tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6546468339418636140.post4644075699214557043..comments2024-01-12T04:58:49.069-05:00Comments on Kyrie, Eleison!: Ye Shall Know the Truth (Part 3 of 3)Anastasia Theodoridishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16092531121989260111noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6546468339418636140.post-47907967050873116562009-07-28T09:53:42.369-04:002009-07-28T09:53:42.369-04:00Sorry that somehow got attached twice!
AndreaSorry that somehow got attached twice!<br /><br />AndreaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6546468339418636140.post-20256581567859346022009-07-28T09:52:38.256-04:002009-07-28T09:52:38.256-04:00Hello again.
I've been pondering your questio...Hello again.<br /><br />I've been pondering your question to me from a post a while back about what Orthodoxy could do differently to show their love...and find I think I have too little experience with the Orthodox to answer that. I have based some of my opinions on one church in a small community that I later learned was having it's own set of problems at the time (their priest was found to have some serious faults and a local Russian Orthodox Deacon/college professor was filling in until another priest could be found. It was perhaps not the best time for a former Baptist to show up!)<br /><br />I think what all Christians must do, whether we are Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Anglican is fight the spirit of fanaticism in our own churches. <br /><br />You stated at the end of this post that Orthodox teaching on other Christian churches is basically "The Orthodox do NOT believe that to be Orthodox is necessarily to be saved, or that not to be Orthodox is necessarily not to be saved." Substitue Roman Catholic for Orthodox and you have Rome's stand on this topic as well. <br /><br />However the link that the Anglican priest of a few posts back was referring to certainly didn't show that! It states "The religions of the world and the heresies all lead to perdition. The Orthodox Church is not merely the true Church; She is the only Church. She alone has remained faithful to the Gospel, the Synods and the Fathers, and consequently She alone represents the true catholic Church of Christ." I don't think the authors or signers of this document beleive that I am a Christian, will go to heaven or have my prayers heard because I am Roman Catholic. (3 or 4 sections above this quote was an entire section on how wrong the "papists" are.) <br /><br />What I would like to know is are those who wrote and have signed their names to this document the fanatics of Orthodoxy? Or is this common Orthodox belief? <br /><br />I can understand your point of the fact that there is always an us/them distinction. But I think how we respond to this distiction is important. When the us/them is larger than "Us(Catholics)/them(Orthodox), but Us (Christians) them (non-Christians) we need to stress our common beliefs. As a Roman Catholic, I know I share a belief with you in the Trinity. I know we share a belief in Jesus' redemption of sinners by his perfect willing sacrifice. When I speak to non-Christian friends, I try very hard to stay with these large, True beliefs. <br /><br />And when the Us/Them is between those who share these True beliefs, I think we must be careful indeed not to let those things that divide us hurt those who fall into that larger non- Christian them. I think of the words of Christ in Matthew 18:3-7"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; <br /><br /> but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. <br /><br /> Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! "<br /> <br />My prayer is to be that person that receives any who are searching as a little child. May God in his mercy keep me from being a stumbling block. <br /><br />AndreaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6546468339418636140.post-60297322542303936652009-07-28T09:52:37.161-04:002009-07-28T09:52:37.161-04:00Hello again.
I've been pondering your questio...Hello again.<br /><br />I've been pondering your question to me from a post a while back about what Orthodoxy could do differently to show their love...and find I think I have too little experience with the Orthodox to answer that. I have based some of my opinions on one church in a small community that I later learned was having it's own set of problems at the time (their priest was found to have some serious faults and a local Russian Orthodox Deacon/college professor was filling in until another priest could be found. It was perhaps not the best time for a former Baptist to show up!)<br /><br />I think what all Christians must do, whether we are Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Anglican is fight the spirit of fanaticism in our own churches. <br /><br />You stated at the end of this post that Orthodox teaching on other Christian churches is basically "The Orthodox do NOT believe that to be Orthodox is necessarily to be saved, or that not to be Orthodox is necessarily not to be saved." Substitue Roman Catholic for Orthodox and you have Rome's stand on this topic as well. <br /><br />However the link that the Anglican priest of a few posts back was referring to certainly didn't show that! It states "The religions of the world and the heresies all lead to perdition. The Orthodox Church is not merely the true Church; She is the only Church. She alone has remained faithful to the Gospel, the Synods and the Fathers, and consequently She alone represents the true catholic Church of Christ." I don't think the authors or signers of this document beleive that I am a Christian, will go to heaven or have my prayers heard because I am Roman Catholic. (3 or 4 sections above this quote was an entire section on how wrong the "papists" are.) <br /><br />What I would like to know is are those who wrote and have signed their names to this document the fanatics of Orthodoxy? Or is this common Orthodox belief? <br /><br />I can understand your point of the fact that there is always an us/them distinction. But I think how we respond to this distiction is important. When the us/them is larger than "Us(Catholics)/them(Orthodox), but Us (Christians) them (non-Christians) we need to stress our common beliefs. As a Roman Catholic, I know I share a belief with you in the Trinity. I know we share a belief in Jesus' redemption of sinners by his perfect willing sacrifice. When I speak to non-Christian friends, I try very hard to stay with these large, True beliefs. <br /><br />And when the Us/Them is between those who share these True beliefs, I think we must be careful indeed not to let those things that divide us hurt those who fall into that larger non- Christian them. I think of the words of Christ in Matthew 18:3-7"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; <br /><br /> but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. <br /><br /> Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! "<br /> <br />My prayer is to be that person that receives any who are searching as a little child. May God in his mercy keep me from being a stumbling block. <br /><br />AndreaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com