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To: HarleyD; kosta50; MarkBsnr
Thank you for your most kind and considerate advice:

You can stay where you're at but if you move you can only go one of two ways.

I realize you see it differently from outside, but, for me, it's quite easy to recognize: it's one church; the Latin Fathers, Greek Fathers, Apostolic Fathers, Desert Fathers, the Sacraments, the Communion of Saints, Apostolic succession and on and on.

I live in the West and am Roman Catholic and I study the East. If I lived in the East I would likely be Eastern Orthodox and study the West. This is part of the incredible depth, breadth and beauty of our faith - it is never exhausted.

I read the older writings of St. Teresa of Avila or St. John OTC or St. Simeon, or the masterful compilation of theology of St John Damascene, or St. Gregory Palamas, or Bishop Bianchaninov and Theophan the Recluse on unceasing prayer, and I study the writings of more recent bishops, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI or Bishop Kallistos Ware. I say the Rosary and I practice the Jesus Prayer. I use my rosary or komboskinia for both or either. It's the same Body of Christ throughout the centuries, through all the upheavals and conflicts and personal conflicts and trials, through the distance and different languages, it's the same Gospel, the same sacramental life.

It's all part of the same church, one church, and it's my home. There's no need to leave home to go home again.

8,043 posted on 10/03/2007 10:03:25 AM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: D-fendr; MarkBsnr; P-Marlowe; xzins; Kolokotronis; jo kus
I live in the West and am Roman Catholic and I study the East. If I lived in the East I would likely be Eastern Orthodox and study the West. This is part of the incredible depth, breadth and beauty of our faith - it is never exhausted.

Well said, and so true.

8,176 posted on 10/03/2007 7:00:04 PM PDT by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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