Monday, January 23, A.D. 2012

The Future of the Church

Today in Washington, D.C., thousands of American citizens will attend the thirty-ninth March for Life. I wish everyone a safe journey to and from the city. Hopefully, it will not rain too much on our parade. If you are interested but not near D.C., EWTN broadcasts the march.

Fitting for the day, I offer you a charming picture that I saw on Interfax:

It is Saint Sergius in Stockholm, a parish of the Moscow Patriarchate in Sweden. Let us hope that more Russkies in the Motherland follow the same path and that the Swedes themselves wake from their nightmare and begin to replenish their nation, as well, instead of emasculating their men, destroying the souls of their voluntarily barren women, and importing the Third World to replace the indigenous population. A revival of Christianity would assure both desired outcomes; such is evident in the former but not in the latter. Let us remember to pray for the lost peoples of the West. In Washington, D.C., at least today, we shall stand against the “culture of death.”

Posted by Joseph on Monday, January 23, Anno Domini 2012
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Monday, January 2, A.D. 2012

Church Design Competition

I wish you well in the new civil year. May A.D. 2012 be a good year for you.

The Art Newspaper has a story about the Moscow Patriarchate’s project to solicit architectural and artistic designs for two hundred churches that are to be built in Moscow’s suburbs: “Competition launched to decorate Moscow churches.” At the beginning of the film version of The Return of the King, Treebeard proclaims that the filth of Saruman is washing away (based on a line near the end of The Two Towers: “. . . it will be foul water for a while, until all the filth of Saruman is washed away.”) I think that such is true in Russia, as well. The mire of Soviet theomachy is slowly disappearing. The effects of the revolution remain and will remain for ages. However, the Russian land and its people are slowly healing thanks to God’s mercy.

Posted by Joseph on Monday, January 2, Anno Domini 2012
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Friday, December 23, A.D. 2011

Nichols on the Orthodox

For Christians who follow the new calendar, I wish you a Merry Christmas this upcoming weekend. Enjoy the feast.

Last week, I came across a sixteen year old short article by Dominican scholar Aidan Nichols on the mutual need of the other by Rome and the Orthodox: “A Catholic View of Orthodoxy.” Having already read some of his works, I knew of and respected Fr. Aidan. He is my kind of papist, meaning that he has a firm grounding in Eastern patristic theology and appears to conceive of religion in ways that make sense to me. He is not the secularized, horizontal, politically focused Latin whom Ivan Fyodorovich’s Grand Inquisitor represents. Rather, the brilliant Dominican is a traditional Christian, though one with intellectual commitments to Rome’s unfortunate ways.

In the article, written shortly after the liberation of Orthodox Europe, Fr. Aidan lists various benefits that engagement and communion with the Orthodox would bring to Rome. He ends by mentioning how submission to the Roman papacy is necessary for the Orthodox. In this, he criticizes the cultural and national connections in Orthodox Christendom. I agree that Roman administrative order might be useful in some ways for the Orthodox. The lack of central direction has obvious disadvantages for resolving certain canonical issues. The decentralized episcopal authority of Orthodoxy, however, has concomitant advantages that can be seen in confederal secular arrangements. Local infections of disorder or confusion might take longer to heal, but they are less likely to spread in the current Orthodox model. In the absence of a supervening external power, provincial problems might linger, but their resolution is more likely to come about organically and slowly in the least disruptive way. Time and concession to facts, not meddlesome prelates from afar, arbitrate where curial bureaucrats are not to be found. Most importantly, convention, which in an ecclesial context is chiefly the apostolic and patristic tradition, rules when men have little authority over other men. The Athenian Stranger in the Laws argues that ancient law once governed the Athenians, but then those Greeks lusted after unbridled freedom and devolved into a society wherein the mob rules. Human will, often a beast of caprice, thus trumped the settled principles of the forefathers. Liberals discount such convention because they notice some aspects to be false or inadequate. What they fail to realize is that the fleeting whims of contemporary powers are much less stable and wise. With respect to the Church, convention is not simply the accumulated wisdom of past ages; rather it is the teaching of Christ, passed down through his apostles and the fathers. It is shameful hubris to trade such direction for the faddish yearnings of an immature and foolish generation that has drowned in the confusion of so many apostate teachers. The Latin response is that their magisterium is like the true philosopher who can see the really real; their pope is the philosopher king who stands above tradition with its necessarily inflexible limitations. I agree that it would be better to live in the Golden Age of the Republic, when men were ruled by gods, but such is not an option. The bishops might be vicars of Christ, but they are not infallible representatives. The Latins are simply wrong. Episcopal synods may err, and it is better to have a Christian people that is aware of such a possibility. It is also preferable that their errors and the subsequent madness that follows are limited in scope. A global episcopal monarchy, as has developed in the Roman Church, multiplies those dangers. We Orthodox are wise to reject the papal deal; the cost is too great for the benefits gained.

Furthermore, I disagree with Fr. Aidan’s criticism of the Orthodox tendency to identify culture and religion. Indeed, I do not understand the frequent complaints of Orthodox phyletism. Where are these heretical phyletists? The examples offered all seem proper to me. Fr. Aidan criticizes the Serbs for a movement that believes that Serbs have suffered collectively for providential reasons. Why may that not be so? Once, before modernism infected the Latins and fragmented their souls, the English believed that their land was a dowry for the Virgin Mother and the French believed that they were the Eldest Daughter of the Church. The Irish held that the Lord used them as a faithful remnant during the dark heathen times. Why are these claims wrong? A cursory reading of scripture or casual review of history shows that God employs men individually and collectively to advance the salvation of men. It is the modern Western soul, fraught with secularism, dualism, and individualism, that no longer understands the whole man and his place in a healthy community. Contemporary Latins often pay lip service to “inculturation,” “engaging the culture,” and “social solidarity,” and yet they criticize the Orthodox when we manifest those traits in unmodern ways that offend their perhaps unconscious “Enlightenment” liberal principles. Then, such Westerners turn from being open engagers of culture to latter day Tertullians who dismiss worldly wisdom and stress that Christians are to be a special people apart from the world.

Posted by Joseph on Friday, December 23, Anno Domini 2011
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Monday, December 19, A.D. 2011

How to Deal with Heretics

To those on the real old calendar, happy feast of Saint Nicholas!

Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springdale, Arkansas has a brief summary of Nicholas’ life and work. Among the items listed is the famous episode at the Council of Nicea where Nicholas struck Arius for his blasphemy. Marc from Bad Catholic offers some amusing commentary “On the St. Nick Punch.” Though it is in indisputably bad taste, I enjoyed his caption for the painting of Nicholas’ strike: “BOOM! YOU JUST GOT KRIS KRINGLED SON!”

Three years ago when I wished everyone a “Happy Feast of Saint Nicholas,” I mentioned a movie about Nicholas that was due out the following year. Production has evidently stalled; the movie has not yet been released. Maybe the delay is due to funding or to the poor economy. However, Nicholas of Myra should eventually be released.

С праздником!

Posted by Joseph on Monday, December 19, Anno Domini 2011
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Monday, December 12, A.D. 2011

ROCOR Hosts OCA

This past Saturday, Metropolitan Hilarion and several bishops from the Russian Church Abroad hosted and celebrated with Metropolitan Jonah and bishops from the Orthodox Church in America. The O.C.A. site has several photographs of the liturgy at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign. You may read the story on the O.C.A. page as well as the fire dousing statement on the R.O.C.O.R. site:

ROCOR remains committed to its conservative, traditional positions, and so does the Moscow Patriarchate. Therefore we are not compromising any principles by normalizing relations with the rest of the Orthodox Church.

The Church Abroad was formed for the purpose of uniting the Russian communities outside of Russia, who desired to remain faithful members of the Orthodox Church of Russia, awaiting its revival, and from the beginning also carried on the missionary function of spreading the Orthodox faith among non-Russians, wherever possible. These roles remain unchanged.

I am heartened that the Synod cares enough about its cautious flock to reassure them with such statements. Count me among the wary sheep. However, I am also pleased that our bishops are showing support for the O.C.A. primate in his efforts to maintain orthodoxy and orthopraxis in his jurisdiction, especially when he appears to get so little encouragement from his own synod. What should we expect from an atmosphere where, just years ago, the faithful of the Russian Church Abroad were customarily villified as backward sectarians and schismatics? Verily, verily, we are building bridges and moving on in Christian charity, though I am reminded of Basil Fawlty’s commentary from “The Germans”: “Yes, well, forgive and forget, Major . . . God knows how—the bastards!” Trust will take much time.

Update: The Synod’s site now features a proper news article about the concelebration, which includes many other photographs: “The Primates and Synod Members of the Russian Church Abroad and the Orthodox Church in America Concelebrate for the First Time.”

Posted by Joseph on Monday, December 12, Anno Domini 2011
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Friday, November 25, A.D. 2011

Outpost

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Let us remember to count our many blessings.

George Michalopulos recently linked to a moving documentary, “Форпост,” about the Holy Ascension Monastery in the Ukraine, where the monks have taken on the duties of caring for orphans. A neighboring convent also assists in providing the children with maternal love. It is worth watching even if you do not understand the language; it is still easy to follow:

The Fund for Assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has a page on how you can help these monastics and their wards, many of whom have disabilities and diseases that further disadvantage them:

A New Jersey resident who wished to remain anonymous designated a gift of $50,000 to a worthy project—support of a remarkable orphanage in a small village of Bancheny, Ukraine, near Chernivtsi. The orphanage is affiliated with the Holy Ascension Monastery and provides care for 220 children, 40 of whom have HIV, 41 are handicapped, and 27 suffer from epilepsy.

90 monks and 65 nuns from the Holy Ascension Monastery and Boyanski Convent take care of the children.

According to Archimandrite Longin (Zhar), abbot of the monastery, and founder and head of the orphanage, the money will be used to buy medication, food, clothes and other daily essentials.

Born near Chernivtsi in 1965, archimandrite Longin (then Mikhail Zhar) founded the orphanage in 1992 after adopting a six-month old AIDS orphan. After becoming tonsured in 1997, he became the abbot of the Holy Ascension male monastery (Moscow Patriarchate).

In 2008 he was named “Hero of Ukraine” by president Victor Yuschenko and received two medals for his work with orphans.

There are many types of recruits for the Lord of Sabaoth.

Posted by Joseph on Friday, November 25, Anno Domini 2011
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Friday, November 18, A.D. 2011

The Cult of the Saints and the Cato Institute

A few weeks ago, I lost a small screw while helping someone fix his glasses. This screw was tiny even for frames. I accidentally dropped the screw, and then our not so merry crew began to search for the humble hardware. We looked in vain for about twenty minutes, and I was starting to lose hope. I then suggested that we pray to Saint Anthony. I began the prayer, and as soon as I got to the word, “find,” one of the seekers exclaimed, “Found it!” The Lutheran fellow who owned the glasses joked that he should convert to Catholicism.

The episode occasioned thoughts about the cult of the saints. I wondered why Protestants resisted it so strongly. Protestants frequently bring up the “middleman” objection—why not simply pray to God directly? This is a strawman argument, as there has never been a Christian who did not pray to God directly. It then occurred to me that Protestantism—the spiritual side of modernity—is intensely individualistic, and perhaps that individualism is behind the Protestant inability to appreciate the Church Triumphant.

Protestants might ask why God would “assign” saints to assist the faithful. After all, the Lord is omniscient and omnipotent; he does not need an army of prayer listeners in heaven’s call center. However, we might just as well ask why God expects us to walk as children of light. We Christians are God’s invasion force that brings the gospel to the world. God works through us, not because he needs us, but because such is the fulfillment of our purpose and of our nature. We are to be gloves for the divine hands. I do not see why that role would change upon earthly death. If the saints are involved in intercessions and miracles, it is because God allows them to continue to serve their fellow men because that is their nature. God’s economy allows human beings to be his intermediaries; such is his gift to us. It is not an indication of any sort of weakness in God.

For this to make sense, however, one must see mankind corporately. We exist for one another and are accountable to one another. Our destiny is not simply as an individual; the highest thing is not between “me and God,” as one so often hears Protestants proclaim (and note the order of importance shown in the common saying). Rather, human life is social, even in its salvation. The Church teaches that it remains so even in heaven.

Posted by Joseph on Friday, November 18, Anno Domini 2011
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Friday, November 11, A.D. 2011

Russian Phoenix

I wish everyone a thoughtful Armistice Day. Civilizational decline is a long process, but the First World War seems a particularly noticeable symbol of the West’s suicidal tendencies.

However, rebirth is a central idea in Christendom. The Christians adopted the pagan phoenix, the bird reborn from its holocaust, as a symbol of Christ. There is always hope for redemption and renewal for us. As such, I wish to offer a fitting video for the day. At the time of the Great War, Satanic wickedness ascended to power in Russia, and the Communists declared war on God’s people. The video below begins with early footage of this demonic behavior. However, no matter how carefully the Old Guard treats the corpse, Lenin slowly rots in his pagan tomb while the Church has blossomed forth again in Russia. Glory be to God!

My only complaint about the video is its outrageous soundtrack. At first, the background music is some bizarre mixture of liturgical singing with New Age Enya-esque synthesizing. Then, the music morphs into a 1980’s style heavy metal guitar screed that supposedly represents the climactic triumph of the Cross, which is wildly inappropriate. It is a reminder how fidelity to tradition keeps us from traveling down the same path as the Latins, with their Simon and Garfunkel “Sound of Silence” hymns, “corn god” crucifixes, and icons of Gandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. If you let anything go, poor taste and confusing liturgical corruptions would infect the Church. I imagine that the video maker, or at least the person who did the sound, could not have been older than twenty-five years and was probably a new convert from a secular family. The Lord gladly accepts the widow’s mite; so, perhaps I should not be so critical. Anyway, aside from Axl Rose’s interpretation of the One Hundred and Forty-Fifth Psalm (146 for the Wessies), the clip is worth seeing.

Хвали, душе моя, Господа. Восхвалю Господа в животе моем, пою Богу моему, дондеже есмь. Не надейтеся на князи, на сыны человеческия, в них же несть спасения. Изыдет дух его, и возвратится в землю свою: в той день погибнут вся помышления его. Блажен, ему же Бог Иаковль помощник его, упование его на Господа Бога своего. Сотворшаго небо и землю, море и вся, яже в них. Хранящаго истину в век, творящаго суд обидимым, дающаго пищу алчущим. Господь решит окованныя, Господь умудряет слепцы. Господь возводит низверженныя, Господь любит праведники. Господь хранит пришельцы, сира и вдову приимет, и путь грешных погубит. Воцарится Господь во век, Бог твой, Сионе, в род и род.

Posted by Joseph on Friday, November 11, Anno Domini 2011
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Friday, October 14, A.D. 2011

Advice for a New Bishop

Philip Lawler has published some great advice for a new bishop on Catholic Culture. Lawler and his friends compiled the list after the recent scandals that have plagued the Latins. Though based on the particular situation of the Roman Church in America, I think that many of Lawler’s recommendations would be useful for Orthodox hierarchs. I laughed heartily as I read some of his points, which are humorous in a rather dark way. Among his suggestions, we read:

Upon arrival, get rid of all paper shredders at the chancery and insist that no work be taken home in briefcases. Make friends with the maintenance man and the wash lady.

Immediately obtain a backup copy of the computer network and secure it for any future audit. Change the locks. Secure the bank accounts. Check stock.

There are probably a large number of people you really have to dismiss quickly: rebellious pastors, effeminate chancery officials, etc. (The less urgent cases can wait; you can use the budget crisis to justify the blow.) Fire them all at once. Plan it carefully to minimize the uproar. Make the announcements late on a Friday afternoon. On Saturday, release that rip-snorting pastoral letter on family life, which you have been drafting since your appointment was announced. Schedule some event Sunday with a big, loyal Catholic group. Tell reporters you’ll answer questions there.

Put the religious orders on notice. Maybe throw out one of the smaller ones just as a warning shot.

Talk to the pro-lifers, identify the level-headed ones, and get their read on your own clergy: who’s solid, who’s good but weak, who belongs to the opposition. Ditto for the lay bureaucrats and hospital admin types.

Having found a few priests you can trust absolutely, spend some long late evenings going over personnel files with them.

Plan for a massive scale-down: school and parish closings, clergy put on waivers, chancery pink slips. You’ll probably have a 6-to 12-month grace period in which you can justify almost any cost-cutting by saying, “Sorry. We have to pay the sodomy bill.” Use it to get rid of the worst personnel and the schools that are beyond hope.

To the extent possible, fly in support to your home-schoolers. Inter alia, almost all the vocations you get (and want to keep) will come from them.

You will find that you have two or three prosperous parishes that are traditional centers of opposition, led by dissident priests. If you had all your priests read that fire-breather pastoral on protecting family life, you’ll probably have enough general lay support—even given the hostility of the media—to face down the bad pastors after they refuse to play ball. Replace them with Nigerians to mute the screams from liberals and to force the worst parishioners to go to the Episcopalians or the Paulists.

Get to know some state troopers. Buy them a round of beer. Tell them that you want to hear about trouble from them, not from the press. Tell them it is a moral obligation to arrest wrong-doers. Ask them to pass the word.

Hire your own director of religious education, and tell him to select new texts throughout. Institute standardized testing to make sure something is happening in CCD classes. Tell parents (and pastors) that kids can’t be confirmed if they do not pass the test. Spot-check when you do confirmations.

Spend a lot of time at the seminary. Arrive unannounced frequently.

When you visit parishes, skip the phony paperwork. Speak to the priests, personnel, and parish council: one-on-one, if possible. Ask them what’s the biggest problem facing the parish. Look for trends in the sacramental index. Check the liquor cabinet in the rectory. Check the grocery bill.

Make a habit of calling priests at random, at odd times. Ask them what they’re doing.

Identify Orthodox Jews, who are big on family values, and make it clear you’re well disposed to them. Not only is it a huge help politically to have an Orthodox rabbi standing next to you when you hold a press conference deploring some abortion-law outrage, but if you can get on the right side of the rift in the Jewish community you can spare yourself aggravation from the liberal Jews who anoint themselves public spokesmen.

Having informed him of your wishes on the matter, dock the diocesan paper editor a day’s pay every time your photo appears. The diocese is not about YOU.

Publish every semester a roster of the theologians and philosophers teaching in your diocese along with their mandatum status. Give a brief but candid explanation for any case in which the mandatum has been denied, e.g., “defects regarding Catholic doctrine on contraception.”

If a complaint comes in on liturgical abuse, phone the pastor and get his side of the story. Make it a policy to write him a letter summarizing the conversation (including his assurances of conformity) and if that complaint was warranted, insist that he post your letter in the vestibule of the church for a month. If the complainant reports no change, send someone to check it out on site.

Find out when Eucharistic adoration is being held at schools and colleges and make it a point of sliding in unexpectedly and joining the students in adoration—not taking center stage, perhaps not even saying a word, but just being shoulder to shoulder at prayer with them.

Find an opportunity to visit all three military service academies once a year and give the cadets the most ferocious rip-roaring homily you can muster (as a clandestine vocation appeal). You’ll bag 6 to 10 a year—not all scholars, but good men from good families. There’s a huge pool of idealism there that’s coming to grips with the disillusionment toward military life. They love folks who promise to make it hard on them.

Kudos to Lawler for the battle plan!

Posted by Joseph on Friday, October 14, Anno Domini 2011
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Monday, October 10, A.D. 2011

Another Example of How the West Is West

Recently, there was an interesting comment thread about infant communion on Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s post, “US Catholic gets nutty about Bp. Olmsted of Phoenix and Communion under both kinds.” Occasionally, WDTPRS readers indulge in Latin triumphalism when differences between the Roman Church and the Eastern Churches arise in discussions. More frequently, though, Fr. Z.‘s many righteous Extraordinary Form peeps simply exhibit a Western mindset that I find alien and troubling. This mindset predates contemporary ecumenical gatherings; it lies close to the Western religious soul. Accordingly, a commentator on the thread quoted the Council of Trent, and the selection exhibits nicely a point that I wish to make:

Chapter IV.

That Little Children Are Not Bound to Sacramental Communion.

Finally, this same Holy Synod teaches, that little children, who have not attained to the use of reason, are not by any necessity obliged to the Sacramental Communion of the Eucharist: forasmuch as, having been regenerated by the laver of Baptism, and being incorporated with Christ, they cannot, at that age, lose the grace which they have already acquired of being the sons of God. Not therefore, however, is antiquity to be condemned, if, in some places, it, at one time, observed that custom; for as those most Holy Fathers had a probable cause for what they did in respect of their times, so, assuredly, is it to be believed without controversy, that they did this without any necessity thereof unto salvation.

On Communion under Both Species, and on the Communion of Infants.

Canon I. If anyone saith, that, by the precept of God, or, by necessity of salvation, all and each of the faithful of Christ ought to receive both species of the Most Holy Sacrament not consecrating; let him be anathema.

Canon II. If anyone saith, that the Holy Catholic Church was not induced, by just causes and reasons, to communicate, under the species of bread only, laymen, and also clerics when not consecrating; let him be anathema.

Canon III. If anyone denieth, that Christ whole and entire – the Fountain and Author of all graces – is received under the one species of bread; because that – as some falsely assert – He is not received, according to the institution of Christ Himself, under both species; let him be anathema.

Canon IV. If anyone saith, that the Communion of the Eucharist is necessary for little children, before they have arrived at years of discretion; let him be anathema. As regards, however, those two articles, proposed on another occasion, but which have not as yet been discussed; to wit, whether the reasons by which the Holy Catholic Church was led to communicate, under the one species of bread only, laymen, and also priests when not celebrating, are in such wise to be adhered to, as that on no account is the use of the chalice to be allowed to anyone soever; and, whether, in case that, for reasons beseeming and consonant with Christian charity, it appears that the use of the chalice is to be granted to any nation or kingdom, it is to be conceded under certain conditions; and what are those conditions: this same Holy Synod reserves the same to another time, – for the earliest opportunity that shall present itself, – to be examined and defined.

The chapter concerns infant communion and the manner of partaking the Eucharist, which was the topic of the WDTPRS thread. The chapter notes that infants communed in antiquity—as they still do in the Orthodox Church—but it states that this is not necessary for them because they have not attained the age of reason and cannot bring sin upon themselves, their original sin having been cleaned through baptism. The implication is that Christians participate in the Eucharist as a means to acquire salvific grace that one only needs in response to one’s sins and shortcomings. I find such perverse. The Eucharist is the central act of the Christian life—why should children of the Church not participate? The decision basically states that we only commune because we sin.

We smell here that focus on atonement that pervades Western spirituality. According to this tendency, God does not really adopt us to share in his life; he simply throws us a life raft and rescues us from our own ill doing. Certainly, we are saved, and we know from what we are saved, but for what are we saved? The Roman Church has maintained the apostolic message, but large swaths of Western piety and theology appear remarkably unconcerned about the ultimate goal of man’s salvation.

Moreover, there is a common and disquieting tendency in papism to treat the Christian life as necessary chores. One sees this with episcopal dispenations. Bishops excuse their flocks from aspects of Christian devotion or practices as if they were not intrisically valuable but only externally required as acts of obedience. Of course, some dispensations make sense because they allow for one good to trump another good, and pastorally minded shepherds look after the good of their rational sheep. Yet, most dispensations of Latin bishops seem to suggest that the liturgy, confession, and traditional piety are necessary unpleasantries that Christians must tolerate, as a patient must tolerate injections or nasty tasting medicine. We hear the same attitude when the Latins boast of thirty minute masses in the same way that a man might express relief that he only had to wait a short time at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Worshiping the King of all holds a similar place in one’s life as the burden of getting new license tags? Likewise, why should infants commune if they need not do so to avoid hell? We would not want them to experience any extra grace or closeness with the Lord that is not absolutely needful.

Western minimalism does not only spring from Luther and his rebels.

Posted by Joseph on Monday, October 10, Anno Domini 2011
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