“What I don’t understand is why the Armenians and the Greeks can’t seem to play nice.”
Play NICE!!!!!!!!!????????? Mark, after all these years hanging around in cyberspace with Orthodoxers and you can still ask a question like this?
“I mean, are the Armenians Nestorians or something??”
Almost worse! Non-Chalcedonian Monophysites! Very bad people except the ones who go to our parish because the nearest Armenian parish is over 100 miles away. And the ones who live in the surrounding towns. And their women, well they are very attractive, lovely dancers and good cooks too! But the rest are very bad people, trust me. Don’t ever buy a rug from one. If they would beat up some poor little Greek “papadakis”, think what they would do to a Latin!
However, I (who am only a neophyte) believe that both (Eastern) Orthodox and Monophysite (Oriental Orthodox) churches teach that violence of this type is a sin. And are there not diaolgues between the two churches aimed at resolving differences and eventual unification? At least a few Oriental Orthodox of various nationalities (e.g., Ethiopian, Coptic) already commune in Eastern Orthodox parishes around here.
Yes, I am a neophyte, not a catechumen!!!! I was received into the Holy Orthodox Church (in an OCA parish) yesterday (Lazarus Saturday) through the Sacrament of Chrismation. You all are the first Freepers to know!!!!
It was a great day, with quite a few Lutherans and Serbian Orthodox in attendance. Glory to God for all things!!!!
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve read in a long time. Armenian Church isn’t a monolithic entity, as there are two different denominations - Armenian Catholics from Cilician Order and Armenian Apostolics, aka Eastern Orthodox.
The Orthodox schism happened 1500 years ago due to a war and other circumstances but this has not altered the core of the christian belief within the Orthodox churches in past 1000 years.
The squabble between priests of Armenian and Greek Orthodox orders is sort of a dumb rivalry that stretches back by centuries. It’s like a CalTech-MIT legacy of pranks. This is the only hotspot where a select group of orthodox members get into pissing matches with one another. Elsewhere, Greeks and Armenians live side-by-side and consider each other natural friends and allies as both are the victims of Turkish genocide.
I invite you to investigate this more thoroughly before making such ignorant statements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Orthodox_Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_church#Monophysite_label