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To: kosta50
Kosta we are an experiential faith. You cannot really live the faith where you are now, outside the church. So apparently you have chosen to compensate by deciding the church is corrupted or unimportant or hypocritical, or any of the other labels you have spewed forth recently.

In my eyes, you really are in no position to make those claims since you don't attend an Orthodox church currently and are not part of a parish. Being part of a parish is an integral part of "becoming Orthodox". We are saved as a community. Where is your community?

472 posted on 12/17/2004 9:27:24 PM PST by MarMema
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To: MarMema
MarMema, I appreciate your candid remarks. By your definition, the hermits could not be Orthodox (not that I am comparing myself to them!). Fr Cleopa used to celebrate Liturgy on a tree stump with no one but ravens as his congregation. Faith is something that is between you and God. It is independent of rituals, vestments, manners.

The Church does not give us faith. Church gives us a religion -- a human organization built around faith. It is an exclusive club. I do not mean that in a derogatory manner.

The Church does not save us. God does.

The Church merely means a congregation of the faithful. Nothing else. When our Savior established the Church, He established it as a cornerstone around which the faithful will gather.

We are a community -- not in denomination but in Christ, not in a physical church, your locale, but universal, catholic, and in Spirit. You ask me where is my community? My community is with Christ. He is with me and I am with Him wherever I may be and all the times.

Christ does not save the Orthodox because they go to church every Sunday or because they are members of an Orthodox community. He saves Roman Catholics and Protestants and whoever He chooses for all the just and merciful reasons.

The Eucharist is not a monopoly of the Orthodox.

Why am I Orthodox? Because I believe Orthodox theology is closer to the the truth than others. I believe that not because I have "Orthodox" stamped on my forehead, but because in my limited human capacity, the Orthodox theology simply (there is your experiential faith!) "feels" orthodox. It is faith, after all!

I am Orthodox because I love Orthodox worship. To me it is like an exquisite dinner table prepared for the most important Guest, with artistry and reverence for God that comes straight from the heart and soul.

As far as not being in a position to "become Orthodox" I am glad that I am not bound and enslaved by outwardly and physical things that "prove" my Orthodoxy, but rather know inwardly the love of God.

476 posted on 12/17/2004 11:08:03 PM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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