My parents new friends are ex-Orthodox

[cobweb]

On top of everything else that I've been dealing with lately....

My mom told me yesterday that they have become pretty close to a younger couple at their church from Russia and the husband is ex- cradle Orthodox. They keep telling my folks that Orthodoxy isn't Christian and that it is evil.

Mom's been to a couple of Divine Liturgies and I think she tried to disagree with him. The problem is that he is from Russia and was raised Orthodox.... I wasn't and presumably know very little in comparison.

She's met some people who were very anti-Catholic before... so the only thing that I could think of was to relate it to that.

[Barky]

It seems to me when people come out of a religion saying it's evil and wrong, it was a result of some bad people in the church. This could be laymen, priests, even higher authority, just about anyone associated with the church.

When someone has done something wrong from inside the community, it is very hard to forgive and forget the situation. My prayers

[Matrona]

Oy vey! :eek:

Nothing grates my nerves more than people who come out of eeevul Orthodoxy who never understood it to begin with. I can't pretend to know how to deal with that, but my thoughts will be with you.

[Lukaris]

:cry: This is so sad; they sound as if they have joined some cult and became brainwashed. This is not theological differences of certain doctrine in which one chooses to be RC or Protestant; that can be understood even if unfortunate. This sounds evil itself; in another Orthodox forum I joined late in a discussion re a sham book called "Is Eastern Orthodoxy Christian?" by someone named Dr. Robert Morey. One of the participants told me that such a publication could circulate by schismatics in EO lands and I wonder if this ir something like it is the source here? Praying that their delusion be removed. :crosseo:

[Chocolatesa]

:crosseo:

[Barky]

:cry: This is so sad; they sound as if they have joined some cult and became brainwashed. This is not theological differences of certain doctrine in which one chooses to be RC or Protestant; that can be understood even if unfortunate. This sounds evil itself; in another Orthodox forum I joined late in a discussion re a sham book called "Is Eastern Orthodoxy Christian?" by someone named Dr. Robert Morey. One of the participants told me that such a publication could circulate by schismatics in EO lands and I wonder if this ir something like it is the source here? Praying that their delusion be removed. :crosseo:

Oh? And what is this other orthodox forum you speak of?

[nikolayalexandroff]

On top of everything else that I've been dealing with lately....

My mom told me yesterday that they have become pretty close to a younger couple at their church from Russia and the husband is ex- cradle Orthodox. They keep telling my folks that Orthodoxy isn't Christian and that it is evil.

Mom's been to a couple of Divine Liturgies and I think she tried to disagree with him. The problem is that he is from Russia and was raised Orthodox.... I wasn't and presumably know very little in comparison.

She's met some people who were very anti-Catholic before... so the only thing that I could think of was to relate it to that.
Believe me, frequently cradle Orthodox from Russia can know nothing at all about Orthodox Church, Orthodox theology, Orthodox ascetic practice. All these people know - only several superstitious semi-pagan customs about that they think, that they are essense of Orthodox faith, and several stupid stories about drunk greedy priests. To tell the truth, I've heard about, and myself seen the priests of that sort several times, but it's nothing. Russian cradle-Orthodox generally knows nothing about Christianity and even about Orthodoxy, much lesser, than American converts with the protestant background. Pay no attention on that silly stories. I am a Russian Orthodox too. Your parents should take into consideration and my testimony either:).
PS
You should understand, that the Russian cradle-Orthodox much differ from Greek, e.g. Many people were baptized, during the years of Communist dictatorship, but they still remained far from the Church. In essence, they remained cradle atheists. And unfortunately, our Church is still too weak, to cover all Russia by evangelism.

[Silentchapel]

As my priest has said: "Every Communist has seen a priest eat meat on Good Friday!" :-D

[zhilan]

What type of church is it that they are going to now?

Prayers for you. That's hard. =\

Maybe you can give your mom some reading so she can have a response?

[Macarius]

Though it may seem counterintuitive, you may point out that there are ex-protestants in Orthodoxy who sometime border on that kind of vehement polemicism, considering Protestants little less than a bunch of heretics. Then make sure to say that just as you REFUSE to allow that kind of skewed perspective, so she should avoid allowing this skewed perspective to color her thoughts or experiences.

Or point out that if someone came from a less-than-healthy part of Protestantism (ie Word of Faith / health and wealth gospel), they'd have a very skewed view of it, and that one should look first to what a faith preaches, and then to areas in which it is failing - that way those failures are seen for what they are: an aberation and failure.

Hand her the creed you say at every liturgy. Hand her the Orthodox scriptures. This was sufficient to convince my parents that the Orthodox are Christian.

My prayers are with you.

In Christ,
Macarius

[MariaRegina]

There is this wonderful book about Christians during the Soviet Empire -- stories about heroism and stories about cowardism.

It is a great read.

And you can get a great copy for your own library for 1 cents plus $3.99 shipping at Amazon. No, I do not work for them, but I must purchase close to $1000 a year from Amazon when I include all my school books, Orthodox books, and Christmas presents too.

Anyway, the title of the book is ....



















Can you guess? It was published in 1993.


























And my anti-Orthodox mom, who is a Charismatic Baptist simply loved the book.








Any clues ?






:)



Candles Behind the Wall
by Barbara von der Heydt
1993

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Further enticements ...The author served at the Heritage Foundation.

[Bushmaster78FS]

by someone named Dr. Robert Morey.

He is a moron, his research is shabby, without foundation, and mostly speculative. He wrote one of those masterpieces against Islam, he pulled so much nonsense in his arguments from his rear, if a Christian dared to bring him up in a debate with muhammadans, we had to go the double distance in apologetics, covering this idiot's mistakes, too. He should be AVOIDED.

[Lukaris]

Oh? And what is this other orthodox forum you speak of?
www.orthodoxchristianity.net (http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net)

[Lukaris]

He is a moron, his research is shabby, without foundation, and mostly speculative. He wrote one of those masterpieces against Islam, he pulled so much nonsense in his arguments from his rear, if a Christian dared to bring him up in a debate with muhammadans, we had to go the double distance in apologetics, covering this idiot's mistakes, too. He should be AVOIDED.
Totally agree, I only perused the table of contents & some small portions of the book & concluded that it was a sham. I also made a distinction that there are some Protestant critiques of Orthodoxy, that although I vehemently disagree with, have integrity. Morey's book is outright trash. For instance, the book strongly implies that 17th c "Protestant" patriarch Cyril Lukaris (who unfortunately embraced some CAlivinism) was murdered by Orthodox reactionaries rather than the Ottomans. It also fails to mention that Lukaris was on cordial terms with King Charles I of England & presented an ancient manuscript of the epistle of Clement to the Corinthians which is in the British Museum. Morey also does not mention that it was Charles I & Anglican Archbishop Laud who were beheaded by Puritan extremists for their adherence to ancient liturgical worship.