Matrona of Moscow: Distraction from the REAL Saints

[Barbara]

That's really nice to have a very complete list [though I don't agree with a few on there]
Very handy ! Thank you, H, that's nice of you to draw that up for Lemon Schist and everyone else visiting the site and the thread.

So, St Agafangel of Yaroslavl and St Andronik of Perm are NOT included in the Catacomb list ? Why is that ?

Lemon Schist, you will enjoy reading about Eldress Myrtidiotissa.
She specifically advised women on behalf of Our Lady to dress modestly, calling attention to what a grievous offense this is in the modern era.

[Politician Catherine Whiteford, are you listening ?!!]

[Barbara]

While we are giving pointers to new arrivals here, this short lecture by Abp Gregory of Colorado on Freemasonry amongst the hierarchs of World Orthodoxy is very helpful.

Note the icons he has in his office : St Met Philaret on the right, St John Maximovitch, a photo of Abp Andrei of Rockland, St Tikhon the Confessor, etc.

[Barbara]

Yes, but it's a great start, something from which newcomers especially can use as a jumping off point.

We forget how confusing all these names, jurisdictions, etc can BE to someone not used to all this bacground.

Thank you

[Lemon Schist]

Has anyone produced a Lives of TO Saints? I was trying to find out more about Blessed Tarso but the only non-Amazon(I refuse to get an account) sources were in Greece and expensive for a little paperback, especially after shipping.

[Thomas_Deretich]

Patriarch Dositheus II in his Confession (Synod of Jerusalem 1672) .... I was surprised by his decree regarding reading scripture.

Around that time, some Roman Catholics and some Protestants took extreme positions on Scripture. Both of these extreme positions contradicted the ancient, historic Orthodox Christian patristic approach. Some Roman Catholics were suspicious of the original language texts and modern language translations and reaffirmed the Latin Vulgate and recent papal interpretations as authoritative. Some Protestants pushed individual and innovative interpretations of the original language texts or modern translations that were completely against ancient Christian consensus doctrine. Patriarch Cyril Lucaris never renounced in writing the highly-Protestant (Calvinist, specifically) Confession of Faith in Latin and Greek that was attributed to him. That confession was rejected by six Orthodox synods. Patriarch Dositheus, sided against the Protestant extreme (and Cyril's alleged writing) on Scripture, but relied on Roman Catholic-like language to deal with the question. At this time, Orthodox Christians sometimes used Roman Catholic arguments against Protestant positions and Protestant arguments against Roman Catholic positions. The balanced Orthodox Christian position is that laypeople should only read the Scriptures with the consensus interpretations of the other Scriptures, councils, fathers, saints, liturgies, and of the Church as a whole. The Church does not forbid modern language translations and paraphrases, but historically these translations and paraphrases often pushed modern (non-ancient, non-Orthodox) understandings, such as failing to distinguish between icon and idol and failing to distinguish between divine-adoration (absolute worship) and relative veneration (relative "worship" in older English).