Ecclesiological Dissonance

Padraig · Post by **Padraig** » Fri 30 July 2004 2:47 pm

Etienne wrote:
All my family were baptised according to Orthodox form within the Church in Exile.................

Dear Stephen,

Then it seems you were the victim of busybodies. Unfortunately, our church is no more free of them than any other church.

Patrick

Etienne · Post by **Etienne** » Fri 30 July 2004 5:57 pm

Patrick,

Probably, Sir, it was their - to me at least - bizarre pre-occupation with dates. As I have said I very much liked the priest, and others in the congregation. The humour about the supposed laxity of the 'new calendarists' was quite gentle but funny. So I suppose I found a dissonance between that and the exactitude of others there.

Then I reflect on the history and the statements of some 'new calendarists, and maybe some of it is understandable. For me though the whole Greek witness regarding the Church calendar is so complex and fractured that I am left confused by the situation in Greece.

St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, says, "For other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And continuing, "I have learned there are contentions among...... Every one saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?"

Among the Orthodox Greeks the situation the Holy Apostle described in that first century is replicated and more today. Each 'group' protests their 'sole' adherence to The Truth, yet if they each claim to be the sole faithful remnant how might one discern, given their uncertain histories?

Padraig · Post by **Padraig** » Sun 1 August 2004 9:57 pm

Etienne wrote:
Among the Orthodox Greeks the situation the Holy Apostle described in that first century is replicated and more today. Each 'group' protests their 'sole' adherence to The Truth, yet if they each claim to be the sole faithful remnant how might one discern, given their uncertain histories?

Dear Stephen,

I've delayed responding to this, because I wanted to give it the response it deserves. I could tell you my reasons for belonging to the Church I belong to, but I think what you want is something beyond propaganda and polemic.

In the end, all one can do is to make the best choice one knows how to make. You can talk to the clergy of the different jurisdictions, learn what you can about the history of the different synods, pray a lot, hold your breath, and make a choice. And then pray for the unity of all -- most of us believe the same things and say the same prayers.

Patrick