AN ORTHODOX VIEW OF HARRY POTTER

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Sun 13 June 2004 10:59 pm

Anastasios,

I was really surprised to see something like that would make it to print by the Cyprianites.

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Mon 14 June 2004 11:41 am

Here is the article online:

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/harrypotter.aspx

As you can see, anti-Harry arguments are taken from heretical fundamentalists and go part and parcel with their ultra-heretical worldview.

anastasios

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Mon 14 June 2004 12:04 pm

As you can see, anti-Harry arguments are taken from heretical fundamentalists and go part and parcel with their ultra-heretical worldview.

There are many things fundamentalists, by the modern sense of the term, are correct on. Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a peanut once in awhile. Whenever they agree with Orthodoxy and Orthodox practice, are we to cast it away as fundamentalist? It is clearly an ad hominum argument by all definitions of the term to say, "the fundamentalists say this, it must therefore be wrong". How ridiculous. Are they so greatly lacking sound reasoning that they have to instead hypothesize about opposition? After all, why doesn't the bishop just talk about the issue at hand and explain to us why demonic rituals should be a part of a child’s upbringing?

I am opposed to anything demonic in nature being presented as something good. Raising people from the dead with blood sacrifices is not something any child should be exposed to. It is inhuman, indecent, and demonic. I am completely confused how, and most of all why, anyone would defend such craziness.

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Mon 14 June 2004 12:49 pm

I am not saying that just because it is fundamentalist it is wrong. I am saying that most of the arguments I am hearing against HP are formed in a fundamentalist milieu.

I don't like Harry Potter so this is not a big issue for me

Theodora Elizabeth · Post by **Theodora Elizabeth** » Mon 14 June 2004 1:24 pm

For myself, at the most, HP is harmless, mindless, entertainment. Nothing more. I think letthing children at it, is something totally different.

But I have decided to spend my time reading more edifying things. In additional to Orthodoxy-related things, I'm working my way through Dante. I'm a big Jane Austen fan, and have decided to start on Dickens. I constantly read history.

When I was a kid, my reading focused on the Little House books (full set) I had received as a First Communion gift from a relative, and still have, as well as horse books, and the older Nancy Drew books. I alrso read history from an early age. When I was in high school, I was into the teenager's version of the Harlequin romance books - back then, they were clean! (mid-1980s). Now, I can't imagine what they're like.

There are all sorts of "classics" for both adults and children that are more interesting and edifying than the stuff that's out nowadays. That's going to be the only things my future kids will read. And NO tv! I lOVE not having one.

Theodora Elizabeth

bogoliubtsy · Post by **bogoliubtsy** » Thu 17 June 2004 12:04 am

Thought this perspective may be of interest.

http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/cgi- ... cp-app.cgi

Harry Potter - The Truth Behind the Story

Would you like to Initiate Your Children to Satanism?

The Truth behind the Harry Potter stories."I made a very conscious decision, right from the beginning, that I was writing about someone evil, and wasnt going to tell a lie." (J. K. Rowling, author)
With over 150 million readers, it is very likely that someone close to you has read a Harry Potter book, an introductory manual to the occult. Is it really just a story? After all, the author herself has publicly admitted that over 1/3 of the events described in it are based on actual witchcraft practices.This booklet further demonstrates why Harry Potter is inappropriate and extremely harmful reading for both children and adults. Concise, irrefutable, authoritative, and easy to read, this study is recommended to all concerned Christians. 36 pp.

尼古拉前执事 · Post by **尼古拉前执事** » Tue 8 March 2005 1:24 am

Orthodox Heritage
MESSAGE OF THE MONTH
(January 2004)

An Orthodox Position on Harry Potter
By Aidenn Khan, Greek Orthodox Brotherhood of St. POIMEN

The Brotherhood of St. Poimen has recently received various letters and e-mails asking us to comment on the Harry Potter issue. For our readers who do not already know, Harry Potter is the fictional character created by J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of books and films, designed primarily for children. Harry Potter’s story is that of a youth raised in a school for sorcery who learns witchcraft with surprising speed and aptitude. He is portrayed as a so-called “good” witch (or warlock). Numerous articles have been written in favor or against the books in both purely literary and religious circles. Some Orthodox Christians have also taken part in these discussions from both sides of the fence. Some questions facing Orthodox Christians are the following:

Should anyone, especially an Orthodox Christian, read this series of books?
Is there such a thing as a “good witch” and is that relevant to the merit of a fictional story?
What is the proper Orthodox attitude toward these books?

It is the latter question which answers all of the former. The Harry Potter books are classed not simply as fiction but as fantasy literature. They use detailed imagery to produce an unreal picture in the imagination of the brain. The imagination has such a strong influence over mankind that we are warned by numerous Fathers of the Church to reject the images of dreams and scorn fantasies of the imagination in favor of what the Philokalic Fathers call “pure intellections,” that is, abstract thinking free of images.

St. Hesychios of Jerusalem writes in the first volume of the Philokalia, “When there are no fantasies or mental images in the heart, the intellect is established in its true nature, ready to contemplate whatever is full of delight, spiritual, and close to God “ (On Watchfulness and Holiness, #93). Here St. Hesychios is reflecting the patristic teaching that man, prior to his fall, had no use for imagination or fantasy. Imagination as we know it is a product of the fall.

But this is not to imply that we cannot use our imaginations to better our spiritual condition. Our Lord Jesus Christ made use of the powerful tool of imagery in His divine parables for the purpose of impressing upon our weak minds His eternal truths. St. Hesychios again comments, “Vaulting over all that lies between ourselves and death, we should always visualize it, and even the very bed on which we shall breathe our last, and everything else connected with it” (ibid, #95).

The Holy Fathers, in their perfect understanding of moderation and balance, advise us to limit as much as possible those things that stimulate the imagination and to be selective in what images we use to remind ourselves of the life beyond this life. It is for this very reason that icons are not painted in passionate forms, but written with symbolic imagery. Below are additional comments from the Philokalic Fathers about imagery and imagination:

“In the time of contemplation we must keep our intellect free of all fantasy and image...”

St. Diadochos of Photiki

“The effect of observing the commandments is to free from passion our conceptual images of things. The effect of spiritual reading and contemplation is to detach the intellect from form and matter. It is this which gives rise to undistracted prayer.”

St. Maximos the Confessor

“The fifth form of discipline consists in spiritual prayer, prayer that is offered by the intellect and free from all thoughts. During such prayer the intellect is concentrated within the words spoken and, inexpressibly contrite, it abases itself before God, asking only that His will may be done in all its pursuits and conceptions. It does not pay attention to any thought, shape, colour, light, fire, or anything at all of this kind; but, conscious that it is watched by God and communing with Him alone, it is free from form, colour, and shape.”

St. Peter of Damaskos

Because it is precisely through the imagination that the evil one first attacks us in order to lead the soul captive, Orthodox Christians are to avoid as much as possible not only the Potter series but all fantasy literature.

Regarding so-called “good witchcraft,” be it known that any practice which seeks to manipulate future events according to the wish or whim of the practitioner -- whether his or her intentions are “good” or bad -- is always evil, since it does not account for and even contradicts the Divine Will. Harry Potter, therefore, is not appropriate for anyone to read. The books are intended as an initiation into the world of witchcraft. For anyone who doubts or denies this, let him visit a Barnes and Nobles or Borders bookstore and observe which books accompany Harry Potter on display: the series is surrounded by books about witchcraft aimed especially at teenage girls, and it is rarely, if ever, prominently displayed among other children’s books.

Those in favor of reading the Harry Potter series have criticized those against the series as being led astray by Protestant arguments. Orthodox Christians do not base their decisions on what Protestants have and have not said. Regardless of its source, an argument is either valid or invalid, either true or false. If a Protestant has spoken the truth regarding Harry Potter, we must commend him.

Those in favor of Harry Potter also insist that the books are good because they inspire children and adolescents to read. Pornographic material also inspires adolescents to read, but is it appropriate reading material? The last resort for the pro-Potters is to declare that the Three Holy Hierarchs insist that we should learn anything secular. This idea comes from a selective reading of these holy fathers. With a closer look at the text, any school boy could see that Sts. Basil, Gregory, and John all favor a selective reading of secular literature, especially those works dedicated to virtue, logic, and rhetoric. St. Basil even gives a list of books to avoid. The “everything-secular-is-okay” argument, therefore, is based on false premises.

Of course, we cannot cover all objections in a short article. For this reason, St. Poimen’s Brotherhood is offering free of charge a booklet about the Harry Potter books. It covers a wide range of valid arguments, both Protestant and Orthodox. We encourage you to send us an e-mail or write to us for a free copy. If we do not already have it, please include your mailing address.

In conclusion, one very simple point in the debate is often sadly overlooked: on the great and terrible Day of Judgment, what will we say to our All-Merciful God when he asks us why we did not even read His commandments or pay any attention to the lives or writings of the divine men and women He sent to instruct us? “We left them, Lord, in favor of Harry Potter.”