Welcome to Parochianus. That’s meant to be a description of my place in the universe. I often recall Gag Halfrunt’s description of Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “he’s just this guy, you know?” Well, I’m just this guy. To be slightly more precise, I’m a parishioner, or parochianus in Latin. I might also be described as a husband, father, software engineer, manager of engineers, hiker, biker, or runner. Those words describe my relationships to other things in the universe. Biker describes my relationship with a piece of metal and rubber. Manager describes my relationship with the software engineers I work with during the day. Father describes my relationship with my five children. Parochianus, on the other hand, describes my relationship with a far broader group of people, and in fact most accurately describes my place in the universe. It describes my relationship with those who are inside the Church and it describes my relationship with those who are outside the Church. Most importantly, it describes my relationship with God.

I am a Subdeacon and also something of an armchair theologian and amateur latinist. I’m an Orthodox Christian who lives in the west and is by nature western. On this blog I hope to share a bit of that. I expect a large percentage of what I share will be research and reflections on Orthodoxy. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a bit of our North Carolina mountains peak through, or a touch of family fun, or even reflections on herding cats. If any of those things interest you, welcome.