www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Opus Dei of the East

Again, remember that the Republican side in the Civil War consisted of many groups in Spanish society and internationally not just the Communist Party. There were centrists all the way to the Far Left politically and they had many different motivations.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear Remie:

I believe "Oastea Domnului" ("God's Army" or "Army of God") started in Romania in the 1920s. Fr. Trifa supported the movement, or was intimately associated with it... I forget. The Gheorge-Dej government squashed the movement in the late 1940s. Current "Army of God" members claim that the movement survived underground. It sprung to live after 1989.

From what I've heard ,,pe strada" (on the street), the movement stresses prayer, charity and Bible study. I think it is more popular in the Transylvanian regions, than in Moldavia or Wallachia.

Just my 200,000 Lei worth.

God bless,
Christopher
Armenian Catholic

Hi Alex:

....I totally agree with you. I personally don't like imported Western orders into Eastern churches.

I truly feel that individual members of Eastern churches may pick up wisdom, inspiration, and fulfillment from Western orders on a personal micro level, but Eastern traditions - including monastic and contemplative traditions - need to be maintained and respected on a macro level. Opus Dei is a Western phenom and one I frankly don't fully understand.

I have a couple of friends from Serbia - as an example: One of them likes to go to the Stations at the Franciscan Monastery on "Western" Good Friday. It doesn't mean she wants her church to start doing that - it is just a personal devotion that she enjoys and finds meaningful to observe with with her husband (who is a Roman Catholic). And, well, obviously from my "handle," I'm a Franciscan.

Just keep believing in God there, Alex! Good man! ;-)

Dear Annie,

If you will send me an e-mail address, I can send you my Akathist to St Francis of Assisi - I'd love to know what you think of it!

Or just write me at: NOSPAM-alex_roman@ontla.ola.org

Alex

Adminstrator's Note: I edited Alex's e-mail address to add "NOSPAM-" at the beginning. It's never a good idea to put your e-mail in a thread. There are search engines that look for e-mail addresses on bulletin boards and then use the e-mails for not so nice purposes (we don't want Alex getting hundreds of junk e-mails at this address!). It's much better to use the private messaging feature to share e-mails.