formerly Madison). From there we went skipping and frolicking and singing songs from “The Sound of Music” all the way across the ridge to Mt. Niphon (formerly Jefferson). We returned via Edmands Col to Randolph Path to Lowe’s Path. Great hike with lots of ooo-ahh views and eyeball candy.

Here are some highlight pics, click ‘em for a larger view.

“Can you fly, Bobby?”

King Cairn at Mt. Niphon

Old Man on the Mountain

And checkout the slideshow of all the pictures (click the “i” that appears when you mouse over the picture to read the captions).

This hike completes the renaming of each summit in the Presidential Range from that of a politician to a saint of the Orthodox Church. The new name is chosen based on the date of the hike and the saint(s) commemorated on that day. The Presidential Range is now the Saints Range. I’ll publish the list of old and new names of the summits in my next post.

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Started at the North Twin Trailhead. Bushwhacked the mile or so up to Mt. Hale so I could make the loop back to the trailhead via the Twinway trail. I guess it’s about a 17 mile loop.

Rough bushwhack, very dense spruce forests to wade through. It’s a double whammy because not only do you have to push really hard just to get through the tangle of branches ripping flesh from your arms and legs, but you’re climbing a very steep incline at the same time.

When I finally broke through onto the Lend-A-Hand trail, I was really worn out. I had sweated so hard that I was oozing mucous instead of sweat. You know you’ve had a good workout when you’re sweating snot. I considered the 13 or so miles left ahead of me and bile burned the back of my throat. But what’s a sick hiking freak to do? I mean, I couldn’t turn back because I could never live with myself for wussing out. I figured the worst that could happen was that I’d have to take a nap and end up finishing some of the hike in the dark. So, onward it was.

It turned out to be a beautimous day on the trail– glad I decided (albeit at the last minute) to go hiking today. Some pics below, click ‘em for a larger view.

Blue View of The Saints Range

Haze Waves

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I’ve listened to just about every audio bible out there: Scourby, Johnston, Zorsky, Peck, McLean, and several others I can’t even recall. Some were unlistenable from the start. Others would start off fine and then, after a while, I realized that it was EATING MY BRAIN! I was about to give up on listening to audio bibles altogether when I stumbled on The Man in Black reading the New Testament. From the first moment I started listening, I knew I had finally found The One.

Johnny Cash reads the NT in a manner that engages you and draws you in. He sounds like he’s talking *with* you, not *at* you; like he’s talking with a close friend and not up on stage talking to strangers. I’ve only had this audio bible for a few weeks but I’ve already listed to it for dozens of hours (I hike a lot and listen to it while hiking).

The translation used is the NKJV, which is a good and faithful translation but lacks the “clang and flavour” of the KJV. Reading the NKJV is like drinking decaffeinated coffee– same basic brew but lacks the punch and kick of the fully-caffeinated KJV. Nevertheless, this audio bible is an outstanding production.

For Psalms, Alex Jennings’ rendition of the KJV Book of Psalms is unrivaled. They could have left out the cheesy interlude music or used Byzantine chant instead. And, ideally, the Psalms would be chanted and not read, but overall it’s still nice in the ears and conducive to prayer.

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The Spirit of Grace lives in Christians from the time of Baptism and Chrismation. And to participate in the Sacraments of Repentance and Communion - is not this to receive the most abundant floods of grace? To those who already have the Spirit, it obviously is appropriate to say: “Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians, 5:19). But how can one say to such people: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians, 5:18)? Indeed the Grace of the Holy Spirit is given to all Christians, because such is the power of the Christian Faith. But, the Holy Spirit, living in Christians, does not affect their salvation by Himself, but works together with the free actions of each individual. In this sense, the Christian can offend or extinguish the Spirit - or else he may contribute to the perceptible manifestation of the Spirit’s action within him. When this happens, the Christian feels himself to be in an extraordinary state, which expresses itself in deep, sweet, and quiet joy… Therefore, the commandment to be “filled with the Spirit” simply is an injunction to behave and act in such a manner as to co-operate with or allow free scope to the Holy Spirit, to make it possible for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself by perceptibly touching the heart.

St. Theophan the Recluse
“The Art of Prayer”

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The rare and beautiful Cacapee bird once flourished throughout all New England. The name, Cacapee, is an Iroquois word meaning, “beautiful feathers.” Its long, brightly colored tail plume was highly prized for fashionable head wear. The wing feathers of the Cacapee were commonly used as “tonsil ticklers” in the vomitoriums which were hubs of social activity in New England during the Colonial period. Because of these popular uses of its feathers, the Cacapee bird was hunted to near-extinction. In fact, this exquisite bird was thought to be extinct…until now.

During one of his recent bird-watching missions, Zenzoidman documented the existence of one of the last remaining Cacapee birds on the entire planet. The bird was spotted in a forest abutting Lake Sunapee, near Zenzoidman’s home town of New London, New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the camera was damaged in a shower mishap, so no image is available. However, the audio recording survived. Here, now, is the only recording in existence of the Cacapee bird’s mating call (patent-pending, all rights reserved, void where prohibited). Let’s listen:

MP3 File

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