Comments Posted By Geo Michalopulos
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Nate, you have no idea. The Conservatives have been hated vituperatively since Goldwater 64. I know, and tens of millions of other Conservatives know. That’s why we’ve largely abandoned popular media and taken over talk radio and the blogosphere.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 21, 2013 @ 10:09 pm
Probably not, but he sure can be funny. The fact that he’s turned on Obama shows me that he has intellectual honesty as well.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 18, 2013 @ 10:20 pm
Also, I forgot to mention, five of the Sees of the OCA are indeed vacant, otherwise they wouldn’t need a locum tenens.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 18, 2013 @ 10:22 pm
Whew! For a minute there Fr I thought that you were a schismatic.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 16, 2013 @ 6:47 am
Do These People Count as “Sexual Minorities”?
Did you notice that one of the talking points the writer mentions is that legalizing polygamy would “bring people out of the shadows”?
Where have we heard this one before? I’ll tell you where, when it comes to granting amnesty to the 11 million illegal aliens living here.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On April 26, 2013 @ 7:23 am
How Did We Get Here? Part I: Syosset and the Dearth of Vision
True enough, but that’s only because (IMHO) the only Semites who had any contact within the European context were Jews. Had there been large groupings of Arabs and other Semites, then I think they too would have been subject to persecution. Regardless, I think we both agree that anti-Semitism is a sociological phenomenon rather than a religious one. I.e, dislike of Jews because of their race/ethnicity (which is Semitic) rather than dislike of their religion. After all, the ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t give a hoot about their religion but they despised culture.
BTW, this went both ways: Jews despised non-Jews and would not intermarry with them. The Talmud solidified Semitic prejudices against goyim (gentiles) by giving a theological justification for the exploitation of them. Maimonides for example compared Africans to apes and gave permission for Jews to engage in the slave trade. To do this he gave the “curse of Ham” a racial gloss (which it doesn’t have in the OT), which was picked up by Europeans some five centuries later to justify their involvement in the slave trade. This was au courant in America up until recently, particularly in the South.
The difference that the Church in the Middle Ages made was that once a Jew became a Christian he was not subject to persecution. Several eugenicists made the leap from anti-Jewishness (religious) to anti-Semitism (biological) in the 19th century and from there it was picked up by the Thule Society, Theosophists, and finally the Nazi Party.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On April 29, 2013 @ 7:18 am
It’s Called “Voting with Your Feet”
A man after my own heart.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 21, 2013 @ 10:11 pm
Stan, much of what you say is arguable: some truth, some over-simplification, but let’s dispense with the racist canard against the South once and for all.
Two things: 1) blacks are moving back to the South in record numbers, and 2) blacks and non-whites are winning elections in several of these states. Louisianna and South Carolina have as their governors people of Hindistani descent and the Speaker of the House for the Oklahoma legislature is a black man (who is also a member of the Choctaw Nation if memory serves).
» Posted By geo michalopulos On May 11, 2013 @ 6:54 am
Your Grace, you give me much to think about with your righteous rebuke. Having thought for awhile, I would be inclined to concede your point ceteris parabis or in the abstract. However all things are not equal nor do we live in the abstract. Consider: is it possible that had His Eminence remained alive and on the Synod that we would never have to answer this question?
I’m being serious. Would Arb Dmitri have behaved in a defamatory manner against His Beatitude, using such egregious and uncanonical tactics as were used against him by the Synod and their handlers? Let’s not forget, then-Abbott Jonah was personally selected by His Eminence Dmitri to be an auxilary bishop in his diocese, with an eye to becoming his successor. Let us also not forget that His Eminence was the president of the Synod when it elected his putative successor to the primatial throne. And let us not forget that as Arb Dmitri lay dying, he asked for His Beatitude to come console him as he awaited his repose.
Considering the fact that Metropolitan Jonah cancelled his primatial trip to Prague at the last minute, I am drawn to only this conclusion: that there was genuine love between these hierarchs. As such, I cannot bring myself to believe that Arb Dmitri would have been a party to the horrible defenestration of his protege.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On April 3, 2013 @ 9:51 am
Ordo, I’m with Andrew on this one. It’s not “either/or” but “both/and.” What we get from the GOA is nothing but celebrophilia.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On March 19, 2013 @ 8:11 am
I for one would have many problems with such an event. (I also don’t agree with Francis’ criticism of Pope Benedict’s Regensburg Address.)
» Posted By geo michalopulos On March 18, 2013 @ 8:57 pm
I must protest. “Feeding the poor” is no more “secular humanist” than preaching the Gospel is. Secular humanism is based on Darwinism. In Darwinism, there is no desire or need to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the prisoner, etc.
That secular humanist societies do engage in feeding the poor can only be attributed to the moral capital of Christianity that resides in any given Western nation.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On March 17, 2013 @ 7:57 am
Good point. I refrain from criticising the other Christian confessions because I have no standing within them. Instead, I gingerly talk about the horrendous liturgical laxity that our Catholic brothers are exposed to and the callisthenics that take place in the Evangelical mega-churches. I would be more full-throated in my denunciations except that my hand is stayed by the fact that we Orthodox have miserably failed in comparison to do that which our Lord commands us. “Feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the jailed, etc.”
Instead, we waste time on episcopal assemblies that accomplish next to nothing. Even the OCA has now degenerated to a Nostalgia Club.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On March 14, 2013 @ 9:38 pm
It is very sad Fr that so few Orthodox bishops are as brave as Pope Francis and Metropolitan Philip. Moral clarity is always appreciated.
I guess with the ouster of Jonah there’s one fewer bishop who spoke with such moral clarity in our fold.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On March 14, 2013 @ 9:32 pm
On the Retirement of Benedict XVI
Fr, I meant no disrespect in posting that video. It is however a reality. Lord knows, we Orthodox have our own clowns. The purpose of this video was that even though a lot of Orthodox services may not rise to the level of precision shown in it, the fact remains that we wouldn’t descend to the level of “creativity” that Vatican II unwittingly allowed to happen.
The thrust of my post was the editiorial itself. It said what I believe to be right about liturgy properly done. And of course that Pope Benedict correctly (and thankfully) created the edifice in which its beaty could be recaptured.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 26, 2013 @ 10:22 pm
Extra! Kishkovsky Being “Phased Out” or Fired?
MS, would that I were as resourceful as PT Barnum! He made a ton of money. I alas, am but a mere scribe. And anyway, blaming me for the mess that Syosset has gotten us into is like blaming the waiter because the food tastes awful.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 26, 2013 @ 10:27 pm
Talk about damning with faint praise. I’ve been in psychiatric wards and seen inmates who have more coherent world views than the Mdme DeFarge of the Orthoblogosphere.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 26, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
That being said MS, the fact remains that the fellow in question did not abuse any children while attending the LA cathedral. Note that I did not say that he couldn’t have, or wouldn’t have, or whether it was even prudent for him to be there, only that he didn’t while he was there.
Huge difference.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 24, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
I’m afraid I must disagree with you here, Carl. A dispassionate, sober assessment is required now by all Orthodox Christians as to the viability of the OCA as it is presently run by the Wonderboys of Syoset. “Ladder” does this. Don’t think for a moment that the Syosset/MC/Synod axis think that all is peachy-keen now that they’ve unjustly thrown His Beatitude under the bus. Ever since that fateful day in July, there have been constant explosions and scandals that have rocked the OCA, threatening is long-term viability.
And for those of us in the DOS, a more pointed reflection is called for, especially if we don’t want to see the legacy of the Venerable Dmitri squandered.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 21, 2013 @ 11:22 pm
Carl, there is no hatred, “pure” or otherwise. Just manifest disappointment. Unlike some, I don’t have a pollyannish view of the OCA, a “move along, nothing to see here.” Things are obviously not right. A blind man can see this.
For myself, I pray for this church because I’m in it and I thought it had some real gifts to present to the other jurisdictions. I still believe this in the abstract. Unfortunately none of us lives in the abstract. Our beloved OCA is imploding, the diocesan sovereignty that the Venerable Dmitri worked so hard to create (at least in the South) is now a dead letter, and the other jurisdictions view us as toxic.
In the past, I’ve called you a “Jonah-hater” and I was wrong to do this. I beg your forgiveness. Likewise I have no hatred at all in my heart for anybody on this forum, the Synod or Syosset. Disappointment, regret even, is not the same thing as hatred.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 19, 2013 @ 9:06 pm
Anonymous, I take it then you agree that the leaking of Fr Joe Fester’s emails was likewise wrong?
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 19, 2013 @ 9:00 pm
Would you be willing to help crafting a genealogy chart?
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 19, 2013 @ 7:38 am
You know, I’d believe you but then all have to do is remember all of the wonderful accolades given to Mark Stokoe by those who despise His Beatitude. Let us never forget that Stokoe never actually “spilled the beans” per se on what went on in the MC meetings (or worse, during it’s “Executive Session”). Instead, he carefully crafted a picture of what went on. And it wasn’t a pretty sight, it was always prefaced with foreboding words like “gravely troubled,” and “chilling,” and “time of troubles,” and assorted equine feces.
Bottom line: if I came across an unpaid parking ticket that Jonah forgot to pay you’d be praising me to the high heavens.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 17, 2013 @ 8:46 pm
I agree with Fr Peck. He’s absolutely right.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 17, 2013 @ 8:39 pm
Thank you. To Fr George below: a lot of crimes get exposed only after the fact, only after the letter gets leaked or the spurned lover goes to the authorities.
Watergate started out as a “third rate burglary.” President Clinton’s perjury regarding actions made with Monica Lewinsky came about because of a sexual harrassment claim filed by Paula Corbin Jones ten years earlier. Martha Stewart’s time in prison was due to a failure to disclose an inconsequential item on her tax return and the ineptness of her legal team to disclose their error. There was no malevolence there.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 17, 2013 @ 8:38 pm
I’m not sure I’m following your questions. They seem opaque. But I’ll try:
1. What other “hidden wrongs were being exposed through the confidential comments…? Answer: None. I was just given some comments from some otherwise sensible priests about these onerous top-down demands placed upon them. Is this “news” to you? Does it merit no comment? OK, that’s your opinion. Others think that it merits some commentary.
2. “How did the benefits of exposure of these otherwise hidden wrongs…outweight the breach of the priest’s promise?” Answer: the question is moot, as there were no “hidden wrongs” revealed, just comments. As for the “breach of the priest’s promise” I wasn’t aware that there was a code of omerta within this group.
Fr, since you’re asking what I deem to be rhetorical questions, may I ask one? Why do these priests (in your estimation) feel the need to meet in secret to discuss matters of import? I replied to one of them that they should go to their bishops with these concerns. To another one I said, “if you can’t go to your bishop then y’all got bigger problems than the latest feel-good fad to come out of Syosset.”
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 17, 2013 @ 8:34 pm
Regarding Evangelism and the Jews, what you are describing here is a failure of nerve on the part of the Roman Church. Like you, I don’t like it’s other accommodations to the zeitgeist (which you detail). The purpose of my introduction to Pat Buchanan’s essay was not about the internal failures or theological faults of the RCC but the fact that in the broader sense, the RCC has been the bulwark against modernism and totalitarianism. The intense pressures put on the Papacy to “reform” by the dessicated intellectuals who have ruined secular Western culture was no small thing. That Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were able to basically thumb their noses at the Cultural Marxists was a tremendous boon to all traditional people of good will.
If anything, the stances of these men have made it easier for Orthodoxy to regain its cultural footing. I am convinced that ever since the patriarchate of Meletius IV Metaxakis, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has made too easy an accommodation with Modernism and it has only been the courage of JPII and Benedict XVI that have prevented Constantinople from going even further to the Left. Do you want an example? OK, the present EP said that “in general, the Orthodox Church is pro-life.” No pope would have said “in general.”
The loss of Benedict in my opinion will make that harder.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 14, 2013 @ 9:12 pm
Dan, while I do agree with you regarding your critique of “Protestant insti-saved mindset,” we Orthodox are not angels in comparison. Ever since the Fall of Constantinople, the Phanar essentially rewrote the book on self-serving duplicity. I’m not sure the other patriarchates have been any better.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 14, 2013 @ 9:02 pm
How Long Will the Dollar Remain the World’s Reserve Currency?
Dan, you’re not in the healthcare field are you? I am. Trust me, Medicare is collapsing. It has been ever since the early 80s when the promised budgets of LBJ were blown out of the water. Obamacare itself was introduced as a measure to bring costs “under control.” Of course it will fail but that’s a story for another day.
» Posted By geo michalopulos On February 26, 2013 @ 8:19 am
«« Back To Stats PageVery well said. As for the claim that “only” the patriarch of Constantinople has the right to grant autocephaly, that is belied by the historical record: the patriarch of Antioch (Peter the Fuller) granted autocephaly to the Georgian church about 400 years before the institution of Orthodoxy in Russia.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Russia also granted autocephaly to the Czechoslovak church without incident as well. And of course an ecumenical council can grant autocephaly (cf the Church of Cyprus which was cleaved off of Antioch by the 2nd Ecumenical Council).
This by no means obviates the very real problems that we in the OCA have, only the question of who is the grantor of autocephaly.
» Posted By Geo Michalopulos On February 22, 2013 @ 8:00 am
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