> On Jul 28, 4:06 pm, ++
spambot.com> wrote:
> >> Dear Bishop Daniel.
>>
>> Why don't you just join the orthodox Church?
>>
>
> Which one? All of the following are not in union and claim to be "the
> true Orthodox Church"...
>
> The one bully simply called The Orthodox Church? Or is it the Genuine
> Orthodox Church,
never heard of it
> Macedonian Orthodox Church,
been to many, a personal favorite, not the least because the services
are fervent, packed, and beautiful.
> Russian Old Believers,
>
nice edinovertsy church in Eire, PA
> the Matthewites,
who are they? I thought this was just a defunct epithet of the ROCOR no
longer in use
> the Makarians,
who are they?
> ROCA,
been
> the Russian True Orthodox
> Church,
who are they?
> Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate),
been
> Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
been
> Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America
been
> Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
been to plenty of Belorussian churches, don't know if they were this
> Bulgarian Alternative Synod,
Core group of people in Washington , DC used to switch off between
Bulgarian synods and when I was in Sofia I noticed that the ROCOR was
even running their own Bulgarian synod. All valid, my opinion. All
having loving people and good clergy and bishops trying to keep Orthodoxy
> Orthodox Church in Italy.
had a visiting deacon for a while.
> Montenegrin Orthodox Church.
Now this one I tried to find. I went to church daily when in Montenegro
a few years ago and yet all that was open and visible at that time
(before the referendum) was the SOC in Montenegro, also present at the
monastery in Cetinje where I heard there was a Montenegrin Orthodox
Church but .we ran out of time before the bus was going back from there
to Kotor. Kotor, as you may know, is divided between those who attend
Roman Catholic services and Orthodox services, but many of the people
there would not attend an SOC service. I heard there was a new church
in Budva so I went there. What I found was that the new church was a
former Roman Catholic historic church inside the walls (which are
walkable on top, like Dubrovnik) on the upper part of the city. There
was a wonderful icon painter covering the interior walls with
traditional frescoes in a great Balkan iconographic sequence. Gotta go
back just to see the finished church!
> Turkish Orthodox Church,
been. Someone from the EP actually showed us where it was (but didn't
enter). I can see their point. If one enters an RC or Protestant
church in Istanbul, there are services in and booklets or books with
services in Turkish, making the message audible, at least, and visible,
at least, to the Turkish people. Unfortunately, the Orthodox Word is
not being spread in Turkish anywhere else and the leader of the TOC has
passed on. Don't know if they ordained another head of the TOC
> Orthodox Catholic Churches of America or maybe the monophysite Orthodox churches of the Copts or
> Syrians. The Nestorians, perhaps?
>
not Orthodox. There are some really beautiful churches, like the Polish
National Catholic Church, which used to, maybe still does , meet in a
chapel at the Washington Cathedral, but they aren't Orthodox.
>
>> Why pretend to be orthodox
>> when you actually can be Orthodox. Why pretend to be in the Eastern
>> Orthodox tradition in your own mind when yo can be in the Eastern
>> Orthodox tradition in reality? Why are you encouraging other people to
>> join something fake when you and they can join something real?
>>
>
> Which one of the above is real and not fake? More importantly how can
> you tell? What is the rule and authority for the only one that can
> make the claim?
>
Most of the real ones are obvious, whether or not there are rival
jurisdictionalist claims. Three or four Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian,
etc. churches? The jurisdictionalism will cease and we will be one
again. But there is a big difference between Churches with a lineage of
Orthodoxy and those, that were formed just to be another religion in
America. The fact that people are human and they argue, all the while
caring about keeping their Church pure and holy shows that Orthodoxy is
one Faith. Just in the past few years, one HUGE jurisdictional problem
has been more or less solved. The Matthewites, the Sergianists and the
ROCOR got together and in the process recognized the OCA, the BOC, the
RoumanianOC, the SOC and etc.while verifying the autocephally of the OCA
and showing their place in the Church without creating permanent rival
synods. Some problems will eventually solve themselves, like the EP.
Life is good and we are all, even if we fight like humans, Orthodox and
one Church. But you know that. And, I suspect you know which of your
partial list above are problematic and which are easy and make you lots
of friends, and which might make you a couple enemies but are still
Orthodox.
I personally want the best for your soul. So, even though I am a big
sinner, I hope you don't mind me caring about you and caring about both
your temporal holding and final resting places
PS. I still harbor (pun intended) a desire to traipse through every
neighborhood in Baltimore and make a photographic record of each and
every storefront church, tracking down each and every traditional and
self-appointed pastor (and I do mean that gender neutral and in some
cases gender plural) just because religion in Baltimore _is_ so unique.
I attended a storefront Orthodox Church myself one of the two long
periods while I lived there along with frequent visits to all Orthodox
jurisdictions.
>
>> Alternately, if you are just making your own relgion out of bits and
>> pieces of religions you have read about or experienced or seen on TV or
>> heard on the radio, a time honored American tradition, why pretend to be
>> Orthodox when you are not? With thousands of home made religions, and
>> Baltimore is especially full of them, why must you pretend to be other
>> than what you are?
>>
>> Or, alternately, why not just join us. Ask yourself what there is about
>> Orthodoxy that so draws you to our Faith, and then ask yourself why you
>> feel you will not be welcome. Then, make the decision. Every boy takes
>> his own time leaving the land of make believe for reality, I know as a
>> mother.
>>
>> With regards to Baltimore and Dundalk,
>>
>> Galina
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
