Cyprian, you do post wonderful posts and your sharings are very much appreciated and often right on, but please be aware that attacking others does not help. While only Christ can convert others to the Holy Faith, we can thwart the grace that He gives. We must be very careful not to interfere with the grace that God gives others. Being kind, loving, helpful, and respectful helps spread the Good News.
Cyprian, thank you for explaining that the St. Ambrose you were mentioning was St. Ambrose of Optina. At first, I thought you were referring to St. Ambrose of Milan! Nevertheless, disagreements leading to the Great Schism began well before the 800s. The seeds of destruction were already in place with the "filioque" addition in the 6th century. And then there was the Athanasius Creed, which also contains the "filioque" clause. Along with the "filioque" addition, the development of doctrines and changes in traditions began well before 1000 A.D. with:
mandatory celibacy,
baking altar bread without yeast,
communion practices changed by only offering the "host" to laity,
Baptism, Confirmation, Communion were no longer given to babies, but separately administered as a baby matured,
constant changes to the Mass according to local practices (among the worst of changes)
changes in vestments,
changes in music to where protestant style music and pop culture music is now accepted,
changes in church architecture to accept churches in the round,
changes in church sacred art, so that precious icons were eliminated in favor of statues,
changes in canonization rules, so that unrepentant pedophiles are raised to sainthood,
changes in the manner in which bishops and popes give a blessing,
staged miracles, or attribution to a "saint" of a miracle which was not a miracle at all, but was a natural healing,
etc.
Below is a picture of Piux X giving a blessing. Note that when he holds up his fingers, they are not held up in the same way as Orthodox Priests and Bishops. However, the Vatican II popes after Pius XII, only use a wave of the hand, or touch people with their open palm.
Compare with Francis on the day of his election. Notice the open hand wave.
An Orthodox Priest blesses us differently from Roman Catholic Priests: https://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings ... sing.shtml
"When the priest blesses us, he forms the Greek letters IC XC, that is, Jesus Christ, with the fingers of his hand. This means that through the priest our Lord Jesus Christ Himself blesses us. Therefore, we must receive the blessing of the clergy with reverence."
There is a book I recently purchased which talked about "miraculous" healings of cancer, described in the medical literature as spontaneous remission. Often, these cases of spontaneous remission are NOT MIRACLES in any way. Yet, the Roman Catholic church attributes these cases of spontaneous remissions as miracles. Spontaneous remissions can occur when a person with cancer simply gives up all sugars (natural and artificial), all non-organic foods, all processed foods and junk foods, all meats, all starchy foods, and all dairy. These people often go on a vegetarian diet drinking juiced vegetables and/or juiced sprouted vegetables for a period of one week to one month before the "healing" process begins. This diet does not always work because people do not want to follow such a strict diet.
For example, there was a baby, kissed by Francis, who had brain cancer. She was already on the road to healing when he hugged her. They are calling that a miracle. Mind you, he did not bless her, he just hugged her.
Incidentally, all of the popes since Vatican II have stopped giving papal blessings using the Orthodox Christian style of blessing. Do an Internet for pictures of popes giving a blessing. The last one you will see is Pius XII, who had a lot of issues himself. Pius XII's encyclicals and pontifications show that he favored more changes in the Mass and had encouraged the formation of diocesan liturgical commissions, which paved the way for Vatican II and the New Order Mass.