Next Door to the Temple

[Грешник]

NZ,

heaven forbid the Church should use the internet as a form of missionary activity, at least in some small way.

I do not think that CGW was condemning the use of the internet as a missionary activity as I would bet many if not most or all churches and missions make use of the internet in one ay or another. The internet when used correctly can be an amazing tool. It is only when this same tool is used as a harborer of hate and discord that we must stand back and make an asesment as to the quality of information we are receiving.

Juvenaly

[Joe Zollars]

Dear Juvenaly,

I agree. I meant it only in jest to CGW's post saying that people seem to learn of roac through the internet. It was meant only in jest.

Nicholas Zollars

[CGW]

NZ,

heaven forbid the Church should use the internet as a form of missionary activity, at least in some small way.

I do not think that CGW was condemning the use of the internet as a missionary activity as I would bet many if not most or all churches and missions make use of the internet in one ay or another. The internet when used correctly can be an amazing tool. It is only when this same tool is used as a harborer of hate and discord that we must stand back and make an asesment as to the quality of information we are receiving.

I do not agree. The internet has a further problem: it creates an illusion of immediacy while at the same time hiding the reality of distance. The oldest and most oft-remarked-upon manifestation of this is flaming: "discussions" quite often fall into outpourings of temper which the same people would not dare to produce in actual face-to-face conversation. Likewise, very many websites are mere Potemkin villages.

That is why religion practiced over the internet tends to develop an artificiality-- a very convincing color to the the participant, but not necessarily convincing to the onlooker. For those whose conversion arose out of immersion in a community, it looks very strange indeed.

[尼古拉前执事]

Practicing over the Internet? Well that is something far different than learning over the Internet, which has not a negative connotation to it, as far as I can see.

[CGW]

Practicing over the Internet? Well that is something far different than learning over the Internet, which has not a negative connotation to it, as far as I can see.

Actually, I would say that learning over the internet is fraught with peril. In the first place, it requires an extremely high level of suspicion. For instance, I find sprinkled around various self-proclaimed Orthodox information sites the assertion that the Norman conquest changed England from Orthodox to Roman Catholic. Those of us who are students of the period know this to be the sheerest nonsense. How do you tell that this is nonsense if you don't already know? It's difficult, because it can be hard to distinguish between sites that are good and site which are bad. One really needs a teacher.

Which brings me to a second point. There is no sharp division between learning and practice. In manual arts learning is through practice. Why would this not be true in Orthodoxy?

[Logos]

Practicing over the Internet? Well that is something far different than learning over the Internet, which has not a negative connotation to it, as far as I can see.

Actually, I would say that learning over the internet is fraught with peril. In the first place, it requires an extremely high level of suspicion. For instance, I find sprinkled around various self-proclaimed Orthodox information sites the assertion that the Norman conquest changed England from Orthodox to Roman Catholic. Those of us who are students of the period know this to be the sheerest nonsense. How do you tell that this is nonsense if you don't already know? It's difficult, because it can be hard to distinguish between sites that are good and site which are bad. One really needs a teacher.

Which brings me to a second point. There is no sharp division between learning and practice. In manual arts learning is through practice. Why would this not be true in Orthodoxy?

I agree with you CGW. This is something that I am realizing each and every day.

[尼古拉前执事]

I don't think anyone who makes the claim that England went from Orthodox to Latin in that time period was ever talking about the rite of services going from Eastern to Western. That would be a pretty rediculous assumption; whether they were wholly or partly Latin or more Celtic in rite makes no difference. What we are talking about is oneness of faith, untouched by Latin heresies, between pre-Norman England and the Orthodox East. What I remember reading when I was in highschool in some non Orthodox historical sourses was that the Pope was very invested in a Norman victory so as to ensure his extent to the Brittish Isles.

This is a very interesting topic and would love to continue the disscussion if you wouldn't mind. I hope we can discuss in a friendly and edifying environment where we both could learn. Perhaps Nicholas can cut off the last several posts here and move them to a new topic entitled something like, ''The Orthodoxy of England before 1066''.

Done. The split off thread can be found at http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1419