www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Russian Punk Rock Band Sentenced

AMEN to Father Sergy!

I cannot believe how many Christians believe that it is okay to blaspheme inside a church. Lord have mercy! We surely have become like animals and uncivilized!

Of course. I'm sure I can find tens of thousands of Russian Orthodox, living in Russia, who see it quite different than this individual...and can give a fair and balanced account.

I did not say that...you did. I said that it sounds like Russia-bashing to me.

What's with all the bitterness and extreme sarcasm?

Your anger and insults are completely uncalled for. I am sorry that I hit such a sore spot for you.

Bravo!

I surrender--you have all drunk the Cool-Aid, now you're going to have to live with the consequences. Some people have eyes but cannot-or will not-see.

For what it's worth, Stuart, I agree with just about everything you've written in this thread.

P Riot and there Ukrainian counterparts Femen are sending out a message to the world that attacks upon Orthodox and Catholic institutions are now legitimate forms of protest.

Indeed.

Remove then the beam from thine eye, before you point to the mote in my own.

Beautiful words to live by.

Also, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set ye free". But first, it will make you very, very angry.

Another classic! And don't forget this one since we are in Bible quote mode:

A fool uttereth all his mind: a wise man deferreth, and keepeth it till afterwards.
(Prov 29:11 DR)

Some of the posts on this thread are just nutty. Russian Orthodoxy is holy but individual Russian Orthodox Christians (laymen and clergy) range from holy to heretic, from saint to devil. The current government is far better than communism but it’s certainly not holy. Everything there is subject to legitimate criticism, just as everything here is subject to legitimate criticism. It should not be seen as an attack against “Holy Russia”. To those of you who consider Russia to be a far better, far holier place to live than the United States or the cultural West, who deny a factual account of how things are there, I’d suggest acting on your beliefs. They are literally handing land away all across Russia to anyone willing to move there and work it.

As to the punk band “Pussy Riot”, they certainly should have the freedom to demonstrate against Putin. Their mistake was doing so in the altar of an Orthodox Church. But, from their position, Orthodoxy is no different than Putin because they act together.

I think the Russian Orthodox Church officials committed a mistake even bigger than the band who demonstrated in the altar. Imagine how different this could have turned out if whatever clergy was present simply invited the protestors to sit and chat to hear them out, and to tell them about Jesus in a loving manner. It’s an opportunity lost, because these protestors and those who join with them are now firmer in their belief that the Orthodox Church is merely a modern reincarnation of the KGB run Orthodox Church of the communist era.

Stuart: Kool-Aid, the tasty, popular, and reasonably priced drink crystals from Kraft Foods made infamous by the Jonestown cult mass-suicide, is actually spelled with a K. Kool-Aid. It's important.

One doesn't want to get slammed for trademark infringement, though I suppose I could always write Kool-Aid (TM).

If they did this in my parish I would have loudly and forcibly removed them (for that matter, were I at the cathedral when they were there I would have done the same. The fact that I would have been not Russian and not Orthodox would have made an amusing footnote to this).

That being said, I would never have supported their civil prosecution - here or there - and am opposed to blasphemy laws. I am also wary of any church affiliation with government or factions thereof. In my own Roman history this was a problem, and in cases like Patriarch Arsenius' controversial excommunication of Emperor Michael VIII (the very man who liberated the Queen of Cities from the crusader barbarians) I would have stood with the Patriarch. The even closer cooperation between church and government in Russian history has always struck me as uncomforting.