The point is, a pope allows a bare breasted woman on the church premises, and we should be running around with purifiers, but a bishop in cahoots with murderers gets to be buried in a cathedral?
“The point is, a pope allows a bare breasted woman on the church premises, and we should be running around with purifiers, but a bishop in cahoots with murderers gets to be buried in a cathedral?”
One of the most surprising aspects of Roman Catholic life is, to me, its refusal to look at hierarchs with anything beyond the eye of a worshipful sycophant. This whole “Vicar of Christ on Earth” business has really gone beyond the pale. Being shocked at what any hierarch does, pope, patriarch or otherwise is naive. Its the religious equivalent of something a wise fellow from the East once said to me, “The West has a problem with dealing with evil.”
You choose to believe Estonian sources that are verified by some Anglican authority which says the document is "genuine." I choose to be neutral because forgeries exist and Estonians have an agenda to smear anything Russian.
The point is Alexy II revived Orthodoxy in Russia. In Soviet era there were 50 churches in Moscow, today there are 750. The thief on the cross was redeemed. Obviously some think there is nor redemption for Alexy II. Maybe. That's up to God. In the meantime he was a Patriarch in good standing with the Synod and he recieved proper burial for his rank.
The bare-breasted woman, by all accounts, may not be aware of modesty Christians have and is innocent. Which is more than can be said of the officials who allowed her to appear that way.
The scrubbing would not be because of her, but because of the desecration that took place of which she was an inncodent instrument by all accounts. It doesn't matter how you get dirt on your clothes, Alex, it's still dirt.