jandžs - 30 December 2011 10:27 AM

This book will help Latvians understand Russian history
THE THIRD ROME
Holy Russia, Tsarism & Orthodoxy
by Matthew Raphael Johnson

The occasional polemic is justified, given the ‘western’ ignorance of
Russian history, whence the lack of understanding of their own.

Quite a bit of the book text can be found here:

http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/third_rome_m_johnson.htm

It’s healthy to read a perspective that runs counter to one’s own, though I have to say Johnson’s historical vision reads like J.R.R.Tolkein in reverse:  the West is Mordor, which makes Western(ized) Latvians, if not Orcs, then men under Sauron’s sway. 

Which reminds me that the only ‘gringo’ (i.e. surnames like Johnson) converts to Orthodoxy I’ve ever known—very bright Berkeleyites—possessed an incredibly rich library of fantasy/sci-fi literature.

anita et al.,
“Bruno, by definition, aren’t all ingrates ungrateful”

You are right.  They are very,very bad.

Visu labu,

So…Ah… I, like many I believe, haven’t read jandžs’s shameless self promotional cross posts in a long long time.

The Third Rome as a window into Russian history ? Seriously ?

I apparently missed the shameless self promotional cross post where jandžs blossomed into a proponent of the Russian monarchist point of view.

Gotta say, Peter and Catherine weren’t really keen on relic paganism and the aura of John.

Plus I’m missing the diaspora angle that this thread was focused on. Threadjacking is a sin you know.

I can accept Elizabete’s use of the word “honestly”, but are we not beng asked for too much in accepting Anita’s then “reflexive”, plural use of “honestly”?
As for Irena’s: “I took Tom’s comment re: the diaspora running away as ’tongue in cheek’ on his part”...
But didn’t Tom apologize for his Irena-ized “humour”?

Mikus E.

P.S.  To personally address Bruno the Lett’s “ungrateful ingrates”...
I have to somewhat agree with him. For even to this day I will accept most foods without complaint. Well… maybe with only one exception, peanut butter. You see, in the (my) DP camp, whenever that “too common” tin of peanut butter was opened, a very un-Latvian amorma did fill our cramped indoor living space. And as my father often verbally expressed dislike of it, I as well still now try to avoid that “smell”.  (And don’t get me wrong, for if peanut butter was all that there was, I would digest it, but only with a “clothes-pin on my nose”.)
But is not soup (even Irena’s green pea soup that was described as ‘alas briesmas’), a much more common food item? Hmmm, perhaps she did not remember well enough, as I was instructed to only be very careful whenever I ate that “soup”—-not ever to avoid it. And so yes, I still carefully chew green-peas whether “my” soup “still” contains any possible cokeable items or not.

Irena again:

Bruno, I don’t think these people who described the green pea soup as ‘alas briesmas’ were ingrates, as a matter of fact, I know some of these people personally and they are anything but.  As I said to fellow traveler, Aivars, we all handle traumas differently.  Many of these people had gone through horrendous experiences.  If they couldn’t laugh a little, infuse some humor into their lives, they probably would have fallen apart.

I have to disagree again.
Your reference to “we all handle traumas differently” seems plausible. But if ever their whole country/culture is not “for” them, then your “fallen apart” can only be expected.—-Case in point is the Vietnam War and the US.
So in contrast… What struck me about a viewed DVD,  “The Constellation of Riflemen”, was that they all were deemded as Latvian, whether some were later additionally labeled as Socialists. They made choices,—-but the summary choices actually led to the Latvija’s first independence.—-And without any later individually “needed” regrets, for they still felt Latvian. (And I do have a few historical words to later say about Latvian “socialism”.—- Words that PC could in spite, deem still being very “socialistic”. ...But with words that I would not ever deem as ever being “socialistic”.)

Labrīt vecajā gadā!

Aivar, Istanbul is one of my favorite cities on earth. If I do leave Dievzemīte, I might live there. Here’s an article I recently wrote about it.

Visu gaišu,
/P

Hi Peter C:

Great travelogue story. Thanks for sharing the link.

You know, you may have missed your calling….you shoulda been a writer. Is it too late to reconsider?

I’m expecting more great penmanship from you in the upcoming year. Have a smashing 2012 !

Alberts

Thanks. But—sheet, who proofread it?

Laimīgu Jauno gadu visiem dalībniekiem!

/P

Paldies Peter.
Es domaju,paliec Latvija.
Laimigu jauno gadu.

Aivar, I love this country too much to ever really leave. Why that is—I dunno.

/P

And I enjoyed reading the travelogue over again, Peter’!

Typo error in my last post about green pea soup, it’s zalas briesmas ne vis briesmas no alas.  I enjoy a good home made pea soup and I love peanut butter!  Laimigu jauno gadu, Mikus un viesiem Loleriem!

Irena

PS And that would be visiem Loleriem, netikai viesiem!  I swear I haven’t had a drop to drink, yet!!

Irena

Yes Peter,I wish I could be in “God’s country”.Regarding your article,which was much appreciated,
among the things I Learned was how to spell MASQUE.
Dzivo vesels,aivars.

I do have a good food memory of the DP camp I was in in Kleinketz.
Beef fat and onions cooked together and when cooled spred on rupjmaize. We could not believe that in America they threw fat away.

I forgot you and I were in the same DP camp. You were just a little tyke and I was already in school.  Jadviga Klagiss was my teacher as well as my mom’s best friend.
Don’t recall eating fried onions on rupjmaize but I love that bread, then and now.  You were too young to go out and pick mushrooms in the woods around our camp, but my friends and I loved to go after a nice rain and pick “baravikas” and others I do not even recall their names, but I could recognize them in an instant.  Those I brought home to our little room and cooked in butter or fat or whatever was available and make a little gravy and pour it all over mashed potatoes. What I wouldn’t give to be able to get those “bekas” fresh today.  Our little European store owned by a Polish lady sells them dried and once you plump them up in hot water they are good, but hothing like the real thing.
Sorry to wander off the main theme here.  Life in our DP camp was not what Nesaule experienced and I’m sure for the adults it was much more difficult than for us kids, but I actually have fond memories of those years.  Things got hectic when we arrived here in the States.

Quick note on Woman in Amber. My began reading it, intending to review it for our web site. Ultimately, it was (per her reading) more about a self-indulgent jag over familial conflict than a story of Latvian survival in exile. I suppose I shall have to read it to form my own perspective, but my psychic vessel of Latvian suffering from the war and the DP camps has been full ever since I was old enough to realize I possessed such a vessel.