I agree, I am sure St. John was honest with him in a compassionate way just like message issued by the ROCOR bishops.

Agreed. There was a lot of wisdom in Tolkien.

That’s a good point, Tamara. The problem however is in the premise: the young Eugene Rose came into an Orthodox church probably for the same reason that St Mary of Egypt went to the Holy Sepulchre, perhaps a whim, on a dare, idle curiosity, or an unrequited feeling. Perhaps a mixture of any and all of the above. Regardless, St John Maximovitch didn’t rejigger Christian tradition to make it more palatable to Rose. That he was loving to him I have no doubt. Indeed, I’d be scandalized to hear anything less. No doubt St John noticed something that was nascently holy about Rose. At any rate, Rose didn’t go to the Cathedral dressed in drag and disrupting Communion. By all accounts he was respectful.

Yes, Michael S. there is a lesson: of love, of patience and of long suffering and the anathemas should be used to guard one’s own heart, not to break the soul of another. There is indeed a great danger for we poor men in “defending” the truth. The Soviets used such misguided feelings of responsibility to break many faithful men. Your example also reveals the difference between asking in faith, even with doubts, and asking in arrogance and faithlessness.

I hope you understand the distinction I am attempting to make (albeit poorly) between clearly, without apology or embarrasement, declaring the truth reveled in Holy Tradition and the economia of its application. There is a great gulf between declaring that (pick a sin) is destructive and repentance is needed for the sinner’s salvation and out of hate declaring “God hates fags” (for instance). The latter behavior is a greater sin, IMO, that the sin objected to.

St. Paul often declared in unbending language what the standard of Christian belief and behavior should be and that there should be no expceptions. He also frequently declared that when someone failed, they should boldly go before the throne of grace in humility and repentance.

St. Paul also warned us against squables and debates (“doubtful disputations”) whose intent was to foster division in the community. Those who adamently refused to repent or arrogantly sought to overturn the revealed truth were not welcome in the community.

I take Met. Philip’s words as a warning that those who wish to overturn the clear teaching of the Church on homosexuality were not welcome and their desire would not be entertained. You may not like his style, but, IMO, in this case he was fulfilling his episcopal duty of “rightly dividing the word of truth”

I would note to Mr. Bauman, the “anathamas” I posted previously should be carefully kept in the liturgical context for which they were intended. They were not intended to be indictment, excoriation, or even a “vanquishing” of the Church’s enemies – and you would note there is no singing of the Troparion of the Cross. But rather, the liturgical instruction following the reading of the anathamas is “The Bishop cries out in a loud voice: “Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God that does wonders!” (Ps. 76:13-14) The service is referred to as the “Triumph” of Orthodoxy, and the anathamas occur in the context of a celebration of “joining with the Fathers before us.” I will never forget Fr. Schmemann describing how every Friday night, Coptic Pope/Patriarch Shenouda, of blessed memory, celebrated Vespers in his cathedral, surrounded by hundreds of young people. He then drew a chair to the center of the church, with an old microphone and speaker, a bowl was passed to collect questions, and he sat for hours – the for real desert monastic – answering handwritten questions. There is a lesson here, no?

Tamara,

I do enjoy writing, helps me claify my own thoughts, but I didn’t find the ROCOR statement until just before I posted the link.

Will do.

You could have saved yourself from writing all the sermons and exhortations to me in this thread if you had just given me that link in the very beginning. We are on the same side but you must enjoy writing. 🙂

Thanks Tamara.

Peter dot green man at gee mail.

Peter I can put you in touch with the priest. His advice was geared specifically to a problem I was having with a non-Christian student in a public school setting.

Just saw Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring this past weekend on cable for the umpteenth time and thought about the culture wars currently waging in this country and how much they resemble this movie and vice versa. The Balrog scene is probably my most favorite scene from all three movies. Great reference, Michael!