www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News From Athens to Rome: The Scuttled Voyage of His Beatitude Christodoulos

Dearest Brothers in Christ, Matthew and Father Stephanos,

Please let this go. I am not offended.

I love and respect you both!

Let's remember that we are all called to forgive and to love one another in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

May He bless you both,
Alice

Dear Father Stephanos,

It certainly seems to me that what you had said was hurtful to Alice. Imagination is not the same as reality and regardless of what you are now saying I believe your remarks had been somewhat disturbing to Alice.

Is ignoring people because of what they say more charitable than helping someone that might still be infected so they might come to know the reality of what they are saying?

Actually I'm "infected" to use your term with much more than just my previous job, I didn't realize it was so obvious.

Well, I would imagine that Alice and others are not fond of this sort of thing so it seems best that I say no more about it.

In Christ,

Matthew Panchisin

Dear Bill, I find this observation brilliant. I had always wondered why the Orthodox feel the way they do about the Catholic Church, and came to a similar conclusion. It would be like a small store, being asked to unite with a larger one. The benefits would be greater, but at the loss of their specific identity. Which frankly is disgracful, considering 'humility', and not elitism, is Christianity. As for Arch. Christodoulos, he is a Greek 'patriot', and always see's things through those very provincial eyes. But that's why he's so lovable. Actually, I can't believe he's still grieving over those identity cards? They came about during WWII and helped protect the Jews by stating they were Christians. Because of that, Arch. Christodoulos can't see the prejudice in them. He sincerely believes that it was a first step in separating the Greek Church from the state, and as I stated, he is first and foremost a Greek. To him, the Orthodox Church is Greece...but then again, the Hindu's say Hinduism is India, etc. After the visit by the Pope, in which the Greek media was so highly irresponsible by interviewing the most fundamentalist monks, a poll was taken that over fifty percent of the people of Greece are in favor of union. Now the problem with that, is that the worst and most fanatical element against any unity, is also the most verbal and destructive. Zenovia

From the Interview:

A: "I remember what a French journalist wrote recently in the newspaper 'La Croix'. He understood the identification of the priest with the people in Greece when he saw our married priests live with their children and wives like other men, when he saw them have coffee with their faithful after the mass, when he realized that there is great comprehension and affection for the people on the part of the Church, as in matrimonial questions, in which two divorces and three marriages are permitted."

I had heard, and meant to ask about it on the forum soon, about how one divorce/separation was allowed in Eastern traditions, the term I heard applied was, mercy divorces... that's a translation, I may be off the mark. The idea being that God who is forgiveness will allow one divorce allowing for the fact that a mistake was made etc. (you'll be able to explain this better than me) but I was also told that only one was allowed! Not two. Did I just misunderstand the Archbishop? Could somebody explain?

Dear Philipe,

You ask a legitimate question about divorce in Orthodoxy which we have already addressed here at exhaustive length.

I think that there is a way that you can access that thread.

In brief: (because if we are going to get started on this again, we should start a new thread):

The Greek Orthodox church takes divorce seriously, and will issue an 'ecclesiastical' divorce ONLY after an exhaustive procedure. It recognizes that some times, and in some instances, a marriage cannot go on -- so, in what Orthodoxy calls 'economy' (spiritual dispensation), it can allow OR disallow *certain* things on an *individual* spiritual basis from one's spiritual father, like: divorce, relaxation from the stringent fast, etc.

This is a big difference the Eastern Church has with the Western Church. The West has stringent rules that cannot be broken, but the East recognizes the shortcomings of man and thus, allows just a little bit of flexibility in its approach with the faithful.

The allowance of two ecclesiastical divorces is EXTREMELY rare, if non-existent, and is nothing more than a carry over from the day of the Byzantine Emperors who obviously 'needed' this relaxed rule from the Patriarchs. :rolleyes:

In Christ,
Alice