www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Holy Fire going to the North Pole

World-Mysteries (they are not a press agency) says on their site: “This web site is privately owned, totally independent, and not associated with any religious group or political organization.” One rather doubts, especially as they are not a press agency, that they were conscious that the headline would offend some viewers – probably seeing it as innocuous.

Additionally, I suspect that they found the juxtaposition of ‘North Pole’ and ‘Holy Fire’ to be too good an opportunity to miss. Add to which, they probably thought that it was much catchier than ‘Russian Arctic research station’. What I’m very sure of is that they did not ‘choose’ to be offensive.


It is going to sound ‘snarky’ but, given your attitude toward Russia, it is interesting to see that you found comfort in the headline writing of Interfax, about as russified a source as one could name.


No, it doesn’t. Shall we require that all posters, on all occasions, seek out the ‘original’ version of all texts and post only links to those? Unless, of course, that original version contains ‘offensive’ text, in which case the poster would be required to track down an edited version that lacks offensiveness.


The poster showed no such thing as poor judment! And, frankly, that comment – together with your willingness ‘to give her the benefit of the doubt’ is typical of the attitudes that you consistently display, those of being superior, condescending, and feeling put-upon.

This is an international forum – in the last few hours, I have read posts from Ireland, Scotland, England, Romania, Norway, Finland, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, as well as Canada and the US. On other days, I could easily add Israel, Portugal, Singapore, Japan, and other nations to that list.

It is not a Canadian forum, nor an American forum, and – quite frankly – a lot of folks here are totally unaware of territorial disputes over Arctic territory, as they are over such involving Antarctica. Does that make them ignorant or ill-informed? No, it means that the issues involved don’t affect them and most don’t have a limitless capacity for reading and absorbing the details of the myriad territorial disputes underway across the world on any given day.

I’m personally aware of the Canadian-Russian dispute because I read Canadian news rather regularly due to the fact that my two youngest children hold dual US-Canadian citizenship. Had I seen the item before Rose would I have considered it potentially offensive? No! I’d have thought, as most anyone who was not entrapped in an insular, parochial way of thinking, that it was interesting and that others might find it so. The post was about the Holy Fire – not about Canada, not about Russia – about the Holy Fire!


This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of the thread!


The charge of intolerance is absolutely without merit. I would estimate that a third of the active posters to this forum are Ukrainian, Orthodox or Catholic. Read threads to this forum in which posters praise Ukrainian hierarchs, both Catholic and Orthodox, for the stances that they’ve taken, for their willingness to dialogue with one another, for the erudition of their sacred works, the beauty of their temples, their heroic martyrdoms under communism. Note that some of the most prolific posters to this site are Ukrainians.

As to Canadians, the allegation is even more ludicrous. Personally, I consider Canada to be America’s best ally in almost all regards and I decry the fact that what was the longest open border in the world is no longer such. I remember well that it was a Canadian diplomat who hid and subsequently spirited US embassy staff out of Iran decades ago, at the risk of his own life.


I’m sorry that you find it offensive but it is a patent falsehood to say that you have written me about it in the past – I have never received any such communication from you!

The words themselves are not mine – they were said by Archbishop Joseph (Tawil), of blessed memory, in a pastoral message during which he spoke of the two greatest dangers to the Melkite Church (and, by extension, to all the Eastern and Oriental Churches). The two dangers that he saw were, oddly, extreme opposites – a ghetto mentality and assimilation! And, I believe, as do many, that he was correct; excerpts from that pastoral letter are frequently quoted.

The supply of ethnic Christians available to any of the Eastern or Oriental Churches, Orthodox or Catholic, is not limitless – intermarriage, mobility, loss of faith, decreasing interest in culture, heritage, and nationality are all contributing to this. Additionally, if we fail to reach out and offer our faith to those who are of other faiths, ethnicities, etc., we will have failed to fulfill God’s mandate that we go forth and preach to all nations.

Are we to preach to them and then not offer them a place in which to worship alongside us?

“We gave you faith, now go found your own true Church, because you aren’t of ‘us’” ????



You’re rather naïve to think that there are many here who would have that happen. I, for one, am not Arabic by birth or marriage, but I would be saddened to see my Church lose its cultural or ethnic heritage. But, I am also enough the realist to know that those are being diminished somewhat by the influx into our parishes of persons not of Arab ethnicity. Four decades ago, I was a curiousity as a redhead in a Melkite parish – not so any more. Is that a bad thing? No, because people are coming to us and being welcomed. I think this is less the case in Canada, until now, than it is in the US – but some measure of assimilation will occur in time, as it did here.


That is your choice to make but I would suggest that you came here for some purpose, rather than to any of several other sites you could have chosen. This is a site that, as I’ve said time and again, is dedicated to dialogue, to educating, and to being educated. It is a community and it can only remain that if we all participate in it in a fashion that encourages those ideals. That means contributing thoughtfully and positively to discussion, not putting others down, being proud of your religious and ethnic heritage but not to the point of denigrating that of others. You are obviously well-read; you have the capability to be an asset to this site. I hope that is the choice you will make.

Many years,

Neil