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I shall look into it--thank you my friend.

You know, the very weekend after my chrismation also happened to be a diaconate ordination at my church and the Metropolitan told father that he wanted to meet me and welcome me! I hate to say it, but I've never known a bishop to do something like that. Truly a great man.

Also, it's great being in the choir because when he visits, we break out the Slavonic!

Funny you should say that...I had the almost the exact experience with Vladika Nicholas...except he asked to meet me when he was in the area last year (prior to being received into the Orthodox Church)...(that was a Saturday morning) the following afternoon there was a luncheon at a neighboring parish and he had me (along with my brother and father) join him at the head table...

However, I can not say, I have never experienced that from a bishop...Vladika Michael (Dudick) was always terific to me and went out of his way if he knew I was around...

Chris

I found our late Archbishop Judson to be remarkably accessible as well. It was far beyond the commonplace in my experience of bishops to the moment that I first met Archbishop Judson.

I am sure there are others. Archbishop Chaput in the Latin rite would answer my private letters. I might have to wait a bit but I never wrote one letter or asked one question that did not receive a thoughtful and personal reply. Bishop John Elya is another gem of a pastor who always took the time to respond. One tends not to be frivolous with that kind of a gift.

The recently departed servant of God Kyrill of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania was another one who was there for the asking. Talk about "knock and it shall be opened unto thee!"...That's no joke for many of our eastern and Orthodox bishops and apparently for some of our Latin rite bishops as well.

I cannot even begin to imagine getting that kind of attention from my old Latin rite bishop, though he is a kind man in general, but he guards his time very carefully and others guard it for him even more carefully, and he is very circumspect in his responses to even the smallest inquiry.

At any rate, we are blessed.

Mary

I have heard from other Orthodox Brothers and Sisters that the orthodox faith doesn't recognize the validity of the Catholic sacriments and the validity of the priests and their ability to forgive sins.

If that is the case, why wouldn't a full confession be required by the Orthodox faith?

Why is a full confession not expect?

Because the Orthodox Church does not have such a legalistic point of view. As I said above, no priest expects s detailed list of sins with how many times etc.

Confession in the eastern Orthodox Church is an acknowledgement that you are a sinner in need of God's help, and ackowledgement of your sins as sins, and of course most important of all a desire to repent. What I find very beneficial is my priest's advice or encouragement etc. He usually quotes a verse from the Bible or an example from the lives of saints or a Church Father.

What I am talking about is the Eastern Slavic or more specifically in my case the Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox tradition. I hear from my friends at work that at most parishes
of the Greek Orthodox Church, common confession is used. Also in the Armenian Orthodox Church. This was a surprise to me that there was such a wide range of difference within jurisdictions.

In line with what has been said, I will add that I also only confessed my sins since my last confession, when I entered the Orthodox Church. When I asked my priest about it, he said, "Confess whatever the Holy Spirit brings to your mind and then don't worry about it." Another thing I would point out is that in Orthodoxy, your sins don't have to be confessed to a priest. You can get permission to confess your sins to someone else and then just go to the priest for absolution. And my spiritual father pointed out that the principle of oiconomia allows that anything that needs to be "made up" so to speak is supplied by the Holy Spirit. That is why my wife and I did not need to have our marriage blessed, though we can do that if we wish (we have thought about doing that on our anniversary, which is what many Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic couples do at some point anyway, usually the 25th).

Joe

Good points Joe. Thanks.