Is the male-only priesthood a discipline or essential to the nature of being a priest? Sr. Vassa (again unflinchingly taking up a contentious topic by climbing up the ladder to the highest platform and then jumping into the deep end head first) dives right in and says there is no reason beyond personal preference to not have female clergy. You know, when people ask me about women in priesthood, they say, 'Sister, why can't women be priests?' And I say, 'Women CAN be priests. We don't WANT them to be priests.' Because you see, God can do anything, and the Church, by divine authority, uh, can do anything, but, the Church doesn't want to - and that's a legitimate reason. What I don't like is when we TRY to pretend that there are other reasons for this, because it's legitimate not to want something, and there are reasons not to want this - right? - but, we shouldn't pretent that there's some... reason, that, for example, the maleness...
His Holiness is right. There is far too much harm done to the Church by self-proclaimed experts in Orthodoxy criticizing the leadership of the Church or fighting their private argumen ts on the internet. Much of what passes for news is mere gossip that does harm to the Church. We must all remember that we should all be concerned about our own salvation and let God take care of His Holy Church
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Its sad how the hurtful things people say and do once they are separated from personal contact.
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