I’m posting things here now:

It’s the feast day of Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833).

“Well before joining a monastery, I was in trade. And I’m telling you that not the one piling up goods and then selling them hastily is a good tradesman but the one who buys cheap and sells high gaining profit… Think same of profit eternal, of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Fasting, prayer, virginity and all other virtues are not the goal of Christian life… but the goal is the grace of the Holy Spirit coming forth with them, and its acquisition, or accumulation, is our only objective.”

Also: St. Seraphim

Born in 1947 – Jeff Lynne, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer.

Also: Rudyard Kipling

In 1972, Franco Harris scored a last-second touchdown on the “immaculate reception”, as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in the AFC divisional playoff game.

Previously: The IR

In 1968, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, posted the instructions of Mao Zedong that “The intellectual youth must go to the country, and will be educated from living in rural poverty.”

The total number of zhiqing, or “sent-down youth”, from 1967 to 1969 was almost 4.7 million.

In 1963, “Bloody Christmas” begins in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000–30,000 Turkish Cypriots and destruction of more than 100 villages.

Above: Photograph of Turkish Cypriots during the conflict, made by Don McCullin

Born in 1629 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter.

Above: Detail from A Woman with a Baby in Her Lap, and a Small Child, 1658.

In 1892, Peter Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Also on this date: Born in 1878, Joseph Stalin.

Born in 1913 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet and academic.

“One writes in order to feel.”

Born in 1889 – Greek Orthodox hieromonk, missionary, and teacher from the island of Patmos.

“We must have our gaze fixed on heaven. Then nothing will shake us.” 

The Beauty First Films documentary, AMPHILOCHIOS -SAINT OF PATMOS, will screen at Cinema 21 in Portland on January 8, 2024.