What I do: I am a PhD candidate in History at Indiana University in the Ancient Studies field. I am interested in Byzantium and Asia Minor of Late Antiquity, and in the social function of liturgy — that is to say, Christian modes of multi-sensory public ritual. I am working on a dissertation studying civic devotions to the Mother of God in Constantinople from the fifth through the seventh centuries. In addition, I have interests in Modern Greek and contemporary religious issues in Greece and Asia Minor. I am also the spouse of a PhD student, which is sometimes a full-time gig in and of itself. I chant at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church and sometimes at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, I’m the Artistic Director of The Saint John of Damascus Society, and while it is not my primary academic focus, I’m very interested on a personal level in Byzantine chant and ecclesiastical music in general, as well as traditional American folk/vernacular music.
If, by some chance, you decide that what you’ve read here is worth something, here is an opportunity to pay what you think that might be. (Although, let’s be honest — if you actually think that, I recommend counseling. Lots of counseling.)
Leitourgeia kai Qurbana: Contra den Zeitgeist 
hello! i luv your site, and I’m glad to meet another Christian blogger! stop by mine @ http://scripture4u.wordpress.com
Keep in the Faith!!
-neogotchi
I was excited to find your post about St. Richard of Wessex. My background is Catholic so I didn’t expect to find an Orthodox St. Richard. Richard is a family name for both me & my husband. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
For what it’s worth, I’m very appreciative of your posting about bread baking on your own blog. (Although by this point, I’m pretty sure it’s Dr. Carlton, not Mr. Carlton. I could be wrong.)
You are a freak. Albeit a godly one…
(When are you going to come back to visit your favorite niece??)
I do what I can.
I’ve no idea at this point when we’ll be back. There’s another McKamey family wedding this summer, but it will be when Megan is in Germany, so that’s unlikely.
Better question — when are you guys coming out here to see us? We’ve been out here, what, five years, and the only visits we’ve gotten from anybody back there are Megan’s mom and stepdad, and they’ve been here all of twice.
Richard
Hey Richard,
Was told that you were trying to get in touch. It’d be great to speak with you again. drop me an email at eric@(myfirstandlastname).com
Hello Richard! Happy Feast of Pentecost! I’m putting together some new liturgy books and hope you have a few pieces of music I’m looking for – sung once upon at time back at All Saints. :~) Email me at my firstname(hyphen)lastname@uiowa.edu. Thanks!
Dear Richard
I have several times followed your Greek meanderings. Now it looks as if you are spending some time in Athens. I am an RC priest currently trying to combine pastoral work in Greece with academic study of Orthodox theology. I am a great lover and admirer of all things Orthodox, and I have often thought I would like to meet you since it is not easy to find an interlocutor who enjoys talking about “churchy” things while simultaneously being a fully-fledged human being, and it seems we have a lot of interests in common. I spend my time between Athens and one of the islands so, if you are ging to be some time in the capital, it might be possible for us to meet (are you doing the summer Greek course at the university? I did the year-long one two years ago.) If you feel you might enjoy downing a few cans of Mythos and chat to a fellow native English speaker (albeit a practicioner of the British variety of the common tongue by which we are divided) then use the e-mail address you now have for me (I was unable to find one for you on this otherwise admirable and informative blog).
Dear John Michael Boyer:
Anonymus, Please’ Thanks.
What is your opinion of the translation efforts of αῑμνήστου
Fr. Leonidas C. Condos?
Fr. Kezios, his own translations notwithstanding, is trying to make them standard in the english-speaking world; Through his NARTHEX PRESS.
Enjoyed reading your article:
“THE TRANSCRIPTION, ADAPTATION AND COMPOSITION OF
TRADITIONAL BYZANTINE CHANT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
An American’s Brief Look at the United States.
in “Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of the ASBMH”
Nicholas G. Constantin.
Granada Hills CA.
You had a note onNLM about Choir School.
After Christmas I will send out a PDF all about it and will welcome dialogue.
Let me know where I can reach you. This is too complicated for a blog.
You have my eMail and here is my phone 507 289 7790
Mike
My e-mail is rrbarret (AT) indiana.edu. Thank you!
I couldn’t find your email so I decided to comment this.
You might have see it in my buzz feed, but I didn’t know if it caught your eye. I don’t know if this sort of thing interests you, but I’m hoping to do (since I work there).
http://www.pepperdine.edu/ascendingvoice/
Looks like they need papers and speakers.
I did see that. Not sure if I would be able to go — there is at least one other conference in May I’ll be attending, plus something else in California sometime during the summer. We’ll see. Thank you for the tip, one way or the other!
I’m going to have FUN exploring your blog and links. On FB I had my religious status set as an existential anarchic anglo catholic. I have always been interested in the orthdox faith but have found the cultural expressions of it too unrelateable. I haven’t been my usual armchair theologian for a number of years, so this is opening that can of worms for me again, LoL!!
All best wishes, Kimberly
Nice to hear from you, Kimberly! Tell Creighton I say hi (if he remembers me). I seem to recall giving you a copy of a book called Anglican-Orthodox Pilgrimage while we were doing the Our Town workshop, which was a book I read early on.
You’re not the first person to walk into a Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom — even one in English — not have any idea what’s happening, and say, “Wow, this is all Greek to me.” I once made this chart for an overview presentation on the structure of the Eucharistic rites between East and West, and realized it helped to illustrate the problem:
There was a point where I was putting together a PowerPoint presentation called “Getting Over the Byzantine Rite Hump: An Introduction to the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom With Music and Pictures Designed to Not Make You Feel Like a Dork”; I may revisit this at some point.
In any event, please keep in touch and let me know if I can answer any questions for you!
Richard
There is a new documentary being produced you might find interesting called “Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer.” I thought maybe you could post something about the film on your website. The film is about the secret practices of monks and nun across the world.
Here’s the website:
http://mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com/
And the trailer:
Best,
Alex
Dear RichardI have several times followed your Greek meanderings. Now it looks as if you are spending some time in Athens. I am an RC priest currently trying to combine pastoral work in Greece with academic study of Orthodox theology. I am a great lover and admirer of all things Orthodox, and I have often thought I would like to meet you since it is not easy to find an interlocutor who enjoys talking about “churchy” things while simultaneously being a fully-fledged human being, and it seems we have a lot of interests in common. I spend my time between Athens and one of the islands so, if you are ging to be some time in the capital, it might be possible for us to meet (are you doing the summer Greek course at the university? I did the year-long one two years ago.) If you feel you might enjoy downing a few cans of Mythos and chat to a fellow native English speaker (albeit a practicioner of the British variety of the common tongue by which we are divided) then use the e-mail address you now have for me (I was unable to find one for you on this otherwise admirable and informative blog).
+1
Hi!
I thought you may be interested in learning more about this upcoming documentary, “Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer.”
It’s been garnering a lot of attention lately and I think you may want to check it out.
You can learn more by visiting: http://www.mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com/
Thank you very much for this inspiring and very needed site, o tempo o mores!
Richard, I pray today to your namesake St. Richard of Wessex, because you and your Ph.D. candidate spouse need all the celestial vigor you both can muster, in order to survive the calamitous and most vulgar times we are living. My husband and I went throught what you two are going through; we are both Ph.D.s and manage to get our daughter graduated from UCLA; along the way, we went through periods of unemployment and bankruptcy. Take care of your marriage first always. Blessings from silly and sunny Southern California.
Hello. I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know I am working on a book in which Theodore H. Barrett plays no minor role. 🙂