[kosta50]

At least in the SBC, I can't speak for other Protestant denominations, there is no condoning of the conduct by the leaders, and offenders are not simply shuffled off to another church to continue offending

I couldn't agree with you more. the Church failed to act properly.

Your priests and Bishops, to the exclusion of all others, are dispensers of the sacraments, which are normally necessary for salvation/theosis

You really need to look up these topics, FK, because you don't seem to grasp that sacraments are not some magic and that the priests are not magi and sorcerers. This is what the Orthodox Church says about sacraments:

In the West, since the Scholastic period (Middle Ages) and, especially, since the Catholic Reformation (16th century), much emphasis has been placed on the vicarious juridical power of the minister to administer the sacraments validly.

The Orthodox East, however, interprets each sacramental act as a prayer of the entire ecclesiastical community, led by the bishop or his representative, and also as a response of God, based upon Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit upon the church.

These two aspects of the sacrament exclude both magic and legalism: they imply that the Holy Spirit is given to free men and call for their responses. In the mysterion of the church, the participation of men in God is effected through their "cooperation" or "synergy"; to make this participation possible once more is the goal of the incarnation.

In other words, the bishop/priest leads the community in prayer asking the HS to come and affect a change in us or in bread and wine, etc., that is: to change our hearts, to cleanse, spiritually the soul. God saves. Not the priests.

Just as once baptized always baptized, the same goes for an ordained priest, no matter what personality deficiencies he may develop.

The Latins believe that salvation itself can be renounced through conduct, so for them, apparently a lost person, doomed for hell

No different from us. We can reject God at any time. God will not force Himself on anyone who doesn't want Him.

I KNOW the clergy are indispensable for the Latins, but I am not certain about the Orthodox

Of course they are. Lay people cannot dispense mysteria (sacraments). To bind and to loosen, an ordained priest is rrequired.

[Forest Keeper]

FK: "Your priests and Bishops, to the exclusion of all others, are dispensers of the sacraments, which are normally necessary for salvation/theosis."

You really need to look up these topics, FK, because you don't seem to grasp that sacraments are not some magic and that the priests are not magi and sorcerers. This is what the Orthodox Church says about sacraments:

Then perhaps I am mixing you up with the Latins. I know with absolute certainty that I have been told, by MULTIPLE Latin posters, that under normal circumstances, a person who dies without confessing his sins to a priest is doomed to hell, just because of that. In addition, the Catechism seems to indicate some magic going on, giving priests the power to save and unsave:

1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.

Do you agree with this? I would think that anyone who is not in communion with God is doomed. This is direct evidence that priests DO claim power to save and unsave, and that the sacraments are critical to salvation, at least for the Latins. Plus, I know I have had the "salvation by ritual" argument before and nobody said then that the ritual did not confer salvation.

FK: "I KNOW the clergy are indispensable for the Latins, but I am not certain about the Orthodox."

Of course they are. Lay people cannot dispense mysteria (sacraments). To bind and to loosen, an ordained priest is required.

See above.