Daniel Johnson

Orthodox Christian deacon, long-ago exvangelical. Husband, dad, cat dad. #Gardening, #hiking, #cooking, #cocktails, #ClassicalMusic. Central #NorthCarolina, USA. Occasionally a choral music arranger/composer. English/Spanish bilingual; dabbles in Greek, Church Slavonic; faint smatterings of various other languages.

If religion offends your sensibilities, I suggest that you not follow this profile.

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Last Notes

2026-08-02 22:36:24 UTC

I just got the news that deacon.social is shutting down three months from today. This makes me sad, since it is hard to find corners of the Fediverse where religious thought is not only tolerated but even embraced. I have really enjoyed the spirit of openness I’ve found here.
Anyone have any good ideas concerning what server I should migrate to? It might seem that the obvious choice would be fidelis.social, but that is a community specifically created for Roman Catholics, and I fear I might occasionally offend someone there.

2026-07-20 16:27:16 UTC

At an Orthodox wedding, the bride and groom are crowned, both as king and queen of the new household and as martyrs; for they must each sacrifice themselves daily for the other, as Christ sacrificed himself for the Church.
In the East-Slavic tradition, the crowns are literal royalty-like crowns, as you see in the photo below; but in the Mediterranean tradition they are usually simple hoops wound with white silk and garlanded with silk flowers, connected to each other with a white silk ribbon. When my wife and I got married, we purchased this kind of crowns; we still have them in a box. Usually for the Slavic-type crowns, there is one set owned by the church, which is used for all the weddings. At our parish, you can choose whether you want to purchase or use the church-owned ones.
In the Russian empire, only the tsar and tsarina were allowed to wear crowns upon their heads, so in Russian weddings, the best man and maid of honor hold the crowns over the heads of the couple.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/116/953/204/407/770/132/original/8802a80d340a3e1b.jpeg

2026-07-10 13:42:05 UTC

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@nprofile…zyt0 Likewise 21, which is well below half my actual age. I suppose it just means I’m immature.

2026-07-04 21:05:24 UTC

Today my 16yo and I climbed up and down Warwick Castle. We then met up with my brother and his family, and four of us climbed the tiny narrow spiral staircase to the top of the tower of St. Mary’s church.
Every white American worth their salt claims descent from English aristocracy; nobody claims to be descended from the servants who disposed of the night soil. If you believe in that sort of thing, my wife and I are both supposedly descended from the Beauchamp family who owned the castle and are interred in the church.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/703/047/754/243/original/4b63b6246a7ed2bd.jpeg
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/706/009/564/729/original/451d2526b58cce5c.jpeg

2026-05-14 13:27:36 UTC

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@nprofile…zyt0 I understand where your childhood minister is coming from. Ascension is when a physical human body sat at the right hand of the Father. In a way you could say that Annunciation, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost are all facets of the one single feast of the Plan of Salvation.

2026-05-06 12:04:07 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6 You mean Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter”?

2026-04-13 05:45:21 UTC

(Sorry for the rash of posts one after another. I went to bed early, completely wiped out, but awoke shortly after midnight, and am still wide awake.)

2026-04-07 03:31:32 UTC

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@nprofile…kwuz If I become that person, you’ll tell me, right?

2026-03-01 14:22:22 UTC

I’m standing in the gravel lot the local Baptists let my parish use for overflow parking, next to the pond, and all the frogs are letting it be known that it’s springtime.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/116/154/355/207/656/525/original/6f8c3810adc29f03.jpeg

2026-02-28 18:46:31 UTC

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@nprofile…t05x Up until the day I had a motherboard die on me, my home server was a rather old tower with an Athlon XP processor, running headless Gentoo and a LAMP stack. Alas, at the time, home finances were extremely tight, and there was no budget for a replacement.

2026-02-04 17:14:52 UTC

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@nprofile…eqfv but you’d hardly say that God “uploaded” the Law.

2026-01-23 13:00:14 UTC

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@nprofile…hhaq Orthodox tradition says that Simon “the Cananean” was the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana. Is there a RC tradition surrounding this?

2026-01-14 02:40:35 UTC

If, at times, the dogmas of the Faith seem like hard food, you should first endeavor to fulfill the moral dogmas of Christianity; then the understanding of the dogmas of the Faith will be revealed to you. The inquisitive examination of higher things, without effort regarding the improvement of your life, does not bring any benefit.
Once, the monks of Egypt were reflecting on Melchizedek, and not being able to come to a clear understanding of the mysterious personality of this ancient king and high priest, they invited Abba Copres to their assembly and asked him about Melchizedek. Upon hearing this, Copres struck himself three times on the mouth and said: “Woe to you, Copres! You left that which God commanded you to do, and you inquire into that which God does not require of you.” Hearing him, the monks were ashamed and dispersed.
St. John Chrysostom writes: “If we adhere to the true dogmas and are not concerned about our behavior, we will not have any kind of benefit; and in the same way, if we concern ourselves about our behavior and neglect true dogmas, we will receive no benefit for our salvation. If we want to be delivered from Gehenna and to gain the Kingdom, we need to be adorned on both sides — with correctness of dogmas and honorable living.”
— St. Nikolai Velimirović, from “The Prologue from Ohrid”

2025-12-04 21:35:24 UTC

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@nprofile…3frg @nprofile…yvm3 When I post translated Byzantine hymn texts here on Fedi, I often change things like “the race of man” to “the human race,” not because I believe that one is a truer translation of “το γένος των ανθρώπων” than the other, but because I don't want people to miss the beauty of the hymns because they are stumbling over a needlessly gendered word.

2025-12-04 20:40:41 UTC

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@nprofile…3frg @nprofile…jqam The Scriptures refer to the Father exclusively as the Father — Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic are all highly gendered languages. But the Godhead is not gendered in the sense that it has genitals. The Son is definitely the Son, because he not only took on male human flesh, but also seated that male human flesh at the right hand of the Father for all eternity. But the Father and the Spirit transcend gender.
Whether you refer to God in the singular or plural depends on whether you are describing the three persons (hypostases) of the Trinity, or the divine essence, which is one. When we speak of God, we are usually not just speaking of one of the three, so we would be referring to the undivided single essence.
Where you get into heresy is when you imply that each hypostasis of the Trinity possesses its own essence. At that point you are embracing polytheism.

2025-12-04 20:22:51 UTC

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@nprofile…jqam @nprofile…3frg In early Syriac religious poetry, the Holy Spirit was referred to in the feminine, but that is because the word for "spirit," ruaḥ, is a feminine noun.

2025-11-30 17:03:30 UTC

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@nprofile…hlhr I’ve read some St. Basil, but not that one. Of course, if condemnation of the concentration of wealth is your bag, you can’t go wrong with St. John Chrysostom’s sermons.
On Sundays during Lent, on Christmas and Epiphany, and on a few other days, we serve the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. It has the same structure as the Chrysostom liturgy, but the priestly prayers are different (and somewhat longer than Chrysostom’s).
The Copts also serve a Liturgy of St. Basil, but theirs is a lot different from ours. I should post a comparison of the two sometime!

2025-11-30 14:25:57 UTC

The latter part of one of the pre-communion prayers, by St. Basil the Great.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/115/639/103/965/024/072/original/a48af99619b04b51.jpeg

2025-11-19 14:39:57 UTC

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@nprofile…nmwl
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
— Talking Heads, “Crosseyed & Painless”

2025-10-19 23:20:49 UTC

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@nprofile…6dq2 @nprofile…3frg Same here. It’s not that I’m not interested; I’m overextended.

2025-10-18 00:21:36 UTC

I’m curious to see how many points of view are represented here in answer to the following question:
When Jesus says, “I came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it,” what do you take that to mean?
(feel free to boost for reach, if you like.)
#Christianity

2025-10-13 03:50:51 UTC

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@nprofile…msv9 Jelly King appears to be a UK + Commonwealth variety. As an American, I searched in vain for a Jelly King tree for sale. I have a Dolgo crabapple tree on order now. A friend of mine grows Dolgo in his apple orchard nearby, and gave me a jar of the jelly.

2025-06-11 12:15:36 UTC

Just in case you feel like the hymnographers were never addressing you where you really are…
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/114/664/668/903/975/064/original/5041ba62858f8c3d.jpeg

2025-06-09 16:07:16 UTC

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@nprofile…2ygq Nice! In Greek "forever" is literally "from the ages" or "to all the ages" (depending on when it is past-looking or future-looking forever).
In Latin, the equivalent of this word, "αἰὠνα," is "sæculum." So the Greek phrase "εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων" (unto the ages of ages) is translated as "in sæculum sæculorum." Unfortunately "sæculum" has a second meaning of "world" (think "secular" = "worldly"), so when they translated "in sæculum sæculorum" from Latin into English, it became "world without end" — and that is how it is in Anglican usage to this day.

2025-06-08 00:36:06 UTC

The patristic tendency to portray Pentecost as the undoing of Babel seems to imply that the working of the Holy Spirit is the antidote to militant nationalism.

2025-06-06 14:33:19 UTC

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@nprofile…rt6w @nprofile…y2ay Is this the same as the "Other Servers" tab on the web interface?
Fedi has no algorithm. The "Other Servers" feed is populated by posts of people followed by everyone else on your server. I pretty much never look at it.

2025-06-01 16:06:55 UTC

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@nprofile…7wld I forget who it was (maybe one of the fathers of the Egyptian desert?) who said, regarding fasting and keeping vigil without prayer, that the demons too neither sleep nor eat, and that without prayer one keeps the fast of the demons.

2025-06-01 12:23:54 UTC

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@nprofile…7wld This only raises new questions about what Love is, doesn’t it? If God is love, love must be more enormous than we can imagine.
God is not known dogmatically, but insofar as He has revealed Himself, He can be known *about* dogmatically. But knowing about Him is not in itself salvific.

2025-05-14 13:14:26 UTC

Today is the Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost, marking the midpoint between Easter and Pentecost.
Today's gospel reading is John 7:14–30, in which Jesus goes into the temple and teaches “in the middle of the feast.” In his teaching, Jesus reaffirms his unity with the Father.
The middle of the days has come,
beginning with the Savior’s Resurrection,
and sealed by the holy Pentecost.
The first and the last shine with splendor.
We rejoice in the union of both feasts,
as we draw near to the Lord’s Ascension:
the sign of our coming glorification.

2025-05-13 15:45:28 UTC

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@nprofile…h9qy Funny how nobody's using ReiserFS anymore, despite all the fanboys crowing about its superiority at the time of Hans's arrest.

2025-05-05 18:31:43 UTC

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@nprofile…h9qy And religious uniform in general, I'd guess.

2025-04-24 14:44:42 UTC

Speaking of the doors being thrown open wide...
This is an icon of Christ and the angels leading the concentration camp prisoners out of Dachau. The liberation happened on Orthodox Palm Sunday, April 29, 1945, by American soldiers. (Western Easter fell on April 1 that year.)
This icon is over the altar in the Russian Orthodox chapel just outside the walls of the camp, beside the former crematorium.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/114/393/448/656/793/432/original/cb91e87e979750be.png

2025-04-23 13:59:30 UTC

The iconostasis doors were thrown open at the beginning of Paschal Matins, and they remain open for all of Bright Week, reminding us that the Resurrection has opened for us again the gates of the paradise of Eden.
This next Sunday is Thomas Sunday, when that disciple is invited to put his fingers in the nail-holes, and his hand in the pierced side of Christ.
The gospel reading for Thomas Sunday is from John 20, beginning thus:
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
In the Greek tradition, at Saturday evening vespers, at the moment when the words "the doors being shut" are sung in the vesperal hymns, the doors are all swung shut. (In the East-Slavic tradition, they are closed right before vespers begins.) We are reminded that even when the doors of our heart are closed, Christ is able to enter.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/114/387/587/779/919/965/original/5098fe8aff15ae6f.png

2025-04-21 01:42:02 UTC

I wonder how many days it will take for my sleep cycle to return to something vaguely resembling normal.

2025-04-18 22:06:25 UTC

Posted by a priest friend on Facebook, and shamelessly stolen:
"This is your Holy Friday reminder that Hades voluntarily brought God into his house. He has no one to blame but himself for what happened next."

2025-04-17 12:46:05 UTC

This is the communion bread that is used in the Orthodox Church (note that it is leavened; Jesus Christ himself is the leaven that had been omitted from the first Passover). The inscription IC XC NIKA means “Jesus Christ conquers.”
The priest will select the most perfect of these loaves and cut out the square from the middle to be consecrated. This is called the Lamb. Particles will be taken from the other loaves and placed on the paten in remembrance of the saints and all the living and dead of the parish.
On Great Thursday a second Lamb is also consecrated. After intinction, it is cut into many small pieces and dried. This becomes the Reserved Sacrament for the following year, to be administered to the sick.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/114/353/365/203/189/373/original/12ceb4eff90a7f84.jpeg

2025-04-09 01:28:58 UTC

@nprofile…6g6u I have always been under the impression that it is not a tradition anywhere in Western Christianity to celebrate the raising of Lazarus on the eve of Palm Sunday. If anyone would know, I figure it would be you. What say you?
This is universally celebrated in Eastern Christianity, at least among the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox. I can't speak for the Nestorian churches, though.
(I used to believe that the observance of the baptism of Christ was omitted in Western Christianity as well, but then I discovered that it was celebrated [in a rather minor fashion] on the day after Epiphany.)

2025-04-08 21:01:13 UTC

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@nprofile…sldm Declined languages can eliminate some or all prepositions, though, making for greater efficiency, and also making word order much less important.
If I have a text in Greek, and I need to make it fit to a particular melody in English, it's far easier to use Jacobean English, which has many more vestiges of declension, than to use modern English. I would imagine it would be even easier if our nouns had ever been fully declined.

2025-03-23 00:15:59 UTC

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@nprofile…h9qy Those exist. They are called tapped coils. Not too many pickup manufacturers bother, because there is little demand.

2025-03-14 13:23:38 UTC

"Lord, save us from fools, somehow!"
— St. Sophrony of Essex (d. 1993)

2025-01-31 14:53:16 UTC

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@nprofile…fae6 All Christians should live as exiles in this world. Just ran across this fantastic article: https://thechristianexile.com/2019/01/01/how-the-early-church-approached-politics/

2025-01-27 01:17:47 UTC

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@nprofile…h9qy The PMs are basically garden-variety evangelicals with a special emphasis on John Wesley’s teachings. They disapprove of the liturgical vestiges that the UMC has retained.

2025-01-27 00:55:03 UTC

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@nprofile…h9qy I grew up in a part of Latin America where the Primitive Methodists had a significant presence. What would you say is the difference between Free Methodists and Primitive Methodists?

2024-12-24 23:14:55 UTC

I have gotten a blessing to stay home from the Nativity vigil tonight to take care of my sick family. I am feeling pretty close to burnout. My house is a trash heap, the Christmas tree never got decorated, and presents are not yet wrapped.

2024-12-22 12:28:26 UTC

“Let no one say, ‘I have committed many sins; there can be no forgiveness for me.’ He who says this does not know that God is the God of the penitent.”
— St. Ephraim the Syrian

2024-12-21 20:19:22 UTC

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@nprofile…328c This one's got to be in the running. Apologies for injecting politics into anyone's lighthearted timeline.
https://www.mind-war.com/p/wheres-president-musks-birth-certificate

2024-12-20 01:32:11 UTC

#CatsOfMastodon
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/113/682/561/380/761/874/original/f7957988aa97d658.jpeg

2024-12-18 17:14:32 UTC

The Tree of Jesse, showing the righteous ones from the Old Testament who either prophesied or prefigured the Virgin Birth. Clockwise from lower left: David, Zechariah, Gideon, Jeremiah, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Aaron, Joel, Jacob, Daniel, Solomon.
https://uploads.deacon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/693/086/382/395/original/4dc8c9691596b986.png

2024-12-04 19:15:38 UTC

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@nprofile…s8ac Entirely uninterested in crypto. Thanks though.

2024-12-04 14:43:43 UTC

Today we remember three great saints:
1. St. Barbara the Great-Martyr.
2. St. John of Damascus, who codified the system of eight modes for church music.
3. St. Alexander Hotovitzky, who served as a Russian Orthodox priest in the USA, then returned to Russia, where he was executed by the Bolsheviks.

2024-11-12 19:17:54 UTC

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@npub1mmp…c7ad It is impossible as a translator to approach a text without an agenda. If you think you are doing so, you just aren’t aware of your agenda yet. 😄
Proof of this is the NIV’s approach to the Greek word (which is escaping me at the moment) which, when used in the pejorative, is translated as “traditions,” and when used in the positive as “teachings.”

2024-11-11 03:22:25 UTC

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@npub1mmp…c7ad Just for curiosity’s sake I am currently reading the book of 1 Enoch. This piece of Jewish apocalyptic literature almost certainly dates from a few centuries B.C. There was some debate in the early Christian centuries whether to include it in the canon of Scripture. While it is certainly pseudepigraphal, it was sufficiently influential that the epistle of Jude quotes it. A lot of it has to do with angelology.
There was enough of a Jewish fascination with Enoch that two other books ascribed to him also exist.

2024-08-17 18:02:17 UTC

We are facing dark times, but you will be the light in the darkness, the light of love. So I tell you: if you are silent, be silent for the sake of love. If you speak, speak for love. If you correct someone, correct them out of love. If you forgive, forgive for love. May there always be a root of love in you, because only from this root good can grow.
— St Augustine of Hippo