Just when things can’t get any more ridiculous for the GOA, comes now a story of two “archimandrites” who got into a physical altercation in the very office of Archbishop Elpidophoros Lammbrianides.
https://concernedorthodoxchristians.wordpress.com
Ordinarily, we here at Monomakhos like to stay away from lurid exposes. You know the drill: usual caveats apply, nobody is perfect. I get it.
However, . . .
Something has got to be done. Just because a man is “celibate” doesn’t mean that he is qualified for the priesthood, much less the episcopacy. The parameters were laid down two millennia ago by the Apostle Paul.
First of all, he had to have a good reputation. He was to be “above reproach” (1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:6) and “respectable” (1 Tim 3:2) and “well thought of by outsiders (1 Tim 3:7)
Secondly, he was to be “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:6).
As for his family, he “must manage his own household well” (1 Tim 3:4) and his “children are [to be] believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination” (Titus 1:6).
There’s more of course: they are not to be embezzlers, swindlers, extortionists or homosexuals.
May I suggest that two celibate priests engaging in fisticuffs in the office of the archbishop are failing in more than one regard?
[“Tension has been brewing behind the scenes for some time at the Archdiocese between two of the celibates that the Archbishop brought over from Greece/Turkey to be ordained and assigned into key positions in our Archdiocese…These [men] have been a part of the Archbishop’s Celibate Brotherhood [sic] since its inception in 2019.
According to multiple sources, [one of the men] who is officially listed as the ‘Senior Advisor to the Archbishop’ and the [other] who is officially listed as an ‘Administrative Assistant to the Office of the Chancellor’, allegedly got into a physical altercation in front of the Chancellor…According to one clergyman, who offered to speak on the condition of anonymity…these two celibate clergymen may have been fighting over a secret love interest.”]
It gets worse. You’ll have to read the rest for yourself, as I would rather not explicate what the actual altercation was about.
We are all sinners, myself included. I do not hold myself up as a judge of anyone, much less the two men in question. But let me be clear: if a candidate for the priesthood (especially one who is on the episcopal track), cannot withhold his passions, then would it not be a mercy for the episcopate to gently suggest that his services would be put to better use elsewhere?
Incidents like these are embarrassments –all the way around. No one is edified by such contretemps. Worse, they call into question the judgment of those who hire them.
Lord have mercy.
This has been going on since pre-Iakovos times. The real and only scandal is us. We put up with these characters and their deeds decade after decade. We kiss their hands and their butts, we write them checks, we pay their monthly “stipend” and get nothing in return, we listen to almost everything they want us to do which just weakens us at every juncture. We are the abused slaves of these no-good, do-nothing, deviants. So who’s to blame? It’s us. 100%.
American, you are not incorrect. To be truthful, given the immigrant culture (as well as the phanariote), I don’t know how we’re going to stop this racket.
Several years ago, I wrote an essay called “The Dumping Ground”. It’s thesis was that in certain immigrant cultures (e.g. Greek, Irish, Slav), there’s always a surplus of religiously-minded young men who are heterosexually challenged. To protect them from the secular world (e.g. Broadway, Hollywood, etc.) and keep them in the Church, then the culture in question keeps the “monastic avenue” open, since we’re going to need bishops anyway.
Now when I say “monastic avenue” I do so with a wink-wink/nod-nod, knowing full well that in America there were precious few real monasteries in the pre-1960 period. And hence, no authentic monastic formation.
As for myself, the only solution I can give is for the other jurisdictions to recognize modernism when they see it and steer clear of the Phanar.
You can connect the rest of the dots.
Would we expect primates to monkey around? Greek orthodox archdiocese is a good descriptor because it does not include the noun christian,,ergo, christian principles appear to be trumped by byzantine behavior,,,and this is tragic
Who will save the Church from liars and thieves? We will: Let us continue to help the Church by bringing the liars and thieves into the Light.
Thank you.
Amen.
The person that runs that site is clearly a modernist. Whether the reports are true or not a read through of some of his other posts should give one pause.
In particular there was a post about +Nathaniel of Chicago barring the visiting of monasteries for Divine Services and the blogger speculated that despite the increase of Covid infection at the monastery and no reports of deaths, the monastery could quietly bury dead nuns without contacting authorities.
Really? Clearly someone who has bought into the scamdemic. He should come to Florida and hang out for a while, maybe that would change his opinion on how deadly Covid is. As a friend said, Covid is so deadly you need a heart attack to die from it.
Sorry this is perhaps off topic. But I just saw it and wondered if and when this has ever happened before in the OCA.
https://orthochristian.com/137648.html
May God grant His Eminence many years!
I am wondering where Archbishop Michael stands on the current COVID vaccines and their connection to pre-trials using aborted fetal tissue lines.
Funny, brands have logos indicating whether their product has been tested on animals. My toothpaste wasn’t used to torture bunny rabbits. Great, but no such thing exists for research done on murdered children. Why?
LonelyDn, you are asking one too many uncomfortable truths. Diogenes could get away with it, Socrates –not so much.
By the way, a friend of mine told me they spoke with their local health official here in Washington. This health official is friends with Gov Inslee. Anyway, the official was apparently asked why *everyone* needed the Covid vaccine.
“So we can get back to normal.”
My friend said great, so the vaccinated can go back to normal?
“No no no. You still need a mask, and still need to socially distant. Why, we still need to keep things shut down right now.”
Wait, so the vaccinated CAN’T go back to normal? I don’t get it. You said if we get vaxxed, we can go back to normal.
“Well, don’t actually know if you could still give Covid to somebody.”
My friend:
“You can still give Covid to somebody if you don’t have Covid? I don’t understand. Doesn’t the vaccine stop you from getting Covid?”
“We don’t know. We have no idea.”
Aren’t masks supposed to work? What is normal? What is going on here?
Out of 38,000 participants (give or take a few), only 170 people got COVID during the very short Pfizer study.
8 people in the vaccine group and 162 in the placebo group.
So the outcomes of only 170 people were enough to move forward with vaccinating the entire population with a novel platform that killed animals when they were exposed to the virus in the wild in previous studies. So they don’t know if it protects people from getting COVID, if it prevents the transmission of COVID, or even if it is safe because the sample was too small and the study was too short.
Thanks for highlighting this. We don’t know how many people came into contact with others who had Covid, but I do think it’s pretty…weird…that we have decided to move forward so quickly as a society (largely pushed forward by the media…) to get as many people as possible vaccinated, including groups like pregnant women who were not even in the test groups, despite knowing to a decent degree what happens when something as simple as ~coming in contact with the freaking disease the vaccine is supposed to prevent~ happens. It is very disturbing to me as a nurse, pregnant woman, parent, and just as a member of our society. My sincerest hope is that there really aren’t any delayed effects for the vast majority of recipients after all is said and done. I’ve known people who had vaccine injury such as permanent paralysis from vaccine issues causing Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Interestingly, at least one of the covid vaccines has been implicated in possible GBS cases and there have been case studies or references made in a couple of neurological medical journals as well as the New England Journal of Medicine. Funny how the media doesnt pick up those stories. Rant over 🙂
It’s craziness.
It makes no sense, just like everything else for the past year with Covid.
Vaccines, triple masks, anal swabs, socially distancing…it’s all one huge joke
Mikhail, does not letting perfection be the enemy of the good come into play here?
Michael,
If one drop of poison is added to a glass of pure drinking water, it poisons the whole glass. If someone takes a pro-life posture in front of an abortion clinic while giving a wink and a nod for vaccines that use the same murdered children in pre-trials…I call it hypocrisy…at best.
Mikhail, real hypocrisy occurs in my heart every day. I knoe Jesus Christ and His mercy yet I most often deny it by my thoughts and lack of action. I think this is why Our Lord said from the Cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” Even my deep knowledge that I have been given by Grace is insufficient to keep me from sim of the most cowardly and craven kind.
More is always possible and on the foundation of the good is it not easier to call someone to more with Charity? I know Bo Michael’s action makes it easier for me to really hear what you are saying and more conviction to act on hearing that word. Will I really? God knows. I have not had a vaccine in years simply because I do not like them. Cost/benefit analysis of the crudest and most selfish kind. What does that make me? A hypocrite and I will gladly stand in that group with Bp Michael if he will pray for my soul.
Bishop Michael testified to Jesus at a time and place where no one else was.
We have all committed every sin in thought in action every day. You asked me a question about letting perfection being the enemy. I answered to the best of my ability. You are either agsinst murder in the womb…or you are not. You can’t be against it in some cases and turn a blind eye in others. The Archbishop is aware of the fact that these vaccines were developed with the assistance of abortion and yet he chooses to remain silent about it. Almost all the Bishops have done likewise. And it breaks my heart beyond words.
These cell lines (HEK 293) are from babies from the 60s or 70s. None of the cells they use today are the same cells they took from these two children because within a few weeks, all cells die and are replaced by new ones.
How can taking the vaccine have anything to do with our position on abortion today? These babies weren’t aborted for their tissue and Michael had nothing to do with the decision. He was just a teenager at the time! (I think one of these babies was not aborted. It was still born.)
Anyway, saying that getting the vaccine is supporting abortion is like saying white people today are responsible for what was done to black people in the 1700 and 1800s and if we don’t perform some kind of reparation, it means we are pro-slavery.
I cannot disagree with you more,Gail. I am shocked and horrified by your response. I am now leaving this forum permanently.
Well, the last time I checked, the owners of the blog are patient with their readers and allow questions people don’t necessarily have the answers to. But wait! I’m the owner of the blog who has been patient with you even when you profess to have all the answers to the point of finding others lacking. I guess you missed the part of Scripture that says:
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
I feel genuine affection for you but I’m not going to break my own rules to make you feel better.
I think we need an expert who represents the Church’s position on these things to come talk to the blog.
Kevin Allen and I interviewed Fr. John Breck about a similar issue. It was the one time I stepped out of the role of Production Assistant and actually interviewed Father John with Kevin. I’m going to be contacting Father again and asking him if he would do the same for the blog so we can get some clarity.
As you may know, Father John Breck (1939- ) is an archpriest and theologian of the Orthodox Church in America specializing in Scripture and Ethics. He has been Professor of Biblical Exegesis and Patristics at the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (Paris, France), and Director of the Saint Silouan Retreat on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, since 1995. Breck received his B.A. in Religious Studies from Brown University (1960), an M.Div. (Master of Divinity, the basic seminary degree for those seeking ordination) from Yale Divinity School (1965), and a Doctorate of Theology from the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg in Germany (1972). In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania.
After converting to Orthodoxy from Protestantism, he served as Professor of New Testament and Patristics at St. Herman’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Kodiak, Alaska) from 1975-1978, as Professor of New Testament and Director of Studies at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (Paris, France) from 1978-1984, and as Professor of New Testament and Ethics at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York) from 1984-1996.
If he agrees to come on the blog, maybe you should stay and listen to what he has to say before you leave because I’m not your cup of tea. Just skip over the stuff with my name on it. I’m the only Gail Sheppard so it should be easy.
For my last post on this blog, I will offer this patristic pamphlet on the horrors of vaccines and abortion (I think it has already been posted here).
God bless you all.
https://mindofthefathers.wordpress.com/2021/02/06/crown-of-creation/
Except the one who has horrified and shocked you. Me, you can’t even stand to be around.
Gail is right. Thank you for your balanced view on this. Yes, this is a terrible moral tragedy, but using medicines and other healthcare products that are developed using these kind of things (which is a very high proportion, I recently discovered) in no way makes the user culpable.
All medical science is tainted by sin to some degree and so is most technology, therefor so are we. How much of our modern mechanical equipment was designed primarily as a means to kill people from other countries? War does more to advance technology than anything else and no one is batting an eyebrow there.
Basil, thank you for this sage advice.
Speaking as a health professional, I can honestly say (and with regret) that the practice of medicine has only been able to progress through the tragedy of sin.
Later, I will give a brief historical synopsis of what I am talking about.
Mikhail, forgive me brother. How far does one’s complicity in the sins of others go? I hate divorce it kills the souls of everybody involved. In a sense it is worse than abortion because the souls of the aborted babies are not touched by the evil done to them.
Yet my living wife has been divorced twice before me and she watched and prayed as her third husband died in agony after failed heart surgery.
My first wife died and my parish family prayed her into heaven. It would have been more perfect for me not to remarry. Remain the husband of one wife. Sought holiness rather than my own desire.
My living wife and I were refused marriage in the Church. When we married anyway, I was given a penance while my wife did her catechesis. I was not allowed to approach the Cup. No end date was specified but my penance ended on the day she was received.
My bishop assures me now our marriage is blessed by God yet it was formed out of sin, in the midst of sin. We never received a formal blessing of our marriage however.
There are still bits and pieces of the sinful past in our life. That seems to be the way of life.
The largest abortion provider in my town went to church at the Lutheran church right across the street from my parish building. He was shot to death there one Sunday. His death effectively crushed all public protest of what he did. The abortuary is still active.
Praying for the murdered babies does far more to address all the sins involved than any direct action of mine will do. Praying as the Church prays heals ontologically.
An addendum. Several years after Tiller’s private execution, Kansas did outlaw abortion after 20 weeks.
Gail, The Lord put a special mark on my heart years ago when it comes to abortion. The ones who have no voice and no choice are our most vulnerable. I cannot compromise on the issue. You can put as many priests with PHD’s as you like on your blog…it will not change my mind. You can accuse me of being judgemental…it’s okay…I know that I am guilty of that…I have to confess it almost every week. I agree with you 99% of the time, but your response genuinely threw me for a loop. I am not asking you to make me feel better. I did not know that you were under the impression that I come off as having all the answers to the point where all others are lacking. This verifies that I need to remove myself from the blog, lest I cause further scandal.
May the Lord bless you abundantly.
I deplore abortion! You get that right?
Reply to Mikhail: I can assure you that Gail absolutely deplores abortion.
While not getting directly involved in partisan politics (and rightly so), I was particularly gratified by Bp. Michael’s mention that the city of New York funds abortion, adding “We have much work ahead of us” (or something close to this). This is an acknowledgement that politics (that is to say the witness of our vote) has a role to play, though it is only one among many.
This is a refreshing change from what our local bishop wrote to us prior to the recent national election in which he essentially said that the issue of abortion need not be a factor in determining our vote – as if not only allowing abortion but actively funding and promoting it here and throughout the world should be of no concern to Christians lest this issue should be “divisive.”
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
RE: “what our local bishop wrote to us prior to the recent national election in which he essentially said that the issue of abortion need not be a factor in determining our vote”
Brian, I could not, as a priest, serve under such a bishop in good conscience. It is one thing for an Orthodox bishop to minimize, in his own mind and voting practices, the traditional universal Orthodox moral rejection of abortion as an unmitigated abomination. That is bad enough and for God the Holy Trinity alone to judge. But it is quite another thing for him to pronounce his dubious opinion publicly as a valid political choice and, thereby, to scandalize the faithful.
He’s not the only one, unfortunately. I would guess more would be for it than against it. (I wish I had brought this subject up when you first discussed it with me. Boy, was I wrong.)
There have been perhaps tens of thousands of bishops throughout the centuries, but only an extreme few are Saints. I now understand why.
Yes, I was scandalized, even a bit surprised, though not overly so since most everything he has said about the events of this last year sounds like a pseudo- Christianized repetition of what one hears on the evening news.
Somehow when it comes to COVID the health of our neighbor is of the utmost concern, and we must all be restrained. But when it comes to lives of the innocent and those who murder, we need not concern ourselves with restraining them from destroying the lives of children as well as their own souls. I could go on, but I won’t. Such strange notions of what it means to love as God loves us.
One would think that of all jurisdictions the bishops of those that have their spiritual roots in Russia would be able to discern the times and equip those in their charge, but apparently not in all cases.
The last twelve months have proven to be a revelation on so many levels, and in a way we should all be grateful for the light that has been shed on things that had been heretofore hidden (I never would have suspected this of my bishop, for example). Judgement is beginning with the household of God. May God be merciful to me, a sinner, and protect His faithful.
Do you know anything on the provenance of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine?
Johnson&Johnson uses a fetal cell line known as PER.C6, derived from an 18-week-old preborn child. Astra Zeneca, Moderna & Pfizer/BioNTech all used HEK 293, another fetal cell line. It is my understanding that a vaccine still in testing by GSK/Sanofi has not used fetal cell lines in development and testing. Please explore and disseminate the information on Children of God for Life’s excellent website: https://cogforlife.org .
Thank you for this link, Brian
The range of references are superb.
Thank you Brian
Aside from the fact that Johnson & Johnson is a notorious donater to Planned Parenthood, they used the fetal cell line PER.C6 in the design, development, and testing of their vaccine. The PER.C6 fetal cell line was derived from retinal tissue taken from an 18-week-old baby boy who was aborted in the Netherlands in 1985 and later converted into a fetal cell line in 1995. The cell line is owned by Janssen.
(As per lifesite news)
That is indeed bad. (BTW, Trump banned US Government funding research using human fetal tissues.)
But traffic accidents are bad, too. If we transplant someone’s organs who died as a result of a drunk driver, is that supporting drunk driving?
And if we believe Christ has conquered death and life is everlasting, why is it important what someone does with our tissue after we’re gone?
Don’t know the answers. Just asking the questions.
I completely agree some bishop should be making recommendations on behalf of the Church, but they can’t all agree on the necessity of an Orthodox baptism or on the legitimacy of second marriages so I’m not going to hold my breath.
Gail, let’s examine your third paragraph in the light of the monastic practice of ossuaries: the bones are kept and used as a remembrance of each monk, their personal relics. If a particular monk is recognized a saint, a source of Holy Relics.
In an Orthodox funeral the priest, before closing the casket, anoints the body one last time in the hope of the Ressurection as I remember from my wife’s funeral.
Our bodies are an important part of our salvation– somehow. They should not be disturbed or used in utilitarian fashion.
That part of your stance is a bit squishy IMO.
My only quibble with Misha was his criticism of Bp Michael’s good act because it wasn’t perfect. I am not a moral absolutist.
In any case, I know now the base of the new vaccine and it is no more acceptable than the others.
As to the hospitality you and George maintain it can be a bit like a rowdy bar on a Friday night. I can adapt to that but not everyone can.
Not quite as bad as the bars in The Roadhouse before Patrick Swayze road in, but rowdy nonetheless.
So, I’ll take another cold one here please and some beer nuts.
I believe what the Church teaches.
The Catholic Church has come out with an encyclical about vaccination with regard to COVID. It would be nice if the Orthodox Church would do that, as well. Francis believes it’s morally acceptable, BTW. https://www.cacatholic.org/CCC-vaccine-moral-acceptability
I could list 25 reasons why you shouldn’t get the vaccine. (Oh wait, I already did that.) I am not for the COVID vaccine or using aborted fetuses.
Most of the cell lines come from cancerous tumors which grow quickly and mutate. If you were able to take these cells and grow a human being, it would not be the human being they came from.
We share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees. Are their bodies also an important part of salvation since there is only a 1% difference? I suspect not. God knows whom He will save with or without a body, but it would be nice to have the Church take a stand.
Not trying to be “squishy.” Just logical.
Thanks for the (un) compliment. I sincerely wish all of you who have a problem with our hospitality would leave on your own and go where you would be more comfortable.
“We share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees. Are their bodies also an important part of salvation since there is only a 1% difference?”
98.7%, if you ignore 18% of the chimp genome, and 25% of human, and other shenanigans. Using the same junk science, humanity is 50% banana.
I stand corrected. – I do like bananas.
Hello Rhonda,
I had just listened to it moments ago.
May God bless the Archbishop with MANY YEARS!!!
I had the honor of driving Abp Michael from the airport in Detroit to a conference a few years ago. His flight was a little late, which meant he missed a meal. As we were driving to the conference, I asked his eminence what I could get him for lunch, “We have falafell and m’jeddra sandwiches, or I could go get you something else,” I told him.
He declined all my offers.
When I responded like a Greek mother (you must eat something!) he finally turned to me apologetically and said, “Dean…a parishioner of mine is undergoing surgery this morning, and I am fasting until I know the results.”
I became an Archbishop MICHAEL fan that instant!
We need more courageous leaders like this during these troubled times!
I’m also a fan.
I should like to add that Archbishop Michael called my son to console him, after my son’s wife died from cancer after only six months of marriage. For those who don’t know, Archbishop Michael was a married priest. He lost his wife in a car accident about a week after his ordination and less than a month after his wedding.
I should also add that ROCOR Bishop Nicholai, who lost his wife while a young deacon, gave my son a similar call.
I salute these hierarchs for reaching out to my son in his time of grief. I pray that God will reward them for their thoughtfulness.
Fr, I can attest to His Eminence’s generosity as well. As I don’t have my pastor’s permission (I have yet to ask) about a personal story he told me, I will have to refrain. For now, let it be said that when Arb Michael was Dean of the seminary where my pastor attended, he not only talked the talk, but walked the walk.
A number of priests friends of mine have also said very warm things about Archbishop Michael. Hopefully he can remain steady and not cave to pressure when the time comes.
Unfortunately, that time is fast approaching.
Nevertheless, we should pray that the nefarious plans of the globalists (and their ecclesial puppets) will come to naught.
This is totally unsurprising and fits with the spiritual rot that emanates from the Patriarchate of Constantinople…just look at the lurid stories of the Metropolitan of France who was just transferred to a non-existent See in Asia Minor (Does that patriarchate have ANY legitimate Sees??). No wonder Constantinople is so close in relations with Rome, they have the same “desires”
Luckily more and more people are bringing this crap to light and fighting back. I’m specifically talking about the likes of Orthodoxy in Dialogue and Public Orthodoxy. Orthodox bloggers like Michael Sisco, Luke Kedrant and TheRealMedWhite have started going after them hard and been pretty merciless and exposing their globohomo agendas and trying to subvert the Faith.
In turn “Orthodoxy” in Dialogue and Public Orthodoxy have started going after them too, so you can tell a nerve has been struck.
I can’t judge others either. But it’s still important to call people out where it’s needed. It’s like you said, these are our future leaders and they have to be held to a higher standard. One of the many reasons I’m glad I never went down the clerical road. God protected me from myself.
I keep thinking how sad this is. I know St. John was a rare Saint for any time but where are those who are following in his footsteps? Where are our true ascetic bishops who love God above all and are uncompromising in holiness? If the Lord tarries, how many of these men will be canonized? The last American bishop I’ve heard spoken of in these terms was Archbishop Dimitri.
I know we are called to revere and obey our bishops. I’ve read St. Ignatius just like you all have. But if this keeps up how can we possibly continue to render them the obedience we are called to?
Gail, there was no snark intended in my description. I was here at the formation of the blog. You and George have a unique ethos. I like it because it is a bit rowdy.
I have had people I love and respect warn me away because of rhe rowdiness. I stay because I genuinely like you and George. You both have been kind to me over the years.
So my description is meant as a genuine compliment. Forgive me if that was not clear.
Rowdiness is a good thing. Especially in the face of an increasingly hostile world.
Thanks, Michael. Please forgive me.
Gail, nothing to forgive. My wording was not clear. Part of the rowdiness is the ability to discuss ideas and events that are off limits elsewhere.
And yet we wonder why they want to be in communion with the Vatican.
And PJmedia of all places gets theological
https://pjmedia.com/columns/raymond-ibrahim/2021/02/26/vatican-betrays-virgin-mary-for-prophet-muhammad-n1428697
Frankly, I wonder if we’re any better.
We don’t post comments “outing” people unless it’s “part of the public record,” yet we have no trouble pointing the 3500 readers we get every day to tabloid news like this, put out by someone we don’t know, because they don’t want to associate their name with the stuff they write.
Making it in the “public record” is all too easy anymore.
I notice in the article it says: “You may be asking how? Did you hear about the two celibate clergymen who got into an intense physical altercation in the Chancellor’s Office?. . . According to one clergyman, who offered to speak on the condition on anonymity because of the very real threat of retaliation by the Archbishop, said that these two celibate clergymen may have been fighting over a secret love interest. . . ‘It is common knowledge that when two men fight it usually involves a secret love interest.”
It’s “common knowledge” that men fight over all sorts of stupid things. For all we know, they could have been fighting over who gets to sit at the right and the left hand of the Archbishop and could have settled this by looking at Mark 10:40.
Yeah, but the archimandrite caste in the GOA are mostly homosexuals. And by “homosexuals”, I mean pederasts. That’s why they call it “doing it Greek”.
I’m fairly confident that’s why thenGreek Metropolitan of France was moved to a non-existent See with no Christians in it. He is apparently well known […] so I’m guessing something went on
Stand for the faith! Hold them accountable!
https://tinyletter.com/papademetrios/letters/forgive-me-again
This piece of news gives me an idea about how the Greek Archdiocese can solve its financial problems.
If Monastic Mixed Martial Arts is going to be a regular thing, the GOA can sell pay-per-view! If the GOA doesn’t want to do that, it could produce films for kung-fu theater.
I didn’t see anything about monastics but rather a “Celibate Brotherhood” whatever that means. Seems to me it’s a bit strange.
If they don’t take monastic vows, that means they keep their property. Celibate men with bank accounts – that’s one possible angle. If these men are at the upper echelons of power in the Archdiocese, more should be disclosed about this “brotherhood.” Strange indeed.
Hmmm. Didn’t think about that. Sounds like more of the same Phanariote self-serving double-dealing.
Dear to Christ Gail, regarding the licitness of the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J so called “vaccines” from a Catholic perspective, I would not think it safe to quote the current occupant of the See of Rome with respect to matters of theology. He is a mushy, Marxist, globalist who intentionally obfuscates except when critiquing traditionalists. His agenda is clear from the Pachamam Earth Summit, to the secret pact with the Chinese Communist Party, to his appointments to the episcopacy and the cardinalate and his penchant for re-writing the catechism to suit his whims and ideology.
With respect to the current “vaccines”–or rather experimental therapies that have been issued under Emergency Use Authorization–a more cogent view has been expressed by Bishop Athansaius Schneider, Janis Cardinal Metropolitan Pujuats, Metropolitan Archbishop Tomash Peta, Archbiship Jan Pawel Lenga and Bishop Joseph Strickland. “The End Cannot Justify the Means.” https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/covid-vaccines-the-ends-cannot-justify-the-means
See also Pamela Acker, Vaccination: A Catholic Perspective. https://www.kolbecenter.org/product/vaccination-a-catholic-perspective/
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/vaccine-expert-answers-critics-exposes-horrific-nature-of-abortion-tainted-vaccine-research
Also, I’m not sure your example referring to automobile accidents and organ transplants is a proper comparison with the harvesting of organs from the victims of abortion. An accident is just that–unplanned and unintentional. Abortions are deliberate and pushed by a multimillion dollar “non profit” that makes its living from encouraging the murder of unborn children–and calling it a “sacrament”–and which we know is in the business of harvesting and selling organs for medical research. Consider whether one purpose of the push to have widespread acceptance of the current “vaccines” is not to further legitimize this practice and increase the demand for more such research and its supply chain.
Even in the 70s when the baby girl whose cells gave rise to the KEC 293 cell line was sacrificed, it was clearly one intention of the procedure to harvest her cells for research. It was ungodly then, and it does sanctify the situation for us, going on 50 years later, to think ourselves innocent to eat from the fruit of the poisoned tree. We continued to play with moral fire–no less than did our mother Eve. We who ought to know better. May God have mercy on our souls: many of our other medicines and cosmetics may be similarly tainted. Should we find out they are, would we desist?
Consider, too, whether we are not already reaping what we have sown. God’s mercy may indeed be severe.
Forgive me and pray for me a sinner,
lexcaritas
You bring up some good points. I don’t have a problem with playing the “devil’s advocate.” We need to ask these questions, like Gail did. If nothing else, it can sharpen our own sense of what we believe. It’s also good to consider these things as unbelievers might try and use similar arguments on us in conversation.
I think there’s also something to be said for the “spirit” of things. This has been one of my arguments when speaking about church restrictions and measures viz covid. I might not be able to quote which canon, if any, are being violated. To me that’s almost secondary. To me it’s that many of our hierarchs are going against the spirit of the Orthodox Church. It’s ethos.
I think we can use a similar argument when speaking of abortion and the use of those cells in vaccines and vaccine trials. What comes out of all this? The abortion was done in a satanic spirit. The child never got even a chance to live. It was selfish murder, plain and simple. The research conducted using the parts of that child is not carried out with any gratitude or humility. It’s just tissue to them. A means to an end. Organ donation, on the other hand, is, as the previous poster noted, rooted in an accident. It comes from someone who had a chance at life, and God in His wisdom, took from our midst. Organ donation is also based in choice. I signed up for organ donation. I made that choice, in hope that if God ends my life, I might still be of some benefit to someone. It’s an act based in concern for other people. Organ donation has often been a source of real blessing for individuals and families. It’s given people a second chance at life. And what about the gratitude that has poured forth on those occasions when the family of the lost loved one was able to meet the person who was kept alive by their loved one’s sacrifice?
Again, I think it’s good to ask those questions. But in this case, I think the two examples have a very different ethos behind them. We might also consider whether our witness against abortion might be undermined by partaking of the vaccine. Is it possible we could open ourselves up to being accused of being inconsistent by those on the other side? Just a thought.
Seraphim, you raise several good points. There are a plethora of reasons not to take the vaccine. The use of cells from aborted babies is probably the least viable as a reason that the general public cares about. So I think it highly unlikely that the “inconsistency” charge will come up except from a few such as Mikhail.
Organ transplant is a completely different issue. I have been against it from long before I was Orthodox because I see the same greedy, power hungry ethos behind it as abortion. They have done a good job of selling the sentiment that you express. But that is not the ethos, IMO. To me it reduces the spiritual reality of unique personal human life created and gifted by God. Then their is the potential sacredness of the human body and its sacramental quality.
As my wife said this morning, if we Orthodox really believe we partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that means He is part of every organ in our bodies. Other folks organs have their life energy still in them.
That being said, a very good friend who has been a mentor to me as well is still alive because of an organ transplant. That gives me pause.
I have never condemned anyone for having a transplant but my friend doing it brings it that much closer. I would still not accept one. Too much like cannibalism to me.
This. His blood is our blood. I am very apprehensive about organ transplants, although not absolutely opposed to them, as I haven’t properly looked into the Church’s stance.
Basil, I have never found anyone who is opposed to them. My friend who had the kidney transplant is a priest. A really good one. We have some folks here who might be able to answer the question more authoritatively.
My feeling has been the Tradition is silent because it was not considered prior to the 2nd half of the 20th century. It becomes a matter of personal conscience.
I have no problem with my friend doing what he did. My stance has yet to be tested. It is conceptual.
Maybe Fr. Alexander Webster, as our resident ethicist, can weigh in.
The Greeks haven’t all completely lost the plot it seems. We may indeed have a new St. Mark of Ephesus in the person of Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou:
https://orthochristian.com/137693.html
He has consistently stood up to defend Holy Orthodoxy, the Ukrainian Church and denounced Constantinople and his own Archbishop, on top of Church matters he has also stood strong against the State. Many of his talks are on Uncreated Light Press on YouTube, definitely worth a listen
Although romantic rivalry between celibate men is surely a titillating tale to tell, your link presents a far graver matter of legal jeopardy – GOA being sued for not re-hiring originally furloughed employees in accordance with the terms of PPP loan. Certainly the finances of the national church is a matter of interest to all.
Well it’s been interesting visiting the right-wing part of the Orthonet during the pandemic.