This 'thread' is very painful and touches on matters of great seriousness. If I have offended any, which was not my original intention, I ask your forgiveness.
Yet, are we to avoid painful things? To attempt to follow the God-man, Jesus Christ, along that narrow path is exceedingly difficult and painful. The raison d'etre for these forums is to explore, debate and learn from each other, no? I certainly have learned and benefited, not least by having to think and because of others contributions.
In these times again and again there are seen diminutions of faith, worship and adherence to anything many of our various forbears may have recognised as Christianity. None can be either comfortable or complacent about this. If symptoms of this are seen in other groups it is tempting, perhaps, to look and say it's not happening here. But for how long? One feature seen frequently today is something that starts in one body and little by little it appears in more and more other bodies. An example being the Charismatic 'phenomena'. First it appeared among protestant sects, then spread to 'episcopal churches, later appeared among some Roman Catholics and latterly appeared in some Orthodox parishes.
The reference to a survey of Anglican clergy was not a 'dig', but an example, albeit one I struggle and struggle to comprehend. It has happened among them today and us tomorrow? Nor is this 'sympton' an insignificant feature. Look at the long list of prominent Anglican heirarchs, theologians, clergy and seminaries articulating beliefs which call into question 'belief' in matters considered central over centuries by any professing Christian. They not only profess these 'unbeliefs' but proudly tell you that this a feature of Anglicanism.
Having had from childhood friends who were Jewish, Moslem and from various Christian 'confessions' (to say nothing of being asked at different times to act as a surrogate parent for Moslem and Jain youngsters) it is evident that people appear increasingly to be losing touch with the 'basics' of a knowledge and understanding of confessional belief. Their yearning for 'something' has not necessarily gone but it is often 'replaced' by a cocktail of 'isms' and so-called 'spirituality'. Even among those in main-stream 'confessions' attempts to make worship accessible has resulted in 'watered down' doctrinal statements. These 'doctrinal' statements were set down over time and as a response to error and false belief. They were given in order to prevent us straying and mixing true belief with that which is false. Which takes us away from the One True God. Orthodox may say, "What has this to do with us". These tendencies to shorten the services, cut out the repetitions, and simplify the language exist within our churches too. How long before there are liturgical commissions seeking to edit the texts for anything that conflicts with today's 'values' or it's 'superior secular mores"?
Some of the responsibility for this lays with us. For Orthodox believers our worship is an act of prayer, an instruction and guide. Remember those French Catholic bishops who were unhappy with the promulgation of the 'Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception', and on asking a Russian Orthodox bishop for a view were referred to words of the services.
Again and again it has been told to me over decades to hold on the 'pearl of great wisdom' given me at baptism/chrismation and to be prepared to pass it on to the next generation 'without adding or taking away anything'.
Once again, to those whom I have offended, I offer my sincere apologies. Forgive...
. Until THIS tendancy is rooted out in the Orthodox faith, we need to avoid topics like "Are Protestants Christians" while we work out our own salvation, by ensuring we can have enough knowledge at our command to say that we are being taught improperly.