Which kind of Orthodoxy is the correct one?

[bogoliubtsy]

I confessed to an old ROCOR priest once...one who was close to Fr. Seraphim Rose. Not to get into details about my confession...but during this confession some of my "issues" with the OCA came up. My not feeling comfortable with a certain OCA parish, etc. along with the sins I had committed and was asking forgiveness for. After the OCA talk and the confessing of my sins, the priest said : "Let us work first on the keeping of God's commandments, then possibly on these lofty jurisdictional issues. Being 'correct' will not save your soul"

It was so simple...but coming from this particular priest...it really struck me.

[Justin Martyr]

"A kind person-a virtuous person. Between them, there is a big difference. A kind person is kind because he or she accepts people as they are, covers them with kindness. Kindness is beautiful, the most beautiful thing on this earth. Virtuous people are activists, obsessed with the desire to impose their principles and goodness and easily condemning, destroying, hating. Turgenev, Chekhov are kind people. In this world there is a lot of vitue, and so little kindness."
-Fr. Alexander Schmemann

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Virtuous people, as Websters dictionary explains, are people who are pure, or "chaste", or, "conformity to a standard of right", or having "a commendable qaulity".

In Holy Scripture it says to "

[Natasha]

Fr. Alexander Schmemann was the Dean of St. Vladimir

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Thank you Natasha, I tend to agree with your assesment but always offer the benefit of the doubt out of "kindness".

I looked up "Union Theological Seminary" because I had never heard of it...

Under its history I read:

"Union Seminary was a major contributor to the revival of Protestant theology in the 1930s and 1940s; through the work of such distinguished faculty as Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr it played important roles in the ecumenical movement and development of Neo-orthodoxy. Current contributions are being made in the areas of biblical studies, feminist thought, and liberation theology."

The hair on the back of my neck (and back, and there is allot of it) is only now settling down. Funny that the current dean at SVS is also a very very recent Protestant "theologian" professor emeritus of divinity and other great stuff. He is not even a new-calendarist "priest", yet he is a teacher of new "priests" of the ways of God?. :ohvey:

[Natasha]

OrthodoxyOrDeath wrote: "Funny that the current dean at SVS is also a very very recent Protestant "theologian" professor emeritus of divinity and other great stuff."

Yes, I know. It is very sad to say the least. It just distances me more and more from the OCA.

[Julianna]

Alexander Schmemann was a modernist and ecumenist. Being virtuous without Christ can't be seriously considered better than being rigorously strict and pious in the faith!