AtDtDA(34): "Oh, There Won't Be any War"

[Dave Monroe]

"'Oh, there won't be any war.'" (AtD, Pt. IV., p. 759)


"'They have adapted the σχημα'"

The word schema comes from the Greek word "σχήμα" (skhēma), which
means shape or more generally plan....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema

The monastic habit is the same throughout the Eastern Church (with
certain slight regional variations), and it is the same for both monks
and nuns. Each successive grade is given a portion of the habit, the
full habit being worn only by those in the highest grade, known for
that reason as the "Great Schema", or "Great Habit." One is free to
enter any monastery of one's choice; but after being accepted by the
abbot (or abbess) and making vows, one may not move from place to
place without the blessing of one's ecclesiastical superior....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(Orthodoxy)#Orthodox_monasticism

Great Schema (Greek: μεγαλοσχημος, Megaloschemos; Slavonic: Схима,
Schima)—Monks whose abbot feels they have reached a high level of
spiritual excellence reach the final stage, called the Great Schema.
The tonsure of a Schemamonk or Schemanun follows the same format as
the Stavrophore, and he makes the same vows and is tonsured in the
same manner. But in addition to all the garments worn by the
Stavrophore, he is given the analavos (Slavonic: analav) which is the
article of monastic vesture emblematic of the Great Schema. For this
reason, the analavos itself is sometimes itself called the "Great
Schema". It drapes over the shoulders and hangs down in front and in
back, with the front portion somewhat longer ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(Orthodoxy)#Great_Schema

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(Orthodoxy)


"the Orphic story of the world's beginning"

http://persephones.250free.com/orphic-cosmogony.html


"the Greeks called her Νυξ"

NYX was the goddess of the night, one of the ancient Protogenoi
(first-born elemental gods)....

http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Nyx.html

The fragments of Orphic cosmogonies given by Eudemos, and Plato, and
Lydus do not quite agree, but at least Night, Oceanus, and Thetys are
elementary beings, and the first of them in order of existence was
probably Night....

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04405c.htm

In Greek mythology, Nyx (Νύξ, Nox in Roman translation) was the
primordial goddess of the night. A shadowy figure, Night stood at or
near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of personified gods
such as Sleep and Death. Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but
reveal her as a figure of exceptional power....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyx_(mythology)

Night took on an even more important role in several fragmentary poems
attributed to Orpheus. In them, Night, rather than Chaos, is the first
principle. Night occupies a cave or adyton, in which she gives
oracles. Kronos - who is chained within, asleep and drunk on honey -
dreams and prophesies. Outside the cave, Adrastea clashes cymbals and
beats upon her tympanon, moving the entire universe in an ecstatic
dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting. Phanes - the strange,
monstrous, hermaphrodite Orphic demiurge - was the child or father of
Nyx.

Night is also the first principle in the opening chorus of
Aristophanes's Birds, which may be Orphic in inspiration....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyx_(mythology)#Other_Greek_texts

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_%281825-1905%29_-_La_Nuit_%281883%29.jpg

Vs. ...

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_946-975#Page_959

But why these particular words in the Greek alphabet?  Help!


"In the Eastern rite"

Unlike in Western Christianity, where sundry religious orders arose,
each with its own profession rites, in the Eastern Orthodox Church,
there is only one type of monasticism. The profession of monastics is
known as Tonsure (referring to the ritual cutting of the monastic's
hair which takes place during the service) and is considered to be a
Sacred Mystery (Sacrament)....

[...]

One becomes a monk or nun by being tonsured, a rite which only a
priest can perform. This is typically done by the abbot. The priest
tonsuring a monk or nun must himself be tonsured into the same or
greater degree of monasticism that he is tonsuring into. In other
words, only a hieromonk who has been tonsured into the Great Schema
may himself tonsure a Schemamonk. A bishop, however, may tonsure into
any rank, regardless of his own; also, on rare occasion, a bishop will
allow a priest to tonsure a monk or nun into any rank....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(Orthodoxy)#Orthodox_monasticism


"a kind of girdle"

?  "adapted"?

In some communities, the novice also wears the leather belt....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(Orthodoxy)#Novice


Father Ponko

?


hegumen

Hegumen, hegumenos, or ihumen ... is the title for the head of a
monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches,
similar to the one of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called
hegumenia or ihumenia .... The term means "the one who is in charge",
"the leader" in Greek....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegumen


"'Talking, for women, is a form of breathing'"

Compare p. 501: "a hundred women ... all silent." Tying
Noellyn/Yashmeen to Cyprian?

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_946-975#Page_959