We All Praise the Tree that should be Worshipped.

Let us today with pure mind and devout intent worship the life-bearing Cross of the Lord; for it is set forth granting to those who approach it sanctification and salvation, illumination, glory and mercy.

The life-giving Cross set forth and contemplated sends out a beam of grace formed of light. Let us draw near and receive enlightenment of joy, salvation and forgiveness, as we bring praise to the Lord.

A strange sight is set forth for those who watch, the precious Cross; and like a source it pours out spiritual gifts of grace, brings sins to an end, abolishes diseases and strengthens the thoughts of those worship it sincerely.

A rod which parted the sea prefigured the trophy of the Cross, through which we by faith sail the troubled water of life undrowned, escape all the streams of sin and are filled with divine calm.

When I gave birth to you ineffably, my Child, I escaped the pangs of labour; how then am I now all filled with griefs? For I see you, who hung the earth without restraint, hanged like a malefactor on a Tree.

The Cross, cause of all blessings, is seen and worshipped; and all creation keeps festival with joy, enlightened by the grace of our God who was willingly lifted up on it.

Made radiant with the light of the splendours of the Cross and having put all our trust in it, let us flee the darkness of sins and let us cry, ‘O enlightenment of all thins, compassionate Lord, glory to you!’

We sing your praise, O Cross, and we embrace you with faith as we beg your mighty power, ‘Rescue us from the snares of the foe, and pilot us all to the haven of salvation as we sing your praise’.

As she watched life that had died on a Cross, and unable to bear the pain in her heart, the holy Virgin was deeply troubled and she cried, ‘Alas, my Son! What has a lawless people done to you?’

See, the mighty protection and restoration of mortals, the invincible weapon of the faith, the saving Cross is set forth and appears. And sanctifying the hearts of all who approach it with faith it enlightens by grace.

The great guardian of the Orthodox is set forth in the midst of all, the precious Cross in the midst of the earth, on which you were lifted up, supremely loving Lord, by your own free will. It sanctifies the world by its worship and it routs the regiments of demons.

Heaven with all the earth is glad; Champions, Martyrs, Apostles, souls of the Righteous now rejoice exceedingly as they see the life-giving Tree set forth in the midst, which saves all and sanctifies believers by grace.

Without conscience I have not kept your laws, O Lord, and am going to be condemned when you come from heaven to judge the works of mortals. Therefore I cry to you, ‘By the power of your Cross turn me back, save me, granting me tears of repentance’.

‘From a virgin womb, my Child, I gave you birth, and now as I see you hanging on a Tree, I am at a loss and do not comprehend the height of the mystery and the depth of your judgements’, cried the All-pure, whom as Mother of God with never silent voices we call blessed.

Shout for joy, you nations, sing, leap and chant, you tribes, to God who has given the Cross as an unshakeable support. As it now set forth let all of us believers rejoice as through it we enjoy the blessings.

All the spiritual armies escort you, all-holy Cross, and we mortals, touching you today with lips of clay, with love draw sanctification and blessing, as we glorify the One who was nailed upon you.

Compassionate Lord, heal the persistent passions of my soul, and save me as I worship your precious Cross. By its power all that impedes is driven off and we remain unaffected by evils.

When the Cross was fixed in the earth, the fall of demons came about. As we see it now gloriously set forth and as we greet it lovingly we rise up from the sin of our falls.

As we praise you, God and King and Lord, we now embrace with joy the Cross which you have given us as an unbreachable wall and are delivered from perils.

The Cross of the Lord, which grants us all great gifts, appears set forth. Mortals, let us approach, as we draw fro it enlightenment of heart and soul.

Give us strength, Pure Virgin, to fast from every evil, and ever give us power to keep from mean and wicked deeds, for you are the protection of all mankind.

The One beyond time is revealed in time bearing flesh, and through his loving-kindness he heals our chronic passions of both flesh and spirit; while already he sanctifies us by his divine Cross.

We praise and glorify, we worship and magnify your might, O Lord; for you have granted us your servants the divine Cross as inexhaustible delight and guardian of our souls and bodies.

Do not prove me condemned to evils, Lord, on the day of decision; do not cast me away from your presence in shame, but take pity, save me by your precious Cross as you are supremely good.

When Moses made the bitter waters sweet with wood, he prefigured your grace, O Cross; for we too have been delivered from the bitterness of evils by your power; therefore as we now greet you lovingly, make us sweet by compunction of soul.

Make broad the narrowness of my mind by your intercession, Sovereign Lady, who narrowed all the devices of the foe, guide me through the narrow way to walk towards the broad plain of life, O Mother of God.

Godlike Elissaios once drew the iron from a river with wood, from long ago foreshadowing you, all-honoured Cross. For we who through you have also been drawn out of the abyss of error to sure faith are today counted worthy to behold you and to worship you in faith to all the ages.

From long ago Jacob most clearly prefigured you, all-honoured Cross, by his blessings. While we, who have been counted worthy by grace to look on you, all with undoubting faith draw near and sing, plucking blessing richly, and light and salvation and release from faults.

Robed in white with virtuous deeds, let us draw near crying to Christ with joy, ‘All-loving Master, by your divine and most high Cross exalt the horn of us your people, that bears the name of Christ, so that with faith and profound peace it may praise your might to all the ages’.

As we all praise a single nature, consubstantial, equally without beginning, co-eternal, equal in majesty, yet distinct in persons, the Father unbegotten, the Son and the holy Spirit, uncreated essence and Godhead, we sing, ‘You priests, you people highly exalt God to all the ages.

‘As I now see you as an innocent lamb hanged and nailed to the Cross by lawless people, my Son who are from all eternity, I am assailed with griefs and beset with a mother’s pangs’ cried the All-pure, whom with never silent voices we devoutly praise to all the ages.

Once fixed to the Cross with nails through feet and hands, pierced in the side, your thirst quenched with vinegar and gall, you healed my wounds, O King of all, supremely good, the joy, the sweetness, glory and eternal redemption of all.

Fair beyond sapphire and gold, bright as the sun you are, divine Cross, lying circumscribed by place and ever manifestly surrounded by spiritual Powers, yet enlightening every part of the inhabited world with rays of the divine power.

The Cross is the harbour of the storm-tossed, guide and support of the wandering, glory of Christ, strength of Apostles and Prophets, boast of Champions, refuge of all mortals. As we all see it set fourth in the midst, we greet it with loving devotion.

When you are about to come on earth to judge the world which you fashioned, Lord, with the Angelic hosts marching ahead and the Cross shining out more brightly than the beams of the sun, take pity on me by its power and save me who fallen more than all mortals.

‘Without corruption I gave birth to you from the womb, whom the Father begot before the ages; how do corrupt mortals rend you, my Son, and inhumanly gouge your side with a lance, your hands and feet with nails?’ cried the All-pure, whom we fittingly magnify.

You either worship the Creator or the created. If you worship created objects, you are guilty of idolatry. The headline is indefensible. Since when have you actually know an Orthodox Christian to actually worship an object? This is poetic hyperbole. Protties if anything worship personalities pastor celebrities. I used to like the preaching of Joyce Meyers until she became a deity herself. Now she spends so much time talking about how she deserves all the money she has. This is a poor substitute for the Gospel, but those mindless Protty sheep keep forking over millions to their goddess...not to mention Olsteen. These are far greater obstacles to the worship of the Creator than a technically misplaced use of the word, "worship." But then, Protties spend all their time gloating over the speck in their neighbor's eye while the tree trunk the size of Joyce Meyers has taken up residence in thier own eyes. False righteousness is a first class ticket to perdition, my friend.

“You either worship the Creator or the created. If you worship created objects, you are guilty of idolatry. The headline is indefensible.”

PAR35, most people around here for any length of time understand that Orthodox Christians only worship our Triune God; we venerate all sorts of objects for reasons which have been expressed multiple times here on FR. Your argument is a strawman.

The fact of the matter is that the particular word used here in the Greek text can be translated as either worship or venerate. Venerate would have a been a better English word for the translator to use, but he, being a Greek monk, likely didn’t think the use of the word “worship” would cause such a problem to American protestants. I suspect he’d say, as several of us have relative to Marian Devotions, that the veneration of icons, objects and/or saints and angelic powers really isn’t for protestants, at least not for most of them.

Next time I’ll be sure to post Orthodox prayers and hymns as Orthodox/Catholic caucus threads.

If you want to read how our leaders live, and how we defend them, click here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1896676/posts PAR35. I am a Catholic happily refugeed from TEC. So, I know all too well how the leaders of the various ecclesial communities live. Catholic priests typically earn under 15K plus housing and meals. Prot leaders can earn up to 100K or even much much more like Joyce Meyers or Tammi Faye Baker or Olsteen, or Oral Roberts, or Schuller etc. etc. They are into celebrity and fame. There are over 40,000 priests in the US and almost none are famous nor rich. They may not always be the best preachers but they pour out their lives in tireless service to their parishes. Catholic priests give up marriage and family for the sake of total dedication to God and parish. Prot clergy have the highest divorce rate after truck drivers. I will take our Catholic priests over the swindlers and heretics (TEC) any day.

You obviously have some "issues" regarding Protestants, but I'll skip over those. What I will say is that if you think the average Protestant minister makes $100K or more per year, you are seriously mistaken. I'll give you an anecdotal example first. The minister in the Methodist church I attended while living in rural Tennessee made $22K per year. For that whopping salary, he served the three different churches within our circuit. He attended every service and preached a sermon at all three churches every Sunday. Add in all the other duties of a pastor, and you had a very busy man. But he was pretty lucky, because our circuit had a 2-bedroom parsonage where he, his wife, and their three young children lived. If he was getting rich, he sure was doing it in a strange way!

Now I'd like to relate some data from a study done by Duke Univ. in 2003:

The median salary, including housing (which isn't always provided), for Protestant pastors serving small churches was $36,000 in connectional churches and $22,300 in congregational churches. Salaries varied according to the size and location of the churches, with larger, urban churches paying more than their smaller, more rural counterparts. In addition, only 30 percent of small congregational churches provided retirement and health benefits for their pastors, compared to 80 percent of small connectional churches. Remember, too, that Protestant ministers normally have wives and children to support.

Catholic priests are generally paid less than Protestant clergy, according to the study, but those lower salaries were offset by the provision of other benefits, including health care, retirement and theological education. Of course, Catholic priests do not have wives and children to support. The range of salaries was much narrower for Catholic clergy. The median salary paid to Catholic priests varied only slightly regardless of the parish size, the survey showed. Median salaries for priests ranged from $20,883 for those serving small parishes up to $26,633 for those serving the largest parishes.

Catholic priests are generally paid less than Protestant clergy, according to the study, but those lower salaries were offset by the provision of other benefits, including health care, retirement and theological education. Of course, Catholic priests do not have wives and children to support. The range of salaries was much narrower for Catholic clergy. The median salary paid to Catholic priests varied only slightly regardless of the parish size, the survey showed. Median salaries for priests ranged from $20,883 for those serving small parishes up to $26,633 for those serving the largest parishes. Your "Duke study" is clearly bogus. Catholic priests are not paid by parish size. They are not even paid by title (pastors and associate pastors are paid the same). In each diocese every parish priest is paid exactly the same. In my diocese in northern Indiana, the priest salary is just 13,000 a year. In addition he has a two room suite and bath in the rectory and meal provided. He pays for his car and the diocese pays his insurance. He and the diocese split his retirement savings. He also pays taxes. Our priests have about 500 a month to spend on themselves when all is said and done. Catholic priests are paid according to church teaching the living wage. That is enough for the essentials plus a little more for entertainment. It is a frugal existence. If the "Duke study" does not reflect the way priests are actually paid, it really has no credibility. As for being a Catholic, yes I have dog in this race. While the Orthodox can often be as chilly toward Catholics as any Protty, any attack on their theology or practice is an attack on Catholicism as well. As you must know by now, Catholics regard the Orthodox as brothers in the Church. Protties on the other hand are not technically member of the Church but are ecclesial communities and quite defective.

I see that you have avoided addressing the heresies and apostasies now rampant in protestant churches. Gay marriage is a heresy. Pro abortion is a heresy. Teaching that Christ is not necessary for salvation is an apostasy. All the major liberal denominations (denominationalism is also heretical because it implies a religious relativism) are now falling into these errors and thus jeopardizing the salvation of their members.

You also avoided the serious problem of divorced and worse, divorced and remarried clergy.

Maybe you take this all very lightly. But the Catholic Church doesnt. Protestant relativism and casual theology are major contibutors to the dissolution of Western civilization.

you have avoided addressing the heresies and apostasies now rampant in protestant churches. Well, since that wasn't the subject of my post, I didn't talk about those things. I was just calling you out on your obviously false accusation re: the salaries of Protestant ministers.

You said the Duke study was obviously "bogus", since Catholic priests don't get paid according to parish size. Well, if you'd actually read what I posted, you would have noted that it said exactly that: median salaries of priests "varied only slightly regardless of the parish size."

Another survey recently completed by the National Association of Church Business Administration found similar findings to the Duke study. The average pastor in the Catholic church has a taxable income of $31,465. They also noted that most Catholic priests have no family for which to provide, usually have their room, board and pension covered by their parish, have their seminary training costs covered by the diocese and are compensated for continuing education. For most Protestant pastors, those expenses come out of salaries.

Frankly, I don't get your bitterness and hostility towards a fellow believer in Christ. Maybe you should ask God to help you with that.

Perhaps it is the constant anti-Catholicism of the protestants I have known in Virginia and Indiana that has influenced my mood. The attack on this most beautiful post is a case in point. The implication that we and the Orthodox worship objects is just so completely and obviously false, yet it comes up again and again and again. Anti-Catholic hatred is a form of bigotry every bit as much as antisemitism and racism. No wonder the epicenter of these bigotries is geographically located in the same region of the country.

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