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...
Well, that's taking the wrong road....
ReplyDeleteThey've been on that road for a very long time. Their people in the diaspora without their own churches are usually told to go to Roman Catholic ones.
DeleteYep,,,we have been preempted,,,we had our chance to make nice and we blew it...too many reasons why it can't be done and not looking as to how it can be done.
ReplyDeleteRJ, Are you aware of the Ba
ReplyDeletelamand Agreement and how The Rum Orthodox and Syriacs have been in cooperative mode for decades now?
Of course, and it is us that is the wet blanket,,,,,we have no vision, no leadership, and no belief in Jesus who sought to go after the lost sheep, we are afraid of the lost sheep and keep them an arms length away. I learned a long time ago as chairman of my university's engineering alumni,,,that alumni never gave money because they were never asked or because they were never personally contacted. I have exhorted many a cleric regarding our lost sheep and making them feel that they were missed. To many are like fr prokopy marchenko who was pastor in Norwich CT. When I was president of the orthodox Christian fellowship at the univ of ct, I invited him to visit us and serve on campus,,,,he rejected the invitation and said if they want to go to church, let them come here.....stores was some 25 miles away and most of the students had no transportation,,,,,,btw the church in willomantic had parishioners come and pick us up, and supported our services on campus,and they were a smaller church,,,,,,,,too many of us follow the Norwich model,,,,it is just tragic that too many of us are just so myopic
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