Inertia

Had a brief discussion about physics and science with a "professional" phyisicist yesterday on Facebook; I had to dust off the cobwebs in the attic of my mind. I was thinking about inertia (especially as formulated by Newton). How would one go about questioning or even refuting it as a postulate or axiom? By looking at the explanation of change? Does anything non-living move itself? And should we not take into consideration natural versus violent motion?

If simple bodies do not move themselves but are moved by another... and if it is the First Mover that moves them when the motion is natural, then the end or purpose of that motion is determined by the First Mover as a part of their nature.

It may be natural for some things to persist in changing place (locomotion) until they come to rest for some reason. But is it possible for other things to be in perpetual motion for a reason that we cannot readily discern? The end of motion is not rest but some perfection extrinsic to the thing? (example: the celestial bodies? - motion in a 'circular' path) At the moment I cannot think of a reason to rule out this possibility outright.

On the other hand, I do not have any a priori reason yet to claim either that all instances of natural locomotion must be of the second kind either. (As the principle of inertia would seem to entail.)

[Various forms of 'rectilinear' motion are due to attractions proper to the natures of certain things? Are there any exceptions?]

One who has been instructed in modern physics will assume inertia is an uncontroversial or evident truth, on par with the fact of the earth being round. How would awaken him from such a dogmatic slumber? (He did subscribe to a form of scientism, saying that the only valid knowledge of physical reality was obtained through the scientific method. And he claimed that teleology was pseudoscience.)

Mass of Ordination & Installation of Michael Barber - 5th Bishop of Oakland

Saint Anthony Coptic Orthodox Church: Sham El Neseem Liturgy & New Deacon Ordination

Saint Anthony Coptic Orthodox Church
Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Stanford University: Vatican II: Catholicism Meets Modernity

Led by Paul Crowley, SJ - you can find videos for the course here.

Upholding the Legacy...

Pope Francis remembers Bl Pope John XXIII (full text)

Asia News: Pope: John XXIII, the good pope's daily abandonment to God's will is a lesson for the Church of our time
John XXIII’s providential decision to hold Vatican II is hailed as a milestone in the Catholic Church

Healing in the Parish and the World: Let Us Go Forth in Peace by Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)

Notre Dame: Cardinal Dolan delivers the Commencement Address

Zenit transcript

Misc.
Catholic Vote: SIX GREAT GIFTS FOR THE NEWLY ORDAINED. (AND FIVE THINGS TO SHY AWAY FROM.)

Modern Questions, Ancient Answers: Defining and Defending Human Dignity in Our Time

Prostopinije

The plainchant of the Ruthenians; according to the wiki entry, it is closely related to Znamenny chant. I've heard some Znamenny; the two forms of plainchant don't sound that similar. Maybe it's because the Znamenny I've heard primarily comes from Valaam, and I haven't really heard pure Znamenny. (Or is it because it's an all-male group?)


Paschal Ode 1 - Prostopinije








Palm Sunday Vespers 2011

Znamenny Chant?
Valaam - this example seems to be more like a mix of Byzantine and Znamenny - Valaam chant?




In English:




Not Valaam:











Related:
The Znamenny Chant of the Russian Church--Part I; Part 2 [alt]
Church of the Nativity page
Znamenny Chant by Fr. Simon Pimen Pt.1 (Parts 2 and 3)

Cappella Romana has a blog.

"Error Has No Rights"

The Last Laugh of Alfredo Ottaviani by George Weigel
Cardinal Ottaviani Responds to George Weigel by Peter Crenshaw

MosPat: Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem venerates the shrines of Valamo Monastery’s Cathedral of the Holy Transfiguration

Sandro Magister: Even Peter Puts His Money in the Bank

The objectives of the Holy See in the financial field and the future of the IOR, in an address by Pope Francis and in a report by the Vatican supervisory authority

The Common Good and Scale

Thaddeus Kozinski and James Chastek respond to the Robert George-Michael Hannon debate on the common good. Maybe I will eventually write my own post, which will be a rehash of things I've already written before...

Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait

Yale University Press

Thomistica.net: Denys Turner on Aquinas the materialist

I hope a [prominent] Dominican will write a book review. Aidan Nichols's Discovering Aquinas uses the same painting for its cover as well; someone should be drawing icons of St. Thomas Aquinas, whether in imitation of Fra Angelico or not.

The Telegraph: Pope Francis shunned official papal apartments to live 'normal life'

Cappella Romana - Lament for the Fall of Constantinople

Symposium: THE NATURE AND ROLE OF DEACONS, OR THE FULLNESS OF PRIESTHOOD

The author advances the following:

"The bishop possesses the fullness of the priestly ministry, while those he ordains priest act vicariously on his behalf – analogous to being his hands at the Altar – and the deacons something more like his feet, as they go into the highways and byways in search of the poor and those in need."

So - is the diaconate distinguished by its ministry of works of mercy? Or, is it distinguished rather by their preaching? (the thesis advanced by another author)

A explanation of the curriculum at St. John's College: Reflections on St. John’s College: The Conservative Contrarian

Vatican News: Pope Francis on “rethinking solidarity” at Centesimus Annus conference

Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice

Chiesa: Vatican Diary / The identity cards of the last two popes

Zenit: Pope Francis Celebrates Sunday Mass at Roman Parish
Parishioners Moved by Pontiff's Visit on Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

Reaction at Rorate Caeli: Trinity Sunday's papal Mass: liturgical note

"Reality Is Seen from the Suburbs"


Are Italian suburbs as disordered as American ones? Less or equally unsustainable? And should they be included in the same diocese as the urban "core" or center?

Still, Pope: Culture of economic comfort deprives us of closeness to the Lord

“Culture of economic wellbeing and attraction towards the provisional prevent us from following Jesus”
Francis said this during this morning’s mass in St. Martha’s House, co-celebrated with the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin

Leitourgia: Book review: The Typikon Decoded by Archimandrite Job Getcha (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press)

A book that I've been meaning to get...

God and Cosmological Fine-Tuning - Robert J. Spitzer, PhD

CNA: Papal encyclicals expected on faith and poverty, bishop reveals

CNS: Icons: A creation story

The Unknown Mission of Sts. Cyril and Methodius by Sergei Milov
An interview with Anatoly Arkadyevich Turilov

io9: If Earth Had a Ring Like Saturn

Elder Zacharias regarding the Spiritual Life

Should Pro-Lifers Be Anti-Death? by John Zmirak
Defending the innocent doesn't mean foregoing justice

What Is It?

Huge submerged mystery structure in Sea of Galilee stumps dry-docked Israeli archaeologists
Ancient Structure Under Sea of Galilee

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia on Elder Sophrony of Essex

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware - Orthodox Catholic Relations

From Feb. 2011

Photographs of various Byzantine-rite monasteries (most of which are Orthodox, one is Catholic) taken by Father Anthony Falsarella: Father Anthony's Monastery Journal

A Conversation on the Philokalia with Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)

Renewing the Presence of Love in the World (Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk)

This is not because God is retreating from us. God’s presence among people is becoming impoverished because people are not open to God and to one another; man’s will often opposes God’s will and he is not in a condition to accept God in his life. This is because, by accepting God in his life, man accepts an enormous responsibility before both God and his neighbors. It is much easier to live irresponsibly, because nothing will disturb you apart from your own evil, your own personal pleasures, needs, and prosperity. When one’s entire human core is directed towards this, then of course one becomes removed from God, since one is not in a condition to accept God in one’s life. Accepting God into oneself means that one will have to change the vicious structure of one’s life.

If we do not seek to live in friendship with others, we should understand that this is not "normal" but rather a sickness that requires an intervention by the Divine Physician. Most people are not completely anti-social, but they do need to open their hearts more to those around them.

Dr. Marcus Plested: Aquinas, between East and West.

He is the author of Orthodox Readings of Aquinas.

Graduate Christian Union, University of Oxford

The Feast of Pentecost

Holy Resurrection Monastery Divine Liturgy at IRL Event Mundelein, Illinois

Bright Friday


The homily has sparked some controversy on FB.

My comment on the use of intellectual history:

"Too often intellectual history is used (poorly) as a substitute for real philosophy/theology - and in the case of theology, what is needed is an engagement with the sources and authorities so that these are understood well. Undoubtedly a good Latin theologian familiar with the various schools or traditions in Western Christendom will dispute the points made in Abbot Nicholas's homily, and I personally think it might have been better if he had refrained from attempting a comparison within the homily, and just focused on the "positive." But as someone who seeks to bring healing, he may have felt justified in making this correction, though we would disagree with his diagnosis."

Vultus Christi: Cenobites, Anchorites, Sarabites, and Gyrovagues (via Tea at Trianon)

More New Offerings from Angelico Press

I had not noticed that these were available, in addition to the latest from Stratford Caldecott -

Behold the Heritage: Foundations of Education in the Dominican Tradition by Sister Matthew Marie Cummings (Editor), O.P., Sister Elizabeth Anne Allen, O.P.
Our Way and Our Life: Christ in His Mysteries by Blessed Columba Marmion
With Christ - An Anthology of the Writings of Blessed Columba Marmion

A review of one of the last book: Catholic Thursday: With Christ - An Anthology of the Writings of Blessed Columba Marmion

Apparently no one has republished his Christ, the Ideal of the Monk yet.

It looks like the company is distributing works by Wolfgang Smith. (I don't think it is republishing them.) Here is one:
Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism by Wolfgang Smith

Vatican Inside: Bartholomew says he felt “moved” by his meeting with Pope Francis

One to One: Picture of the Day: East Meets West by Greg Kandra

Cardinal Cleemis Mar Baselios, major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church, visits with Cardinal Timothy Dolan...

Teaching the Natural Sciences

James Chastek, Classical education and the math/science problem

Re: teaching the natural sciences - I have not seen Dr. Rizzi's textbook yet - it might be useful for secondary level students. I think beyond learning the general principles of the natural sciences, students should become familiar with living things that are relevant to their own lives - animals and plants they eat, and so on. As for non-living things - some knowledge of certain chemicals/substances, but any modelling will be educated opinion. Even the use of experiments may lead only to educated opinion, at best, and so we should probably resign ourselves to the limits to the knowledge we who do not have the laboratory or materials can obtain through the analysis to elements, etc.



A book has been written based on his text - First Physics, by Murray Daw. (St. Augustine's Press)

Just saw this blog, again - no recent entries - Real Physics TM.

And something pertinent to this post - Ite Ad Thomam: Dr. Romero's Translation of Hugon's Cosmology Now in Print!!!

Medievalists.net: Medieval Academy of America rocked by resignations of Executive Directors

What future for medieval studies in Uhmerica?

Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy: “Who is a Christian?”: A Discussion with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick on Ancient Faith Today - podcast

Les Béatitudes - Chœur Des Moines De Chevetogne

Fox News: Stunning Byzantine mosaic uncovered in Israel

This has been making the rounds today on FB: Infant Communion: The Ancient Western Tradition

Pater Noster: 10 Lessons the Orthodox Church can learn from their rapprochement with the Miaphysites

Byzantine, TX

Fr. Phillips's Introduction to Holy Scripture

Interview with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk

Salt and Light TV


He will be coming to California for this year's Napa Institute summer conference, along with Bishop Borys Gudziak.

Pope Tawadros II Visits Pope Francis

Zenit: Historic Meeting Takes Place Between Pope Francis and Coptic Pope Tawadros II
Emphasize Promotion of Ecumenical Dialogue Between Both Churches

Pope Francis' Address to Coptic Pope Tawadros II

Coptic Pope proposes to celebrate feast for Catholics and Coptic Christians on May 10


Previously...
Pope Francis to meet with Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, to mark key anniversary

MosPat: Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates Paschal service at the church of the ‘Joy to All the Afflicted” Icon of the Mother of God

"Concelebrating were schema-archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) from the Korsun diocese..."

Marriage and Celibacy

Eastern Catholic Spiritual Renewal: I Dream of Celibacy
OCN: Sacrament of Marriage - mp3

A Rebuttal to Archimandrite Taft

CWR: "Sister Churches": A Clarification by Michael J. Miller

And an Orthodox responds to some remarks made by Pope Francis: Pope Francis: Without me there is no Church

MoJ: Catholicism and Liberalism: Raz or Rawls?

Law's Virtues: Exploring the Tensions Between Laws and Values in the United States

Vatican Insider: Pope Francis is attached to traditional devotions and is not afraid to show it

Κυριε εκεκραξα

Angelico Publishes Another Book by Stratford Caldecott

Stratford Caldecott, The Radiance of Being: Dimensions of Cosmic Christianity

The Imaginative Conservative has an excerpt.

From Public Discourse:
Truth, Responsibility, and Love
by Ryan T. Anderson on May 6th, 2013
The Regent University 2013 Commencement Address, delivered May 4, 2013.

After Beauty
by Mark Signorelli on May 3rd, 2013
Just as our culture’s rejection of an essential human nature wreaked havoc on our moral thought, so too our rejection of the concept of form has made our artwork incoherent.

All Things Made New: Announcing a new book
Second Spring

A New Book by Lauren Pristas

Which will feature much of her previously published material on the collects of the Roman rite. Chant Cafe: An Item for the Book Budget

Pravmir: Encyclical for Holy Pascha of Patriarch Bartholomew
Paschal Message of His Holiness Kirill Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: Orthodox Easter Resurrection: The Gift of Liberation and Call to Compassion [HuffPo]
Encyclical of Archbishop Demetrios for Holy Pascha
Paschal Message of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon
Paschal Message of His Eminence Hilarion Metropolitan of Eastern and America
Paschal Letter of His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East

CWR: Benedict and Francis: A Lesson in Apostolic Continuity

Is it possible to acquire the virtue of obedience if one's expression of masculinity has been inhibited or deformed?

Христос воскрес!

KoC: "Our Eastern Brothers"

An interview with Archbishop Stefan Soroka about Eastern Catholicism, Orthodoxy and traditions by Alton J. Pelowski

CWR: Pope Francis: “There can be no dialogue with the prince of this world”

There has been some discussion of whether the requirement for clerical celibacy will be relaxed in the Roman rite (i.e. the Patriarchate of Rome). Some may saythat for an increase in vocations prayer, penance, and sacrifice, along with the presence of an "orthodox" bishop (with a seminary and vocations director to back him up) suffice. But if the local Church is to be instantiated according to a more human scale (1 priest per 150 families, let's say), will there be enough priests?

A Calvinist Responds to Feser and Kozinski

via TK: TWO ENDS OR TWO KINGDOMS? by Peter Escalante

Related: “We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident”: A Dialogue

Cardinal Newman Society: New Book Features Pope Benedict XVI's Talks on Education and Culture

Rome Reports: Pope welcomes Benedict XVI to the Vatican


Zenit: Pope Francis' Reform

In the West, the new evangelization and renewal of the local Church must involve the renewal of communal life in the parishes. This cannot happen until a proper and concerted response to the modern nation-state, and the political economy upon which it is built, especially its gradually assumed dependence upon cheap energy, is undertaken by Christians - I believe this response will include a movement towards voluntary simplicity.

Shopping Our Way to Sustainability - Really?
Ready for Rationing? Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive
Mutual Aid Medical Care

Fr. Janko Zagar, O.P. Passes

A Model of Dominican Life

Wipf and Stock have reprinted his book, Acting on Principles, available. (The editor is Fr. Augustine.)

More from George Weigel

First Things: The Bishop of Rome as Christian Radical by George Weigel

One More for the Medieval Geek

The classical trivium: the place of Thomas Nashe in the learning of his time by Marshall McLuhan (his Ph.D. dissertation)

Someone posted a link to an essay which referenced McLuhan in its discussion of the trivium and how various authors differed as to the importance of rhetoric. I wasn't sure if I could find the link again, but I did - Thinking Trivially about Radical Orthodoxy. I had forgotten McLuhan had converted to Catholicism.

eighth day books blog

DSPT: Book Launch: “Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas” by Fr. Michael Dodds, OP

Video of the presentation is now available:

Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

CWR: Full text: Pope Francis’ Wednesday Audience address on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
“Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person.”

CWR Interview with Fr. Taft

CWR: Building Bridges Between Orthodox and Catholic Christians by Christopher B. Warner
An interview with Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, prominent Byzantine liturgical theologian and lifelong healer of Christian relations between East and West

The Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon on the Liturgy

Liturgy in the New Evangelisation
CNA: Bishop Rey reflects on Pope's liturgy, evangelization connection
« La Nouvelle Evangélisation doit être fondée sur la dignité de la liturgie »

Head of German bishops’ conference says the idea of women deacons “no longer taboo”

Some defend deaconesses as a valid Byzantine practice and a true holy order, but I wonder if this is really the case, or an aberration/novelty? Is it present in any other apostolic Christian traditions/rites?

The Discussion Sparked by David Hart on Natural Law Continues...

Edward Feser has some links, plus his latest response.

Pertinacious Papist: The best account of women and the priesthood I have ever seen

The Tomb of St. Catherine of Siena by Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P.

Jacques Maritain’s Service to Truth by Christopher Shannon

Without minimizing the importance of his writings, Maritain initially exerted his most powerful influence at a personal level through his Thomistic Study Circle, which he founded in 1914. Although placed under the spiritual direction of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., renowned as the leading guardian of Thomistic orthodoxy, the Circle nonetheless attracted a broad range of avante-garde, modernist intellectuals in various degrees of association with the Church. The appeal of the meetings was as much spiritual as intellectual, for Maritain intended his circle to pursue both sanctity and study. He understood the work of the Circle as in part making reparation for the sins against the intellect committed in the modern period. This aspect of the Thomistic revival was often lost on those who knew Maritain only through his writings, and continues to elude many. For Maritain, as for Thomas and the best of the Thomistic tradition, the truths of philosophy and theology were guides for a spiritual journey toward a deeper personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Bloy had directed Maritain toward the lives of the saints and the writings of Catholic mystics well before he began his study of St. Thomas. Maritain’s turn to scholastic rationality in no way entailed an abandonment of the more experiential and existential approaches that first drew him to the Church.

Politicizing the Papal Transition: A Retrospective by Jeffrey Tucker

My own thoughts, as we are still in the early days of the new pontificate - things may not be as dire, especially with respect to liturgical matters, as some traditionalists might fear. We may pray that much good be done and that there will be many reforms but it remains to be seen whether those in authority have a sufficient grasp of reality and the complexities of our trials.

Divna Ljubojevic - Blagosloven jesi Gospode

Traditionalist vs. Conservative

Jeff Mirus, OK, so what sort of renewal did Vatican II prescribe?

Christopher Ferrara responds to an earlier piece by Mirus, Pope Francis: Tough Talk About Vatican II

Some traditionalists (especially Americans) may deny that some problems pre-existed the council. But was the council itself a necessary part of the solution? (Especially given that it did not define any dogma in opposition to a heretical opinion?) How many of the previous councils can be considered to be of the same importance as Trent when it came to reforming the Latin churches?

Photos of Archbishop Jorge Maria Bergoglio Concelebrating the Divine Liturgy

(via ByzCath) - here, here, here, here, and here

Was there no Byzantine-rite mitre? Or was he uncomfortable wearing one? I am not sure if he was concelebrating - he is not wearing some of the other episcopal liturgical vestments as well - maybe they had only one set. It looks like he is wearing a mantiya instead.

CNA: Church must evangelize humbly, Pope Francis reflects

In humility and in charity... the homily was addressed to "members of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops at Casa Santa Marta," and not to lay people in general.

"Also present at the Mass were Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and police from the Vatican Gendarmerie, Vatican Radio reported."

Zenit: Pope Francis: Prepare Your Hearts For the Heavenly Homeland

Wednesday's audience: Pope Francis: “The Church is not a bureaucratic organization, but a love story”

From earlier this week: Pope's Homily on Feast of St. George

More from Sandro Magister on the need to reform the Curia: Vatican Diary / Future curia, old project

John R. Quinn, archbishop emeritus of San Francisco, has an opinion, one which he voiced before the conclave as well: American archbishop advocates new power-sharing structures in the Catholic Church - John R. Quinn advocates the expansion of the patriarchal structure in the Catholic Church and the attribution of decision making power to the synod of bishops, to remedy excessive centralization and strengthen communion

More from Bishop Quinn:
THE CLAIMS OF THE PRIMACY AND THE COSTLY CALL TO UNITY (alt)

The Reform of the Papacy

I have a post on beatitude of the blessed in heaven, but haven't had the time to finish it, even though it will be a rather short post. I've been busy trying to do other things.

Rethinking Religious Liberty by Benjamin Wiker
Why religious liberty cannot mean the right to believe whatever we want.

If the National Government is committed to enforcing secularism, then how should Catholics respond?

Also of note: Germain Grisez and Patrick Lee continue to defend the use of "brain death" to judge when a person is dead: Total Brain Death: Valid Criterion of Death
by Patrick Lee and Germain Grisez

I found this while doing a search for an argument against this, from a Thomistic pov. It appears to be such an attempt: A Thomistic understanding of human death by Jason T. Eberl (If you have the relevant subscription or institutional access, here is the article online.)

CNA: Pope's plans for encyclical, travel disclosed by David Uebbing

At Christendom College: Dr. Ken Grasso to Deliver Lecture on Church and State Relations

Dr. Ken Grasso will deliver a lecture entitled “The Freedom of the Church and the Taming of the State: The Christian Revolution, Western Liberty & the Rise of the New Leviathan” to the students and faculty of Christendom College at 4 p.m. in St. Kilian’s Café on April 29. This lecture will be part of the college’s Faith & Reason Lecture Series.

Perhaps a version of this will be published somewhere (if it hasn't been already).

His faculty page.

"Pascha"

Pascha: The New Passover
V. Rev. Fr. Anastasios Gounaris
Dean, Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, New York City

Fr. Z: Theologian responds to Archbp. Marini’s less than helpful comment on same-sex unions

CNA interviewed Fr. Rhonheimer --

“Conferring legal equality to same-sex unions signifies to publicly establish, in the law system, the principle of dissociation of sexuality and procreation,” he explained in an April 22 telephone interview with CNA.

Archbishop Piero Marini explicitly denied that same-sex unions should be equal to marriage between a man and a woman. So the CNA article is a bit misleading, as it sets up a strawman argument... the question is, rather, whether same-sex civil unions should be recognized as such at all. (Or whether one can be conferred certain rights, without any sort of legal recognition of a sexual relationship. While liberals or individualists might think so, one can ask whether the rights of others, e.g. family members, are prior to that of someone who is not related by blood, a friend, or a same-sex "lover.")

Spero News: Novices Enter Russian Catholic Monastery in Rome

To Promote In Order to Remove

It may "save face," but maybe it isn't such a wise idea. Then again, maybe turning the papacy into a bureaucracy isn't a wise idea, either.

Fr. Z: Former papal MC comes out for same-sex unions, trashes Benedict XVI’s pontificate

Holy Mass on the occasion of Priestly Ordinations

From yesterday...


Re: the use of Latin - if the bishop of the Church of Rome, which should pride Latin above all other churches, does not think that the continued use of Latin in the liturgy is worthwhile, then why should anyone else care about it?

Rome Reports: Religious Liberty still a problem, 1700 years after the 'Edict of Milan' was signed

Rome Reports: Cardinal Cañizares: "We wanted to choose the Pope that God had chosen"

Divine Liturgy in St. Peters with Pope John Paul II

Via ByzCath

Byzantine, Texas: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarch visits Phanar

Rome Reports: Pope Francis meets with president of Ecuador and shows his 'environmentally friendly' side

On the bishop's staff (in the Byzantine rite): Orthodox Arts Journal (via Byzantine, Texas - the explanation goes beyond Moses.