"I am the door. By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." - John 10:9 At every parish where I have had the pleasure of attending services, there is always a small group of people who find their way all the way up to the church building but don't actually attend services. At one parish it was a group of male gypsies who talked on cellphones or smoked cigarettes. At another it was a few Protestant husbands who, though they never attended services, opened the parish doors for people as they filed in. At yet another parish the men stood in the narthex and chatted until it was time to receive and then got in line. Latin or Greek Catholic, Eastern or Oriental Orthodox I see the same small throng of men standing next to the front door, but not standing, sitting, or kneeling amongst the people. If it were me (and I can only speak for myself here) this option would be an unsavory one. The boredom would be immediate. The anxiety of som...
Most priests would be delighted to receive non-Orthodox spouses into the Church, so it seems to me that the spouses are making a point of not being received. It's not as if the Church is putting up obstacles. The bishop is proposing that we commune people who actively and deliberately reject Orthodoxy.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted to be an Anglican and accept branch theory, I'd have joined the Anglican church. It seems that the Metropolitan wants us to reject the oneness of the Church and accept such a theory, that anyone can commune even if not yet Orthodox. Doesn't he read that same pre-communion prayers that we read? We are warned about the danger of being "burnt" by the Eucharist if we commune without proper preparation and faith.
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