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• Olive Oil
• 2 C minced red onion
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 3-inch jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 1/2 T minced fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 t cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 6 C cooked black beans (or 3 15-oz cans)
• 6 T fresh lime juice
• 2 large perfectly ripe mangoes, minced
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Minced fresh cilantro to garnish (optional)
• Wedges of lime to garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.  Add 1 3/4 C of the onion, and the garlic, ginger, chile, cumin seeds and salt.  Saute medium-high for about 3 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the beans and about half the lime juice.  Saute for about 5 more minutes, until everything has mingled nicely, and the beans are heated through.  Mash the beans slightly with the back of a spoon or spatula, and transfer to a bowl.
Stir the remaining lime juice and about half of the mango into the beans, mashing the mangoes a bit as you stir.  Grind in some pepper, then cover and let stand for about 15 minutes for the sauce to develop.
Serve warm or at room temperature with brown rice, topped with lime wedges, cilantro, and the remaining onion and mango.

(from Vegetable Heaven by Mollie Katzen, 1997 – a good recipe for company)

Also, it’s a nice quick recipe too – once you get it down, it should take about 40 minutes, and most of that is cooking time (You can sit in the kitchen with a book and get up to stir occasionally, you busy students you).

• olive oil
• one small/ medium onion, minced
• one carrot, chopped
• tomato paste
• salt
• red lentils
• fresh lemon juice
• vegetable stock or water (I usually use water, and it’s just fine.  Sometimes I add vegetable bouillon for flavor)
• dried mint (optional)

This soup is not a rocket science – don’t worry about proportions too much; just go with what feels right

Saute the onion and carrot in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until the onions are transparent.  Add a couple cups of red lentils, washed and picked over, and saute them for a couple minutes with the veggies.

Cover everything with water or stock – the liquid should cover everything and then some.  Add salt to taste (about a teaspoon to start).  Cook until the lentils are soft – about 20 minutes.  Watch the soup the whole time, and stir it regularly; if it starts to scorch or get too dry, add more water.  Once everything is cooked, remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.  Blend everything until fully pureed, and reheat whenever you want to eat it, adding salt to taste.  Fresh lemon juice squeezed on each bowl really makes this delicious.  Turks traditionally eat it with a bit of dried mint as well; I don’t like it, but it’s another good way to make the flavor more interesting.

Toward the end of the cooking, add a couple tablespoons of tomato paste (or less of the kind in the tube, which I like because it keeps indefinitely in the fridge, unlike the canned kind).  It adds a nice interesting flavor and also makes the color more rich.

In college I would make a big pot of this soup and eat it all week long – it keeps very well.  It can also be made without oil – just skip the sauteing.

Claire Roosien

Heat oil in large pan. Add onions and saute for about 5 minutes or until light brown. Stir constantly to prevent burning.
Add garlic and ginger, reduce heat to medium and saute for additional 2 minutes.
Add coriander, cardamom, mango powder, and peppers. Mix until ingredients are combined.
Add chopped tomatoes, and cook until the oil begins to separate from the tomato-spice mixture (about 6 minutes).
Add one cup of the chickpea liquid, salt, and 1/2 cup of water.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until mixture is the consistency of a pulpy gravy.
Add chickpeas and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and serve with topped with sliced onions and shredded green chili.

1. Pour some unsweetened spoon-size shredded wheat cereal into a bowl.
2. Pour an equal amount (by volume) of applesauce into the same bowl.
3. Mix.

I prefer refrigerated applesauce.

Clark

[Often, to make a cheaper soup, I will leave out the bay leaf, carrot, celery, parsley, and even the broth (substituted with water).]

1. Sort through lentils to remove debris and shriveled beans, then rinse.
2. Add lentils to crock pot, along with barley, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, dried herbs and bay leaf.
3. Pour in broth, water, and tomatoes.
4. Cover and cook on low heat for 12 to 14 hours, or on high heat for 5 to 6 hours.
5. Discard bay leaf and just before serving stir in parsley and vinegar. (If you don’t use the vinegar, the soup might taste more bland as you’re omitting a major contributor of flavor.).
6. Add the pomegranate molasses to individual servings to add a tart taste.

Be sure to add any additional salt to the soup while it is cooking, and don’t add lentils to already boiling water as either one can make lentils tough.

Sami Sweiss

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

(Romans 16:16, I Corinthians 16:20; II Corinthians 13:12; 1 Peter 5:14)

In the Early Church, the holy kiss was a common practice among Christians.

Immediately before the Eucharistic Offering we exchange the Kiss of Peace.  Following the Russian tradition, we greet one another with three kisses on alternating cheeks (though on occasion you may exchange the kiss with someone from the Greek or Syrian traditions where two kisses are the norm).

Kissing in church is not a common feature of most Christian worship in North America.  However, we have intentionally revived this tradition in recognition of the traditions represented in our congregation.  But if you’re not comfortable with kissing, a handshake will work just fine.

The Creed has been a part of the Orthodox Church in its current form since 381 CE.  You can listen to the Creed being sung here and learn the words if you’d like to join in:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the only-begtten, begotten of the Father before all ages;

Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten,
not made, of one essence with the Father
by Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered, and was buried.

And the third day He rose again,
according to the Scriptures,

And ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of the Father;

And He shall come again with glory to judge the living
and dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life,
Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the
Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;
Who spoke through the prophets.

In one, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

Candles | Icons | Incense | Bells

Candles.  Candles adorn the altar and burn before the icons of Christ and the Theotokos (Greek for “God-bearer”).  We also light candles in the entranceway as a part of offering up prayers for loved ones.

Icons.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church icons adorn our worship spaces (and our home prayer corners).  Icons are venerated as windows that open to the spiritual world.  They may depict saints, Jesus Christ, or scenes from the Scriptures.

You may see Orthodox Christians crossing themselves, performing reverences, and kissing icons.  These actions are sometimes misinterpreted by outsiders as idolatrous worship.  However, Orthodox Christians do not worship the icons by these actions, but rather worship God, the Holy Spirit, making Christ present in the body of Christ, the Church, seen in and through all the saints.  The Holy Spirit makes Christ present to us through real, physical people and through the representation of them and himself in material things.

Incense.  Lord, I cry out to You; Make haste to me!  Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.  Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
(Psalm 140/141:1-2, NKJV)

We offer up incense during our worship as a sweet smelling gift to God and a visual metaphor of prayers rising toward God.  This practice follows tradition that the Early Church received from Jewish Temple practices.  In the New Testament, the book of Revelation describes the prayers of the saints as rising up before God accompanied with incense from the hand of an angel (Revelation 8:3-4).

You will see a deacon or the priest use a censer with burning incense as part of the consecration of the altar and its effects, as well as blessing the icons and even the members of the congregation.

When the priest approaches you during the service with the censer in hand, he may bow to you and swing the censer toward you as part of a blessing.  The traditional response is to bow in response to the priest.  You may also cross yourself, invoking a further blessing upon yourself.  You can read more about censing here.

Orthodox Christians often use incense at home too as a part of their daily prayer practice.

Bells (and other sounds).  The censer is lined with bells that ring each time it is used.  Also many Orthodox Christian parishes with their own buildings will have bells which are rung at the beginning and various points throughout the services.

In our parish during the prayer of the Anaphora you may also hear the priest tap the brass, cross-shaped “asterisk,” which covers the Eucharistic bread, against the Diskos, or offering plate that holds the bread, as he sings of the angels in heaven: “singing the triumphant hymn, shouting, proclaiming, and saying: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth (Hosts)…’”  These taps are audible representations of the voices of the angels.

Standing | Sitting | Singing | The Sign of the Cross | Reverences | Prostrations

Standing.  In some Eastern Orthodox traditions there are no pews!  The entire service is spent standing, kneeling, and moving about the sanctuary.

Sitting.  In our service we sit during the readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament epistle and during the sermon.  But you may feel free to sit down at other parts of the service if you feel the need.

Singing.  Most everything in our services is either chanted or sung – even the readings from the Bible!  In a culture like ours that is very centered on the written word, we often spend our time scanning quickly through texts.  As you experience the chanting and singing of the scriptures, you may notice a different effect.  Reading the scriptures is processed in the brain in the same region as reading other written texts, but the sung message is processed in our brains differently, bypassing much of our conscious framework and sinking deeply into the mind.

The Sign of the Cross.  At many points during the service you will see Orthodox Christians crossing themselves as they invoke a blessing on themselves:  at the veneration of an icon or the cross, at any mention of the Trinity, or a particular saint including Mary the Theotokos.

Orthodox Christians cross themselves while touching the thumb and first two fingers together, signifying the Trinity, while their last two fingers are down, signifying the two natures of Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine.  We begin by touching our foreheads, then our stomachs, followed by our right shoulder and then our left, remembering that we are commanded to love the Lord our God with our minds, our souls, and our strength.

It may feel strange to cross yourself in the beginning.  But like other practices, it becomes more natural with time.

Orthodox Christians also cross themselves during their home prayer times as well and at any other time they wish to invoke a blessing from God.

Reverences.  Sometimes when we cross ourselves, we may also bend deeply at the waist, even stooping down to touch the floor – a motion known as a reverence.  You may notice people performing reverences before icons or during the singing of the Trisagion or “Thrice-Holy Hymn.”  We may also perform a reverence before one another in certain penitential seasons as we ask one another for forgiveness.  The reverence is a sign of acknowledgement of the Holy, whether in the songs we are singing or in the images we behold.  When we reverence one another we acknowledge the that each person is created in the image and likeness of God as the book of Genesis tells us.

Prostrations.  On occasion you may witness people kneeling and touching their heads to the floor.  These prostrations are a sign of deep reverence.  The priest and the altar acolytes perform prostrations during the Eucharistic celebration.  You may also see other worshipers performing prostrations during the Great Lent and Holy Week.  However, prostrations are commonly discouraged on Sundays outside of this season and especially during Eastertide when the church enjoys times of joyful celebration.

In recognition of the multiple Eastern Orthodox traditions that have come together in our parish, we sing in English, Greek, and Church Slavonic (the language of the Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian churches).

Learn more about the Trisagion and listen here:

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!

Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς!
(Agios o Theos, Agios ischyros, Agios athanatos, eleison imas.)

Святый Боже, Святый крепкий, Святый безсмертный, помилуй нас!

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen!

Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!

Once we sing through a chorus in each language, the priest responds, “Δυναμις!  (Dynamis!)  Power!”

We then sing one final chorus in English:

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!