Just trying to clarify...

When I first joined this forum, it looked Orthodox/Eastern Catholic to me. But now it looks to me like it's MAINLY Eastern Catholic/Ruthenian. I can't really relate to most topics here because I'm not Eastern Catholic or Ruthenian and it's not my crowd. Or is just a wrong impression and it's a forum inclusive of the Orthodox proper?

Dear Marija,

Depending on who the active posters are at the moment, it swings a bit in topics and tradition.

I am also Orthodox (maybe the only Greek Orthodox here), and I think that if you look around a bit more in depth, you will see alot of topics and posts which would be of interest to you.

For instance, we have threads on sayings of the Optina Fathers (you can't get more Russian Orthodox than that!) as well as of Greek saints and elders. We have threads going about Russian iconography and Russian Orthodox churches, etc. Sometimes you just have to be patient, and some times you just need to look a bit further.

However, let's keep in mind that this forum is hosted by a member of the Byzantine Catholic Church, and that it is for all those interested in the East.

I think that the diversity here is actually what makes it the hospitable and respectful place it is.

Alice

thank you, it makes sense.

Mariya,

There appears to be many threads here that may be of interest to you

Scripture and Patristic Writings » Words from Optina

Putin vows Russia will defend persecuted Christians abroad

Icons & Iconography » Nativity "icon"

Priest Andrew Phillips on ROCOR and the OCA

The Christian East & West Orthodox Churches in Transcarpathia

The Christian East & West Metropolitan Jonah on Primacy

Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy
» Liturgical Translations » New Translation work by Moscow Patriarchate

I cannot speak for the answers to the topics but some of them did look a bit interesting. You just have to pop around a bit to find what your particular interest is, I am sure the New Translation thread by the MP will be of interest to you.

As previously mentioned, on the main page of this site it states Here you will find news and general information about the Byzantine Catholic (Greek Catholic) and other Eastern Christian Churches. There is a very diverse and interesting group of posters here, something for everyone more or less but not just a "one mind set" type of forum.

I can understand how you feel I am not Russian and that is not my crowd, however, as you mentioned to me you enjoy hearing the Rosary in your car, etc., I do enjoy reading some of the writings of Father Alexis Toth.

Stick around, there is alot here but you just have to find the area you are most comfortable with and follow those threads, for myself, I like reading them all, while I respect everyones opinions I sure dont agree with alot of thread answers but others I do, its all relative as they say.

How are things on Third Street? I hope well. I am sure there are many threads here that parallel the customs in your church, just keep clicking away on the different sections.

Mariya,

Where I come from is that I am on this forum to inject a different perspective. There are a lot of polemics on this, as on any, forum, but the partisan politics on this one is particularly unique as it mostly originates from a core of posters who believe that the best way to be members of their own jurisdiction is to model themselves on (what is at times a pious and unrealistic picture of) what Orthodox do. Though I'm now in ROCOR, I've also been on the Catholic side of course, and I am therefore also not impressed by Orthodox posters with very incorrect or polemical attitudes to the Catholic Church.

So part of why I think it is important to be involved here is because if we are going to get a united Church anytime in the future, it has to be based on reality, nothing else, and hopefully by my rebutting certain misconceptions that are presented from time to time that I add something here.

This is a longwinded way of it seems you are asking in your original post what you can get from the forum, and I don't think that's the right way to approach it. Those who give receive - rather ask what you add in your posts and what we would lack without you.

From my reading, you add one of the most open minded, intelligent and perceptive Orthodox posters here, and it would be a shame to lose a very unique openness to the Catholic perspective from an Orthodox person.

Otsheylnik,

You bring a very good thought to Mariya's question, to think what one adds in their answers to threads and what they would loose without such a response.

I agree with you there are those on both sides I am not impressed with who offer attitudes that are not beneficial in any way to what will (hopefully) be a united Universal church in the future (there have been many in roads between Rome and the EP for a long time on this matter), the rebuttal of misconceptions also has to be a two way street, both sides have many misconceptions that need to be addressesd, resolved and spoken openly of with gentle patience, simple instruction and lastly, love.

This said, yes, I trust posters like Mariya will stay and add to the diverse make up of this forum, Catholic, Orthodox and anyone else who has a love of these issues.

Thank you guys! Now I have a smile on my face for the rest of the day. :-)

Joy: I had a very exhausting week, a lot of overtime. Yesterday I was driving home from work, my brain was fried, and the ONLY thing I wanted to listen to was the rosary.

Well there now, see the benefits of being on this forum Mariya! You name it, we have the highest peaks and the lowest valleys but all in all, it is a beautiful journey together...

I can understand your exhaustion and being fried, Lord help us all in these times.

Would you care to have a recording of the Rosary said in Slavonic? I will have to burn a CD but a friend of mine had taped her ancestral village church during a visit in Eastern Slovakia and got the entire Rosary transferred to a CD, I would be more than happy to have a copy made for you also with the Marian Hymns she has on it also (and let me tell you, those babas can out perform anyone here!)

Keep posting and keep reading, we are happy you are with us here!

No thanks, the one I listen to is in Polish, I'm learning that language so I understand it. But thanks for offering. :-)

Dear MariyaNJ:

Christ is in our midst!! He is and always will be!!

Let me answer your question by pointing to the greeting we give each other. That's what and Who we care about here.

Then we ask new members to look at the "Who We are" thread stickied at the top of Town Hall a couple years ago. Your question comes up time and time again--which is a good thing because sometimes we need to remind ourselves when things get a bit testy.

We're about being a welcoming group which reaches out a hand to anyone willing to come here and learn with us--learn what it is to be brethren first and foremost; learn what terrible price history has imposed on us and the terrible hurt that still lingers; learn how to build up rather than tear down each other.

We're about being open to listening--a thing not often tolerated on internet fora--to each other and trying to see the world through the eyes of another and in and through his/her framework of reference. It's not always easy; sometimes it jars the senses to see the same thing in an entirely opposite way.

But we stumble along like people in a three-legged race, helping each other understand opposite points of view on the same subject(s) and pryaing for the day when the Holy Spirit will help us all cut through whatever still divides us at the Lord's Table so that His prayer "that all may be one" comes to pass.

Bob
Moderator

You are welcome, too bad my baba is not still with us (she was 102 and passed away recently) she spoke flueant Polish and probably could have given you much assistance via recording her prayers, conversations, etc.

I have the same impression. The forum has changed a lot since I joined 7 years ago, and posts by Orthodox Christians seem to have declined in number. It is one of the reasons that I post less often here.

P.S. - Also it seems that many controversial topics - even if the posters involved in them remain civil in tone - tend to be closed, and that really tends to turn a discussion forum into an unwelcoming (and even pointless) place.

Mariya,

As Alice correctly points out, there is a relatively constant flux in the mix of posters active at any given time. It can swing in a matter of days between being heavily Eastern Catholic or heavily Eastern Orthodox in affiliation or, just as easily, balance out between the two. Consider also, that posting during the Lenten season tends to drop off generally, as some members fast from the net during this time.

I have to admit though that your question made me smile, since, a few days ago, an Eastern Catholic (Ruthenian) member expressed to me their perceptiom - precisely opposite yours - that the forum was very Russian-oriented.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll quote part of my response to that member's PM.



As I've posted elsewhere on several occasions, the membership continues to be just as or more diverse than in those early days. Being or having been a member of almost every other Eastern site on-line at one time or another, I have no hesitation in stating that none of them is as diverse. All of the others are decidely either EO or EC, with whichever is the minority being poorly represented in numbers (and, truthfully, not always treated well - sometimes their own fault, given that there can be a tendency to be overly defensive - and defensiveness can readily morph into offensiveness).

Ruthenians still constitute the majority of actively posting members here, with Ukrainian Catholics next in number, I'm certain. Among our Orthodox members, ACROD, the OCA, and ROCOR are unquestionably well represented. A few ROC-MP (thank you ) and Russian Old Believers also participate, and there are a handful of Byzantine Russian Catholics as well.

Melkite Catholics have grown considerably in numbers here in the past few years. We have smaller numbers of Ukrainian, Albanian, Romanian, Greek, Antiochian, and Bulgarian Orthodox faithful, and Byzantine Romanian, Hungarian, Italo-Greek-Albanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Slovak Catholics who are active. (The inactive, many of whom only lurk and read, or only post very occasionally, add other whole dimensions of diversity.)

Most of the Oriental Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well as the Maronite, Chaldean, Assyrian, and ACOE Churches are represented among our active folk, although none in large numbers. As well, there are several active Latin Catholics and at least one active Protestant member, our highly-regarded friend, Pastor Thomas - Thomas the Seeker, who is Lutheran.

So, though there there are several Churches that we'd like to see better represented, the place couldn't get much more diverse - particularly when you consider that there are active posting members from all the continents except Antarctica and (presently) Africa.

A few years ago, I gave up keeping track of the specific countries from which regulars post. Besides the expected, those include a lot of nations that one wouldn't ordinarily perceive as having much, if any, awareness of, interest in, or knowledge of Eastern Christianity, Catholic or Orthodox (think Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Malaysia, and Portugal, for instance, and there are others). Those posting from such places regularly dispel any impressions one might have that we Easterners are an unknown element outside our historic lands.

Although he offered it in a different context, my friend, Edward (Otsheylnik), made a comment in his reply to you that brings to mind another rather unique aspect to this venue. He said ...



There are a number of members here who could make that same observation or its opposite ('Though I'm now Catholic, I've also been on the Orthodox side ...'). Over the years, we've watched folks make those journeys, crossing in one direction or the other (and, occasionally back) because that is where they believed that their spirituality would be best nurtured.

In each such instance, the reaction of forum members has been prayerful expressions of hope that the person would be blessed and edified in his or her new spiritual home - rather than pronouncements of the dire consequences for their soul that often mark such announcements elsewhere. It's not any indication of syncretism among us, it's rather the prayerful belief that each of us must do what we believe the Holy Spirit wants of us.

I've been criticized at times as having a pollyannish (is there such a word?) viewpoint of the forum, for having described it as a community, but I still believe that to be true. Though few of us will ever meet in real life, the vast majority here care about one another. We know things of each other's families, we pray for one another and with one another, we rejoice with each other's fortunes and mourn each other's losses.

Within the past couple of years, we have been thrilled and blessed to know of the ordination of two members to the presbyterate - one Orthodox (ACROD), one Catholic (Latin), countless others to the diaconate of various Churches, still others tonsured as subdeacons and readers. We've literally watched members grow up here, posting as high-schoolers, now in college, graduate school, or beyond. Together, we have mourned the repose of members and their spouses.

Like any family or community, we likewise have disagreements - all is not always rosy. I guess that's part of what makes the place real, as long as things are kept in perspective.

The greatest value to this site is its diversity, as my good friend, Alice, expressed. And, as my brother, Bob, said so very well, we are about learning and listening.

The opportunities to educate and be educated are seemingly never-ending. The scope of knowledge and expertise that members bring to this place and share is astounding. Clergy, iconographers, cantors, historians, and persons who are not formally any of those, but still have incredible depth of knowledge on one or more of those subjects and are willing to share it is one of the great treasures of the place. I could name individuals whose contributions on everything from fasting recipes through explanations of the most obscure liturgical rubrics make this place a goldmine of information, but there are too many and someone would be unintentionally and unfairly omitted.

As regards yourself, I think I noted early on, possibly in first greeting you, that we don't have a lot of members whose ecclesial affiliation is ROC-MP. It's a blessing whenever someone joins who may bring a new and different perspective to the place. That's what helps us grow and learn.

Many years,

Neil

I would never post new threads like the ones I used to post here (e.g., threads rejecting Papal Supremacy, the later Latin Councils, the filioque, created grace, etc.), because those threads were controversial. Now they would be closed in the blink of an eye.

That's your opinion Apotheoun - and I accept that , but it's not mine

HOWEVER - sometimes the tone of the post colours the answer .

Have you actually done any research on the number of threads closed and attempted to find the reason for it ?

Recently the few that have been closed have been closed because , if I remember correctly , the posts have just gone round and round and round and ro.......... covering the same ground . This sort of thing is not productive - to my mind of course and that's a purely personal opinion.

Perhaps we are no longer allowed personal opinions ?