I have been out-of-pocket the last couple of days with no computer access and I regret that. The comments on the last two entries got a little out of hand. I apologize for that. I will give a wide berth in comments but there needs to be a few boundaries.
This blog is for the purpose of supporting the Western Liturgy. I will make comments about concerns and liturgical subjects and the state of the Western Rite. It is not limited to WR Orthodoxy. It will also look at Rome and elsewhere, but I am where I am, so it necessarily circles around the little world of the WR within the Orthodox Church. Having been an Anglo Catholic, it will also look directly at the current world in which Anglo Catholics find themselves.
But this blog is not about attacking the Eastern Rite or Orthodoxy. There are problems with modern Orthodoxy to be sure. I can name them very quickly because I live there. But the Orthodox are Christians, whatever their sins and errors and we should not demonize them. The Eastern Rite, while not my native Rite, is ancient and venerable. Even the WR altar missals refers to it in the preparation of the priest before Mass in very complementary terms. The authentic WR practice has never disparaged the ER's authenticity and apostolic heritage.
Therefore, I need to stress that all of our comments must keep a civil tone. We shall not demonize anyone. We may point out errors, we may disagree, but the tone should be kept high and civil. If this is an ascetic struggle for some, then I would suggest that it's a healthy one regardless of where one stands. I will endeavor to do a better job of monitoring from now on.
Father, you wrote: "There are problems with modern Orthodoxy to be sure. I can name them very quickly because I live there. But the Orthodox are Christians, whatever their sins and errors and we should not demonize them."
ReplyDeleteIndependent of anyone's opinions or affections for any rite ever used by Christ's disciples, your pronoun use strikes this reader as rather strange. How is it that an Orthodox priest can say that "we" should not demonize the Orthodox for "their" sins?
How did the Church in which you serve somehow become "they"? And who are the "we" involved, and on what ecclesial shore are they standing?
You say about the Orthodox Church: "I live there." But Freudian slips like the one you made above make one wonder for just how long.
Forgive me. I don't mean to be hostile. But I am alarmed.
The grass is always greener..., even if it's on the floodplain of the Tiber or the Thames, much less the Bosphorus.
I think you're reading too much into this. God bless you though.
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