Abp. Christophoros from Jordan on monasticism today

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  1. JakeOctober 15, 2021 at 10:47 AM

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  2. JakeOctober 15, 2021 at 10:53 AM

    At least here in western civ. (and I suspect largely in Jordan as well) the family as an institution - a little cult-ure, is embedded in the larger anti-Christian secular culture. One he mentions, the school, is specifically designed to negate Christian culture/family. The Church (as an institution - a cult) is at the same time both prior and post family, in that they both depend upon and serve as the soil for each other.

    So in the end I wonder about sermons such as this one. Not that there is anything objectionable on the surface, but it strikes me as somewhat shallow and not up to the fundamental problem(s) - sort of like walking into a bar full of drunks and saying "get a hold of yourselves! *Will* yourself out of your drunkenness!" when the truth of the matter (following AA's central insight) is that each of them is *powerless* against their drunkenness.

    So I circle around to the institution of the (Orthdox) Church itself and ask what its part of this necrotic situation is (risking of course being seen as making a "protestant" critique). Is it bound in a praxis and life that is in fact dependent upon Christendom - the underlying culture where families, schools, wider cultural life, even the state are in the background always de facto 'propping up' the Christian life. In other words, can the structure/praxis of this Eastern Orthodox Church (which is distinct from Ortho-doxia per se) *live* now that most (all really) of the other cult-ure's are anti-Christian? When you consider the evidence such as this (which is more "objective" yet possibly not as important as actual personal experience) it makes one think:

    https://orthodoxreality.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2020CensusGeneralReport1.pdf

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