Did Jesus promise the apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them in what to write or not? If He did isn’t it the Holy Spirit who’s words are recorded rather than Paul’s?
>> also approved the veneration of icons and of relics.<<
That group also protected pedophiles.
That group also protected pedophiles.Do tell, what denomination has been free of that crime, oh peerless poster?
Um, no. We Orthodox have not had problems with pedophiles and we usually manage to discipline errant priests and even bishops (though that sometimes takes some doing and happens rather less quickly than it should).
The Latins who lately had problems with pedophiles sent Crusaders to try to forcibly convert us back in the 13th century. In his reply to the Crusaders’ demands that the Rus submit to Papal rule, St. Aleksandr Nevsky replied “Our doctrines are those of the Apostles. . . the tradition of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Councils we scrupulously keep. As for your words we do not listen to them and we do not want your doctrine.”
The author of the piece objects to the common patrimony of Christians, not to something peculiar to the Latin church: Orthodox, Latins, Copts, Ethiopians, Armenians, Syrian Jacobites, and Assyrians all venerate relics. And, as the author notes, the Seventh Ecumenical Council (for us Orthodox and for the Latins) explicitly established the practice. If you want I can defend the practice on the basis of the Scripturally-grounded Orthodox doctrine of salvation as theosis (though why the Latins, whose doctrine of salvation involves not theosis but “the beatific vision” kept the practice I don’t know they don’t really have a theological/anthropological basis for it like we do — though it seems to be dying out among them: my bishop has been given many relics by Latin bishops who don’t feel they have any use for them. I’m hoping one day he’ll give our little mission part of the relic of our patron, St. Mary Magdalene, he has in his keeping.)
And, no, I wasn’t questioning the divine inspiration of the Holy Apostle Paul’s letters, though it is customary to make a distinction among the Persons of the Trinity with regard to actions, the inspiration of Scripture being the activity of the Spirit, rather than the Son, so quoting Paul when someone asked when Jesus said something either misses the point or requires explanation.