text:
NOTE: The following article is excerpted from Studies in the History of Religions XIXXX:317-351.
- "Do as the Priest Says, Not as the Priest Does!"
- "I Worship the Icons | My Eyes on the Matrons"
- Men vs Women: Isolation And Discrimination
- "The Abbots' Right Over Gypsy Women"
- Homosexuality and Pedophilia in the Monasteries
At the beginning of the 18th century, Romanian Metropolitan Antim Ivireanul created, through his Didahii (Sermons), a genuine "theology of sin," setting the stage for the immorality of erotic voluptuousness. To him, women were "reprobate and tempting to evil things." All vices, but especially sexual ones ("the bitter sweetness of foul fornication") were demonized by the Metropolitan ("He who sins is from the Devil"), Hell being "the consummate payment for sin":
"Think […] that you have defiled your soul with fornications, adulteries, sodomies, soblazne-s [= pollutions], with debaucheries and food galore; your hands, with foul fondling [= masturbation], with perversions and rapes [= sexual violations], with killings and others." Didachies (Sermons), 1709-1716.
The metropolitan was speaking not only to Christian laymen, but also to clerics, handing them genuine "textbooks of the confessor." The confessor had to know "how he will question" the wretched sinner during "confession" and "how to bring him back to the righteous path" (Teachings for Confession, 1710).1
…Most of the sins confessed into the priest's ear were surely those of an erotic nature. As Michel Foucault put it: "sex has been the privileged matter of confession."2 Compared to the rigorism of the clerics, the peasants' mentality was more flexible, more permissive…Quite often, however, the confessors needed confessors themselves, as they were not immune to the temptation of sin either…More than that, "due to uninterrupted idleness and abundant food," some clerics "are naturally more exposed to the temptation of the body than other people."3
The sinner's confession took place in the intimate and dark space of the confessional or, with the Orthodox Christians, in a less "hygienic" space, under the priest's apron (patrafir, Neo-Greek epitrahilion = "around the neck").4 The confessor (who played the role of the psychiatrist in ancient times) had to know relevant details, but he also wanted to hear them. Listening to countless illicit sexual exploits, told by their parishioners with hundreds of licentious details, the confessors saw them with the mind's eye, becoming inclined towards erotic fantasies. They were prone to sin first "in thought" and then "in deed." As an old Romanian proverb goes, which was recorded in a manuscript dating back to the middle of the 18th century: "The appetite for fornication is much whetted by gazing" (Mss. BAR no. 273, 1759)5 . "Gazing," but also "lending an ear" whets "the appetite for fornication." That is what Antim Ivireanu also said explicitly, at the beginning of the 18th century:
"You have defiled your ears with dirty songs and words […] you have [defiled] your eyes with impious sights and signs of fornication" (Didahii [Sermons], 1709-1716).
"There are men who rape a woman with their eyes," says a character from a novel by Octav Şuluţiu (Ambigen, 1935)6. The sensory system plays a paramount role. The rest is a matter of the imagination. The main sexual organ is not the penis or the vagina, but the brain.
One of the first Romanian poets who addressed the hypocrisy of the Christian Orthodox priests was Alecu Văcărescu, around 1795: "Should a priest walk your way | He acts in a hallowed way | But he's masked his face away."7 When Eminescu wrote in a poem (Egipetul, 1872) about the "debauched clergy," he was surely not referring only to ancient Egyptian clergymen. Presumably, he also had in mind contemporary Romanian, Christian Orthodox clerics. There are many debauched priests and monks in Romanian literature…
Even when they were married, some Orthodox priests would not refrain from bedding one of their women parishioners or from raping a maid. The following is the real testimony, from a complaint dating back to 1791, submitted to the Metropolitan's office and probably signed by a neighbour, who bears witness to the way in which a certain Father Toma had raped and deflowered his young maid, Pena:
"(One evening), as he came back home drunk, [Father Toma] beat up his wife and threw her out of the house and then he turned upon this girl [Pena] and spoiled [=deflowered] her. And to prevent her from shouting, he gagged her. And he repeated that exploit twice that night."8
Following the girl's complaint, the Metropolitan's office launched an inquiry, opening a "case." The confrontation was, however, asymmetrical and unjust. The priest's sexual privileges, even if they are not provided for (and are even banned) by law, through custom and use, became tradition, into lex non scripta: "[b]ut the legal battle did not give [the maid] a winning hand", Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţulescu rightly comments, "for the priest had on his side his friends from the slum, his prestige and his power. To denounce such a master involved much greater risks than keeping the secret: losing the job, dishonour, the impossibility of finding another job."9
In their turn, abbots and monks from Christian Orthodox monasteries were not guileless either. On seeing a beautiful maiden, they feared they would be tempted to sin:
The poor monk's desire, See his soul burning on fire […] Where he sees a maiden fair His frock is blown in the air, For his soul is in despair, Afraid a great sin to bear!10
Obviously, some monks got over their "fear to sin" and raped girls. One of them, in a monastery in Moldova, in 1739, tried (without success) to avoid sanctions ("beating" and "gaol punishment"), confessing that it had been a freely consensual act, not a sexual violation: "with the girl's approval he committed fornication, not forcefully."11
The monk and priest Eufrosin Poteca (1785-1858), the future prior of the Gura Motrului monastery, also suffered from "the disease of loving maidens," being always "consumed by love" and feeling "in the depths of his heart, the fire of love" for fair maidens. These are almost innocent vices, which, he claimed, he had to experiment in order to be able afterwards "to bring others to the right path as well": "I wanted to learn better the passion of love so that I might learn by trial and error how I might lead others to the right path, too."12
Small wonder that the reformist theologian was deeply resented by the senior clergy of the Romanian Orthodox Church. For the early decades of the 19th century, but not only, Eufrosin Poteca behaved at the limit of scandal and sacrilege. As to Prior Eufrosin Poteca, the Metropolitan was "full of rabid venom."
Eufrosin Poteca promoted a sort of "erotic mysticism," as George Călinescu dubbed it. In 1828, for instance, while in Pest, the Romanian monk and priest experienced a state of supreme spiritualization, of mystic de-materialization ("she seemed to have turned me all into spirit), making love to "a mystery maiden." A very beautiful maiden, true, but who proved to be of light mores, "a harlot":
"[The girl] was very pretty, indeed, like a fresh rose bud, like an angel, like a goddess […] We slept together in bed and we tasted a sweetness, a pleasure which to me, seemed a blessing from God […]. She seemed to have turned me all into spirit."13
And all this, he confesses to the reader, not because he might have been a "virgin," it was "as if he hadn't known a woman before." More than anything, the reformist priest-monk and Prior Eufrosin Poteca stood up against monastic asceticism. "He did not fast or bow down to the ground in church," G. Călinescu wrote. He lamented his fate (and the fate of the monk in general) of leading a sad and unfulfilled life without a wife: "[t]his is a life against nature, against the consorting law, against God."14
A whole chapter in the index of folk motifs by ethnologist Stith Thompson (Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, 1932-1937; T330- T350) is devoted to the theme of folk tales and legends related to the sexual temptations of monks and hermits: T350. Anachorites under temptation.15
The monks in Buddhist monasteries were banned from all sexual activities: masturbation, sodomy, zoophilia, etc. As we have seen, it is precisely the bans of some practices that prove their existence. However, paradoxically, the greatest sin was the heterosexual sex act. A woman could not be penetrated by a monk in any of "the three impure orifices" (the vagina, the anus, the mouth). The erect penis was not allowed to penetrate inside "not even the length of a sesame seed," according to the Buddhist texts.16
…For the Christian-Orthodox space, see Cânticul călugărului (The Monk's Song), collected at the middle of the 19th century by Vasile Alecsandri17 and the song Călugăritul (Donning the Monk's Frock), collected around 1868 from the repertory of the Bucharest Gypsy rhapsodists by G. Dem. Teodorescu18, a great admirer of Eufrosin Poteca19. The poor monk lived in a true state of schizophrenia, his eyes and his mind juggling "from icons to matrons"20 and "from (the pages of) the Bible," to "fair maids":
I was not good for the frock, For my heart is like a rock, Nor was I good for the cloth, But for love I am no sloth, 'Cos I worship all the icons My eyes set on the fair matrons, As I read, the Bible fades When I watch the fairest maids, When a fair maid walks my track, My frock shivers on my back. The Monk's Song, 1856. 21
Or, as one of those "matrons" sexually harassed around the nooks and corners of the church might say, the priest or the monk is "His mind all to the Kingdom come, his hands deep in my bosom." That is a popular saying collected by the beginning of the 19th century "by Lord Governor (dvornic) Iordache Golescul" (Pilde i tâlcuirea lor (Parables And Their Meaning), c. 1832). 22 Sometimes, worshipping icons and reciting verses from the Holy Book could appease sexual impulses. In other cases, it did not work that way:
When to church I go to pray, My lover stands in my way, I try to worship the icons, My lover around me fawns, He beguiles me from my canons; I pray and I cross my heart, My lover thinks it is smart To think that hell won't us part. Tulip leaves will entwine, Lord, it is no fault of mine: If my sins do make me blunt My lover should bear the brunt. La biserică (In Church), 1871. 23
The Christian icons (and the saintly women painted on them) are not always remedies that repress the erotic fantasies of the monks, secluded behind the walls of their monasteries. On the contrary, they even provoke fantasies, verging on blasphemy. It is not by accident that Gustave Flaubert (The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1872) imagines the Christian theologian Tertullian (early 3rd century AD) urging "the smashing of icons" (that was a long time before the iconoclastic crisis), as a proponent of asceticism and of the cultivation of values:
"Smash the icons! Cover the virgins with veils! Pray, fast, cry, make penance!"24
Even if the religious motivation is replaced by the sociopolitical one, we are not too far from the romantic revolt of Eminescu's proletarian, who claimed the smashing of "all that entices their sick heart", of all that sparks "the voluptuousness of the ribald orgy":
Smash down the antique bronze that Venus naked shows, Let pictures that do wickedly entice be brought to dust.Emperor and Proletarian, 1874. 25
…The monk Hans (Adeodatus, by his monastic name) – a character imagined by novelist Liviu Rebreanu (Adam şi Eva [Adam and Eve], 1925) – passionately falls in love with the icon of the Holy Virgin adorning his cell in the Abbey of Lorsch, near the town of Worms, in Germany: an icon which had accompanied all his trials as a young man, throughout his monastic life. Adoring the icon, he had started to notice the anatomical details of the painted body of the Holy Virgin, her "alluring and caressing" eyes, her "beguiling" smile, "(her) round bosom heaving under the silky gown," etc. Eventually, due to his erotic fantasies, the monk's love for the icon becomes carnal, bodily, sexual:
| "Adeodatus took the icon, with both hands, and kissed it rapturously, without realizing that his passion might be unholy. (…) The Virgin Mary seemed like any woman of flesh and blood, and he himself, without true faith in his soul. And they made love with a sinful love: they embraced each other passionately and bit their lips with such devilish pleasure that, waking up, he still felt for a few moments, in all his body, that damning voluptuousness. […] All day long, he flogged his body, but he dared not glance at the icon. And the following night, the dream repeated itself, even more wicked than before. (…) And the third night, the same."26
…It might be that the apocalyptic state around him, the Sodom and Gomorrah atmosphere, is leading the monk towards such "Satanic" fantasies. It must be the millennium crisis situation, of a "world gone out of joint," which motivated and pushed Rebreanu to insert that strange episode into his strange novel…
Obviously, not only the monks, but also the nuns – "the brides of Christ" – were (are) dominated by sexual impulses in the convent. "With a courtesan's smile and a churchgoer's eyes," as Eminescu might say (Scrisoarea [Letter] V, 1881).27 Unbridled, these propensities can lead to the supreme sin, of replacing religious feelings with erotic ones. Even worse, to replacing their supreme "groom," Jesus Christ, with a young, beautiful and very much alive layman, of flesh and blood:
"Woe betide the poor nun, For her heart is on the run, Where she sees a handsome lad, Her white veil will billow glad, Where she sees a youth, Her step's small in sooth, For she would follow, smooth; Where she sees a dapper man She bends down as much she can To pray, like to Jesus then."28
Obviously, the sin is lurking around the nun all the more so as to bring the sinning layman closer to her. As the popular saying goes, which was reported by Governor Iordache Golescu around 1832: "I tell him that I'm a nun and he unties my pants (to tell the brassy ones)."29
In the first decades of the 19th century, the custom had it that some of the daughters of the boyars from Moldova should take the veil, especially at the Agapia and Văratec convents in northern Moldova. That is how two younger sisters of Gheorghe Sion took that path. Around 1840-1841, Gheorghe Sion (then aged 18-19) led them to the Agapia nunnery. He spent three to four days there, and he met many novice nuns, all coming from aristocratic families:
"Some (young nuns) were so fair," Gheorghe Sion reminisced, "and even, God forbid, so flirtatious, that, had I not feared to sin and had I not been naïve and shy (as I was at that time), who knows how many sins I would have burdened my soul with! (…) Besides the jams, cups of coffee, breakfasts and lunches I was treated to (by these nuns), I felt bathed in their charming glances and rocked in dreams of voluptuousness."30
Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţulescu associates this story with the fact that, at the same time (1 st May 1844), upon the express request of the Metropolitan, reigning Prince Mihai Sturdza issued an order for young unmarried men to avoid visiting the Agapia and Văratec convents, where they would have gone only to commit "misdeeds." "In other words," – the scholar concludes – "to twist the minds of the young nuns. Knowing the story of Anton Pann or of Barbu Mumuleanu, we also know why the Prince was right to be worried…" 31
In a well known apocryphal text, The Apocalypse of the Holy Mother, which has some eighty versions in the Romanian language, attested to the 18th -19th centuries, the "Pregesta" (The Holy Mother of God) visits Hell and sees the sinners doomed to infernal ordeals. The wanton nuns have a special place in "The River of Fire." At some point, "The Holy Mother of God saw another place of great toil, and only women labouring there": "These are the nuns which have slipped into fornication (…) and are led by their carnal desires, and who do not seek to redeem their souls from sins."32
In an article dating from 1922, Tudor Arghezi raised his voice against the common mentality that perceived the monk as a "hypocritical libidinous man." The great poet and publicist considered that it was just a stereotype, a bias, a mental cliché:
"Whoever sees in monasticism the permanently present image of sex, and nothing else, is making a simplistic and vulgar judgment."33 However, Arghezi realized that erotic drives are hard to rein in during a prolonged monastic seclusion. In a poem also written in the 1920s, he tried to describe the sexual fantasies of an ordinary deacon, Iakint (a kind of Eufrosin Poteca). It is about the phantasms experienced by a deacon during the period of spiritual and food fasting which the other monks from the monastery observed before the Easter holidays:
While all the hermits, Lord, it grieves, Are punishing themselves, like thieves, With bitter fasting and obedience, In Holy Week, doing their penance, In his small cell (the deacon's), last night, A real girl made darkness bright With her firm breasts and narrow hips Of Florentine lute, an ellipse. Mâhniri [Sorrows], 1927.34
The materialization of the deacon's erotic vision was so strong, so concrete and real, that even the almighty God, "who sees all," caught a glimpse of the girl, as she sneaked out from monk Iakint's cell, in the morning.
The love of beauty, specific to God, can mitigate the guilt of some sins committed "willingly and unwillingly," "in deed," but also "in thought." As we have seen, for the rigorist Antim Ivireanul, the eyes are soiled "with unbecoming views and with signs of fornication" (Didahii [Sermons], 1709-1716). As Cantemir put it: "by day and night, he would punish and torment himself in his thought even worse and in a more terrible fashion than in his body" (Istoria ieroglifică [The Hieroglyphic History], 1705)…
In the sacred spaces of the temples, the meeting and the nearness of men and women were limited, if not altogether banned. The mere sight of a woman was considered to be apt to distract a man's concentration from "the things holy." An erection could even happen in the space of a church, as happens, according to the Romanian popular saying: "The poor man's oxen won't pull the cart, his bread falls in the mud and his cock gets a rise in church." That is why special, isolated, places have been imagined and built for women in churches, synagogues and mosques. The idea is to isolate women, doubled by their discrimination. Not only did women sit completely separated from men in synagogues and in mosques (on a floor upstairs, behind a parting screen), but sometimes they also had separate entrances (like in the Choral Temple, built in Bucharest over 1864-1866). Sometimes, in the Jewish quarters of some mediaeval cities (for instance, in the judería from the city of Gerona, in Catalonia), there were so-called "women's streets," which they could use to get to the synagogue, without meeting men on their road.
The worshipping men used to sit (in the conservative regions they still do) separated from the women in the Christian Orthodox churches too, even if not on different floors. The men sat in front, in the naos, and the women at the back, in the pronaos.35 Or the men sat to the right side of the naos, while the women sat on the left. The gender considered "weaker" (the woman) was seated on the side which was considered "weaker" (the left)36. Exceptionally, following the Islamic (Turkish) model, even in some Christian Orthodox churches in Romania, the women sat on a different floor.37 As I have said, the separation of men from women goes hand in hand with the negative discrimination of the latter. In the synagogue, church or mosque, the place destined for women is always in a less favourable space, a "weaker" space from a symbolic and ritual point of view: behind a screen, on a higher floor (on a different floor than the altar and the officiating priest); in the pronaos or in the back (further away from the altar); in the naos, but on the left, etc.
Another way to limit the temptation of men (this time, of Christian monks) is the interdiction of women to enter the precincts of a monastery dressed in an "immodest" ("indecent") way, or with their hair untied and uncovered. There are also other places where there are prohibitions for women, regarding "immodest clothes": in the public space in some Islamic states, but also in the district of the ultra-orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, called Mea She'arim ("One Hundred Gates").
In some monastic spaces, the presence of women is totally prohibited. The best known case is the monastic complex at Mt. Athos (20 monasteries and 12 hermitages), where the interdiction of women is total. "If women came here, – one monk from Mount Athos said, – two-thirds of us would follow them and would get married."38 This is, of course, an exaggeration, but a significant one. From the so-called "ascetics of the wilderness" (3rd -4 th centuries A.D.) to the monks from Mt. Athos, the total repression of any sexual intercourse (happening "in thought or in deed") was a steadfast rule: "Looking at a female, even at a chicken," – as I. P. Culianu ironically said – "posed a great spiritual danger."39
An old monastic parable – also reported by Culianu, – says much about the monk's interdiction to look at (to admire) a girl, even accidentally. The hero of this story is Serbian Athonite monk St Sava (1175-1235), the founder of the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos, who became the first archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church, and was later canonised. The parable attests to a test of monastic restrictions, of total erotic abstinence. Whoever failed the test was excluded:
"When the old Saba (= Sava) and a disciple walked on their way past a good-looking girl, Saba said that she had only one eye, and his disciple protested: he had seen that the girl had both eyes. That had been however, a trick of Saba's, to see if his disciple had taken a good look at the girl. Then the disciple was driven away."40
Besides the settlements of "princes' gypsies" and of "boyars' gypsies," there were also gypsy slaves living around the monasteries in Wallachia and Moldova. They are the so-called "monastery gypsies".41 In this case, the "abbot's right" (that of the egumen, in Romanian: from the Neo-Greek igúmenos), worked just as the "boyar's right" worked over "the boyar's gypsies".42 Speaking of the sexual privileges which the boyars arrogated over the young slaves, historian Radu Rosetti synthesized in a few lines the similarity of behavior with that of abbots in monasteries of the 18th century, and the first half of the 19th century:
"You should not believe that only the lay masters (the boyars) used royal rights over the gypsy women belonging to them: these slaves made up genuine harems for the abbots of the monasteries which the generosity of the pious donors had endowed with a great many gypsy souls. Especially the Greek abbots of the dedicated monasteries had a reputation of knowing how to build up seraglios of gypsy beauties, through exchanges (of slaves)."43
…It is not only the lord of the land that was entitled to ius primae noctis over the boyars' slaves, but also the abbot, over the monastery slaves. Let us switch to the non-fiction area. Some documents attest to the existence of this situation until very late. In 1843 (and previously, in 1836), the slaves from the Râncăciov Monastery (Muscel county) sent a complaint to Wallachia's ruling Prince Gheorghe Bibescu (and previously to ruling Prince Alexandru Ghica), exposing the "tyrannical" behaviour of the "famous abbot, Father David." One of the complaints in the princely supplication went as follows:
"Our daughters who are of marrying age, if we want to marry them to a lad, the abbot hides them and he puts them under lock and key, with his armed guards, ordering us first to take the girls to his Holiness, to deflower them, and then only to be free to marry them"44
The supplicant slaves – who most probably were helped by a lawyer – note the fact that the abbot illegally applied this sexual "right" ("like a lawless man"), both from ecclesiastic and legal points of view: "a consequence totally alien to the church and political laws." Moreover, as we saw how things happened with the boyars, the abbot's erotic privileges did not stop only at the gypsy women slaves of the monastery, but extended over "the wives in the village with (whom) he has his pleasure."
The sexual slippages of the priors and abbots were so usual that they could be invoked even when they did not happen. Blaming them was quite likely, even if the erotic abuses of the monks were not always real, but on occasion estaged. In the spring of 1785, for instance, a girl named Stana went to Prior Gavrilă (a confessor at the Radu-Vodă monastery in Bucharest) to pay the rent for the hovel on the monastery estate where she was living. The monk jokingly made some sexual innuendos to the girl, but nothing more. However, prodded by a neighbour, the young Stana sent a complaint to the Metropolitan, alleging that she was raped and deflowered, thinking that "she would get 300 thalers from the confessor": "Then, at the moment of giving the money (for the rent), the said Prior (Gavrilă) allegedly took her in his cell and spoilt her virginity."
To stay in the spirit of the age, we are not too far from the stories told by Marquis de Sade, in his novel Justine (Justine ou Les Malheurs de la vertu, 1791). The accusation brought against prior Gavrilă was easy to believe. It was plausible because, at the time, in the monastic environment, that was a fairly common sin. In order to be even more persuasive, Stana cut a chicken's crest and, with the blood dripping from it, smeared her blouse, as a proof of the deflowering. Although some witnesses (especially women neighbors), conniving with Stana, defended her version, the Metropolitan council ruled in favour of Prior Gavrilă, also taking into account that the poor man was old, sick and impotent: "And even more vigorously as we have ascertained (Confessor Gavrilă) is also a man tormented by rupture (hernia) and he is also past his prime."45
For her false statements and perjury, Stana was banished to the convent of Viforâta, near the town of Târgovişte (Wallachia).
This true story reminds me of a hagiographic legend from the collection Vieţile sfinţilor (The Lives of The Saints).46 It is an etiological legend about the genesis of the Gypsy people, told by Costache Negruzzi in 1839. Negruzzi's text is titled exactly like this: Pentru ce ţiganii nu sunt români (Why Gypsies Are Not Romanians).47 It says that several heretics, some "lost sheep," complained to ecclesiastic authorities that Bishop Gregory (Grigorie) was a sexual profligate and that he had a mistress, "a young and beautiful girl." A priestly synod was sent to the place to look into the facts. And indeed, in the bishop's bedroom, they discovered "a young girl," in a state of "scandalous lack of clothing." The bishop was sentenced to death. But in order to convince the priests that "he doesn't know what the sin of fornication" is, St. Gregory "lifted the hem of his frock." And then, "the gathering was dumbstruck, for the holy father was…like Abeilard [sic]". In other words, he was castrated, just as had happened to French theologian Pierre Abélard (1079-1142), as a punishment for having deflowered his beloved Héloїse. St. Gregory was exonerated, and the heretics who had "badmouthed the man of God" were cursed to be "black skinned," "to live from thieving," and "in eternal slavery from father to son," with their owner "having the right to sell them as beasts," "to call them Gypsies," etc. "The Romanians immediately rushed in and took them as slaves." This is how the Gypsy population allegedly appeared in the world…48
Sifting through and reading the supplications kept at the Department of National Archives, researcher Constanţa Vintilă- Ghiţulescu found many important social history documents. Some of them are related to the subject under discussion. Here, for instance, is a case dating from the end of the 18th century, which happened in a monastery in Wallachia. The Butoiu Monastery (village of Potoc, Dâmboviţa county) was rebuilt in 1648-1649, under ruling Prince Matei Basarab, who also endowed it with a settlement of Gypsy slaves. At the beginning of the year 1799, some Gypsies belonging to this monastery mustered their courage and complained to father Climent (probably a bishop) and then higher up, to his Holiness the Metropolitan, alleging that Abbot Ignat lived with a young slave woman, Gherghina, and also committed other abuses. In their complaint, they alleged that "due to one woman called Gherghina the gypsy, we cannot live."
It is interesting that if a boyar had been in the same situation as the abbot, the civil authorities ("the lay judge") would not have intervened at all. The boyar would not have infringed any rule, be it legal or moral. The sexual "right" of the boyar over the Gypsy women slaves from the settlements on his estate was tacitly recognized by everybody, even if it was based only on an archaic custom, on a lex non scripta. An unwritten law which dates back to the Greek-Roman Antiquity. Artemidorus of Ephesus, for instance, defined as being "links in keeping with the norm" (kata nomon) the sexual relations between a master and his slave, be the latter "a man or a woman." "Unfit for the norm" (para nomon) would have been only if the slave had been the one who "possessed" the master, not the other way round: "It is no good to let yourself to be possessed by the slave: through his touch, he would show contempt towards you."49
In the case of Butoiu monastery, however, the monk was not violating the lay norms, but those of the church. Even more, the actions of the abbot ran counter to the rules of monastic asceticism. In keeping with their own regulations, the ecclesiastical authorities were compelled to intervene, be it only to appease public opinion. Indeed, in the summer of 1799, the Metropolitan's office sent a group of priests, led by Father Nicodim, to investigate the case and to propose possible sanctions, This is what the situation in Bucharest looked like, at the beginning of the 19th century:
"Besides the jail, besides the police prison from the dungeons of the Old Princely Court, and the vaults of the military governor and of the Aga, the Metropolitan also had a jail for priests.50
Returning to the case of the Butoiu Monastery, before the authorities, even the ecclesiastical, all the slaves from the settlement (except for the signatories of the complaint) were afraid to confirm the situation which was known to all the Roma community. Especially as they were accused of sending over the complaint. The fear of the authorities was a typical behavioural attitude for the traditional Romanian society. That psycho-social illness has tenaciously survived to date. For the collective mind, nothing good could come from the authorities. Be they administrative or ecclesiastical, central or local, police or financial, the authorities in the Romanian space have been high-handed, corrupt, abusive and punitive over the centuries. The situation was even more dramatic with respect to "aliens" (Romas, Jews, etc.). As such, the Romas under investigation at the Butoiu Monastery in 1799 shrugged in fear, insisting they knew nothing: "(We) had no idea, nor did we prompt them to make a complaint." Eventually, it seems that Abbot Ignat was not found guilty of fornication with the Gypsy woman slave Gherghina. The only culprits were the elderly Gypsies from the settlement. Headed by their chieftains, Nedelco and Stan, they wrote (probably under dictation) and signed a deed whereby they pledged to make the younger slaves "more submissive": "In duty being bound, we, the elders, to advise all the other younger ones to do good and to be submissive."51
Exactly ten years later, in February 1809, things repeated at the same Butunoiu Monastery. This time, another abbot was accused by another two slaves of the monastery of other "frightening deeds," including homosexuality, pedophilia and rape:
"For abbot Constantin there have been many a complaint against him, that for a while now he has fallen into fornications (…); also that for a young gypsy boy that he started to rape him."
This was a copycat scenario: the dean sent an investigating commission to look into the case, and the Gypsies were herded "in front of the church" and investigated "one by one." For fear of reprisals, they disassociated themselves from the two "rattling" plaintiffs. Eventually, the latter were the only culprits and they were sentenced to have their soles flogged. Afterwards, they were forced to sign a writ, whereby "they recognized their guilt and that they would desist."
Historian Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţescu is right when she wonders whether things really went that way at the Butoiu Monastery, in 1799-1809 (which is very likely), or if the Gypsy slaves had other misunderstandings with the two abbots of the monastery, and tried to have them punished, knowing that the worst accusations in the eyes of the ecclesiastical authorities were fornication, sodomy, pedophilia, rape and the exertion of the lord's right, etc.52
It is common knowledge that heterosexual and homosexual (including pedophilic) relations were quite usual in the Christian monastic milieu, be it Orthodox or Catholic. I need not go into too many details; only a few examples from Romanian and world culture…
In the middle of the 14th century, Giovanni Boccaccio (The Decameron, 1352) had the courage to raise the thorny issue of debauchery and carnal sins accomplished by "all" the Catholic cardinals, priests and monks. He wrote about sodomy, fornication, pedophilia, etc.:
"From the most senior to the most junior one, the (Catholic) priests were all sinning through carnal debauchery; and not only in those ordred by nature, but even in the debauchery of sodomy, without knowing the rein of repentance or shame, so much so that the most wicked women and the small children had the greatest appeal when it was about winning their favours" (The Decameron I.2).53
The homosexual relationships among monks are also present in Romanian literature, for instance, in Vasile Voiculescu's prose. In one of his short stories (Chef la mânăstire [Revelry at the Monastery], 1952), which the writer presented as a "true story," Father Iosafat, the abbot of a monastery in Moldova lives with a very young monk, Brother Minodor. The latter was "the abbot's darling," "a rosy-cheeked lad," "a girlish boy," "with long and sweet lashes," who "was inclined more towards women's sweet and liquor wines." Everything happens under the complacent gaze of Father Dean Ilie, "the ecclesiastical head of the county," who had come on an inspection at the respective monastery:
"The Abbot [Iosafat], heaving in his armchair, drew to him, holding him on a protruding knee, Brother [monk] Minodor, who, with his chubby cheeks, his languid blue eyes, and a semblance of black hairs on his upper lip, with rings of hair floating on his back and along his monastic frock, looked like an angel reclining on the chest of an old saint."54
The defrocked monk Ion Creangă could speak volumes on this subject: "he had learned some of the secrets of life in a monastery." He was always critical of the monks, the priests and other clergymen: "they burst out of their belts, pot-bellied as they are."55 Creangă lived among priests and, as a teenager and as a young man, he lived in boarding houses of all kinds of "factories of priests," such as the theological schools in Fălticeni and Socola. Small wonder that the only homosexual episode in his work has a priest as its hero, in his famous Poveste a poveştilor (The Story of All Stories): "And as he was whistling in surprise, the cock dashed with a smack! right in the priest's ass! Then, the priest started to yell…"56
As an old popular saying goes, which was commented upon around 1832 by boyar Iordache Golescu: "Another one in the priest's ass (used when something happens unawares, something irksome)." The same learned boyar wrote down another popular saying, which concerns a man who is in love with a priest: "One loves the priest, another the priest's wife, and another the priest's daughter (it shows the variety of pleasures)."57 Speaking openly about "the variety of (sexual) pleasures," Golescu had a quite Liberal attitude for a boyar from Wallachia, in the first half of the 19th century. True, he was a boyar who had travelled across Europe.
Homosexuality and pedophilia are still big problems among priests and monks today, especially among the Catholic, problems that the Pope himself is at a loss to solve.58 The Vatican is being blamed for putting a lid on these forbidden sexual practices, for decades (centuries, actually).
Coming back to the illicit erotic relations between the Orthodox abbots and the slaves in the monasteries, we must say that homosexual, even pedophilic relations have been attested. Obviously, the latter did not go unpunished by the church authorities. Not only were the jails for priests – as we have seen above – special, but so were their punishments. It seems that for the crime of pedophilia, the clergymen got a special physical punishment, called "the iron child":
"A device used to punish the priests, when they committed an immoral act, was the "iron child." This "child" weighed 50-60 kg. The punished priest was forced to hold that weight in his arms for four to five hours."59
At the end of the 18th century, it was proved that Abbot Teofil of the Căldăruşani Monastery (near Bucharest) "had committed sodomy with the Gypsies, but the Gypsies have committed sodomy with him." On account of this "ill and wicked deed," the abbot was demoted to the lowest rank, that of "simple monk." Moreover, he was banished to the Tismana monastery, "to weep for his sins" there.60
Virtually, in the case of the abbot of the Căldăruşani Monastery, the law (glava (chapter) 333, titled "For Sodomy"), was applied in its letter and spirit:
"If it were that anybody from the church clergy is found to be a sodomite, he shall then be bereft of everything, as the law of the church writes, of all the good he will have had from the church and they shall take him and lock him in a faraway monastery; and they shall even more vigorously demoted him from his position…"
Exceptionally, in aggravated situations, the "sodomite" clergyman was handed over to "the lay judge," who was supposed "to scold him with death, namely, to behead him." (Pravila de la Târgovişte [The Codex from Târgoviște], 1652). As the folk saying goes: "Do as the priest says, not as the priest does!"
Perhaps all these illicit sexual practices – which sparked more or less public scandals – have hastened the moment of the liberation of Gypsies from slavery in the Romanian space, which happened around the mid-19th century. Or, at any rate, perhaps they did not push the liberation per se of the slaves from the monastic settlements (1844 in Moldova and 1847 in Wallachia) to happen around one decade before the liberation of the Gypsies owned by boyars (1855 in Moldova and 1856 in Wallachia). The big landowners (and implicitly owners of Gypsy settlements) blocked as much as they could the act of liberation of the boyars' Gypsies. Although he was in an open conflict with the government of ruling Moldovan Prince, Mihail Sturdza, Kogălniceanu paid homage to the ruling prince for promulgating the law of the emancipation of the monastery Gypsies on 31st of January 1844:
"We, the youth from Moldova, – I speak only of those with whom I have worked – forgot that day our fierce fight against ruling Prince Mihail Sturdza for his abuses" (Dezrobirea ţiganilor, ştergerea privilegiilor boiereşti, emanciparea ţăranilor [The Liberation of the Gypsies, The Eradication of The Boyars' Privileges, The Emancipation of The Peasants], 1891).
On 6 th of February 1844, a few days after the liberation of the Gypsy slaves from the monasteries, Mihail Kogălniceanu – who was fairly aware of the mechanism which had led to the decision to abolish slavery, "the most heinous social enormity," – did not forget also to pay tribute to the Romanian Orthodox Church:
"Honour be to the Church, too, today, which has no slaves any longer; for it now shows itself as the true Church of Christ, who brought freedom on Earth, saying that before him there are no rich or poor men, no masters or slaves!" (Dezrobirea ţiganilor [The Emancipation of the Gypsies], 1844).61
Obviously, in the Catholic Middle Ages, too, the sacred space of the churches and monasteries could also become a place for the forbidden fantasies and love affairs, be they homo- or heterosexual. The nuns and abbesses from the Catholic convents were also subject to those types of sins. Boccaccio's stories (The Decameron, 1352) abound in such erotic monastic prowess. 62
- Dan Horia MAZILU, Law and Sacrilege in the Old Romanian Society, Iaşi: Polirom, 2006, pp. 394-397.
- Michel FOUCAULT, Istoria sexualităţii [The History of Sexuality], Romanian translation by B. Stanciu and A. Onete, Vest Publishing House, Timisoara, 1995, p. 48.
- Andreas Capellanus, Despre iubire (About Love), bilingual edition, translation and notes by Eugenia CRISTEA, study, introductory note, notes and bibliography by Anca Crivat, Polirom Publishing House, Iasi, 2012, p.215.
- With Alexandru Macedonski: "Father Cioaca care on Christmas Eve to put his apron over our heads," or in Dan Botta's translation, with François Villon: "The Holy Apostles" are "Girdled with sacred aprons | To better seize the villains | who revel in their sins" (François VILLON, Balade şi alte poeme, translation by Dan Botta, presentation by Tudor Arghezi, the Publishing House of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest, 2006, p.47).
- Folclor vechi românesc (Old Romanian Folklore), edition, preface, notes and bibliography by C. Ciuchindel, Bucharest: Minerva, 1990, p. 246.
- Octav ȘULUȚIU, Ambigen [Ambigenous], novel illustrated with etchings by I. Anestin, Bucharest: Vremea, 1935, p. 26.
- Nicoleta ROMAN, "Deznădăjduită muiere n-au fost ca mine". Femei, onoare şi păcat în Valahia secolului al XIX-lea, Bucharest: Humanitas, 2016, p. 37.
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830) (The Fire of Love. About Love and Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, p. 55.
- Ibid.
- G.Dem. TEODORESCU, Poezii populare române [Romanian Folk Poems], critical edition, notes, glossary, bibliography and index by George Antofi, preface by Ovidiu Papadima, Bucharest: Minerva, 1982, p. 349.
- Dan Horia MAZILU, op. cit., 2006, p. 422.
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830) (The Fire of Love. About Love and Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, p.221.
- George Calinescu, Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent (The History of Romanian Literature From The Origins to The Present), second, revised and enlarged edition, overseen and with preface by Al. Piru, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1986, p.121. Constanţa VINTILĂ- GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830) (The Fire of Love. About Love and Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, pp. 219-220.
- G. CĂLINESCU, Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent (The History of Romanian Literature from the Origins to the Present), second, revised and enlarged edition, overseen and with preface by Al. Piru, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1986, p. 121.
- Stith THOMPSON, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legends, revised and enlarged edition, vol. 5, Rosenkilde and Bagger, Copenhagen, 1958, pp. 379- 381.
- Bernard FAURE, Sexualités bouddhiques: Entre désirs et réalités, Paris, Flammarion, 2005, pp. 71 sq.
- Vasile Alecsandri, Poezii populare ale românilor (Folk Poems of The Romanians), preface and bibliography by Stancu Ilin, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1982, p.228.
- G. Dem. TEODORESCU, Poezii populare române [Romanian Folk Poems], critical edition, notes, glossary, bibliography and index by George Antofi, preface by Ovidiu Papadima, Bucharest: Minerva, 1982, p. 349.
- G. Dem. TEODORESCU, Viaţa şi operile lui Eufrosin Poteca (cu câteva din scrierile'i inedite), Academy Press, Bucharest, 1883.
- A similar saying is also attested by Dinicu Golescu, in 1832: "One eye on the icon and another near the icon" (Iordache GOLESCU, Scrieri alese, [Selected Writings], edition by Mihai Moraru, Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1990, p. 192).
- Vasile Alecsandri, Poezii populare ale românilor (Folk Poems of The Romanians), preface and bibliography by Stancu Ilin, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1982, p.228.
- Iordache GOLESCU, Scrieri alese [Selected Writings], edition by Mihai Moraru, Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1990, p. 193.
- G. Dem. TEODORESCU, Poezii populare române [Romanian Folk Poems], critical edition, notes, glossary, bibliography and index by George Antofi, preface by Ovidiu Papadima, Bucharest: Minerva, 1982, p. 393.
- Gustave FLAUBERT, Ispitirea Sfântului Anton [The Temptation of St. Anthony], Romanian translation by Mihai Murgu, preface by Irina Mavrodin, Bucharest: Univers, 1977, p. 68.
- Mihai EMINESCU, Poezii [Poems], text selected and established, critical fragments by Perpessicius, volume supervised and chronology by D. Vatamaniuc, Bucharest: Romanian Cultural Institute, 2004, p. 67. English translation by Corneliu M. Popescu, http://www.gabrielditu.com/eminescu/emperor_and_proletarian.asp.
- Liviu REBREANU, Adam şi Eva, edition supervised by Niculae Gheran, preface by Ion Simut, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998, p. 173.
- Mihai EMINESCU, Poezii [Poems], text selected and established, critical fragments by Perpessicius, volume supervised and chronology by D. Vatamaniuc, Bucharest: Romanian Cultural Institute, 2004, p. 164 (our translation).
- G.Dem. TEODORESCU, Poezii populare române [Romanian Folk Poems], critical edition, notes, glossary, bibliography and index by George Antofi, preface by Ovidiu Papadima, Bucharest: Minerva, 1982, p. 349.
- Iordache GOLESCU, Scrieri alese [Selected Writings], edition by Mihai Moraru, Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1990, p. 170.
- G. SION, Suvenire contimpurane [Contemporary Memories], complete edition, Iaşi: Polirom, 2014, p. 372.
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Patimă şi desfătare. Despre lucrurile mărunte ale vieţii cotidiene în societatea românească, 1750-1860 [Passion and Delight. The Small Things of Everyday Life in Romanian Society, 1750-1860], Bucharest: Humanitas, 2015, p. 353.
- Timotei OPREA, Rai şi Iad în cultura populară românească. File de apocalips (sec. XVIII-XIX) [Heaven and Hell in Romanian Folk Culture. Pages from an Apocalypse (18th -19th c.)], Buzău: Alpha MDN, 2005, p. 167.
- Tudor ARGHEZI, Opere, vol. V: Publicistică (1919–iulie 1928) [Works, vol. V: Journalism (1919-July 1928)], edited by Mitzura Arghezi and Traian Radu, preface by Eugen Simion,), Bucharest, National Foundation for Sciences and Arts & Univers Enciclopedic, 2004, pp. 132-134.
- Tudor ARGHEZI, Cuvinte potrivite [Fitting Words], preface by Liviu Papadima, anthology by Mitzura Arghezi and Traian Radu, Bucharest: Minerva, 1990, p. 13 (our translation).
- Nicolae IORGA, Istoria românilor în chipuri şi icoane [The History of the Romanians in Faces and Icons], Foreword by Andrei Pippidi, Bucharest: Humanitas, 2012, p. 164.
- See the study by Andrei OIȘTEANU, "Stânga versus dreapta. Farmecul discret al dihotomiei" ["Left vs. Right. The Discreet Charm of Dichotomy"], in ID., Mythos & Logos. Studii şi eseuri de antropologie culturală [Mythos and Logos. Studies and Essays in Cultural Anthropology], second, revised and enlarged edition, Bucharest: Nemira, 1998, pp. 267-282.
- Under Turkish influence, ruling Prince Petru Cercel (1583-1585) built a balcony behind the naos of the Big princely Church in Târgovişte, above the entrance to the naos, where the Prince's wife would sit during the mass, hidden behind a curtain. She got to that balcony in the church through a passageway built right from the Princely Palace.
- Robert DRAPER, "Chemarea muntelui sfânt" [The Call of the Sacred Mountain], National Geographic Romanian edition, December 2009, p. 104 (our translation).
- Ioan Petru CULIANU, Cult, magie, erezii. Articole din enciclopedii ale religiilor [Cult, Magic, Heresies. Articles from the Encyclopaedias of Religions), Romanian translation by Maria-Magdalena Anghelescu and Dan Petrescu, afterword by Eduard Iricinschi, Iași: Polirom, 2003, p. 120 (our translation).
- IBID., p. 188 (our translation).
- Neagu DJUVARA, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne (1800-1848) [Between East and West. The Romanian Principalities at The Beginning of The Modern Times], Romanian translation by Maria Carpov, Bucharest: Humanitas, 1995, p. 267 (our translation).
- See Chap. 27, "The Boyar's 'Right' over Gypsy Women Slaves" in Andrei OIȘTEANU, Sexuality and Society. History, Religion and Literature, Iași: Polirom, 2016.
- Radu Rosetti, Amintiri. Ce-am auzit de la alţii, (Memories. What I Heard From Others). Edition and Preface by Mircea Anghelescu, Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House, Bucharest, 1996, p.155.
- Bogdan Mateescu, Căsătoria robilor. Între alegerea cuplului şi voinţa stăpânului, (The Marriage of The Slaves. Between The Couple's Choice And The Master's Will), Etnous Publishing House, Braşov, 2014; Bogdan Mateescu, "Căsătoriile robilor din Ţara Românească după 1830: reglementări ale Statului și ale Bisericii", ("The Marriages of The Slaves in Wallachia after 1830: State and Church Regulations"), lecture delivered on April 14, 2014 at the New Europe College, as part of the project "Group of Reflection on Political and Social History (18th -19th centuries)." I thank researcher Bogdan Munteanu (a doctoral student at the Nicolae Iorga History Institute of the Romanian Academy) for signaling the presented documents.
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830), (The Fire of Love. Of Love And Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, p.49.
- The legend of St. Gregory, bishop of Agrigento (7th c. AD), is old. On a Byzantine thread, it penetrated the collection of The Lives of the Saints, translated in Wallachia.
- Constantin NEGRUZZI, Păcatele tinereţilor [The Sins of Youth], Iaşi: Adolf Bermann, 1857, pp. 271-285.
- O mie de ani de singurătate. Rromii în proza românească, (One Thousand Years of Loneliness. The Romas in Romanian Prose), Selection, notes and afterword by Vasile Ionescu, "Aven Amentza" Publhsing House, Bucharest, 2000, pp.74-84 (our translation).
- Paul Veyne, "Homosexualitatea la Roma", (Homosexuality in Rome) in the volume Georges Duby et alii, Amor şi sexualitate în Occident, (Love And Sexuality in The West), introduction by Georges Duby, Romanian translation by Laurenţiu Zoicaş, Artemis Publishing House, Bucharest, 1994, p. 53 (our translation).
- Gr.I. Dianu, Istoria închisorilor din România. Studiu comparativ. Legi şi obiceiuri, (The History of Jails in Romania. A Compared Study) Laws And Customs) The Royal House Publishing House, Bucharest, 1900, p. 44 (our translation).
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830), (The Fire of Love. Of Love And Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, pp. 163-164 (our translation).
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830), (The Fire of Love. Of Love And Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, pp.164-166.
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameronul, (The Decameron), Romanian translation by Eta Boeriu, with an introductory study by Alexandru Balaci, vol. I and II, State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1957, I, p. 78 (our translation).
- Vasile Voiculescu, Capul de zimbru, Povestiri, (The Aurochs Head, Stories) vol. I, Edited bby Victor Iova, Cartea Românească Publishing House, Bucharest, 1982, p. 147.
- Maria Luisa Lombardo, Erotica magna. O istorie a literaturii române, dincolo de tabuurile ei, (Erotica Magna, A History of Romanian Literature, Beyond Its Taboos), Western University Publishing House, Timişoara, 2004, pp.80/81.
- Ion Creangă, Povestea lui Ionică cel Prost (poreclit şi Irimiea) şi Povestea poveştilor (povestea pulei), (The Story of Ionica the Dumb (also nicknamed Irimiea) And The Story of All Stories (The Story of the Cock)), introductory study by Paul Anghel, edited by Nedic Lemnaru, "Roza vânturilor" Publishing House, Bucharest, 1990, p. 31 (our translation).
- Iordache GOLESCU, Scrieri alese [Selected Writings], edition by Mihai Moraru, Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1990, pp. 166, 176.
- This very day, as I am writing these lines (September 25, 2011), Pope Benedict XVI (meantime, the former Pope), while visiting Germany, said he was "moved and deeply troubled" after his meetings with persons / children and youths / who had been the victims of the sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests.
- Marian Munteanu, Folclorul detenţiei. Formele privării de libertate în literatura poporană. Studiu, tipologie, antologie de texte şi glosar, (The Folklore of Detention. The Forms of Freedom Deprivation in Folk Literature. Study, Typology, Anthology of Texts and Glossary), Valahia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008, p. 645.
- Constanţa VINTILĂ-GHIŢULESCU, Focul amorului. Despre dragoste şi sexualitate în societatea românească (1750-1830) (The Fire of Love. About Love and Sexuality in Romanian Society (1750-1830), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, pp. 162-163 (our translation).
- Mihail Kogălniceanu, Tainele inimei, (The Secrets of The Heart), selected writings, edited by Dan Simonescu, The Publishing House for Literature, Bucharest, 1964, pp. 205, 348 (our translation).
- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameronul, (The Decameron), Romanian translation by Eta Boeriu, with an introductory study by Alexandru Balaci, vol. I and II, State Publishing House for Literature and Art, Bucharest, 1957, I, p.265; II, p.366, a.o.


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Les probiotiques sont des microorganismes vivants que vous ingérez pour accroître la diversité de votre microbiome. Ils peuvent vous aider à rester fort et en santé. Les prébiotiques sont des aliments pour les probiotiques. Cette vidéo vous informera des bienfaits des prébiotiques et des probiotiques, vous expliquera comment les choisir, les consommer et les conserver, et vous aidera à comprendre ce que vous devez savoir lorsque vous faites l'achat de ces produits comestibles non réglementés.
Joignez-vous au Dr David Armstrong qui vous présentera des informations enrichissantes au sujet de la partie supérieure du tube digestif. Le Dr Armstrong explique que la gastroscopie est un test sécuritaire et précis qui utilise une petite caméra (gastroscope) pour visualiser directement la paroi du tube digestif supérieur, prendre les biopsies et même traiter certaines conditions. Dans cette vidéo, vous apprendrez comment se préparer à une gastroscopie, vous aurez l'opportunité de voir une procédure réelle et vous apprendrez comment bénéficier de ce test.
La gastro-entérologie est la spécialité médicale qui traite de l'étude du système digestif et comment notre corps brise les aliments pour qu'ils puissent être absorbés par nos intestins pour alimenter le reste de notre corps. Un gastro-entérologue est un médecin qui se spécialise dans les maladies du système digestif. La vidéo de l'introduction à la gastro-entérologie explore l'anatomie de l'œsophage, l'estomac, l'intestin grêle, et le gros intestin (côlon). Cette vidéo vous explique aussi pourquoi vous devrez consulter un gastro-entérologue.
Le Dr Alan Barkun explique clairement à quoi s'attendre si votre médecin vous demande de faire une coloscopie. Ce test permet aux médecins d'examiner la paroi du côlon afin d'évaluer et de diagnostiquer ou de traiter les anomalies du gros intestin. C'est une procédure efficace et sécuritaire pour détecter et supprimer les polypes, traiter le saignement rectal, offrir un diagnostic précoce et éventuellement fournir une solution de traitement. Le Dr Barkun décrit clairement comment préparer, à quoi s'attendre pendant et après la coloscopie, met en valeur les avantages de la procédure et suggère qui devrait subir une coloscopie.
IBS affects between 10 and 15 percent of people in the developed world, about one-third of whom have IBS with diarrhea as the primary symptom, commonly referred to IBS-D. In this empowering session, Dr. Steve Vanner reviewed the basics of IBS-D and answered the many questions of attendees.
If you have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), you know that taking medication to manage your symptoms and prevent flares is imperative. Your doctor may prescribe a biologic if you have moderate to severe Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Watch the CDHF's latest animation on biologics and learn how they can protect you from the painful and debilitating symptoms of IBD.
NEWLY DIAGNOSED WITH IBD?Effie Siamalekas was just diagnosed with UC. She wants you to know what she didn't so you can understand what's happening inside your body and take action to live your life your way despite having a chronic, invisible illness. It's honest, interesting and compelling. Have a look at this self-produced video.
Want to know one of the best ways to improve your health, regularity and weight? It's easy – increase your fibre intake. If you are like most Canadians, you're only getting half the recommended amount of fibre and are suffering the consequences. Upping your fibre intake is easier than you think. Watch CDHF's latest video for simple shopping and snacking tips to feed your fibre-famished gut!
Constipation is common but it is not normal. While making good choices about diet and exercise can usually relieve occasional constipation, those who suffer from chronic constipation know these don't work and may need to speak to a pharmacist or doctor to find a solution. Watch this educational video to learn how to get things moving and get on with enjoying your life!
At the 2012 CDHF Digestive Health Public Education Forum, Dr. Richard Fedorak gave an interesting and educational presentation on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) to a capacity crowd.
In this engaging presentation for health care professionals, Dr. Tom Walters discusses the diversity of systems that might be impacted by alterations in the microbiome when exposed to antibiotics.
In this educational presentation for health care professional, Dr. William Chey discusses the role of prebiotics, probiotics and diet as a treatment for IBS as well as the data supporting antibiotics as a cause and treatment of IBS.
In this interesting and entertaining presentation for health care professionals, Dr. Richard Fedorak discusses the origin of the microbiome and how it changes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and the role of the microbiome in other systemic diseases.
In this educational presentation for health care professionals, Dr. Nikhil Pai discusses how Fecal Microbial Transplant (FMT) and evaluates if and how FMT actually works.
In this informative and entertaining presentation for health care professionals, Sandra Saville, RD explains what prebiotic are, why they are important, the types of probiotics and the differences between them.
In this presentation for health care professionals, Dragana Skokovic-Sunjic, RPh, explores the dynamic interactions between nutrients, medications, chronic diseases and the human gut microbiota.
At the 2016 CDHF Healthy Gut Summit, Sandra Saville, RD gave an entertaining and educational presentation on diet and digestive health to a capacity crowd.
At the 2016 CDHF Healthy Gut Summit, Dragana Skokovic-Sunjic, RPh gave an educational presentation which discussed what Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is and which probiotic products and functional foods have good evidence for relieving IBS symptoms.
At the 2016 CDHF Healthy Gut Summit, Dr. Vivian Huang gave an interesting presentation on what Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is, the treatments available, and specifically how IBD affects pregnancy.
At the 2016 CDHF Healthy Gut Summit, Dr. David Armstrong gave an interesting and educational presentation on understanding what colon cancer is, the treatments, and the importance of getting screened.
At the 2016 CDHF Healthy Gut Summit, Dr. David Armstrong gave an engaging and informative presentation on GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), Acid Reflux, and H. pylori Infections.
In this presentation for health care professionals, Dr. Karen Madsen discusses how gut microbes may potentially influence human health and the different ways in which microbes and the host interact with each other.
In this presentation for health care professionals, Dr. Vivian Huang discusses the importance of the microbiome in pregnancy on maternal and neonatal health and modifiable early life factors that influence the neonatal gut microbiome.
Scientists are learning more and more about the microbiome every day. Soon we believe we will know how your microbiome can help PREDICT potential disease, PROTECT you from developing disease; and, even be PRESCRIBED to treat disease so you recover more quickly from illness.
Your body plays host to over 100 trillion visitors in an incredible ecosystem that lives in and on your body! This amazing community, comprised of a troop of hard-working, microscopic superheroes is called the human microbiome and it's all yours!
Your body plays host to trillions of microscopic visitors that make up your unique microbiome fingerprint. A troup of bacterial superheroes living in your gut works very hard to help keep you healthy, strong and resilient. Watch the first segment of our 4-part series on the human gut microbiome and learn more about the superheros that live within you.
CDHF would like to express its congratulations to Dr. Maria Cino and the future leaders in gastroenterology who were on the winning team of the 2014 CDHF RISE from the Snake Pit Challenge. This group collaborated to create a social media piece on "The Importance of Understanding the Microbiome" and included: Ali Alali, Siwar Alashir, Mona Alasmi, Raed Al-Dabbagh, Rowena Almeida, Majid Alsahafi, Mher Barbarian, Barbara Bielawska, Callum Dargavel, Alexandra Frolkis, Ravjeer Hundal, Mindy Lam, Josie Libertucci, Quais Mujawar, Yasmin Nasser, Erin Rayner-Hartley, Yousef Reda, Amy Sharaf, Tushar Shukla, Sundeep Singh, Patrick Thornley, Deenaz Zaidi.
From the moment we are born, our digestive tract is at work every moment of every day. It fuels our minds, bodies and lives. Watch the new CDHF public service announcement.
Too many people skip potentially life-saving procedures because of misunderstandings and misconceptions about the bowel prep. However, most people who have had colonoscopies, will tell you it isn't nearly as bad as you think and that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Robbie, Anne and Laurie, who range in age from 11 to 80 years, openly share their experiences with you in this video.
Helping you understand the details of IBD. Dr. Mike Evans is founder of the Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, and a staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital.
Constipation is very common. 1 in 4 Canadians has symptoms of constipation. It can affect everyone from the young to the elderly. Join Dr. David Armstrong for an interesting, entertaining and educational hour that can help you identify if you are suffering from chronic constipation, understand the possible causes, and explore options for relief.
Colon cancer is essentially preventable and yet thousands of Canadians die from it every year. Dr. Michael Gould explains who is at risk of developing the disease and how it can be detected and stopped early.
In this presentation, Dr. John Marshall, Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and Chief of Service for Gastroenterology at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton discusses the long term sequelae of enteric infection, links among gut flora, IBS and IBD how changes in the microbiome can both induce and heal C. Difficile infection.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease can be debilitating. Dr. Adam Weizman explains how you can maximize your quality of life with simple, straight forward strategies to reduce flares and maximize your time in remission.
If we want to enjoy the best health, we have the responsibility to be excellent patients. CDHF Executive Director, Catherine Mulvale explains how to communicate effectively with your physician to get the most out of every appointment.
Millions of Canadians suffer from IBS. Dr. Steve Somerton offers a series of options to help you get the diagnosis you need, understand the tests you may be sent to have and options for relieving symptoms.
In this inquiry-based presentation, Registered Dietitian, Shauna Lindzon, asks us to consider the difference between what products are marketed to do vs. what they actually do, why it is important for Health Care Professionals to know the difference and how Health Care Professionals can teach clients to empower themselves.
Dr. Richard Fedorak, Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta and President, Canadian Digestive Health Foundation helps us understand the development of the human microbiome, understand changes in the human microbiome in human disease, understand the role or probiotics in the treatment of human diseases, and learn how microbes can become biomarkers for us in the future.
Listen to a fascinating presentation by CDHF President, Dr. Richard Fedorak who introduces you to the marvellous world of our gut microbiota. His easy presentation style will help you better understand what the human microbiome is and how it originates; how your microbiome affects your body; and, how you can alter your microbiome with probiotics and prebiotics (good bacteria) for better health.
Gastroenterologist and Associate Dean for Research at McMaster University, Dr. Steve Collins, provides insightful fact to help us understand current concepts of IBS, the interactions between the intestinal microbiome and the gut-brain axis, and microbiome-directed therapies for IBS.
Dr. Karen Madsen, Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta and Co-director of the "Center of Excellence for Gastrointestinal Inflammation and Immunity Research (CEGIIR) provides an overview of how microbial metabolism can influence gut health, and understand how gut microbes can modulate immune function.
There is a lot of talk these days about gluten. Dr. Khush Jeejeebhoy is an expert and shares his insights on how to distinguish between disease and sensitivity and how this can affect your diet and health.
The CDHF and the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) teamed up with world experts to develop day-to-day strategies you can use to proactively protect and boost your digestive health. Dr. Richard Hunt introduces you to this program so you can enjoy better digestive – and overall – health.
CDHF Co-Founder and Vice-President Dr. Richard Hunt helps us better understand the reasons why we suffer from heartburn and GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) and strategies and treatment options that can bring relief from these conditions.
Gi BodyGuard, developed by experts at the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation, is a free, easy to use app that allows you to track information about your health, symptoms, medications, food and exercise.
There is currently no cure for ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, both falling under the IBD banner, but the proper strategy for managing your disease can help you lead a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. IBD Expert, Dr. Richard Fedorak helps you better understand your disease and treatment options, learn how to get the most from every one of your appointments and incorporate strategies that can help you maximize your health.
IBD Specialist, Dr. Pierre Paré, helps you understand the disease, know the most common therapy options, highlight the benefits and risks of specific therapies, appreciate the risks of not using therapy and live positively with ulcerative colitis in this interesting and enlightening session.
IBS is a common chronic digestive disorder that affects more than 5 million Canadians. Gastroenterologist, Dr. Stephen Vanner, helps you to better understand IBS: its symptoms, what IBS is not, factors that affect IBS, tests you may need to have, and how to manage your symptoms.
At the 2012 CDHF Digestive Health Public Education Forum, Dr. Richard Hunt gave an interesting and educational presentation on acid reflux and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) to a capacity crowd.
At the 2012 CDHF Digestive Health Public Education Forum, Dr. David Armstrong gave an interesting and educational presentation on Constipation to a capacity crowd.
At the 2012 CDHF Digestive Health Public Education Forum, Dr. Sanjay Murthy gave an interesting and educational presentation on Celiac Disease to a capacity crowd.
Dr. Des Leddin will help you take control of your digestive health by explaining the building blocks of good nutrition; the role it plays in maintaining health and preventing disease; exploring how nutrition and obesity impact health; and, offering practical steps you can incorporate into your life to combat digestive disease and obesity.
Collectively referred to as IBD, Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease cause ulcerations of the intestines and are and life-changing. Join Dr. Richard Fedorak, and Mr. Jeff Sheckter, to learn about IBD, how it affects your body, treatment options, possible complications and how to work with your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis and proper care so that you can live positively with IBD.
Douglas Bryant blamed himself for his acid reflux but after visiting his doctor, he learned that by not taking action, he would continue to suffer and possibly put himself at risk of developing cancer. Dr. David Armstrong explains what Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is, how it can be treated and why seeking the advice of your physician is important.
Raquel Feldberg is a mother of two who developed ulcerative colitis shortly after the birth of her second child. Learn how her husband and mother support her, how she told her children and what concerns she has for the future.
Orly Borovitch was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis as a teen. In 'Growing Up with Ulcerative Colitis', she shares straightforward strategies for dealing with the disease at school and work, when dating and, in social situations.
Professional triathlete Jonathan Caron from Quebec is not letting the ulcerative colitis he has struggled with since he was 12 stop him from becoming a world champion. In this educational video, Jonathan talks about the difficulty of dealing with symptoms, isolation, searching for information, being true to yourself and reaching your dreams.
James Mireau from Alberta candidly talks about his journey with ulcerative colitis from the relief and then disappointment of his diagnosis, accepting and dealing with this chronic illness, the need for mentors and more.
Canada has one of the highest rates of IBS in the world. This syndrome impacts work, school, family and quality of life. This video features heartfelt discussions from people like you who are living with IBS and important information from Canada's experts.
Ann Brown was diagnosed with colon cancer and given a 50% chance of surviving when she was 54 years old. In this video she speaks about her diagnosis, fears, treatment and return to health. Dr. Clarence Wong, a gastrointestinal oncologist, provides advice on risk factors and how to protect yourself from developing colon cancer.
Indigestion, heartburn and acid regurgitation are all symptoms of GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease). GERD can be painful, debilitating and frightening. Learn from Dr. David Armstrong and a patient living with the disease how to take control of their GERD - and life - with confidence and optimism.
Pour améliorer la santé ŕ long terme
La Fondation canadienne de la santé digestive croit qu'ętre capable de développer, d'enrichir et de protéger un microbiote sain est la clé pour jouir d'une bonne santé tout au long de sa vie.

subset: commoncrawl


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The man left in silence that did not suit his contribution to Children and mystery literature and Pop fiction in general in the Arab world.
I remember seeing Mahmoud Salem speaking on TV about how he started from young crime journalist in El Helal Press corporation before Nationalization and then moved to Children magazines like Mickey writing mystery stories and so before his saga with crime and mystery "The 5 adventurers" series would start. That series was our original "Scooby Doo" series in the Arab world yet more serious with more crimes and cases from murder to forgery to even espionage.
Tewfik aka Fatty , Nossa, Loza, Mohab, Atef and their dog Zinger who live In Maadi were heroes for generations for real in the Arab world. When the man died , I found friends in Tunisia and Morocco from grown ups still have these books. I already have couple of these books yet I can not find them. Of course my mom and aunts also read them.
|The Five with their famous faces
I think Salem would not be successful and produced all those books with original plots and riddles inspired from the Egyptian society if he only translated the British series. I believe he was indeed inspired but that was the beginning the rest was from his rich imagination. The success of the "5 adventurers" was beyond "The Five find outers" , already the Egyptian Five have become pop culture icons till this day while I do not think anyone remembers the British Five.
In 2007 Salem spoke about how the 5 adventurers were actually an attempt to restore his memories as lonely introvert boy who moved with his family in Northern governorates due to the work of his father as naval officer. That boy created his own world of imagination till the age of 14. That boy turned to be the God father of Arab pop fiction without doubt.
Here is online archive for 76 books from the 5 adventurers. Here is link with the whole series.
In late 1970s he presented another successful imagination of the Arab teenagers "The 13 devils". A group of young Arabs working to save their nation in some clandestine organization. All the boys had a huge crush on Lebanese Elham as I can recall.
is online archive for the "The 13 devils" series.
In his rare TV appearance from couple of years ago I felt the pioneer author did not have positive opinions about the 23 July Coup despite he was considered a Nasserite who paid a price for his political views. When he was asked he said that El Helal Press corporation was better before Nationalization and did not praise the Nasser era as I have expected it. Of course personally I believe as a human being you should not stick on your views forever especially you earn experience and gain knowledge by age.
I wished that the Egyptian presidency would mourn the loss of that pioneer author but I do not think that they paid attention and even if they did , the presidency would not mourn him as his last Op-ed in Tahrir newspaper was criticizing Muslim brotherhood harshly.
Here is the archive of Salem in Tahrir newspaper.
Salem's role and contribution in Arab Pop fiction was more than great. He was the god father of that genre in the Arab world. He was the man who paved the way for authors like Nabil Farouk and Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.
May Allah bless your soul Mr. Salem for your great work. Even if officials ignore you , we will always remember you more than you think.
I think our graffiti artists should paint some graffiti for the five in Maadi dedicated the late author. They are our cultural icons by the way.


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The headlines this week have been dominated by the struggles of the global economy and the uncertainty of investment options. However, Gold has shown to be a steady option recently. "Gold (is one of the most liquid ways) to get exposure to inflation. The volatility… will remain low going forward as the ugly head of inflation will emerge, and we will see a steady increase in gold demand," said Michael Mullaney, at Fiduciary Trust in Boston. With questions regarding the United States' economic future and the global economic slowdown, many investors are left looking for a solid investment. Though Gold fell this week, open ended fiscal policies engaged in by central banks are expected to boost prices in the long run. Credit Suisse forecast an average price of $1,840 per ounce for the year 2013. HSBC's James Steel stated that he does not predict Gold to fall below $1,750 per ounce. Historically, price pullbacks such as this have presented excellent buying opportunities for investors.
How Steep is the Fiscal Cliff:
Despite recent strong gains in the U.S. stock market, investors braced for the worst earnings season since 2009. Analysts are expecting earnings to decline, after 11 quarters in a row of gains. These poor results are attributed to the slower than expected U.S. economic recovery and the overall economic slowdown worldwide. Americans are also expecting the worst for the end of 2012 when the United States government is forced to deal with scheduled spending cuts and tax increases, referred to as the "fiscal cliff." Spending cuts will disrupt more than 1,000 mandated government programs. Tax assistance laws put into place by the Bush administration and extended during the Obama administration are set to expire Dec. 31, 2012. It is predicted that the economy could be heading towards another recession if it is not handled properly and in a timely manner. Chad Stone at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities believes the circumstances may not be so severe with the "fiscal cliff" acting more like a "fiscal slope" that the economy can easily recover from. Stone said, "The slope would likely be relatively modest at first. A relatively brief implementation of the tax and spending changes required by current law should cause little short term damage to the economy as a whole." The main point of emphasis is the tax cuts that are set to expire at the first of the New Year. If they are allowed to expire without any action, the effects could be felt worldwide. "It's very clear that if the whole tax package moves off the table it will immediately bring the U.S. into a recession, which will have a huge negative impact on the whole world," said Zhu Min, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Greek Debt May Need More Work:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's words of support for Greek Prime Minster Antonis Samaras were overshadowed this week by new data indicating that Greece's debt situation may require yet another round of restructuring. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Eurogroup finance ministers that Greece will miss the five year debt reduction target required for its 130 billion euro bailout. The IMF also has concerns that it will be nearly impossible to get the Greek debt level below the 120 percent of economic output by 2020 as hoped. Chancellor Merkel's visit to Greece, the first since the debt crisis began in 2009, saw significantly increased security as Greek protesters took to the streets to vent their anti-German sentiment. Chancellor Merkel's call for austerity measures is not popular with the Greek populace. Greece prepared for two days of strikes with over 7,000 plainclothes police and hundreds more undercover agents.


text: "One of the reasons Lincoln is such a great city is that we take care of each other. This holiday season, many organizations and individuals have been working to make sure all our families have food and clothing. Others have played Santa, working to provide every child in the Capital City with at least one toy or gift. As the snow has fallen, the generosity has increased as neighbors checked on each other and shoveled out driveways and sidewalks for those who could not do it themselves. Helping others is an ideal way to celebrate the holidays and to get into the spirit of the season. I want to thank all of you who work every day of the year to make Lincoln the caring community it is. Happy holidays from my family to yours."


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Family Room & Den Window Treatments
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Family rooms are where we spend much of our time relaxing, entertaining, and gathering together to laugh and play. Depending on your light control and privacy needs, there are a variety of family room window treatments that can provide the functionality you need and the look you want. Consider cordless window treatments to keep this family gathering space safe from the dangers of dangling cords. For windows that are very tall or difficult to reach, you may consider a motorized window treatment that can be remote controlled.
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I ordered these blinds without seeing a sample first. It wasn't EXACTLY what I expected based on the swatch online, but I do like the blinds. I was looking for blackout blinds and I am very happy with them with regard to keeping the light out of the room. Installation was relatively simple, but a bit tedious. The final product looks very nice. Overall I am very happy with the blinds.View this product


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So now I look at what needs to be done and I do what I can do. I don't obsess over what I can't do but instead revel in what I can do.
By Karen Merchant
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu
When I was a young adult, in the 1970's, my mother was introduced to the "reduce, reuse, recycle" thought process. She, of course, knew that my sister and I would be interested in this same idea and an obsession was born. I became aware of the importance of reducing my use of harmful things to our environment. I also tried hard to find uses and reuses for items that I already owned or purchased. But I became OBSESSED with recycling.
I began to save all of my paper and I began to sort by number all of my plastic. Glass containers were faithfully saved to be recycled. At the time I had to take all of my recycling to Edmore. The recycling company came once a month and we took our recycling to them. This meant I had to have a spot to save all of this recycling until it was time to take it to Edmore. They were very adamant about making sure that you had prepared the recycling in the right way or they would not take it.
In the early 80's I moved to Crystal and took my obsession with me. Now, however, I was also recycling all of the paper that I amassed at Palo School where I taught. I would bring that home and then take all of my recycling to Edmore once a month. Again, I had to save it all at my house until it was time to take it to Edmore. My basement became a literal mess with bags of recycling. It was beginning to be too much. At this time Linda Wells at Palo School arranged to have a recycling dog house brought to Palo. Now I could recycle the items from school and home at Palo. My house let out a sigh of relief!!
The moment of truth for me came at a friend's graduation open house. They served the food on plastic plates. I felt compelled to take the bags of garbage home. I fished out the plates and cups from the garbage and washed them all so that I could recycle them. It was absurd. My daughter was 16 at the time. She helped me but we both realized that this was too much.
It was at this time that I heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak at a Service Learning Conference. He is a dynamic person and you just hang on his every word. But at the same time, he is just a regular person. He came out on the stage that night and he approached the podium. Now Archbishop Tutu is rather short. He could just barely see over the top of the podium. Quickly the stage hands came out with a riser for him to stand on. He stepped up on to the riser, he looked out at the crowd, and he said "Ta Da! This is much better!" Just a normal guy and we loved him.
He talked about how each person is important in their own right. We all have our own talents and we are encouraged to share them as well as our time and if possible our treasure. He said that the needs in the world are overwhelming and one person cannot do it all. But they can do something.
He said the power of one is wonderful. So, don't go nuts trying to meet all of the needs of the world. Find the things that you can do and do them. Look at the big picture and see where you belong in it and then do your part. If we all do our part, then the power of lots of "ones" put together will be amazing.
So now I look at what needs to be done and I do what I can do. I don't obsess over what I can't do but instead revel in what I can do. I had to do this for my own sanity. I am not sure if it has worked, you will have to ask my friends and family!!
Powerfully One,
Karen Merchant
KAREN MERCHANT retired in 2005 after 30 years as a teacher at Palo Community Schools. She now fills her time with volunteering for many organizations. She has been a member of the Ionia County Peace Community since its inception.


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Prospective builders need to get in on the action while they can–the Williston City Council held its first reading on an ordinance that would extend the moratorium on impact fees until March 2014.
The second reading is scheduled for April 9–the same night three councilmen will be formally sworn into office. There will be no April 2 meeting, the council decided.
However, it was the impact fee issue that demanded most of the attention Tuesday.
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