https://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/341916/Who%20we%20are#Post341916Christ is in our midst!!
I thought it might be well to link the Town Hall thread entitled "Who we Are" after the thread asking about the differences in understanding the Mystery of Orders devolved into a polemic.
When I came to this board, there was a pervasive charity about discussions that, though sometimes off onto tangents and heated discussions, retained a very high level of civility. Sadly, it seems that we have lost some of that and badly need to regain it. We have had a few of our Eastern brethren leave this board because of this and we are impoverished when they are members of the clergy who have nourished us in the past.
I am asking that members reread once and then twice before adding posts to threads that may be offensive. There are always two ways of stating any position, especially when one is in disagreement with another. The point is that the disagreement does not have to be nasty or "go for the jugular."
I once challenged a member of my own Church who was going on about Protestants, not knowing that the bulk of my extended family ranges across the Protestant spectrum from anglican to fundamentalist. I told him that when he hit Heaven, there would be some good news and some bad news: the good news is that he'd get in; the bad, that he'd have to spend his eternity in a small room with bunk beds and a fiery evangelical preacher--a room with no door or windows so he'd have to learn to live and love and see the truth through another's eyes. He was not amused, nor do I think he really "got it."
I hope and pray this helps some of the members "get it."
BTW, we used to have a custom here--or so it seemed to me--of beginning new posts with a traditional Eastern greet. Either "Glory be to Jesus Christ" or "Christ is in our midst." Is it me or is the Holy Spirit telling us that Our Lord
AIN'T happy and has taken a break from us? (Not bad grammar; just for emphasis.)
In Christ,
Bob
