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Hello my fellow friends in Christ, this is my first post and it may be a bit of a crude one, so I apologize. I am Byzantine Catholic from the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh and recently something has really upset me in regards to my faith.

I was doing an art history project on the art of Eastern Orthodox Christians when I accidently came across a link that bashed the Eastern Christians. I was so offended by the sites ignorance and profanity towards our religion. No one as really mocked my faith, very few people even know was a "Byzantine" is, so no one really bothers to ask, but this website really upset me. I do not know how to deal with this pain. I would be willing to discus this further if you're all willing to lend me some aid.

Thank you for your time, God bless.

Christ is in our midst!!

Welcome to the forum. We are a diverse group and will be a place where you are welcome among your brothers and sister in Christ.

There will always be those who are ignorant of who we are, whether we are Western or Eastern Christians. Witness the secular assault that regularly begins the Christmas season each year.

Was there really "profanity"? That's some strong stuff, but not something I'd be surprised at. Keep in mind the words of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven."

If people spit on the Lord, how are you to be treated differently? Remember, "no student is greater than his Teacher and no servant is greater than his Master."

Come here and let us pick you up, brother. We are a caring place and we are glad you're here. The history of the Eastern Christians is one of persecution and suffering. We pick each other up here and carry each other's burdens as did Simon of Cyrene.

Bob
Moderator

Very well said, you put a very Christian spin on how to deal with the frustrations of dealing with the secular world!

Oh yes, the site was quite profain. It has photos of Orthodox priests giving blessings with the "Blessing Cross". The website said that we worship Satan because of the skull and cross bones at the base of Christ's cross. Apparently they never heard that it's Christ's TRIUMPH over death. The site also said we worship idols, and showed many faithful praying infront of icons. The site mocked us for believing in a "Queen of Heaven". The site said no woman has that authority. All this greatly offended me and when I went to the site's main page to see just who was behind it. Turns out it was a White Supremicist, fundamentalist Protestant website. They apparently spend all their time fanning the flames of intolerance and hate.

I try not to let this stuff bother as I know they are no aware of Christ's true message of PEACE, not hate, which is all they seem to be good for. Thank you for your support. I try to ignore such ignorance but sometimes it's really hard. A good Christian would attempt to enlighten these individuals, but I can't see anyone doing that anytime soon. Once again, thank you all for the warm greeting.

Welcome to the forum, Romioi,

I'd not bother returning to the site you describe. You're not going to change anyone's mind there and you'll just find yourself being frustrated by the ignorance displayed there.

Many years,

Neil

Post #127287 - 05/20/04 Dealing with Roman Bullies

ER3:

Christ is in our midst!!

If you work through the past posts in East and West, you'll find a thread about dealing with Roman bullies when one is an Eastern Christian. Take the posts thre, beginning with this one. A fundamentalist bully is just a Western bully of another stripe--ignorant or the Church, her history, and the fact that she does not begin her history in 19th century America.

WALK AWAY as I say in that post and as our brother, Neil, suggests. Allow no man to disturb your peace--the peace of Christ that comes from above. Allow no man to shake your faith in the Faith. Allow nothing to give the Enemy an opening. There are none so blind as those who will not or cannot see.

They may be in for a big surprise on the Great Day when they find out that doing what they have done to one of the Lord's least brethren is a direct assault on Him.

All you need do is remind yourself that you stand in the Faith that Christ left us; that you have direct access to Him through the Mysteries; that His covenant with you will not be revoked; that you view all this assault from the door of the empty tomb; that you have one foot already in the Kingdom every time you hear "Blessed is the Kingdom . . ." Christ is still with us until the end of the age. And there is one very important thing to add to all this--Jesus Christ is a bare-faced liar if the fundamentalist accusation is true, because He promised to remain with His Church until the end of the age. Last time I checked--about noon today when I was with my confessor--He was still here fulfilling His promise.

Be at peace for today.

Bob

Unfortunately, and I don't want to put anyone down, but these people are just plain ignorant. They have no idea of any traditions that are older than this country, nor of symbolisms, of art, of cultures, or of being able to understand different cultural practices within the historical context of their time and place.
If they had any appreciation or even an inkling or knowledge of any history outside of this country's (though I doubt that such ignorant people even know our own country's history), they would not be able to speak with the egotistical and hateful venom they espouse.

--I wouldn't worry too much about them!

Alice

(I wonder if they ever thought of how strange and misunderstood their cultural manner of worship would have seemed in Byzantium or Rome of a thousand years ago!)

In the Latin alphabet that spelling is properly Romaioi.

Fr. Serge

Oh yes, "Romioi" is the corrupted Turkish spelling. Had to look into that one myself. I haven't found Romaioi, but I've seen Rhomaioi.

For those unfamiliar with Turkish, Syriac or Arabic, "Rum Katolik" does NOT mean "Roman Catholic" in the common English usage of that phrase. "Rum" is the Turkish for the Greek term "Romaioi", and Romaioi, which looks like the English word "Roman", would normally be accurately translated as "Byzantine", "East Roman" or "Romaioi" (to indicate the East Romans, the inhabitants of the East Roman Empire) in the context of the domains of the former Byzantine, or East Roman, Empire. The Empire in the East was the direct, organic, and only survivor of the Roman Empire of Augustus Caesar and this is reflected in part by the fact that the name Roman/Romaios continued in use from its establishment in 313 A.D. through to its political end in 1453 A.D.

From the Society of St. John Chrisostom [rumkatkilise.org]

Again for those ignorant like me who may read this.