The ROCOR are Fundies.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

"There is no official communion between the uncompromising Russian
Orthodox Church Outside Russia and other Orthodox churches, let alone
other Christian denominations. The ecumenical movement is considered
heretical....'They are our Bible Belt fundamentalists,' says Professor Paul
Meyendorf, academic dean at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological
Seminary, the suburban New York training ground of the more liberal
Orthodox Church of America." "Professor Paul Meyendorff, St. Vladimir's Seminary

Funny when you drive and a car passes you very fast you think, "that guy is nuts". And when you pass another car which is going very slow you think, "that guy is in a state of narcosis."

Well I guess the new-calendarists are the "conservatives" to the Latins, and the ROCOR are the fundies to the new-calendarists, and the GOC (now) are the "fundies" to the ROCOR.

These are good days to be a proud and "uncomromising" fundie; as the Paul Meyendorphs of the world, with their hair still smoldering, wave you on to board their 5-day-old train wreck.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Sorry, I just made the mental connection with other thread. Feel free to delete this Nicholas.

[Nevski]

"There is no official communion between the uncompromising Russian
Orthodox Church Outside Russia and other Orthodox churches, let alone
other Christian denominations. The ecumenical movement is considered
heretical....'They are our Bible Belt fundamentalists,' says Professor Paul
Meyendorf, academic dean at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological
Seminary, the suburban New York training ground of the more liberal
Orthodox Church of America." "Professor Paul Meyendorff, St. Vladimir's Seminary

Funny when you drive and a car passes you very fast you think, "that guy is nuts". And when you pass another car which is going very slow you think, "that guy is in a state of narcosis."

Well I guess the new-calendarists are the "conservatives" to the Latins, and the ROCOR are the fundies to the new-calendarists, and the GOC (now) are the "fundies" to the ROCOR.

These are good days to be a proud and "uncomromising" fundie; as the Paul Meyendorphs of the world, with their hair still smoldering, wave you on to board their 5-day-old train wreck.

I have exchanged e-mails with Professor Meyendorff on this matter. He has just granted me permission to post his explanation. It appears to me he was misquoted:

Dear Mr Little,
Since my comments continue to arouse controversy (I just received a
copy of a message posted by Bp Tikhon), you may go ahead and circulate my response to you. I have certainly learned a lesson about dealing with
the press. And I do apologize if have offended anyone.
PM

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 10:54:43 -0400 Paul Meyendorff
pmeyendorff@juno.com
writes:

Dear Mr Little,

The context of the discussion was that this young black woman, with
a very troubled past and a Baptist background, was, in a great
hurry, entering a monastery in the most traditionalist Orthodox
Church. Even her pastor in ROCOR was questioning her actions. This
was a psychological issue, not an ecclesial or theological one. In
trying to explain to this reporter what ROCOR was, I used the
unfortunate analogy that what the Bible Belt Fundamentalists were
for mainline Protestants, ROCOR was to mainstream Orthodox Churches.
Obviously, no Orthodox Church is biblically fundamentalist, and I
was in no way calling ROCOR fundamentalist. I also erred in saying
that ROCOR was in communion with no other Orthodox Churches -- in
fact, I was and am fully aware that they are in communion with both
the Serbian Church and the Jerusalem Patriarchate (ironic, since
both of these are members of the World Council of Churches).

However, I do not wish for you to report this to the various
Orthodox fora, as I have no desire to engage in any kind of
polemics. We have ROCOR students at St Vladimir's, and we get along
well with both them and Jordanville Seminary.

Wishing you a blessed summer.

PM

[bogoliubtsy]

This is the above mentioned response of Vladika Tikhon of the OCA-

Written in response to a response by a ROCOR proto-deacon. I think it's very good...

Well, one must first of all be charitable, and remember that the press does
not always get it right.
Neither do protodeacons.
Dr. John Erickson is the Dean of SVS. Professor Meyendorff is not the Dean
or "an Academic Dean." Professor Meyendorff is an Associate Dean, the
"Associate Dean for Academic Affairs."

I find it hard to believe that Professor Meyendorff, even at his mature age
still considered by many to be some kind of "enfant terrible" (high-toned
word for something like brat or show-off or smart-aleck), has academic
credentials, and those with academic credentials probably wouldn't come out
with falsehoods, unless they were really misinformed (perish the thought!).
"Official" communion..." what is it? I don't think this is a term used in
Orthodox parlance. And I'm sure that Professor Meyendorff, being in, let us
say, the "tradition" of those holding the so-called "Eucharistic
Ecclesiology" (think of, especially, Afanasieff, and Protopresbyters
Schmemann and Meyendorff of blessed memory), would feel that something like
this "official communion" was a kind of obscurantizing red herring to avoid
recognizing the eucharistic communion of ROCOR with the Churches of
Jerusalem and Serbia and others. It is true that some (but not all) of the
Faithful and clergy of the OCA, ROCOR, and most Orthodox jurisdictions,
consider the ecumenical movement (however defined, or whatever it may be)
heretical. However, ROCOR, that is the Hierarchy of ROCOR, has not done so
"officially" but has declared the old Anglican branch theory to be a
heresy, and that theory is what they call "ecumenism."

I feel that ROCOR is pretty far away from resembling Bible Belt
fundamentalists in any way, and the good Professor must have been
misquoted. Calling people with differing convictions, strongly held,
"fundamentalists" is not helpful and probably incorrect. Why, you can get
"fundamentalist" behaviour and "reactionarianism" from people who insist on
reading "secret prayers" aloud, from those for whom the highest canon of
the Ecumenical Councils is the one about not kneeling on Sundays, or insist
that the language of common discourse must be used to translate the
accomplished poetry of Byzantine intellectuals and atticizing' poets. You
get such "fundamentalist" behaviour from any number of people that insist
on having "Baptismal Divine Liturgy" or a "Wedding Divine Liturgy." If you
doubt it, challenge one of them!
Everybody has his fundamentals.

The press often try to coax something exciting from the folks they
interview, don't they.
I doubt if any apologies would be forthcoming from the designated quarter,
but I don't mind apologizing for the behaviour of anyone in our Church if
their behaviour is pointlessly hurtful.

I assure the Protodeacon of Canberra that the visit of Bishop Job to the
consecration of Bishop Peter is much more characteristic of the OCA's
attitude toward ROCOR and gives a much more accurate picture of what is in
the hearts of clergy and faithful in the OCA, no matter what has been
reported in the Dallas press about what an Associate Dean of Academic
Affairs at a seminary has or has not allowed himself to utter!

Love,
+B.T.

[Justin Kissel]

Thank you very much for posting that, Nevski That I was so quick to judge someone says something

EDIT--and thank you Peter, for posting as well.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Paul Meyendorf seems to be offering an explanation of his error rather than an error of the reporter. I know I have said many things I have immediatley regretted, and knew that was not what I meant or even felt. Its all part of being human. I'm glad he took the time to clear this up.

[Nevski]

Thank you very much for posting that, Nevski That I was so quick to judge someone says something

EDIT--and thank you Peter, for posting as well.

You weren't the only one. I dashed off a little nastygram to him when I read the story ("Shame on you, Professor Meyendorff") , so I had to apologize to him when I learned that he had been misquoted. A lesson learned in the necessity of being "slow to speak."