Learning about God from dogs, Orthodox monks breed and train canines in upstate New York monastery

[phkrause]

CAMBRIDGE, New York (AP) — After he and his fellow monks sang morning prayers in their church nestled in a forest, Brother Luke walked back to his residence to be greeted by a different kind of choir.

https://apnews.com/article/puppies-monks-new-york-orthodox-christian-dog-training-breeding-ee03e64059cc4479d0fc6fca10f77521?

[Kevin H]

Squire George and the puppy

There was once a monastery at a college where the monks would discuss different topics. Now, not all of the topics were things that they were supposed to talk about. To protect them if someone comes to try to listen in on the topics the monks had some dogs. If the dogs barked the monks would change the topic until they could see if it was clear for them to return to their discussions.

Now, what they were discussing was not too secret as they taught it in class and preached in church, and so the leader was asked to come to a meeting to discus his views. After the meeting the leader was declared to be an outlaw and if anyone would kill him they would not get into trouble. And sure enough a mob came and grabbed the monk and dragged him into the woods and while no body was found and there were different rumors, it appeared that the mob killed the monk.

For a while the others waited to see what would happen but as the days turned into weeks then months they were coming to the conclusion that their leader must be dead and they decided to disperse. They picked one monk to stay there, and as the others was leaving they took nearly everything that was not nailed down, including the dogs. However the monk who was picked to stay there and take care of the place was able to hide one puppy. Now the monk did not feed the puppy so that the puppy could eat the mice and rats and decrease the rodent population in the building.

One night there was a knock on the door. When the monk opened the door there stood Squire George, a big burly man with a thick beard. George was welcomed in and the monk fixed George a wonderful supper. While eating the puppy came to this stranger and Squire George cut off a huge piece of sausage and held it out to the dog to eat. The monk tried to stop Squire George saying that he was afraid that the puppy would not eat the rodents if he was feed from the table, but Squire George paid no attention. He and the puppy quickly became friends. When it was time for bed the puppy joined him.

The next morning Squire George shaved off his beard and went out to conduct his business. He went to his friends and while they were glad to see him, they were not very happy with what he was asking for them to do. It became very discouraging for Squire George. He came home depressed, but the little puppy was glad to see him and welcomed him home. This made George laugh and feel better. He said to the puppy “At least you welcome me, maybe you are a fool to like me so much” and he named the puppy “Topel” which means “fool”.

As the days passed and Squire George continued to work with his friends he was finally successful. Life went by, Squire George would have some good days and some days very depressed. He met a woman who he married and raised a family. There was a disease that came from a tick that lived on rats, called the Plague. Squire George and his family did not suffer from the plague and that was probably because Topel and Topel’s puppies continued to eat the rodents as well as what the family feed them at the table.

Once day was particularly hard for Squire George, he was so depressed he thought that he should just give up his work. He felt that he was a failure and felt that no one, not his wife, not his family and not even God could love him. Once again he was greeted by now a full grown Topel. As he played with Topel Squire George thought “If Topel can love me, then of course my friends, family and God can love me.” And that encouraged him to continue with his work.

We should also be grateful for the love that Topel shared with Squire George, because Squire George was not the man’s real name. He was that monk who was investigated for his teachings, and who was declared an outlaw and if anyone killed him they would not be punished. The mob that stopped him and dragged him into the woods was not people who planned to kill him, but took him to a place where he would be safe. There in hiding he grew the beard and would be called “Squire George” but his real name was Martin Luther.