Okaayyyy. Now I have to say something.
I am with ROCOR too. I understand Katya's frustrations. All these fingers wagging in disapproval...
OOD, priest Siluan and others are basically stating that we are with a heretical church. And we ALL know that heretical churches DO NOT have the grace of the Holy Spirit, right? Doesn't that applied only to non-Orthodox religions, since they were officially anthematized by the Seven Ecumenical Councils, in which, saints and the Holy Spirit were participating? So therefore, my confessions and all the Holy Communions I've taken are basically as effective as the papist church?...that's basically the underlying factor of these loose remarks, isn't it? I say loose because I can see that there hasn't been much attention put to their wordings. They really didn't think about how they expressed themselves, they just lashed out with their comments. And these comments are from people who DO NOT live in the situation. They sit on the sidelines, pointing their fingers, but they don't see the struggle of the clergy(that I've seen), or the faith of the people(that I've seen).
And yes, there have been incidents where our bishops have acted incorrectly. So have bishops of other jurisdictions, that people here belong too. For example, bishop Paul of the old calendar Greeks, 11 years ago, took a blessing from the Patriarch of Constantinople. So what do they say to that? I know about it because I was going to that church, I got baptised in that Synod and I know that the bishop's uncle, bishop Petros was the bishop of North America, at the time. There was a great buzz about it in church. Should we have condemned them to ecumenism, then and there, or was it a foolish action of a weak man? Then there's plenty to say about OCA and the new calendarist/ecumenists of every country.
So it has been throughout all the centuries, even with the Greeks. Let's not forget the efforts of St. Mark of Ephesus. There have always been turmoils, but from these turmoils, God reveals his shining lights for those who truely care to worship in the truth.
This is a fragile time and with any cultivation that takes place in the human heart, it may take awhile for the events to be set in place, as God wills it.
Basically, what I am saying, is instead of writing out our demise in ROCOR, in stone, try to have Christian compassion. You cannot know how this will turn out, because you are all just simple laymen and priests of other jurisdictions. You really don't have any authority to say what WILL happen, we can only talk about what has happened. Everybody has a chance to do the right thing before they die.
It's true that when a person says 100 good words about someone, but 1 bad word, then everyone will leach onto that 1 bad word. This is how the devil works and he certainly has worked on alot of people here.
And let's not forget the prophesy about Russia freeing Constantinople from the Turks in the end times and bringing it back to Orthodoxy. Who knows when that time will be, but it is a far cry from the action of socialists and ecumenists. Also that Russia will experience a revitalization of the True Orthodox faith and that St. Seraphim of Sarov will preach in the streets of Russia, in the end times. These prophesies were stated by saints. I don't have the quotes here, but I'll get them if anyone insists. If anybody has them already, then please post them.
If Katya feels like she is being condemned for belonging to a particular group, then she is not hallucinating, because I get the same impression. These kind of harse judgements, usually, comes from fanatical old calendarist Greeks. I should know... I'm one of them. But, I learnt to discern between knowing what is right, and not being a fanatical judge.
By the way, bishop Petros was consecrated a bishop by ROCOR. And I believe that the old calendar Greeks still hold Communion with them, so that makes them heretics too.
Please don't misunderstand. I believe in true Orthodox and no ecumenism. So let's stick together in the faith and when the time comes, we will make our voices heard, just like the people of the passed centuries who stood strong in their faith.
Zito Orthodoxiou.....Long live Orthodoxy.
