Posted on 07/03/2003 9:55:56 AM PDT by MarMema
Legally, he does own everything you see, not the people.
It would be nice to see him with a few black eyes along with humility and love for the people of the diocese though.
I hope his sub-zero freezer and custom wine cellar keep his soul warm, I doubt he'll find any love in this neck of the woods much longer.
The church has indeed been infiltrated. I have personally seen anti-Catholic agitators do their dirty work in a Catholic institution.
That will never happen in an autocracy (I'll allow lest honest souls to use the word "Primacy").
But I will pray that enough will see the truth that you have found.
Pinging because of monkfan's comments about changes in the liturgy, on the other thread.
Each Synagogue was oriented towards Jerusalem, so that when you walk in, you are facing that direction. Near the opposite wall, towards Jerusalem, there was an Ark. Each Ark is symbolically connected to the Ark of the Temple. Inside that Arc is where the Scriptures were kept. Separating the Arc from the people was a veil. In front of that veil was a Menorah. Sound familiar?
Others wanted to change the service to make it shorter and more comprehensible to the ordinary layperson.
Oh my. Like it isn't short enough already. The Liturgy of St. James was nearly 5 hours long! The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is maybe 90 minutes. As my bishop has been known to point out, "Judas was the last to arrive and the first to leave." Maybe we could stick around a while? As for making it comprehensible... oh boy. The short of it is that we worship this way because it is the revealed truth. If we don't comprehend it, we need to keep trying until we do. Modifying the truth is not a solution.
You say other Red Priests saw no need for saints and icons.
Ha! I see no need for Red Priests. So there!
Saints are a part of the Body of Christ, just as we are. That they are dead to this world is not an issue for us as Christians. What are we to say next? That death can separate the Body of Christ? Perish the thought! And those icons are symbollic links to those Saints, who are in heaven worshipping with us.
These were the most radical priests—those who were attempting a reformation, which was a common theme. They were willing to embrace Communist ideals as social ideals—Christianity is a religion that should address human needs and not be so concerned with liturgical function, with hierarchy.
This is insane. Liturgical function *IS* a human need. We are created to worship in this manner. Nothing is real to us without our senses. Did not Thomas touch the wounds of Christ? Was this not to make more real the truth of which his eyes had already reported? What we do is also important, because the body is linked to the mind. We are, by and large, experiential creatures.
That aside, it should also be kept in mind that this is the form of worship that God has instructed us to use. The relatively few modifications we have made were necessary. The addition of the Eucharist, Gospel readings, etc. These changes coincide with the changes brought about by Christ. That being so, we can continue to worship God in full truth.
Also, it seems to me that if we remove ourselves bodily from the worship service (by ceasing to be liturgical), then the only thing we have left to use is the mind. Somehow, that strikes me as covertly gnostic.
They thought saints and icons would not be necessary—after all, they were in a society that was talking about forming the new Soviet man. This new culture would produce new people who would no longer need icons and saints, but rather would trust in one another and support one another.
Goodbye Truth, hello apostasy. IMHO, this is a Satanic attempt to undermine the Orthodox faith.
Not much to add to your comments, brother! I particularly liked this:
"Liturgical function *IS* a human need. We are created to worship in this manner."
As we sing in the Divine Liturgy:
"We who mystically represent the cherubim and sing to the life giving Trinity the thrice holy hymn, Let us lay aside all earthly cares. Amen. That we may welcome the King of all, invisibly attended by angelic hosts. Alleluia!"
By the way, Stalin was a seminarian in his youth.
ping
I pnged snapple to this older post of mine for information.
But left you out in doing so, so here you go!
PING
What happened to Church Soviet relations after 1946?
BTW, use your decoder ring to read AA-1025. It will blow your mind!
The Soviets needed the boys to fight in WW2, I believe, and so restrictions on the church were greatly let up.
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