About the Orthodox Scouter

Welcome to my blog! I started this part of the blogosphere on July 21^th, 2003. Saint Basil of Kineshma (July 31^st) is the patron saint of this blog.

I am a married Eastern Orthodox Christian Scouter (Volunteer Scout Leader) with 3 children. I am an American by birth and Irish, Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, German, British, Syrian, and Jewish by genetics. My first born child is part Native American Indian and my second and third born children are both half Han Chinese.

If you'd like to pray for my family, which I would greatly appreciate,  our patron saints are:

• Saint Nicholas of Japan (February 16^th)
• Saint Alexandra the Empress (April 23^rd)
• Saint Anastasia the Great-Martyr (December 22^nd)
• Saint Daniel the Prophet (December 17^th)
• Saint Cyril of Alexandria (June 9^th)

My godfather is Serbian, so our family has adopted a Slava of the Royal Martyrs of Russia (July 17^th), which is fitting since we all descend from royalty.

Learning, teaching, reading, writing, and mentoring others are among my many positive passions. Besides salvation for my family and myself, my biggest goal is leaving the world a better place than when I entered it. Part of that goal is achieved by participation in Scouting, where I volunteer in many positions on all levels from the local unit to the district, council, area, region, national, and international level.

Some of the positions that I serve in Scouting include:

• DESMOS (The International Link of Orthodox Christian Scouts) Member
• BSA Southern Region EOCS (Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting) Contact Coordinator
• Southern Regiment (Region) Corps of Discovery Permanent Party Member
• NTEOCS North Texas (BSA Southern Region, Area 2) EOCS (Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting) Committee Chairman
• Circle Ten Council Religious Emblem Coordinator for Sea Scouts & Venturing
• Circle Ten Council Venturing & Sea Scouts Roundtable Commissioner
• Circle Ten Council Religious Relationships Committee Member
• Elm Fork District Religious Emblem Coordinator
• Elm Fork District Cub Scouts Roundtable Commissioner
• Unit Religious Emblem Coordinator
• Pack Advancement Coordinator
• Webelos Den Leader

I have a Masters Degree in Theology and I am currently working on my Doctorate in Commissioner Science. I am an Operations Manager for a banking contact center and am a retired deacon of a traditionalist Russian Orthodox Christian Church. I have been a catechist, counselor, council member, and teacher in the various Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches that I have been an active member of.

I was first catechized in a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Church over 20 years ago and have regularly attended Russian, Serbian, Rusyn, Greek, and Antiochian Orthodox Christian Churches since then. I like to attend the Divine Services of whichever Eastern Orthodox Christian Church is closest to where I live, as I am vehemently against the heresy of Phyletism, especially ethno-phyletism and racism.

Originally this blog was called "Insane Ramblings and Orthodox Ecclesiology". At the time it was a fitting name, as I had more insane ramblings than Eastern Orthodox Christian Ecclesiology (which I define as Orthodox Christian Theology, Praxis, Dogma, & Patristics). I have had multiple short-term blogs over the years, so the blog you see now also includes some of the content from those blogs including "iNicholas", "Yellow Dog iBook", "Ubuntu PowerMac", "This Too Was Dugg By...", and my old unnamed LiveJournal.

Eventually I blogged mostly about Orthodox Christian Ecclesiology, and as such, the blog was renamed, "Orthodox Ecclesiology and The World". The World was included in the title because I continued to occasionally blog about worldly things like my family, Scouting, exercise, dieting, health, politics, work, music, soccer (Association Football) and American Football (especially the NFL's Green Bay Packers), etc.. Years later, the name later changed yet again to "The Orthodox Scouter", as my content continued to evolve, and now has more content about Cub Scouts BSA, Boy Scouts BSA, Sea Scouts BSA, STEM Scouts BSA, Venturing BSA, Exploring BSA, Scouting BSA, and even Girl Scouts USA, but Eastern and Ancient Western Orthodox Ecclesiology will always remain the largest and most fundamental part of this blog.

The URL to this blog has also changed multiple times over the years. I also have changed the design often as well. Most recently, before going to a solid dark navy (#1a1b29 the color of the super sharp Sea Scouts BSA Uniforms) background for a while, there was a gold leaf background that I had used for many years. Prior to that the blog had a light blue Orthodox Christian Clerical vestments designs that was from the old Saint Basil of Kineshma Russian Orthodox Church website that I was the webmaster for. Currently there is a Venturing Green background and theme. "KaruZone" from Fiverr made the new site logo. If you like it, please go visit him and let him know. He'll make logos for your site, with unlimited revisions for only about $25!

I love comments and hope that you will comment on stories that you enjoy or loathe. Feedback is a gift! Again, welcome to my little part of the blogosphere. I hope you enjoy your stay!