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To: stripes1776
Traditionally, Orthodox Christians vote Democrat.

That's certainly not true in my Orthodox parish, at least as evidenced by the political bumper stickers and pro-life license plates I see on cars in the church parking lot.

You have a point about the overlapping Orthodox jurisdictions. That does not, however, bother me very much. Perhaps that's because by tghe time I left TEC the only dogma the heretics seemed to care about was jurisdictional purity ("Don't cross my boundaries, bro!").

I am a member of an Antiochian Orthodox parish. We tend to have large numbers of converts, perhaps because of the mass entry of the Evangelical Orthodox Church. You might feel right at home in a convert parish. There are some Orthodox parishes that use a Divine Liturgy based on the 1928 Prayer Book. I am happy myself with the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

I had not heard about Metropolitan Jonah's comment about Obama. That surprises me, but I'd like to hear the context. I listened to some of his talks on Ancient Faith Radio and he seemed uninterested in politics, only in Jesus Christ. Given his statements about stopping the tragedy of homosexuality and the importance of reaching out to traditional Episcopalians, I would be very surprised if he is a lib. He may be somewhat naive, after all he spent the last 12 years in a monastery.

25 posted on 12/04/2008 9:33:07 AM PST by Martin Tell (Happily lurking in one location for over ten years)
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To: Martin Tell
That's certainly not true in my Orthodox parish, at least as evidenced by the political bumper stickers and pro-life license plates I see on cars in the church parking lot.

I am glad your parish members voted pro-life. I have not seen any statistics for Orthodox in this last election. I do know that traditionally the majority of Orthodox do vote Democrat. I also know that the majority of Catholics voted for the pro-abortion ticket in the last election, despite the teaching of the Catholic Church.

I had not heard about Metropolitan Jonah's comment about Obama. That surprises me, but I'd like to hear the context. I listened to some of his talks on Ancient Faith Radio and he seemed uninterested in politics, only in Jesus Christ. Given his statements about stopping the tragedy of homosexuality and the importance of reaching out to traditional Episcopalians, I would be very surprised if he is a lib. He may be somewhat naive, after all he spent the last 12 years in a monastery.

I didn't say Johan was a lib. What he actually referred to was Obamamania when people from Chicago started applauding his speech. And people in the OCA are now comparing him to Obama. That may say much more about some of the members of the OCA than Jonah himself. Somebody embezzled between 4 and 5 million dollars from the OCA. Since he was in a monastery most of years this crime was taking place, he didn't have any thing to do with it. Perhaps that is why he got elected, in addition to delivering a good speech.

I like Orthodox theology. I have gotten a great deal of meaning from the theology of John Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon. I always try to find an Orthodox parish to attend for the midnight Paschal service. I think Orthodox do a much better job of celebrating Easter than Western Christians. But I think Western Christians do a much better job of celebrating Christmas. And I will remain a Western Christian.

I wish you Merry Christmas.

26 posted on 12/04/2008 1:00:43 PM PST by stripes1776 ("That if gold rust, what shall iron do?" --Chaucer)
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To: Martin Tell; RedDogzRule; stripes1776; MarMema; The_Reader_David; Kolokotronis; lightman

Metropolitan Jonah has NOTHING to do with Barack Hussein Obama or his anti-Orthodox crew of appointees and hangers-on (e.g., Biden, Hillary, Samantha Power).

Met. Jonah’s election has just been compared to Obama’s, because he is relatively young, untainted by the OCA’s scandal, and his election was unexpected and occurred after a stirring speech.

I wish that Met. Jonah’s election would instead be compared to that of St. Photios the Great, who was rapidly elevated from a layman to reader to priest to Patriarch of Constantinople. There have been other great examples in Orthodox history. (Jonah was a very new Bishop before he was elected.)

Jonah’s speech, as well as his sermons, etc. were purely about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not liberal clap-trap. They are available on the OCA website—judge for yourself.

Sooner or later, traditionalist Anglicans, Lutherans, etc. who join conservative enclaves will be faced with the reality of their true home in Orthodoxy. I know—I am a former ELCA Lutheran who was received into the Orthodox Church last April, and I am an OCA member who also attends a Serbian Orthodox parish once a month.


28 posted on 12/04/2008 1:10:27 PM PST by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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