Popular posts from this blog
A Response to “On administering Holy Communion in a Time of a Plague”
This was sent to me and deserves a read. You can read the Calivas article here . We can all agree that we are living in unusual times. However, the nature and extent of the illness that we face, and the proper response of the Church, is a matter of much disagreement. We have seen various responses to the COVID-19 epidemic: calls to close our Churches as infectious vectors, and demands to open them as places of spiritual healing. Directives a) ordering the cessation of sacramental life as part of an effort to “flatten the curve,” and cries for access to the divine grace that flows forth from those very mysteries; b) calling for the restriction of “at-risk persons,” and serious questions about the validity of such controls, c) instructions to liturgists to wear personal protective equipment during the celebration of the divine services and the distribution of the holy Mysteries, and uncertainty about the fitness of such practices. Who has been championing what and on behalf of whom? The ...
Sr. Vassa: There's no ontological impediment to priestesses
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...
This is an interesting letter, but I don't understand why it's in English. Do Constantinople and Ukraine use English as their language of communication?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Arseniy Yatsenyuk is a Greek-Catholic (Uniate)...
ReplyDeleteA lot has happened since Easter on May 1st, 2016. For example, Archbishop Job is in Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteAs for the language, EP written contact with Ukraine is and has been in Ukrainian but usually the Ukrainian versions, Greek versions and English versions are posted on the official web site. Where is the link to the web site for this letter? Why is addressed to the Prime Minister instead of the President?
The EP has no jurisdiction in the internal affairs of the Russian or Ukrainian Church. Any attempt to interfere will be its final undoing.
ReplyDeleteThe Orthodox world cannot soon enough be rid of the Pretender-Pope Bart of Istanbul. His clutching acqusitiveness would do a politician proud.
ReplyDeletePlease pay attention to the following:
ReplyDelete1) This letter is dated Holy Pascha 2015, making it over a year old.
2) It is addressed to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Vladimir Groisman on April 14, 2016 (before Holy Pascha of this year).
If this is real news, it's old news, too old to be directly linked to the current discussion about who can grant Ukraine autonomy.
The comment some have is that what Met. Job had to say was unrelated to anything Constantinople has ever said. It seems Constantinople has been saying similar things for well over a year.
DeleteWow, I didn't think of it that way. That's a very good point. Thank you, Father!
DeleteBut "Josephus Flavius" you still have not explained where you got this image scan of a letter and where is the original. The EP has repeatedly said that Constantinople is the Mother Church of Ukraine. Producing a year old scan of a letter without a source only muddies the waters and causes confusion.
DeleteOh, it was sent to me on Facebook.
ReplyDelete