www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology My current conversation with a Russian Orthodox

The good thing is that this is a small minority and all these churches have their "radicals".
The Pope's visit to Greece reflected hat those who opossed to that visit, were doing a political protest and not a religious one. Unfortunately the TV coverage gave us a false image of that, and said that "a lot of monks" protested.
The fact is that those monks were not part of the Church of Greece, they were "Old Calendarists" and just a few of the Athos, and very few of them. On the other side the news didn't focus on the important thing, when HB Chrstodoulos greeted the Pope and when most of the bishops received without trouble.

A fanatical Orthodox NEW Calendarist? For me, it
sounds just impossible. You've found "a unique
pearl of a great value", man!

Sincerely,
Reader Peter

Dear Justin,

I can sympathize with over the issue of hurtful terminology. In my monastic community, one of the monks insists on calling Eastern Catholics "Uniates" even though I have informed him that the word is considered offensive and is avoided in polite dialogue.

Along the same lines, something you might want to consider that you may not be aware of. The general consensus (at least from my theology profs.) is that Christians should refrain from using Yahweh as a name for God. Not only do some of the Jewish faith find it objectionable, but we are not all that sure it is even corrrect - since Hebrew has no vowels! Of course Yahweh was popular because it was a way to avoid using the F-word (NOT that one, but FATHER) when speaking about God.

Ditto for the term "Hebrew Scriptures" that was in vogue several years back. It is now considered proper for Christians to refer to them once again as the Old Testament, since this is how we interpret them. Jewish scholars thought it disingenuous for us to call them "Hebrew" just so they would not be offended.

Just thought you might want to know.

PAX

Thank you all once again for your replies, they have been most helpful in discerning this man from mainstream Orthodoxy.


Thank you Benedictine for your explanation of of why he was offended by Judaic terminology, I assure you, I dod not refer to God as Yahweh, but as YHWH, the ancient name that God revealed unto Moses. I try not to "Judaize" (I find that term rather offensive) but I do believe it is important for us as christians to recognise our Judaic predecessors (i.e., worship, understanding the divine, the Messiah prophecies, etc.).

What makes me most happy is to know that so many of you are Orthodox and have shown much compassion towards me. As for the man I spoke to (now on ignore) he says he is in Denmark studying to become a priest. As such, I am not sure whether he was not aware or if he is simply a very mean person.
Thank you for all your input, God bless you all!
-Justin, archsinner.

P.S. I picked up a copy of the "Way of a pilgrim", I can hardly wait to read it through!

Great book, Justin. Reads fast. I enjoyed it a lot.

Ditto - but I am still enjoying it
Angela

OrthoMan =

Could you provide some links to these Orthodox newsgroups.

thanks
Ality

[OrthoMan =
Could you provide some links to these Orthodox newsgroups.

thanks
Ality]

If you send me your email address I will forward to you the instructions to subscribe to some of the Orthodox discussion groups I belong to.

OrthoMan
T254@aol.com

I don't think you'll find a "true" anti-catholicism among the Greek people (with proficient religious arguments) but you'll find that a lot of Greeks share antipathy toward Pope John Paul II, I don't know if the other Popes were viewed in the same way, but I don't think so (John XXIII was very respected in Greece, and Paul VI too). But you'll find very few religious arguments, if you talk to a Greek about this pope he (or she) will say something like: "He has a lot of money", "they want to take Greece for them", "the Vatican is too rich and the church is poor". One day a greek girl said: "he is a herethic", but when I asked her why, she just said "I don't know but that's what I think".

Just a comment

Dear Friends,

Just a note on the "Way of the Pilgrim."

The best translation is that of the Paulist Press.

Not only is it a translation of the original Way of the Pilgrim, it contains a brilliant commentary and forward by a Russian theologian who does a meticulous analysis to discover the true identity of the Pilgrim.

He proves who it was, an Orthodox priest in fact, on the basis of his other spiritual works and his biography that is reflected in the events described in the Way of the Pilgrim.

Of all the English translations, this is the best and is, let me reiterate, the original text.

Alex

Alex,

Now you tell us that !! Mine is from the Shambhala Classics Series with a foreward by Fr Thomas Hopko and also contains The "Pilgrim Continues His Way" together with 3 Appendices - and I'm still slowly working my way through it

How about giving us a reading list together with recommendations for actual editions ?

Dear Angela,

I've just only come across the Paulist Press edition . . .

Fr. Hopko is good too .

The editions are virtually the same. One of the things I noticed about the original monastic version of the Way of the Pilgrim is that it gives the longer Jesus Prayer, whereas the others give it in its more abbreviated form, which is no problem anyway.

I've often wondered about who the "Pilgrim" really was.

Orthodox commentary often described him as a layman for sure and one 19th century Orthodox bishop was said to write that he met a layman who practiced the Jesus Prayer incessantly and wandered from place to place.

But it would appear that the Pilgrim was an Orthodox priest who invoked the Name of Jesus constantly and was moved around quite a bit from the Pochayiv Monastery through to Siberia.

God bless!

Alex

H'mm. When you refer to the abbreviated form I presume you mean the one printed in my edition -"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me !" as distinct from the version of that prayer I have always used "Lord Jesus Christ , Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner " Or, as quite likely, am I wrong ?

Dear Angela,

Rite on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries "enough!"

Alex

[ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]

By the way Alex and Angela, mine has neither a "forward" nor a "foreward" but a "Foreword" or, as the Germans would say, "Vorwort!"