#eupraxia

25 iulie: Sfânta Cuvioasă Eupraxia

Cinstită pe 25 iulie, Sfânta Cuvioasă Eupraxia a fost fiica demnitarului Antigonos din Constantinopol, o rudă a Sfântului împărat Teodosie cel Mare (379-395).

Dear Tumbr, Life has been going good, I’d think. I haven’t been making many videos recently due to snow and school, so I hope that explains my absence.  I recently broke my ankle falling backwards from half a flight of stairs. The school neglected what happened when it happened and sent me home like there was no problem. I missed several weeks of school and ended up with a tutor. Dear lord if I could tell you how much math I had by the end of it. It was like my teacher wanted to kill me. I’m very close to the end of my recovery! I have an appointment this coming Wednesday. I think they’ll be telling me if i need physical therapy or not. The snow has been coming down in blizzards and storms, even to the point of dimming the street lights at night. But whether that’s my head or reality is up to debate. I saw a fox the other night from my room window. We locked eyes for a couple seconds, before it ran off into the snowy storm. We moved my bed shortly after that. I see it as an omen of sorts. Maybe I need to pay attention to life more or people more, or understand the circumstances of trickery. Whatever it means, it was a nice, and wonderful sight.

My house smells foul. Like rotting pumpkin guts. It’s sickening. We tried to see if it was the turkey carcass, but the smell still remained. There’s a pumpkin outside, rotting on my apartment neighbors porch. But the smell doesn’t seem to be coming from there. It’s sort of concerning, but I’m trying to stay optimistic. 

Who knows, maybe I’ll update again tonight. 

M Y T H S: Eupraxia

When you invoke the gods, do not be ill-advised. For Peitharkhia is the mother of Eupraxia, wife of Soter – as the saying goes. – Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, trans. Weir Smyth – from Theoi.com

The daughter of Soter (the savior) and Peitharkhia(obedience), Eupraxia is the daimon of good behavior.

In Tyndaris in Sicily, the name is found as an epithet of Artemis, where Artemis Eupraxia was engraved on a votive relief. In it, Artemis carries a basket and lights a sacrificial fire. A small family with their daughter approaches. This is the only known instance of Artemis Eupraxia. Scholars have typically understood the image as one of the young bride and her family receiving a blessing from Artemis before her wedding (one of the rituals known as the proteleia). Perhaps the epithet is meant to encourage the bride to act with good conduct.

Aristotle saw eupraxia the essential part of happiness, meaning that one must act well in order to attain happiness.

While little survives beyond the above is mostly the pontifications of philosophers on the good or ill conduct of people. We know nothing much of her cultus. Yet I think we can glimpse some small idea of what the ancient Greeks understood as eupraxia. For this is good conduct, acting well, and success that we’re talking about.

I also think that, ultimately, we would greatly disagree with them about what actions compose such a force. After all, in many parts of the world, we no longer restrict the activities of women. I can, if I wished, get up and go out without my husband, and without a veil. I need neither my brothers nor my beloved to run errands for me. I have a voice in most everything my oikos (household) does. All of which would’ve scandalized most of the ancient Hellenes.

Yet, at the same time, I do try to act with Eupraxia in mind. I will do the Good Work put to me. I try to behave well, and hopefully I succeed sometimes!

 Sources:

Theoi.com Aeschylus. Seven against Thebes, Harvard, 2008. Budin, Stephanie Lynn. Artemis. Routledge, 2015. Cole, Susan Guettel, “Domesticating Artemis,” The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece, edited by Sue Blundell, Margaret Williamson. Routledge, 2005. Fischer-Hansen, Tobias and Birte Poulsen. From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast. Museum Tusculanum, 2009. Hare, John E. God and Morality: A Philosophical History. Wiley &Sons, 2009.

Image:

TomLin Rainey Stewart | Junior | 17 years old | FC: Bridgit Mendler

Reincarnation | Eupraxia | spirit of well-being

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