Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has again defended Russian intervention in Ukraine, denying that it constituted an invasion.

“Russia has never attacked anyone — it’s amazing that such a great and powerful country has only ever defended its borders,” the Patriarch told a congregation in the Cathedral of the Archangel, in the Kremlin.

“May God grant that our country remains like this till the end of the century: strong, powerful, and loved by God. . . May the Lord protect our Russian land from internecine strife and invasion by foreigners, and strengthen the Orthodox faith, the only spiritual force that can truly hold our people together.”

Preaching on Tuesday, the Patriarch said that Russia’s past rulers had “faithfully served the Orthodox Church and their fatherland”, and should be turned to in prayer “for the Russian state, so that our sacred borders remain impregnable”.

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PATRIARCH KIRILL of Moscow has again defended Russian intervention in Ukraine, denying that it constituted an invasion. “Russia has never attacked anyone.”
https://t.co/twFtoQ9RCE from @churchtimes

— Gene Bryant (@GeneBryant2) May 6, 2022

But there is a problem. Explosions are easy to see. For many tasks other than bomber-hunting, however, an awful lot of staring at screens looking for things that are out-of-the-ordinary is involved. People are bad at this—and there is, besides, a lack of willing eyeballs. A study published last year by researchers at the rand Corporation, a think-tank, showed that America’s air force has responded to the flood of data from wami sensors by archiving most of it without inspection. Better means of sifting wami footage are needed. And technology is starting to provide them.

Chips called graphic-processing units, borrowed from the video-game industry, are helping. So is machine learning, the basis of much modern artificial intelligence. But special tricks are also being deployed—for example, a mathematical technique called higher-order moments anomaly detection that can distinguish moving objects reliably from background clutter by looking at groups of pixels in a video and deciding whether their changes from frame to frame are the result of actual movement or just electronic noise.

Meanwhile, wami devices themselves are becoming yet more effective. The latest, announced on April 25th by Transparent Sky, a firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, promises to take the technology to another dimension. Literally. The video images it shoots are 3d rather than the 2d of a normal wami feed.

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This type of aerial surveillance involves indiscriminately recording everything that is going on in a particular neighbourhood, and then looking for useful patterns in the resulting footage https://t.co/90rPv72vz1

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 6, 2022

In her most recent book, she said, she was interested in things that can go on without her — the book has four sections, each named for a season.

The collection is dedicated to her stepfather, Brady T. Brady, who is one of her early readers, along with a small group of poets including Jennifer L. Knox and Matthew Zapruder. Brady went from high school to fighting in the infantry in Vietnam, and never studied poetry. But his guidance of her writing has been valuable since she was a child, Limón said. Once, when she was 15, she called him at work to read a poem she’d written.

“I started reading it in this very poetic voice, and he was like: ‘Wait, no,’” she said. “‘Just read it to me like you’re telling me something.’ And I read it that way, in my natural voice, and then he could hear it.

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This is absolutely glorious to see @adalimon https://t.co/avo4YV7s2C

— jami attenberg (@jamiattenberg) May 6, 2022

This week, after much prayer and discussion as well as consultation with legal counsel, the Trustees and the Standing Committee of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina unanimously decided not to seek a rehearing of the April 20 opinion from the South Carolina Supreme Court. Many of the parishes have reached this same conclusion, although eight* of those named in the lawsuit filed a petition yesterday for rehearing, based on their specific and unique circumstances. Several questions remain about how this decision will be implemented, including that of the betterments statute, which may have implications on how these issues are finally resolved.

Nevertheless, we are preparing for the next steps in bringing this dispute to a resolution and charting a creative path forward for the entire diocese, especially our affected parishes and our summer camp. These ministries will continue. Ministry does not depend upon geography as much as it depends upon the faithfulness of the Lord and the Spirit working in the people of God.

This news will no doubt be met with mixed emotions. While we are thankful that many of the parishes in the lawsuit have retained their property, we grieve as we face the loss of sacred spaces where generations have worshipped and met Jesus.

In his pastoral letter, Bishop Edgar reminded us that “the ministry of this diocese to a confused and broken world is dependent on God’s mercy and call, not on our property and resources.” This truth does not lessen our grief, but we grieve as a people with hope (1 Thess 4:13). God remains faithful, Christ still sits on the throne, and our mission remains clear – to proclaim the death, resurrection, and Lordship of Jesus. We will continue to do so boldly, even as we grieve, certain of our strong bonds of fellowship and the Easter hope of the resurrected Christ.

The Rev Tyler Prescott, President

The Standing Committee
The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina
Anglican Church in North America
126 Coming Street
Charleston, SC 29413

tylerp [at]goodsamaritansummerville[dot] org

* Parishes filing Petitions
1. Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant
2. Good Shepherd, Charleston
3. Holy Comforter, Sumter
4. Holy Cross, Stateburg
5, Old St. Andrews, Charleston
6. St. Jude’s, Walterboro
7. St. Luke’s, Hilton Head
8 Trinity, Myrtle Beach

We welcome our new Bishop, the Rt Revd Chip Edgar, who was consecrated March 12, 2022. Let's pray regularly for our new bishop, his wife and family and labor alongside him to produce fruit in the vineyard to which we're called. View the service: https://t.co/4dRKj3inei pic.twitter.com/ShByUuXRIk

— Anglican Diocese of SC (@anglican_sc) March 13, 2022

St Paul’s Cathedral is to admit girls to its internationally renowned choir, breaking a tradition stretching back 900 years.

The move comes 31 years after Salisbury became the first Anglican cathedral in England to offer girls places in its choir. Many others, including York Minster, Durham and Exeter, have followed suit.

St Paul’s choir performs at services and events of national importance as well as daily liturgies and three times on Sundays. It will perform at a service of thanksgiving next month for the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

The choir currently comprises 22 choristers alongside professional singers known as vicars choral. The first girls will join in 2025 after boarding school facilities have been expanded and funds raised for scholarships.

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St Paul’s Cathedral to admit girls to choir for first time in 900 years https://t.co/nFyxOytkOX

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 5, 2022

A 5G phone mast will not be allowed to be built on a 176-year-old Grade II-listed church in West Yorkshire due to concerns it could harm its appearance.

The spire at St Mary’s The Virgin in Wyke, Bradford, already has antennae attached and Cellnex UK had applied for permission to upgrade the base station.

But Bradford Council has rejected the application, saying it would “detract from the church’s architectural form”.

The building, dating back to the 1840s, was a “landmark”, the council said.

Although Cellnex’s planning application said 5G coverage in the area was “essential” and that any visual effect caused by a new mast would be outweighed by the benefits of 5G, Bradford Council’s conservation officer Jon Ackroyd disagreed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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Bradford: Wyke 5G phone mast plan refused for listed church https://t.co/uCjYgX6zu8

— BBC Yorkshire (@BBCLookNorth) May 5, 2022

O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

—-Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Totally worth getting up early to see! Happy Friday, friends.#ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/RfRbyBACmY

— Flash Mama ⚡️📸 (@flash_mama) May 6, 2022

When he summoned a famine on the land,
and broke every staff of bread,
he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
His feet were hurt with fetters,
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
until what he had said came to pass
the word of the Lord tested him.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
he made him lord of his house,
and ruler of all his possessions,
to instruct his princes at his pleasure,
and to teach his elders wisdom.

–Psalm 105:16-22

Pigeons on Old Orchard Beach. #Maine #mewx #StormHour #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/sRXjCFZHvo

— Chef Hiking (@ChefHiking) May 5, 2022