[Destro]

Orthodox are not fundamentalists. It is as simple as it is complex to explain. What is meant by "no change" and what determines Orthodoxy is adherence to the 8 ecumenical councils and then the pan-Orthodox councils. The Orthodox do not consider pan-Orthodox councils to be ecumenical without Rome and thus pan-Orthodox councils can not touch upon the first 8 ecumenical councils. Catholics on the other hand recognize 21 "ecumenical" councils.

To claim that the Church does "not change" is to deny the rulings of the 8 ecumenical councils and adopt Islamic like mind think.

Of course the Church both east and west say that the religion is not being changed but defined more accurately. What the ecumenical councils do is try to correct errors in the perfect religion that imperfect man through imperfect understanding corrupts.

The Church Fathers rightly figured that the Holy Spirit acting through the mechanism of the whole Church's council via debate and discussion and confirmed by vote of the ecumenical bishops would get at the truth.

Contraception's allowance in severly restricted and limited circumstances is a pan-Orthodox council ruling and would not be binding upon returning to a unified church which would have to take everything back to the first 8 ecumenical councils.

The Catholics on the other hand altered the faith 13 times (!) and considering these innovations as ecumenically binding and not Pan-Latin ones.

[Conservative til I die]

Of course the Church both east and west say that the religion is not being changed but defined more accurately. What the ecumenical councils do is try to correct errors in the perfect religion that imperfect man through imperfect understanding corrupts.

How can the perfect church have imperfect doctrine? Doctrine that might be a part of that Church for over a millennium? Maybe this was just poor phrasing on your part, but how perfect can a church be if it takes them 1900 years to figure out what is OK when it concerns contraception? This is not meant directly as a comment towards the Orthodox, but can also be applied generally.

Orthodox are not fundamentalists.

Right, I understand this. But what I mean by this, and this could be because I'm coming from a distinctly Catholic POV, is that if something is "truth" it always has to be truth. It can't become nuanced like a John Kerry speech. While no one expects the Orthodox or the Catholics to be fundamentalists like Muslims are (I think it was you or someone else here who made that analogy, a good one, I think) or even the Amish, and live in frozen time however many centuries ago. But there is a difference, IMO, in changing details like what language the Mass is in, or what kind of vestments priests wear, and things like that don't change the essentials of the faith, and changing views on abortion, homosexuality, contraception, etc. (And again, this is not directed specificaly at the Orthodox).

I think the best way to clear it up, is to dispense with the nuances and just ask you outright, which types of contraception are allowed:

condoms?
IUDs
Birth control pills?
Morning After pill?
That new birth control patch?
Spermicide creams?
Any others I might have missed?