Is Moscow Displeased with ROCOR - How MP REALLY thinks

[Matthew]

Where did you dig up that nut case Soviet's post? That guy's got crackers for brains.

[Barbara]

You mean, the "agent in cassock" ?

I am STILL smarting over his vicious attack [if that is whom you mean].

I see that a cross is being put up by the MP to commemorate the "happy reunion" of MP and Rocor -
it's St Peter, Metropolitan of MOSCOW - what a weird thing that it would be put up
in St Petersburg.

Of course, authorities of BOTH sides will point to such empty gestures as evidence that
Rocor is esteemed by the [secretly snarling - this short essay was merely how MANY MANY of them feel,
just more bluntly expressed ] -

But any of us here know the truth that Rocor MP could turn cartwheels but it will never satisfy that core section
of Russia which grew up thinking that the Whites are all the evils that this man reeled off.

We in the West do not realize that Russians were indoctrinated heavily that :
America is bad, out to get you
Rocor is bad, out to get you
White Russians are bad, out to get their revenge

These people STILL believe these ideas, as they were imbibed along with the equivalent in Russian of their ABC's -
let's see, their AVS's ?!

[Revnitel]

I think the emphasis on politics dividing Orthodox Christians is not really helpful. Maybe if politics were removed from consideration more emphasis could be found on unity in Orthodoxy.

[Barbara]

But you think it advisable to untie with a Snake ?!

There can be NO 'unity' unless ALL have PURE PURPOSE.

Otherwise the good side will be stabbed in the back by the devious, cunning, sneaky unethical side.

Better to stay away from such people is the Lesson of the Year:
like sociopaths, and narcissists and some other abusive personality types,
these people PLEAD that they will change.
A dumb person will believe that [Rocor trusting the MP that it "has reformed" -
but providing NO tangible evidence for that assertion] and
fall into the devil's trap.

A smart person will say "OK you SHOW me, then ! Why should i BELIEVE YOU ?"
and wait until actions match up with words.

Here, we can surmise that MP told Rocor "Look join up and we will foot the bill for
x and y and the Synod 93rd Ave headquarter building repairs or whatever" -
Rocor BELIEVED SOME of their promises. Otherwise Rocor would NOT have gone along
so easily.

That was a mistake. Sharpness in political affairs and these sorts of machinations
in the realm of worldly affairs is
ESSENTIAL !

One can't sit on a picnic bench by a river and weave garlands and say "Let's all unite"
when ALL parties in the Orthodox world are NOT anything on the same footing to begin with !

See what I mean, Revnitel ? Are you convinced ?

[Revnitel]

I think that unity amongst Orthodox should not have a political threshold, but definitely have a sound Orthodox one.

[Matthew]

I think the emphasis on politics dividing Orthodox Christians is not really helpful. Maybe if politics were removed from consideration more emphasis could be found on unity in Orthodoxy.

I agree with the entirely unhelpful influence and unreasonable amount of airplay that political issues get amongst TOC believers. However, in the case of this particular issue, that is brought to focus in that tirade against the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, we are not talking about pure politics. We are talking about two entirely different ecclesiologies, and the nature of the Church is also a dogma of the Faith just as is the Incarnation of Christ. So, the TOC response to the Red Church, that darling puppet of the God-hating soviet atheists, is a crucial issue that strikes at the heart of the Church and our salvation depends upon us taking the right position. That is why we believe the members of ROCOR who entered into full communion with the MP are lost and damned and entirely deprived of grace. Yes, it sounds crazy to say it, especially to the monks at Holy Cross Hermitage down there in Virginia. I have no doubt that the ROCOR members, clergy and monastics, and lay folk, cannot accept such a judgement being true. And yet it is. Being nice and enjoying the theatrics and the props of the Church setting and the scent of incense is a very powerful influence on our minds and feelings, and they mistake these feelings brought about by the props of their Pseudodox Church for evidence that nothing has changed and that Ichabod has not been written over the door of their temples. Yet it has. It amazes me that these people have joined with the MP and even that most zealous MP parishoners raised in Russia have read the prophecy of St. John of Kronstadt about the Red Church, and that they are sternly and plainly commanded Do NOT enter these churches for Grace has departed from them. Yet they continue to go there and praise St John as a great saint! DUH!!! Wake up and smell the coffee, people!

[Revnitel]

Truthfully, I think it is about two different visions of Russian politics obscuring the vision of the Orthodox of the various parties and causing unnecessary hatred. Ecclesiologies, etc. I leave to the Bishops, but Orthodoxy first. Then people can vote (or not) at the ballot box.