Moderator: Mark Templet
it is not griping about the EP to simply post the truth about them. I imagine Seraphim was wondering if such abominations as depicted in the pictures are canonical.
Nicholas Zollars
Without signifying any approval of what the EP did in Rome, can you provide proof positive that this contact was "uncanonical"?
(Just curious.)
Al Green
However one must consider that the canons expressly condemn such activities as the papal calander, ecumenism, and any number of other heretical practices done with zeal by those in the OCA and other heretical groups.
Nicholas Zollars
If the revised Julian Calendar is considered a "papal" calendar because a pope ordered it developed, can we not consider the Julian Calendar, developed at the direction of the pagan emperor Julius Ceasar, the "pagan calendar"? I think so.
Define ecumenism.
Do you advocate total isolation for Orthodoxy? If so, how does one then go into the world and teach all nations?
Al
OrthodoxyOrDeath wrote:Al,
A piece of wood is just a material which can be thrown in the trash or just as well burned. But once the Church inscribes an Icon of a Saint or the Lord, it becomes Holy, an item to be venerated and a vision of heaven!
So to with the Calendar. It was secular until the Church inscribed its Holy days on it, through countless synods and decrees. It has become holy, and not such that a Freemason can just cast it into the fire in order to pursue a unity with Protestants.
What on earth ever caused you to insert Freemasonry? What has that to do with the calendar?
Al
Since it is not significant to the point I made, strike it. The point still stands and is no less in importance.
Maybe the popularity of Freemasonry among the clergy in the Church of Greece would make a good topic to discuss.
Al
Al,
You seem to not contest that the new-calendar was invented as a tool to pursue a false, and already then declared, unity with the Protestants. So what is "canonical" and Orthodox? What the majority say because it is easy and comfortable, or what the Holy Fathers say?
Re: Freemasonry. Many people don't understand that in Greece, the "priesthood" in the State Church is often a good career choice. When you are a farmer or some villager who cannot make a livable salary, becoming a priest has always been a good choice to make a decent salary. Maintaining, living, and preaching the faith was always guarded by the people, not necessarily the "hired hands" for the "priesthood".
Naturally, in light of this, it is not at all shocking that most of these "hired hands", some of whom became bishops, would not object to the ecumenist/calendar heresy or Freemasonry. And generally, this unhealthy atmosphere still prevails in the State Church. They are not the Fisherman who would drop their nets and leave all their material possessions behind to follow Christ, on the contrary, they are the ones who will sell Christ for 30 pieces of silver - and they have done it.