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I am flattered. This is the second time in the last month or so that I have been at least in part quoted on another website. Although in this case clearly the point was to refute my position. Since it was my words which were used as the set up for the rebuttal, I guess I should comment.

Yes, there are some interesting similarities between the West today and East of the of the first millennium. But this should be further evidence of the problem. The East was severely infected by heresy in the first thousand years of Christianity. Indeed this is one of the reasons why so many first millennium popes are honored as saints in Orthodoxy. They were the guardians of the Orthodox Faith. The West was like a theological Rock of Gibraltar then. Today the situation has reversed itself. And despite Herman's points I remain doubtful that there are anywhere nearly as many material heretics in Orthodoxy as there are in the Western Church. As I think I noted in the complete text of my post that was only partly quoted above, those in Orthodoxy who hold heterodox views tend to either keep those views to themselves or they leave the faith.

The rebuttal to my words (only partially quoted), seems to be under the impression that I am fleeing western Christianity. I am not. I am embracing Orthodoxy. Had I been a Byzantine during the age when Arius held sway I would like to think I or Kolo or any of my other Orthodox brothers and sisters on FR would have gone to Mass in a Latin Church. Because thats where Orthodoxy was. The rites are of completely secondary importance to the ancient and apostolic faith.

I do however acknowledge the difficulty that some who are raised in one tradition might have acclimating themselves to the the rituals and spiritual traditions of the other half of Christendom. In this sense I have been a rather lonely advocate of Western Rite Orthodoxy, though I myself am totally comfortable with the Byzantine rite.

I saw that the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of NA is now "Self-Ruled."

Is that a fancy word for autocephalous or autonomous or is it a new category? I've never encountered it before.

I am flattered. This is the second time in the last month or so that I have been at least in part quoted on another website.

At least within the Anglican world, the FR Religion forum has acquired some level of prominence. A number of Anglican bloggers whose writings regularly appear here have become FReepers themselves.