<commit_before>+++
title = "Community Spotlight: The Portico"
date = 2021-05-04
description = "Interview with The Portico founder <NAME>"
[extra]
author = "~tirwyd-sarmes"
ship = "~tirwyd-sarmes"
image = "https://media.urbit.org/site/posts/essays/orthodoxchurch.jpg"
+++

![](https://media.urbit.org/site/posts/essays/orthodoxchurch.jpg)

*One of the most striking things about Urbit is the ideological diversity between communities. The Community Spotlight blog series will focus on various Urbit communities via interviews with founding members.*

For the first week of the Community Spotlight series, I (~tirwyd-sarmes) will be speaking with <NAME> (~taglux-nidsep). Josh is the founder of The Portico, an Urbit community of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Portico is a very active group with conversations taking place over multiple channels. There are channels for posting Orthodox iconography, discussing the broader Christian culture war, and just talking about Orthodoxy in general. Of particular interest is Josh’s “Euthyphro” blog series which investigates the relationship between logic and the Orthodox faith. This is a topic that Josh is well qualified to talk about: he has a PhD in Philosophy from Rice University. His dissertation on the epistemology of logic and truth-preservation was titled "Knowing Your Limits: Logic for Limited Beings”. Josh is also the co-author of a forthcoming textbook on formal logic.

To read Josh’s blog is to be inducted into two esoteric traditions: theory of logic and Orthodox theology. With titles like “St. Gregory the Theologian and the Liar Paradox” and “The Existence of Abstract Objects”, Josh does not pull punches.

Accordingly, our conversation focused on the idiosyncratic and niche community that The Portico is home to. There, you won’t find cussing or much talk about “life partners”, but you will find cutting critiques of liberalism and the best way to raise Orthodox children.

As other users have pointed out, Urbit is pre-[Eternal September](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September). In fact, there’s some hope that the very nature of Urbit, how it tries to protect the sovereignty of niche communities via decentralization, might foil the Eternal September phenomenon. If Josh’s community persists, it will be a testament to both Josh and the decentralized Urbit network. As of now The Portico is a refreshing, perhaps jarring (as Josh might say), reminder of what the internet looked like back in the early days—a place for those who are different.

I encourage you to take a look. Find The Portico at ~topnup-firber/the-portico.

\-\-\-\-<commit_msg>add my name<commit_after>+++
title = "Community Spotlight: The Portico"
date = 2021-05-04
description = "Interview with The Portico founder <NAME>"
[extra]
author = "Matt"
ship = "~tirwyd-sarmes"
image = "https://media.urbit.org/site/posts/essays/orthodoxchurch.jpg"
+++

![](https://media.urbit.org/site/posts/essays/orthodoxchurch.jpg)

*One of the most striking things about Urbit is the ideological diversity between communities. The Community Spotlight blog series will focus on various Urbit communities via interviews with founding members.*

For the first week of the Community Spotlight series, I (~tirwyd-sarmes) will be speaking with <NAME> (~taglux-nidsep). Josh is the founder of The Portico, an Urbit community of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Portico is a very active group with conversations taking place over multiple channels. There are channels for posting Orthodox iconography, discussing the broader Christian culture war, and just talking about Orthodoxy in general. Of particular interest is Josh’s “Euthyphro” blog series which investigates the relationship between logic and the Orthodox faith. This is a topic that Josh is well qualified to talk about: he has a PhD in Philosophy from Rice University. His dissertation on the epistemology of logic and truth-preservation was titled "Knowing Your Limits: Logic for Limited Beings”. Josh is also the co-author of a forthcoming textbook on formal logic.

To read Josh’s blog is to be inducted into two esoteric traditions: theory of logic and Orthodox theology. With titles like “St. Gregory the Theologian and the Liar Paradox” and “The Existence of Abstract Objects”, Josh does not pull punches.

Accordingly, our conversation focused on the idiosyncratic and niche community that The Portico is home to. There, you won’t find cussing or much talk about “life partners”, but you will find cutting critiques of liberalism and the best way to raise Orthodox children.

As other users have pointed out, Urbit is pre-[Eternal September](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September). In fact, there’s some hope that the very nature of Urbit, how it tries to protect the sovereignty of niche communities via decentralization, might foil the Eternal September phenomenon. If Josh’s community persists, it will be a testament to both Josh and the decentralized Urbit network. As of now The Portico is a refreshing, perhaps jarring (as Josh might say), reminder of what the internet looked like back in the early days—a place for those who are different.

I encourage you to take a look. Find The Portico at ~topnup-firber/the-portico.

\-\-\-\-
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