www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Why don't we just - do it!

I just purchased the domain of UnionOfLaity.org

I will take my own advise and 'just do it'.

I will take down two sites I have and use that hosting.

I will be asking people on this forum for advise as I go along.

God help me! I have taken on yet - another project! (when will I ever learn!)

-ray

-ray

Dear Ray,

You can certainly count me in. See now it's not just Alex, Ray, Alice and Myles.

Zenovia

Ray,
although I do not consider myself a great player on this forum, (I'm a listener more than a talker) you can count on me as well. I'll be there in Spirit.

Brad

Interesting . . .

Alex

Dear Ray,

I went to the site...now what! Information, we need information...

Zenovia

I will take me approximately two-three weeks to start unionoflaity.og.

I am doing a web site for Rose for her icons... and reconstructing my own web for my study on Genesis... (Trying to get it online properly)... going to job interviews... (pant pant pant).

But it will get done.

In the mean time I have been rolling over in my mind how it should be done. How to get each Patrarch involved (try to get them to appoint someone to assist me to get their particular church stuff right).

And it seems to me it needs two areas for each 1) official documents 2) plain English interpretation.

I will actually write each Patriarch directly (my letter will probably be intercepted by a secretary). I imagine maybe one of two will actually personally respond! (great!). So I have to think how to word it. Since they are also humans I have to word it in such a sly way as to gently imply �All the other Patriarchs will be assisting in some way� so they think �Than � we should not be left out! Secretary � write to this guy and tell him to contact Father so-and-so.� And then we I do contact Fr. So-and-so it will be under the heading of �Your Patriarch said you were to help us.� THAT should get things done.

That should get us a supply of authentic information for each � directly from the each.

A �news� area (anything to do with progress) and an opinion area (articles from noted people � Kalistos Wares � Fr. Richard Neuhause � etc�

But the most important areas (so far we have really been talking about official support material) will be practical down to earth info from members of each church telling visitors about etiquette when visiting their Liturgy etc� Baptisms � what have you.

I would love to have on line a video of each type of service (Catholic, Coptic, Basil, etc�) and we (I) can tap into existing search features on the net to help people locate what-ever church they are interested in. For example � I know that near me are two Coptic churches (10 miles away). I have said to myself for a couple of years I would like to experience the Coptic Liturgy.

The mental part before hand is to get a fair idea of the contents of the site � the areas � and then to imagine the best layout so clicking here to their makes some kind of senses.

Reasonable � it will take about two months to code (with adjusting along the way. You put up a version � and then use it a bit � and discover how to do it better � so you change it.

Thank you all for the encouragement (I will need it!) and weeks from now I may be asking a few of you (in private mail) for some advise of info.

I certainly will be contacting (in here) members of the churches who info area I am building � to check things out in that area.

Secretly (shhh� ) the site will �somehow� be arranged to (in a quiet way) actually let us see who is making progress and who is � well� not doing much�  Perhaps even a side by side comparison chart (hehe). But that type of thing has to be subtle�

And I have to make sure that Patriarchates know � this is just a general information site � for laity � and in no way is it trying to force union. It would do no good to be seen as a rouge �. All must be done with the deepest respect for each Patriarch and their particular sheep.

These are my thoughts.

At the least � the site will get few visitors. At the best � it will actually become a something on the leading edge of union � and a small positive step for each Patriarch.

I am not naive. There are many things involved in ecclesiastical union � and none of that is the subject of the proposed site. We will simply note it if it exists between any particular churches� nothing more.

We will only post the positive �news� and leave the negative news to others. If you ask me � negative news is no news at all.


-ray

Comments, ideas, ifs, ands, buts,... welcomed.

Dear Neil,

Although I share much of your enthusiasm for this board, I have to say, in my experience Orthodoxy is not very well represented. In other words, I have not very strong voices of Orthodoxy here. There have been numerous times, while researching, I have sought explanations of Orthodox teachings and concepts here and have found that most Eastern Catholics didn't have a clue (of course there are always exceptions like Deacon Lance and others).

So I see this forum as primaralily an Eastern Catholic board which is friendly to Orthodox posters. If I need answers to tough questions on Orthodoxy, generally I have to go elsewhere. That's just my experience. As for freedom in posting and a general welcoming spirit, I agree with you, this forum is the best I've seen.

Finally, I have to take exception to your usage of "Oriental Catholic Churches." In reality, there are no such things. There are only Eastern Catholic Churches. I know you are trying to differentiate between those Eastern Catholic Churches which historically derive from the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) tradition from those of the non-Chalcedonian tradition. But truthfully they are all now "Chalcedonians" and thus cease any need for differentiation. Those who are Eastern Catholics whose Churches broke from their Mother Sees in favor of union with the See of Old Rome have abandoned their Church's historic non-Chalcedonian, Miaphysite position. One indication of this is that they themselves make no effort to differentiate themselves from one another.

Please forgive me if I seem to be correcting you and feel free to set me straight if you think I'm wrong.

Your brother in Christ,
Wm. Ghazar

Dear Bill,

You mentioned that you need to visit other websites for answers to questions on Orthodoxy. Would you mind sharing links to some of them? I would be interested in visiting them. Thank you.

--John

I've had the best luck with this forum which I know was started by Orthodox members of the Byzantine Forum:

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php

Thank you !!!

--John

Bill,

I understand your point with respect to the level of Orthodox participation on this forum. Certainly, the largest number of members are Eastern Catholic and one isn't going to get the diversity of Orthodox opinion and thought that one would expect to find on an Orthodox site. As to OC.net, I agree that Dustin/Anastasios and Phil/Mor Ephrem have done a nice job over there and, while it can be a bit polemical at times, it's definitely the least so of all the Orthodox forums; I've certainly never felt less than welcome there. (It also has the distinction, in my experience, of being the only EO board that is consistently welcoming of the Oriental Orthodox and has an OO forum within it.)

However, I do think that there is a deep well of knowledge and understanding of Orthodoxy here also, particularly on the part of our Orthodox brethren here - but also on the part of many of the Eastern Catholics. I concede though that some of the most knowledgeable are selective (as all of us should be - but aren't always ) in the threads to which they post. It may be, in the case of Eastern Catholics, a feeling that it would be out-of-place for them to speak on Orthodoxy when there are Orthodox here. On the other side, some of the Orthodox members here may be reticent to address matters that they suspect would foster dissension or might be seen to disrespect the host (although I've found John to have a pretty thick skin, usually ).

On the matter of the Oriental Catholic Churches, you are certainly correct that their departure from a non-Chalcedonian, Miaphysite position does separate them from their ancestral Churches to a more basic extent than the separation that exists between ECs and EOs. (Strange though, isn't it, that the prospects for unity between Rome and the Oriental Orthodox sometimes seem closer than that between the Eastern Orthodox and Rome .) My only point in distinguishing them is the common liturgical and devotional praxis that they continue to share with the Oriental Orthodox - I choose to make the distinction that all non-Latin Catholics are not of the Byzantine/Constantinoplian/Eastern persuasion. I readily acknowledge that this is my own little personal peculiarity and I don't really know anyone else that does it, aside from a couple of folks from here who have kind of picked it up from my usage.

So, I can't say that I think you're wrong on any of your points; I just see us as having a slightly different outlook on the matters in question .

Be well, my brother and friend .

Many years,

Neil

Btw, I'm hoping for an increase in our OO membership; been working to convince 3 or 4 posters (Coptic and Armenian) from a multi-denominational site with a very small OO forum to join us .