Below is a series of questions that an individual posted. My responses to the questions are in red.
I've been
reading about Orthodox Christianity a lot more lately, and it seems to have
something to it, but I have a few questions. – MIND YOU, many of the
answers are my opinions or how I have been taught or how I INTERPRET what I’ve
been taught.
1. How do you guys view the
Pope? – He is a leader of the Roman church.
At least to me, he’s as revered as any Bishop. But he is not regarded more Holy or
infallible to us.
2. How do you view other
Christian denominations in general? Saved? Unsaved? Maybe Saved? Again, at least to me, it
is not our judgment that is valid. I see
many other denom’s a misguided. My
mother has always described them as ‘smorgasbord’ churches. They’ll pick a little of this to believe and
a little of that to believe, but leave behind those other less desirable ideas;
do not accept the given Doctrine as an inseparable idea.
3. I'm a hopeful
universalist (I recognize that Christ is necessary for salvation, but hope that
God will save everyone, somehow). I’m with you
here…my hope is that thru Grace, we are all saved…But sadly that is not exactly
what our teachings are. Fasting, prayer,
confession, participation in the Gifts are seen as essential to salvation. But once again, we are Earthly and imperfect
and unable to make judgment. We stand
fearfully at Christ’s Judgement seat, no one else’s.
4. What is the
"official" view of hell? (Fire, separation, eternal,
annihilationist...?) The official view of “Hell”
as I have always been taught is that the afterlife is the absolute presence of
God. If your life has been Godly and
just, the absolute presence of God will be Heavenly. However if you have turned your face from God
and lived an unjust life, the presence of God will be a living hell…
5. I read that Orthodox
Christians reject purgatory, and that they call everyone in heaven a Saint.
However, God reveals some special people who are saints, and those are the ones
that are venerated. But doesn't this mean that all deceased Christians (or at
least Orthodox Christians) are Saints? Could someone clarify the Orthodox
teaching on who gets into heaven? I know we do not accept
purgatory, but I can’t speak with much knowledge or opinion on the topic.
6. What other books of the Bible are included
besides the 66 books of the Protestant canon? Are they viewed as higher, lower,
or equal in importance of the rest? You can
look at the Orthodox Study Bible which holds the original Canonical books of
the Bible which were agreed upon at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Bible
7. How is the veneration of
Saints and icons of Saints not considered idolatry? We are not worshiping the image or the piece of wood upon which the icon
is mounted. We are merely honoring the
person whom is depicted. We are asking
for their intercession in our earthly journey as they have already “fought the
good fight”.
8. I am a pacifist, and
this will never change. What does the Orthodox Church teach about the morality
of war? I’M WITH YOU!
I don’t know a specific view on war.
However, many of our Saints were warriors…sadly it’s a necessary evil, I
suppose. Ew. Hate war.
9. I keep hearing about the
Greek, Russian, Eastern orthodox Churches, etc. are they all united in any
sense, or are they independent? They are the same church. We
are all of the same belief, Creed. We
have different Patriarchs. But they are
more a matter of geographic region/language than “religion”. We are all one. Same service, same hymns, same Gospels. I can go into any Orthodox church anywhere in
the world and take communion.
10.
What's the average, high and low age for ordination to the
priesthood? There may be
an average, but I couldn’t tell you.
I’ve had friends be ordained who are my age and younger (late 20’s -
early 30’s). But I’ve also known some to
be ordained in their 40’s and 50’s.
11. Transubstantiation? Yes?
No? – Yes.
This is seen as a great mystery and miracle by the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit.
12. Going off of 11, who can
receive the Eucharist? Baptised/Chrismated Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared
with a recent confession and fasting.
However one will not be turned away from the Gifts if they have not been
to confession recently. Christ is open
to all.
13.
What is the nature of the Eucharist? (eg, sacrificial?) – don’t understand the question…
14. How would the Orthodox
Church handle it if suddenly Benedict said he was an orthodox Christian and
wanted to merge (word choice?) the RCC and Orthodox Churches? This one is
mostly out of curiosity. Something we pray for
every service is the “unity of the faith”.
Now if this means the merger, I’m not totally sure. But that’s what I’ve always sort of assumed. We would welcome the Catholic’s back to the
Orthodox Church. However there are many
doctrinal differences that have become more pronounced over the centuries. And so many Catholics are very devout and
Catholic is their identity. Meaning, I
suppose, if our Patriarch just all the sudden decided he wanted the Orthos to
become R.C., I’d have a hard time with that.
Ortho is my identity since birth, does that make sense? However, if Cath’s truly see the Pope as
infallible and all his decision in the best interest of his flock, perhaps
they’d blindly follow?
15. Does the Orthodox Church
have confession? Yes, we see Confession as a crucial part of salvation. It is a Sacrament. Many Prots see this as confession to a person
(Priest) and don’t understand why silent confession (such as prayer directly to
God) is not acceptable. My view has
always been that although yes you are confessing to a Priest, he is merely a
means to an end. He is imperfect just as
we are, he must confess to another Priest just as we do. I have always seen the confession to another
person as a sense of humility. Sometimes
it is hard to confess things…it’s embarrassing, it’s disheartening, and it’s
very humbling. To me, it’s so simple to
ask forgiveness in silent prayer. It does not involve any humility. No one can ‘hear’ you. No one can ‘see’ your tears of repentance. To be it’s a matter of humbling yourself in
front of a human person, and asking God for forgiveness and asking a blessing
from the Priest.
16. What's one thing I
haven't asked you think I should know?
I know this
is a lot, and there will probably be more. But I think that's it for now, I'll
come back if I have any more questions. You could
ask how/why we are given Saint’s names at Baptism. J And the answer is
several-fold.
1)
We are all given the name
of a specific saint/angel at baptism. If
we already have a ‘Christian name’ ie David, Michael, Peter, Ana, Mary etc –
typically the parents/God-parents will choose for example Mary the Theotokos,
Mary of Egypt, Mary Magdalene etc for Mary’s…get it.
2)
If they are not named
after a saint, like me for example, Megan, my parents choose another saint for
whom to baptize me. (Mine is Saint
Michael the Archangel, as my middle name is Michele.)
3)
Also, when people are
baptized/Chrismated as adults, whether or not they have a ‘christian’ name,
they may want to select a particular saint for whom to be called. For example, if my name is Megan and the story
of the life of Saint Mary of Egypt really spoke to me, I could elect/select her
as my baptismal name/saints name.
4)
It’s pretty awesome J
Thanks in
advance to anyone who answers, even just one! :)
