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All earlier work has been superseded; all subsequent works derive from his.


That statement goes against just about everything I have read about Orthodox teaching. Does it change or is it unchanged?

Why would things change? The further away in time we get the less we would know about people that lived in the 9th century. It would make more sence that earlier work would be more acurate. Yet I still possess the information you were so sure I didn't have. So quick to point out errors. There must be a forum that is welcoming for those interested in learning about the Eastern churches.

I must say that if you consider yourself an apostle of Christ and you are commissioned to go out and share the Good News? Why such tight lips? or should I say keys? I know people are reading and only a few have anything to say or should I say anything positive to say? The apostles said "Jesus teach us how to pray" Jesus answered them and taught them and told them to go out to all nations. Knowledge is of no use if you keep it to yourself. So for all the readers.....I leave you with that reflection. I will be back at some point but only when I am doing more research. I may need to find a more friendly environment to learn about my roots in the UGCC. My brother said it wasn't worth looking into. After some of the postings I have read I think he might be right. And this is along the lines of what I deleted the other day. I think it needs to be said and I have no fear. Nothing to win or lose here.

I know there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the page....

The Byzantine Forum and the www.byzcath.org [byzcath.org] site exist to help build up the Church but are unofficial,

To build up the chuch you must imitate Christ...I don't always see that here. It is more of a discussion board with a goal of who will win the award for the most knowledge. Is there a tally for who can point out the most errors too?

I know this site is not a reflection of all people in the East.
Thank you once again to those that posted helpful comments and direction. I will pray for change and hope that the next visit is more pleasant.

Cmoore,

I'm more than a bit puzzled by your comment and attitude. This thread began with you posting


The question was answered, in some detail, almost immediately, by a member of the Forum.

Subsequently, you asked what if the Catholic Church had 3 Rites under the unbrella? I'm still trying to figure out what that was about. There are, in fact 7 major Rites (Latin, Alexandrian, Antiochian, Armenian, Byzantine, Chaldean, and Maronite) and 23 Churches within the Catholic Communion.

You now are in a fit of pique, seemingly because the entire forum membership - Catholic and Orthodox - did not immediately take fingers to keyboard and expound, in great detail, on St Photius. More so, I suspect, because there was not wholesale endorsement of your considered belief that unity between and among our Churches is not a mere matter of everyone getting together and just thrashing out the details some afternoon.

While your enthusiasm is admirable, those of us who live in the Eastern world are much more aware of the reality - 'so close, yet so far'. While not everyone here is an ecumenist, by any stretch of the imagination, I think the overriding emotion among the forum's members would be one of jubilation were the Holy Spirit to provide the grace and vision and blessing for the reunification of all Christians of the Apostolic Churches. From a standpoint of reality, however, few if any expect that such will come about in the short term - because we are human beings with all the frailities thereof and are not yet able to fathom what must be done, and how it may be accomplished in a God-pleasing way, to achieve that unity.

Your apparent mission, to rediscover your Eastern roots, fully understand the East and the Orient, somehow merge it into a consciousness that is almost wholly Latin (looking to EWTN as a source for info on St Photius is proof of that), and do so in a few months of research into topics that people spend their lives trying to understand, is a daunting task. I don't remember the specifics, but you have indiicated that you are enrolled in a program that is preparing you for some sort of ministerial education in the Latin Church. You seem to consider that your cultural heritage has somehow offered you a step up that will afford you a particular opportunity to portray what the East and we of it are all about. Regretably, your viewpoint of us seems to be colored by some romanticized memories and a lot of pre-conceived and erroneous understandings, garnered from whence I don't know.

You cannot hope to have reached the level of understanding and insight with which you seemingly want to be credited in the time you've spent here. Frankly, members have been extraordinarily patient in answering your queries on this and previous threads. What is not clear is whether you have read or understood the information that has been offered.

You ask why so few answered. This is a discussion board and a community. It is open and welcoming in most all cases, but it is not the absolute focus of any of our lives. We come, we read, we answer, we ask, we pray, we laugh, we commiserate, we debate.

There are subjects that interest some and bore others to tears. There are, regretably, very interesting threads that never get the attention they deserve because the one person who could have contributed significantly to them didn't happen to read here for a week or two and the threads fell off the radar. The world of this forum does not revolve around any single poster's queries.


A final note, other than an early thread asking us to explain to you why your mother tried to assure your awareness of your heritage (and how we were supposed to know that, I still haven't figured out), you've sought little knowledge about the UGCC or your Eastern heritage. What you have done is try to use the site as a sounding board for multiple papers that you've targeted toward what you decided to be an interesting exploration of an exotic notion - the Christian East.

I wish you good luck in your educational goals, but I highly recommend that, if you are intent on focusing your efforts toward somehow integrating the East into your work, that you do so only after seeking to obtain a much more in-depth understanding of the basics before you tackle issues on a level that you are nowhere near ready to pursue.

Many years,

Neil

EH ?

CMoore - you admitted you knew nothing about the East when you came here , but then you told us you were writing this paper for a study you were doing for some Ministry in the Latin Church.

Nowhere did you actually say that you wanted to LEARN about the East - it was all about what you were doing from a basis on no knowledge. All you have said here bears that out - you wanted information on specific topics - nothing else .


There is - here . We welcome those who are interested in learning about the Eastern Churches. All of us here have made friends among the members. We ARE a Community - we are Orthodox , Catholic , Protestant , Jew [ and muslim ]- but we are a community and we support ourselves and our friends when we are in need.

Perhaps if you had come and learned a little before starting to write your very learned paper you might have found us more welcoming . Before condemning us - look to yourself .

in sorrow

Anhelyna

Frankly, I don't see why you are so upset. You seem to be taking Stuart's words out of context. This is what he wrote:


Stuart is not talking about Orthodox teaching changing or not changing. He is talking about how academics view the Photian schism. Clearly, their views change as new sources are discovered or old sources are reinterpreted. This is fundamental to understanding how history is written and rewritten.

However, if you have access to an up-to-date scholarly work on the topic, and one that draws extensively on Dvorník, I don't see why you should have to go back to Dvorník's original work just for a four-page paper.

As for the rest of your comments, I really don't think there is any need for this kind of personal attack on other people's characters and motives.

Good luck with your paper and your research.