Orthodixie

Moscow, May 13, Interfax – The new First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) doubted the relevancy of the World Council of Churches.

“The Moscow Patriarchate participates in the World Council of Churches for the purposes of maintaining a dialogue among Christians, but we can see that there is hardly any union reached, and this organization has lost its importance,” said the First Hierarch Hilarion in his interview published by the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Tuesday.

According to Archbishop Hilarion, the foreign clergy and the laity have been interested in the Moscow Patriarchate’s participation in this organization since 1960s, when Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI rescinded the excommunications of the Great Schism, “which the Orthodox and Catholic Churches imposed against each other in 1054.”

“There were even certain instances of a communal prayer, which is strictly prohibited by our canons. But in 2000, the Moscow Patriarchate explicitly defined in its order, that the true Orthodox Church is the one initially created by Jesus. And Christians who diverted in their due times from the initial Church are not true Christians, and their belief is false. The Moscow Patriarchate indicates, the same as we do, that it is impossible to hold common services with those who had diverted,” says Metropolitan Hilarion.

Source

I realize the above news clip will not please my Roman Catholic readers, thus I hope they’ll further forgive me for the following by Fr Chrysostom MacDonnell, taken from “An Orthodox view of Church History” …

A few years ago I met an Anglican clergyman who was married to a Greek Orthodox lady. They once went to Greece for a holiday and visited her home village. Naturally, she introduced her Anglican husband to the local Papas (the Greek Orthodox parish priest,) who spoke a little English. At the time there was a little old Greek lady standing beside them who asked the Greek priest who this visitor was.

“He’s an Anglican Christian,” the priest responded in Greek.

“What’s an Anglican?” the old lady inquired.

“They’re Protestants,” replied the priest. “You know, like Roman Catholics.”

Source

HOLYHEAD, Wales — A man who dressed up as Darth Vader, wearing a garbage bag for a cape … and assaulted the founders of a group calling itself the Jedi church, was given a suspended sentence Tuesday.

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, attacked Jedi church founder Barney Jones — aka Master Jonba Hehol — with a metal crutch, hitting him on the head, prosecutors told Holyhead Magistrates’ Court.

He also whacked Jones’ 18-year-old cousin, Michael Jones — known as Master Mormi Hehol — bruising his thigh in the March 25 incident, prosecutors said.

The two cousins and Barney Jones’ brother, Daniel, set up the Church of Jediism, Anglesey order, last year. Jedi is the faith followed by some of the central characters in the “Star Wars” films.

The group, which claims about 30 members, says …

Go H E R E for the story.

Thanks to FWD from an Orthodox Seminarian.

Oh! And while we’re at it …

“The Vatican’s chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. “

There’s a little ice cream shop in Sam Houston’s “hometown” of Huntsville where we’d popped in before, on the tail end of a previous camping trip. There we sat again, but this time we noticed the sign. As you exit the goody shop, it hangs by a window: “Please hurry back.” Though, seeing as how we’d lived in the woods for a couple nights, anything could be anything. It suddenly read: “Plush hairy back.” At least that’s what the dad said — not sure the mom had as much fun with it, but the kids loved it. They kept giggling and repeating “plush hairy back.” I have no idea what the other cold cream consumers thought; no matter, they’d just have to forgive us … we’d been camping.

I have noticed, over the years, a pattern. Day One of camping is full of perpetual anxiety, where one is easily tempted: short fuse, argggh, pack everthing, arggh, go go go, argggh, set up tent, argggh, everything this and everything that, arggh …

Till about bedtime, when one goes, “Ah … this is nice.”

(The young’ns & the monument aren’t really connected. Neither, apparently, is earth to boy.)

No matter how one sleeps that first night, the second day is unlike its predecessor. Entirely. Families who camp may suddenly notice that, Gee … we’re a family. Look at us! There’s time to, well, do … nothing. Though hikes and swimming and meals (and Lord knows those continual walks to the public toilet) hack away at the day … Day Two is worth all the arggh of Day One.

By the 3rd day … you, a parent, might even justify S’mores before breakfast!

You know you’ve been in the Texas heat a bit too long when you go looking for alligators!

Arrghhhhhhhh!

Oh, wait. That’s no Blair Witch and we’re no longer in the woods … just Whacky Day at Kindergarten.

Which means school’s almost out …

Which can only mean …

Parents, repeat after me:

Arrghhhhhhhh!

But all the happy campers (and I’m sure the teachers) say:

“Plush hairy back.”

(S’mores in the morning not available in all areas.)

There was only one bishop who voted for another candidate …

Vladika Hilarion himself.

May God grant him many years!

Thanks to news from Fathers John Whiteford & Mark Mancuso.

UPDATE: The official word, thanks to Fr Andrew Damick, is —

On April 29 (May 12), 2008, on the feast day of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus, we, the undersigned bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, having gathered in the church of our Most-Holy Queen, the Mother of God and Most-Pure Mary, in honor of the Miracle-working Icon of the Sign, by means of secret ballot, elected the Primate of the Russian Church Abroad, for which 8 written ballots were submitted by the bishops in attendance and 3 ballots from absent bishops. Upon unsealing the ballots, the following votes were revealed:

Archbishop Hilarion 9

Archbishop Mark 2

We hear it from time to time: a silly thing, really. Truth be known, we’ve probably even said it.
He’s in a better place …

She’s in a better place …

And, if you’ve said it before, forgive me, I’m not talking about you. Lord knows I’ve probably even said it.

Sometimes when we try to comfort someone who has just lost a loved one, we say:

He’s in a better place.

or,

She’s in a better place.

I don’t think it’s just a Southern thing — He’s in a better place — though it could be. But, we’ll come back to that in a moment …

When we were on our way to converting to Orthodoxy 15 years ago, a young man (now known as Fr Paul the Monk or Monk Paul Hagiopavlites) — he and I were on our way to St Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, Tennessee. We were laughing about a lot of things – discovering Orthodoxy can be quite fun! – and I used the word “Orthodixie” to describe ourselves … two Southern boys, raised in the Baptist Church, on our way to Orthodoxy …

THEN … we saw Fr Gordon Walker’s son, Tom, give a concert at St Ignatius – sort of Country Christian Convert meets Constantinople – and I told Fr Gordon later that we’d dubbed his son’s music …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.