The ongoing scandal in the Orthodox Church in Greece
Firstly, I'd ask forgiveness for neglecting to update this blog in the last few days... I know there are a handful of you who check up on this blog semi-regularly, so I'd ask your indulgence here. A combination of work, and Church business are keeping me quite occupied right now, so it's a treat to be able to get back in front of the computer to hammer out a few thoughts from my big, thick head.
As for the Church of Greece fiasco, this is all doubly saddening for me. It is not just said because of the apparent offences themselves (thus my sadness for those involved), but the incredible mileage that the secular forces in Greece (and the "European community" at large) are going to get out of this scandal, and the obvious hurt this does to the "little ones" (the simple faithful who might not be able to make the proper distinctions in situations like this.)
There are a lot of forces right now (human ones I mean; those of unseen spiritual darkness are a given) that are at war against Orthodox Christianity. Some of them are just generally "anti-religion" and as is usually the case, specifically anti-Christian. However, I also have come to believe that there is a vein of enemy here that is specifically anti-Orthodox. Why? Because Orthodox Christianity, of all of the world's self described "Christian confessions" has remained remarkably integral. Yes, there are sectarian "Orthodox" (or as I have come to describe them "chicken little Orthodox") who magnify the real problems to be found in the Orthodox world, but the fact of the matter is that for all of Her internal troubles, the Orthodox Church is incredibly "out of step" with the prevailing relativism, humanism, and egalitarianism of the so called "civilized west". This I think, has made the Orthodox Church a juicy target for certain political ideologues, in a way the Roman Catholic Church ("RCC" for short) perhaps once was before it sold out to spirit of the times.
As news articles like this one are indicating, this scandal in the Greek Church is being exploited by secularist forces who have already had designs upon the role of Orthodox Christianity in the lives of much of Europe. I'm sure many reading this are well aware of recent attempts by agitators in the European Union to violate the traditions of ancient monastic island of Mt.Athos, by forcing this (basically) giant male monastery to admit female visitors. We also should not remain sheepishly naive, in not noticing the recent agitations directed by various western powers at historically Orthodox lands (whether it be NATO's superficially unfathomable attacks on Serbia, or America's inreasingly hostile posturing towards Russia). I wouldn't go so far as to claim that there is any one organized conspiracy against Orthodox Christianity, but this does seem to be a broad trend coming from several different directions, that does have a singular, cumulative result. And of course, I think it would be very mistaken to believe that on the invisible level of fallen spiritual intelligences (aka demons) all of thse "loose ends" do not have a very explicit, united purpose.
I really hope the Church in Greece learns some lessons from the recent scandals of the RCC, and does not attempt to handle the matter in the same way (i.e. only wait until the situation becomes dire before taking any practical steps.) While I agree that in better circumstances these matter should be dealt with discreetly (but still get dealt with!), the incredibly public nature of these sins, and the media saturation that they are getting, require a very public response from the Church. This is not what I'd like (as I believe in the Biblical notion of "covering your father's nakedness"), but I think the situation merits it: and a greater evil will result from a failure to deal with the current situation severely, and quite publically. Otherwise, the damage that is already done will only be exploited by interested parties and made all the worse.
As for the Church of Greece fiasco, this is all doubly saddening for me. It is not just said because of the apparent offences themselves (thus my sadness for those involved), but the incredible mileage that the secular forces in Greece (and the "European community" at large) are going to get out of this scandal, and the obvious hurt this does to the "little ones" (the simple faithful who might not be able to make the proper distinctions in situations like this.)
There are a lot of forces right now (human ones I mean; those of unseen spiritual darkness are a given) that are at war against Orthodox Christianity. Some of them are just generally "anti-religion" and as is usually the case, specifically anti-Christian. However, I also have come to believe that there is a vein of enemy here that is specifically anti-Orthodox. Why? Because Orthodox Christianity, of all of the world's self described "Christian confessions" has remained remarkably integral. Yes, there are sectarian "Orthodox" (or as I have come to describe them "chicken little Orthodox") who magnify the real problems to be found in the Orthodox world, but the fact of the matter is that for all of Her internal troubles, the Orthodox Church is incredibly "out of step" with the prevailing relativism, humanism, and egalitarianism of the so called "civilized west". This I think, has made the Orthodox Church a juicy target for certain political ideologues, in a way the Roman Catholic Church ("RCC" for short) perhaps once was before it sold out to spirit of the times.
As news articles like this one are indicating, this scandal in the Greek Church is being exploited by secularist forces who have already had designs upon the role of Orthodox Christianity in the lives of much of Europe. I'm sure many reading this are well aware of recent attempts by agitators in the European Union to violate the traditions of ancient monastic island of Mt.Athos, by forcing this (basically) giant male monastery to admit female visitors. We also should not remain sheepishly naive, in not noticing the recent agitations directed by various western powers at historically Orthodox lands (whether it be NATO's superficially unfathomable attacks on Serbia, or America's inreasingly hostile posturing towards Russia). I wouldn't go so far as to claim that there is any one organized conspiracy against Orthodox Christianity, but this does seem to be a broad trend coming from several different directions, that does have a singular, cumulative result. And of course, I think it would be very mistaken to believe that on the invisible level of fallen spiritual intelligences (aka demons) all of thse "loose ends" do not have a very explicit, united purpose.
I really hope the Church in Greece learns some lessons from the recent scandals of the RCC, and does not attempt to handle the matter in the same way (i.e. only wait until the situation becomes dire before taking any practical steps.) While I agree that in better circumstances these matter should be dealt with discreetly (but still get dealt with!), the incredibly public nature of these sins, and the media saturation that they are getting, require a very public response from the Church. This is not what I'd like (as I believe in the Biblical notion of "covering your father's nakedness"), but I think the situation merits it: and a greater evil will result from a failure to deal with the current situation severely, and quite publically. Otherwise, the damage that is already done will only be exploited by interested parties and made all the worse.
posted by The Rambler at 7:52 AM
1 Comments:
They sure do need our prayers.
BTW, I think the term you are looking for is Pravoslavophobia - first coined by the Conservative American writer Serge Trifkovic (Foreign Affairs writer for 'Chronicles' magazine.)
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