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Completely off topic but, in Canada thanksgiving is the second Monday of October right? Do Canadians eat turkey? Would not goose be more appropriate?

And to you and yours also, my brother in Christ.

Dear Chadrook,

Yes, you are right. Canadians used to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Americans a while back, but this was changed to avoid too much Americanization of our culture . . . good job, eh?

Turkey is the main dish on average for Canadian Thanksgiving.

Goose was usually served in Victorian times and especially in England during the four periods when the Lord of the Manor received goods from his servants i.e. on the feast of St Michael on September 29th or "Michaelmas" when it was considered lucky to eat goose on that day.

I wonder whether the Czechs ever ate roast goose on or near July 6th, the feast of Jan Hus (whom the Czech Orthodox Church is preparing to glorify, together with Jerome of Prague, as Saints, would you believe . . .).

"Hus" means "goose" in the Slavic tongues, as you know . . .

Slavic Orthodox would boil perogies in oil on the feast of St Barbara as she was boiled in oil etc.

Don't you just love those Slavs?

Alex

May we all follow the Holy Moravians!

Dear Chirstopher,

Yes, the Moravians do honour Jan Hus.

But Hus himself would have rejected them and their theology. He was a traditional Catholic priest who preached against the immorality of his age and attempted to return to the Cyrillo-Methodian heritage of Bohemia.

In so doing, he began insisting on a married priesthood, Communion in Both Kinds, the translation of the Scriptures and the Liturgy into the understandable Slavic language of the people and the like.

Russian Orthodox theologians in the 19th century saw in Hus a prophet for the return of Bohemia and other lands Christianized by Sts Cyril and Methodius to Orthodoxy.

Hus died at the stake forgiving his enemies, reciting the Creed and singing a form of the Jesus Prayer.

When he sang it the third time, the wind blew the fire into his face.

His remains were collected and tossed into the river so the people wouldn't have access to them for purposes of veneration. But he was soon venerated as a saint and martyr throughout Bohemia and even in Cracow, Poland - to this day.

The Czech Orthodox Church has prepared an icon of him and Jerome of Prague (who actually converted to Orthodoxy in Latvia where they have found his baptismal certificate) for his future glorification. Two or three Orthodox jurisdictions have spoken out in support of this and the Metropolitan says that "others will too."

Alex

Very interesting trivia! Thank you for sharing that, Alex!

And thank you for still speaking to me, dear Alice!

Alex