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Was it cold enough for frozen vigil lamp oil [facebook.com] in 19th century Russia?

Well, maybe it was, but it sure is not common in the southern United States.

Olive oil congeals but does not freeze. It should still be possible to light the wick under such conditions, which would provide enough heat to liquify a pool of oil sufficient to sustain the light. In effect, you go from an oil lamp to a rather gooey olive oil candle.

Through some magic bit of thermodynamics in my basement prayer corner/room which I do not understand, the oil in the lamps remained liquid. Only the stash of replacement oil congealed. It makes refilling the lamps themselves rather tricky.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"

HOSPODI POMILUJ!
Stephanos I

Was there nail polish [facebook.com] in 19th century Russia?

Actually somewhere last year or so I read something about taking care to keep the wine from freezing in the chalice, maybe related to the hot water/zeon. It certainly made me think twice about how we complain about how cold our church is, probably about 66 degrees when we're complaining, wimps that we are...

Do we know if Fr Serge is still surrounded by ice?

In Minneapolis, somebody in the public transit agency had an environmental brain fart: let's run all the busses on recycled cooking oil collected from all the fast food restaurants in town. Works like a charm, except when the temperature drops below freezing (which it has been known to do in Minnesota), at which point the cooking oil turns to the cholesterol-laden, artery choking sludge that it is. All the busses stopped moving as one--a problem both the Germans and the Russians encountered in the Great Patriotic War. The Germans solved the problem by putting gasoline in the crank cases, and by using blow torches to keep everything liquid (do not try this at home). The Russians cut their diesel fuel with petrol, had a pre-heater for their glow plugs, and a whopping big air cylinder to turn over the pistons on cold starts.

Ive been told that in Alpine regions of Europe, there are little hot-plates upon which the cruets of wine and water are placed to prevent them from freezing.

One night last week, the furnace wouldn't come on at Church - talking about B'ham AL. I just told everyone now we can sort of appreciate what our brothers and sisters in Europe go through to go to the Divine Liturgy. It is hard for us in the south to truly understand the cold. Although, staying in the low teens for two weeks is helping.

LOL, Mary

I showed Ed's photo to my 6 year old. She was unimpressed by the oil, but immediately commented on the nail polish (she considers purple, of any shade to be the very best of colors) - 'Wow, that lady has some beautiful color nail polish, Daddy. Can you ask her what color it is, so I can buy some when I get old enough that you let me wear it?' I told her that it probably would be out of style when she was 33, which would be when I'd let her wear it

We have to open the windows during the inter to keep from overheating; it routinely hits the upper 80's in the nave, and low 90's in the Altar. Despite it being 0°F outside.

I met a Benedictine monk who travelled to Europe from Australia in the early 30s and his ship called in at the then Italian colony of Eritrea on the Red Sea. He said it was so hot that the ships were loaded and unloaded only at night and when he said Mass at church near the port the cruets were in ice and there was a fan actually on the altar aimed at him. A sample of the other extreme.

In 1997 and 1998, the Orientale Lumen Conferences celebrated their liturgies in the Caldwell Chapel of Catholic University. Because the chapel was never used in the summer, it had no air conditioning. Neither did the windows open. In the third week of June, the interior temperature topped out at over 100 degrees. I was serving at the altar, and watched the celebrants melt like Frosty the Snowman.