Sorry after making the last response, I realized that maybe I should just start a new thread. How many stars have Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic roots? Some of the ones that I have heard of are Robert Urich, Jack Palance, Danny Thomas,(Marionite I belive),Jamie Farr (Syrian Orthodox). Some one once told me that John Wayne was half Lebonese, and was recieved into the Eastern rite at his death-bed. Some one also said that Walter Brennan (Grampa on the Real Mccoys, I know I could be really dating myself ) was also Eastern rite. Any other suggestions.
I think it's safe to say that any Russian composer, novelist, actor, musician, or director was Orthodox up until the Bolshevik Revolution. Thanks to Andrew for bringing this to light.
Nikos Kanzantzakis who wrote "The Last Temptation of Christ" appears to have been Orthodox, however strange his theology might have been.
John Belushi was Albanian Orthodox. My understanding is that he received an Albanian Orthodox funeral. Tina Fey is Greek Orthodox. Rita Wilson is also Greek Orthodox. I have been told that her husband, Tom Hanks, attends church with Ms. Wilson. That makes his involvement with the DaVinci Code that much more bewildering.
How about politicians: Governor Pataki I believe is or was Eastern Catholic; Michael Dukakis is Greek Orthodox; Spiro Agnew was Greek Orthodox before converting to the Episcopal Church. Olympia Snowe is also Greek Orthodox.
Famous other persons: Tom Carvel of Carvel ice cream was Greek Orthodox and his wife Roman Catholic.
Well if he is a star - Prince Charles has Greek Orthodox roots and seems to be leaning that way.
Speaking of Danny Thomas - his brother who helped him found St. Judes is from our Church here in B'ham. There is a great neice of his Amanda that you will see some day - she has every bit the talent and charisma her great uncle had.
Robert Urich family is from our Church in Ohio. I cannot remember his brother's name right off, but you would recognize him if you are a soap opera fan which I am not. Anyway - he has been an actor on the soaps for decades.
Arianna (Stassinopoulos) Huffington's political views change with the wind.
I remember her when she first appeared from England, after writing a book on feminism. It became a best seller in England, and here she was...on TV and such.
She was born in Athens and went to university in Britain. It seems that at the time of her sojourn in Britain, she became sort of 'New Age', but on coming here, was introduced to the Texas millionaire Huffington.
Well he was a Republican, so she became a practicing Episcopalian, and began to realize an ethnic name was not a plus, so she stopped using 'Stassinopoulos'.
Well, her husband lost an election after spending something like tens of millions of dollars, and in his distress decided to become Greek Orthodox and made a retreat to Mt. Athos.
Well that didn't do him any good, because after he returned he decided to break the news to his wife that he was 'gay'...and can you imagine, he had two children too. :rolleyes:
So Arriana is now single, and has left her adopted conservatism and is now a liberal...in everyway.
So much for her biography. Gosh, I do have a long memory.
Thank you for that overview. I do remember now that she was/is an Episcopalian.
I certainly do think that she is a very reasonable and intelligent person, whether one agrees with her political stances or not, and her soft accent is always nice to hear!
Of course not when she is advocating murdering unborn children...
How about the American actor Vladimir Palaniuk / Volodymyr (Walter Jack) Palahniuk otherwise known as Jack Palance. I dont know what religious connection he has or decends from. He has made it very clear he is of Ukranian decent and is definately NOT Russian.
He was burried out of St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church in Chicago (acress from the Brickyard).
His was not an intentional suicide, but the unintentional drug-induced suicide of a fabulously gifted man searching for greater and greater thrills. His widow has published a candid but touching recollection of his life as she knew him.
Then Protopresbyter, now Bishop, Ilia Katre rightly used the eulogy to offer the admonition to all who gamble with God's manifold blessings to 'wise up.'
Prince Philip is Anglican having converted to marry the then Princess Elizabeth. His neice the Queen of Spain is as I understand it still Orthodox. The family converted to Orthodoxy to take up the various thrones in the Balkans. They are all related to each other via many lines. all are decendents of Queen Victoria for example and are all related via the Danish Royal family. Prince Philip has made bequests to a number of Orthodox foundations over the years. HM The Queen is a God parent to many of the current Greek Royals living in exile in London. HRH the Princes Andrew, Prince Philips mother lived out her last days as an Orthodox nun.
Almost correct. Empress Catherine the Great took on Orthodoxy, indeed, but my mother refused to give up her religion of Catholicism, and she is the Queen of the house!!!!!
I did not realise Queen Sophia had become Catholic. Poor Prince Philip lost everything to marry his love, including all of his titles. His father-in-law made him a Duke and he was granted the use of the HRH later. The British did not like him either at first and it took a while to be accepted as he is now. People referred to him as Phil the Greek (even if he is not realy Greek).
A month before his death, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit. He wanted to spend his final days in Jamaica but he became too ill on the flight home from Germany and had to land in Miami. He passed away at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on 11 May 1981. Before his death he was baptised into the Coptic Orthodox Church. and took the name Berhane Selassie (meaning the Light of the Holy Trinity in Coptic). His funeral in Jamaica was a dignified affair with combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafarianism. He is buried in a crypt at Nine Miles, near his birthplace.
Since Ukraine are playing in the World Cup in Germany next month, I wonder if any of there players are Byz Cath ? On the downside, figure skater Oksana Baiul is abandoning Orthodoxy for Judaism.
Don't know if this if pertinent yet, but the Rusyn site....Carpatho-Rusyn Society....has a link/listing of such people who are of C-R decent or lineage. Just for the record , so am I , but what is that....S Bohom mik the part-hunkie
Originally posted by Lawrence: Since Ukraine are playing in the World Cup in Germany next month, I wonder if any of there players are Byz Cath ? On the downside, figure skater Oksana Baiul is abandoning Orthodoxy for Judaism.
That is too bad. I remember how impressed I was that she made the sign of the cross when she was competing in the Olympics as a young teenager.
Always assumed F Murray Abraham was Jewish. Turns out he's Syrian Orthodox, and a former altar boy. Also found out that former NFL QB Jeff George is Greek Orthodox.
He was burried out of St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church in Chicago (acress from the Brickyard).
His was not an intentional suicide, but the unintentional drug-induced suicide of a fabulously gifted man searching for greater and greater thrills. His widow has published a candid but touching recollection of his life as she knew him.
Then Protopresbyter, now Bishop, Ilia Katre rightly used the eulogy to offer the admonition to all who gamble with God's manifold blessings to 'wise up.'
In Christ, Andrew
Fr. Frank gave an excellent on the Prodigal Son. He said this is why priest do the burials for those who have fallen away. That the Lord our God might have mercy on their souls. So who are we to judge!
I think Cusack is an Irish name though it sounds Slavic - I'm thinking of the late Irish actor Cyril Cusack. John and Joan could be descendants.
Jack Palance died in the past year and was Ukrainian Catholic. Thanks for the info. Вѣчная память.
I'm not sure Spiro Agnew left Orthodoxy. His father married an Episcopalian and changed the family name from Aganostopoulos so I think Mr Agnew was a born Episcopalian like his mother.
Tige Andrews, born Tiger Androwaous, who starred as Capt. Adam Greer in the late 60's TV show "The Mod Squad," recently feel asleep in the Lord. Eternal memory! One site lists him as Syrian ethnicity; another, Lebanonese. No indication of religious affiliation at time of death that I can find. Showing my age, but "The Mod Squad" was one of my all time favorite shows growing up.
Robert Urich family is from our Church in Ohio. I cannot remember his brother's name right off, but you would recognize him if you are a soap opera fan which I am not. Anyway - he has been an actor on the soaps for decades.
Pani Rose,
My cousing and +Robert were in the same high school class in Toronto, Ohio (not Canada). As they say, "Ter-ron-na." She knew him quite well. I understand he did come to some of the class reunions. I liked his TV show, "Vegas." Think his character name was Dan Tanna.
What you mean there is another Toronto! What a shock after all these years. Our Toronto is taken from the Cree (Aboriginal) word meaning "meeting place". Oh well, I shall have to make a trip to see the Ohio Toronto.
Robert Urich family is from our Church in Ohio. I cannot remember his brother's name right off, but you would recognize him if you are a soap opera fan which I am not. Anyway - he has been an actor on the soaps for decades.
Pani Rose,
My cousing and +Robert were in the same high school class in Toronto, Ohio (not Canada). As they say, "Ter-ron-na." She knew him quite well. I understand he did come to some of the class reunions. I liked his TV show, "Vegas." Think his character name was Dan Tanna.
moncobyz,
By chance did your cousin attend St Josephs in Toronto, Byzantine or Roman? (The only two Catholic Churches in Toronto were both St. Jospehs) One of my dear friends by the last name Gaydos, is his cousin also.
What you mean there is another Toronto! What a shock after all these years. Our Toronto is taken from the Cree (Aboriginal) word meaning "meeting place". Oh well, I shall have to make a trip to see the Ohio Toronto.
It is a little steel mill and mining town, just sort of north of Steubenville, OH.
[quote]Her name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. She was Russian Orthodox. I believe her funeral took place at a ROCOR church.
IF the story I heard is true, her funeral was performed by the then Fr. Stephen Fitzgerald, now known as His Grace Bishop Tikhon, Former Bishop of San Francisco, Los Angeles and the West of the OCA.
That would make sense, if the Zakharenkos were OCA. They may well have been, especially if they immigrated before WWII (ROCOR = WWII exiles) - unlike the denomination's Ruthenian majority I understand that in New York, LA and San Francisco historically they have a number of Russians.
Telly Savalas was Greek Orthodox, and was the godfather of Jennifer Aniston, I don't know if either of them was/is practicing.
Well I guess Telly practiced atleast once--when he baptized Jennifer! LOL!
I did notice that when Jennifer married Brad Pitt that it was definitely NOT an Orthodox ceremony, or even anything near it!
If I remember correctly, Tony Orlando of the 70's group 'Tony Orlando and Dawn' (Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'round the old oak tree...) married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony. I don't remember why.
Also, I think that Anthony Quinn's last marriage was a Greek Orthodox ceremony. I guess that after playing Greeks so many times, (Zorba, Onassis, etc.), he finally decided to become one! OPA!...and LOL!
He don't love you, like I love you If he did, he wouldn't break your heart He don't love you, like I love you He's try-in' to tear us apart
Fare thee well, I know you're leavin' (I know you're leavin') For the new love that you've found The handsome guy that you've been dating, whoa I got a feelin' he's gonna put you down 'cause
He don't love you, like I love you If he did, he wouldn't break your heart He don't love you, like I love you He's try-in' to tear us apart
He uses all the great quotations Says the things I wish I could say Whoa, but he's has so many rehearsals Girl, to him it's just another play but wait
When the final act is over And you're left standing all alone When he takes his bow and makes his exit Girl, I'll be there to take you home
He don't love you (and he never will) Like I love you If he did, he wouldn't break your heart Oh, he don't love you, girl, like I love you He's try-in' to tear us apart
And here is the story of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". I never knew this...
Quote
The song was based on an actual incident that occurred aboard a Miami bound bus. One of the passengers told the driver that he had just gotten out of prison, after serving three years for passing bad cheques. In a letter to his wife, he told her that he would understand if she was no longer interested, but if she did want him back, she should tie a yellow ribbon around the only oak tree in the city square. To the man's tearful relief, the ribbon was there and the driver was so moved, he called the wire services with the tale. The song writing team of Irwin Levine and Leon Russell read the story in the newspaper and put together a million selling ballad.
[i]Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.
THE walls of many American homes are adorned with a plaque carrying this statement made popular by the late John F. Kennedy. It forms a part of an article in Arabic by Khalil Gibran under the title "The New Deal" or "The New Frontier". The article was an exhortation to the people of the countries in West Asia in general and the Lebanese in particular. It is in the form of a series of antithetical statements focussing on the contrast between the old and the new, between ignorance and enlightenment, between stagnation and progress, between exploitation and injustice on the one hand and commitment to values on the other. In concluding the article, Gibran says:
The children of tomorrow are the ones called by life and they will follow it with steady steps and heads high; they are the dawn of new frontiers, no smoke will veil their eyes and no jingle of chains will drown out their voices. They are few in number, but the difference is as between a grain of wheat and a stack of hay. They are like the summits which can see and hear each other � not like caves which cannot see or hear. They are the seed dropped by the hand of God in the field, breaking through its pod, and waving its sapling leaves before the face of the sun. It shall grow into a mighty tree, its root in the heart of the earth and its branches in the sky.
The article, written in the last century, and addressed to a particular community is relevant to all times and nations.
Parentage and education
Khalil Gibran (also spelt Kahlil Jubran) was born on January 6, 1883 in Bsharri, Lebanon. His Arabic name in full was Jubran Khalil Jubran. He had two sisters, Mariana and Sultana, and a stepbrother, Peter. Their mother, Kamila Rahmeh, taught them music, Arabic and French and appointed a tutor to teach them English. His maternal grandfather was a Maronite priest. At the age of five, Gibran went to the village school run by the Maronite church. In the church the ceremonies and the chanting were in Syriac or Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ. The church ceremonies, his mother's religious disposition, her melodious voice, and the religious atmosphere at home influenced Gibran's mind and character. In 1895, Kamila settled in Boston with her children. After attending school in Boston for two years, Gibran returned to Beirut to complete his education in Arabic in the school Madrasat-al-Hikmah. During the summer vacations he travelled extensively through West Asia with his father. In 1902, he returned to Boston on receiving news of Sultana's illness. Her death was followed by that of his mother and Peter.
Following the series of deaths, Gibran devoted his attention improving his Arabic and English. Besides, he was interested in painting and organised his first art exhibition in 1904 in Boston. He was in Paris from 1908 to 1910 to study art and then returned to Boston to concentrate on writing. In 1912, he shifted to New York.
Gibran's mother
Gibran's mother exerted an enduring influence on him. He has expressed his love for his mother in the most tender, touching terms. "Mother is everything in this life; She is consolation in time of sorrowing, and hope in time of grieving and power in moments of weakness. She is the fountainhead of compassion, tolerance and forgiveness. He who loses his mother loses a bosom upon which he can rest his head, the hand that blesses and eyes which watch over him".
Nostalgia
The enchanting valley Wadi Qadisha and the cedar-covered mountains of Lebanon cast their spell on Gibran. "To visit the Wadi Qadisha is to leave the modern world and to be plunged body and spirit into an atmosphere both ancient and timeless. It is a beauty of wild and unbridled quality and it has a mighty force that compels the mind to dwell upon words we have for eternity" (Barbara Young, Gibran's friend and biographer). Gibran's ancestors, the Phoenicians, called "the believers in immortality", performed their rites in the cedar forests. Though physically he was in New York, his heart was in Lebanon. He was filled with nostalgia for the cedar forests, the home and haunt of the Gods. The mountain scenery and all the associated legends and tradition had become a part of his being. "The things which the child loves remains in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remain hovering over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves. I am one of those who remember those places regardless of time and place."
Gibran's works
Gibran was a prolific writer who wrote in Arabic for the Lebanese, the Syrians and the Arab world and in English for those knowing English. His principal works include Tears and Laughter, Spirits Rebellious, The Broken Wings, The Prophet, The Mad Man, Secrets of the Heart and Jesus, the Son of Man. The Prophet has been translated into more than 20 languages. Almustafa, the prophet, "the chosen and the beloved", has lived in a foreign country for 12 years. On the eve of his departure to his homeland, he answers, in a mystical and paradoxical strain, a series of questions on a variety of subjects. In his writings, Gibran strikes different notes � autobiographical, mystical, romantic, reflective, allegorical, censorious, and revolutionary. He reacted sharply to the corruption in society, politics and religion. The story of Khalil, the Heretic pulsates with righteous indignation. It is a tirade not against religion as such, but against hypocrisy, injustice, and self-aggrandisement in the name of religion.
Gibran's writings in Arabic, charged with passionate intensity and lyrical fervour, appeared in the Arabic newspapers Al-Mouhajer (The Emigrant) and Mir'aat Al-Gharb (The Mirror of the West) published in Boston. They were primarily meant to enlighten the Lebanese and exhort them to wake up from their slumber and slavery. But they have a universal appeal, relevance and validity. Gibran was a crusader and visionary who pleaded for the reformation of society on a moral foundation. The poem "Seven Reprimands" compels attention:
I reprimanded my soul seven times. The first time: when I attempted to exalt myself by exploiting the weak. The second time: When I feigned a limp before those who were crippled. The third time: when given a choice I elected the easy rather than the difficult. The fourth time: when I made a mistake I consoled myself with the mistake of others. The fifth time: when I was docile because of fear And claimed to be strong in patience. The sixth time: When I held my garments upraised To avoid the mud of life. The seventh time: When I stood in hymnal to God And considered singing a virtue.
Gibran's description of a good citizen is worth pondering over:
It is to acknowledge the other person's rights before asserting your own; but always to be conscious of your own. It is to be free in word, and deed; but it is also to know that your freedom is subject to the other person's freedom. It is to create the useful and the beautiful with your own hands and to admire what others have created in love and with faith. It is to produce by labour and only by labour and to spend less than you have produced that your children may not be dependent upon the state for support when you are no more.
Gibran was excommunicated from the Maronite Church for his anti-establishment tone and stance. His book Spirits Rebellious was burnt in public in Beirut. Later, the order of excommunication was revoked. He died on April 10, 1931 in New York. In July 1931, he was buried in Bsharri, his birthplace. All Lebanon lamented his death as one man and honoured him with a hero's funeral. He bequeathed a large amount of money for the development of his homeland and appealed to the Lebanese to remain in their country and develop it and not to immigrate. It was Gibran's desire to acquire the Mar Sarkis monastery in Bsharri. His desire was fulfilled posthumously by his sister Mariana and in January 1932, his body was moved to its final resting place in the monastery. His belongings and books were sent to the Gibran museum in the monastery.
For the book al-Arwah al-Mutamarrida (Spirits Rebellious).
His maternal grandfather was a Maronite priest. The above book was critical of the church and was burned in the public square. One source I saw said the excommunication was later lifted, but I could not verify that. (Sorry, the above had not been posted when I started writing. )
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