The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2343 page)

 
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(Russ. tr. of Gk.,
geron
, ‘an old man’). A spiritual father in Russian Orthodoxy. The
geron
was originally a senior monk, priest or lay, to whom other monks (and others) turned for spiritual direction. Famous startsi (pl.), such as Amvrosy of Optina (1812–91), were eagerly sought out. One of Amvrosy's visitors was
Dostoevsky
, and the staretz Zossima, in
Brothers Karamazov
, is a partial reminiscence of him.

 
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see
WITCHCRAFT
.

 
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see
MAGEN DAVID
.

 
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Station days
.

Certain days on which the pope formerly celebrated mass in the ‘stational’ churches
(Lat.,
statio
, ‘assembly’) in Rome. They became a part of
Lent
devotion, with processions headed by a
relic
of the True Cross. Today, a list of stational churches is published at the beginning of Lent, with the day of observance. Outside Lent, important ‘stations’ are St John Lateran for
Easter
, and St Mary Major for the Christmas midnight mass.

 
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Stations of the Cross
.

A series of fourteen incidents in the
passion
of Jesus. They are:

(i) he is condemned to death;
(ii) he receives the cross;
(iii) he falls;
(iv) he meets his mother;
(v) Simon of Cyrene is made to carry his cross;
(vi) his face is wiped by
Veronica
;
(vii) he falls a second time;
(viii) he meets the women of Jerusalem;
(ix) he falls a third time;
(x) he is stripped of his garments;
(xi) he is nailed to the cross;
(xii) he dies on the cross;
(xiii) his body is taken down;
(xiv) it is laid in the tomb.

In Roman Catholic and some Anglican churches, pictures or carvings of these incidents are arranged around the walls, and are the subject of public and private devotions in
Lent
and Passiontide.

 
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