Sfânta Cuvioasă Parascheva

Doamne, Dumnezeul nostru, Tu, Cel ce ai zis și s-a făcut toată făptura, nu întoarce fața Ta de la noi păcătoșii, ca să nu vină asupră-ne mânia cea groaznică și înfri­co­șă­toare a durerilor, care este rodul păcatelor noastre, ce în toată ziua, nenumărate, cu ne­so­co­tință le săvârșim. Noi suntem păcătoși, ne­treb­nici și plini de răutate; iar Tu ești izvorul vieții și al milostivirii. Nu ne lăsa, Doamne! Nu trece rugăciunea noastră, a păcătoșilor, nici ne răsplăti nouă după nelegiuirile noastre, ci pentru că nu suntem vrednici a câștiga mi­los­tivirea prin sârguința cea de toate zilele, dă­ruiește-ne-o Tu ca un îndurat mult-Milostiv.

Doamne, pentru rugăciunile Cuvioasei Maicii noastre Parascheva, dăruiește-ne nouă sănătate și viață ferită de toată răutatea și ne întărește cu Duhul Tău cel stăpânitor, ca din adâncul inimilor, cu bucurie să slăvim prea­sfânt numele Tău în veci. Amin.

Carmen 

Răchitoasa, Bacău

Răchitoasa  este o comună în judeţul Bacău, Moldova, România, formată din satele Barcana, Bucşa, Buda, Burdusaci, Dănăila, Dumbrava, Farcaşa, Fundătura Răchitoasa, Hăghiac, Magazia, Moviliţa, Oprişeşti, Putini, Răchitoasa (reşedinţa) şi Tochilea.

Comuna se află în estul extrem al judeţului, la limita cu judeţul Vaslui, în zona cursului superior al Zeletinului. Este traversată de şoseaua judeţeană DJ241, care o leagă spre nord de Coloneşti şi Izvoru Berheciului şi spre sud de Motoşeni, Glăvăneşti, Podu Turcului (unde se intersectează cu DN11A) şi mai departe în judeţul Vrancea de Bogheşti şi Tănăsoaia şi în judeţul Galaţi de Gohor

În comuna Răchitoasa se află fosta mănăstire Răchitoasa (secolele al XVII-lea–al XVIII-lea), ansamblu cuprinzând biserica „Adormirea Maicii Domnului” (1698), zidul de incintă (1704) şi clădirile vechi (1739); precum şi biserica de lemn „Sfinţii Arhangheli” (1634–1653) şi biserica „Sfinţii Apostoli Petru şi Pavel (1750) din satul Oprişeşti, toate trei monumente de arhitectură de interes naţional. wiki

 

Apocryphal Gospel - Jorge Luis Borges

3.	Wretched are the poor in spirit, for under the earth they shall be what they now are upon the earth.
4.	Wretched are they that mourn, for they already have the miserable habit of mourning.
5.	Fortunate are they that know that suffering is not a crown of glory.
6.	It sufficeth not to be the last in order to someday be the first.
7.	Happy are they that do not insist they are right, for no man is or all men are.
8.	Happy are they that forgive others and they that forgive themselves.
9.	Blessed are the meek, for they do not condescend to disagreement.
10.	Blessed are they that do not hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they know that our fortune, adverse or merciful, is a matter of chance, which is inscrutable.
11.	Blessed are the merciful, for their happiness lies in the exercise of mercy and not in the hope of a reward.
12.	Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God.
13.	Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness, for righteousness matters more to them than their human destiny.
14.	Nobody is the salt of the earth; no one, at some moment in life, is not the salt of the earth.
15.	Let thy light so shine, even if men cannot see it. God shall see it.
16.	There is no commandment which cannot be broken, neither those that I say nor those that the prophets have said.
17.	He that kills for a just cause, or for a cause which he believes just, is guiltless.
18.	The acts of men deserve neither hell fire nor heaven.
19.	Hate not thine enemy, for upon doing so, thou art in some way his slave. Thy hate shall never be better than thy peace.
20.	If thy right hand offend thee, forgive it; thou art thy body and thou art thy soul and it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the boundary that divides them...
24.	Exaggerate not the cult of truth; there is no man that at the end of the day has not lied with good reason many times.
25.	Swear not, for all swearing is an emphasis.
26.	Resist evil, but without awe or anger. To whomsoever smite thee on thy right cheek, thou mayest turn the other also, as long as thou art not moved by fear.
27.	I speak not of vengeance nor of forgiveness; to forget is the only vengeance and the only forgiveness.
28.	Doing good to thine enemies can be an act of righteousness and it is not difficult; loving them, a task for angels and not for men.
29.	Doing good to thine enemies is the best way to placate thy vanity.
30.	Lay not up gold upon earth, because gold is the father of idleness, and the latter, of sadness and of boredom.
31.	Judge that others are or shall be righteous, and if they are not, it is not thy error.
32.	God is more generous than men and shall mete to them with a different measure.
33.	Give that which is holy to dogs, cast thy pearls before swine; what is most important is to give.
34.	Seek for the pleasure of seeking, not for that of finding...
39.	The gate is the one that chooses, not the man.
40.	Judge not a tree by its fruits, neither a man by his works; they could be better or worse.
41.	Nothing is built upon the rock, everything upon the sand, but our duty is to build as though the sand were rock...
47.	Happy are the poor without bitterness or the rich without pride.
48.	Happy are the valiant, they that accept with equal spirit failure or applause.
49.	Happy are they that retain in their memory the words of Virgil or Christ, for these shall give light to their days.
50.	Happy are they that are loved and they that love and they that can do without love.
51.	Happy are the happy.

Fragments of an Apocryphal Gospel Jorge Luis Borges Translated by Mark D Larsen April 23, 2008  http://vis-si-realitate-2.blogspot.ro/

Photographs I Never Took

All of these pictures were taken with my Canon between 1st - 5th Sept 2015 in 

POTOS THASSOS - GREECE

I didn't take a photograph of the statue of Robert Burns.
His sightless eyes were looking out over Dunedin,
the most Scottish town in the southern hemisphere,
and there was a seagull, not a pigeon, standing on his head.
I would have called it 'Robbie Burns and Friend.'

And I didn't take a picture of the bus shelter
painted all over with jungle foliage and a tiger
peeping out over the simulated signature of Henri Rousseau.
The title would have been 'This Bus Shelter is a Forgery.'

Neither did I photograph another painted wall,
one round a cemetery full of ornate and sombre tombs,
with a large and skilfully executed advertisement -
Renta Sanitarios Mobiles (Hire Mobile Toilets) .
It would have been called 'Is there no Respect for the Dead? '

I didn't take the photo of a Fijian policeman.
A pity, for he had such a practical uniform,
very smart and cool,
in a tasteful shade of policeman-blue,
based on the traditional sulu
with a striking zigzag hem.
The title would have been 'A Policeman in a Skirt? ! '

I couldn't take a photograph of sunset over Popocatépetl
- although the sun was setting in a red and golden haze,
and the most romantically named mountain is just
what you imagine a perfect volcano should be,
even to the wisp of steam at the peak
– because the sun was actually setting over Ixtaccíhuatl
and 'Sunset over Ixtaccíhuatl' doesn't have quite the right ring
The shape of the mountain is not very picturesque either.
Yes, I would have called that one 'Sunset over Popocatépetl'
– if I could have taken it.

My camera wouldn't focus on the crescent moon
hanging over the Egyptian skyline,
horns pointing up, so close to the Equator,
and the evening star (Venus or some more ancient goddess)
just above and almost between the points.
If that one had worked it would have been called 'Islamic Moon.'

I couldn't possibly have taken a photograph
that would do any justice to the young piano student
in a Hungarian castle
hammering out Liszt as if the hounds of hell were after her,
but if I could, I would have had to call it 'Apassionata.'

And I didn't even have time to get my camera out
to take a picture of the wild humming bird
darting green and unconcerned
among dilapidated tenements in the heart of Mexico City.
But that living jewel shines bright in my memory,
even without a photo.
I don't know what I would have called that one,
and I'm sure it doesn't matter. 

Paul Hansford 

for Carmen