Scotland1960 wrote:
Dear Orthodox friends, I believe one of the blessed and holy epistles of the blessed and holy Apostle of our LORD GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST says to STAY AWAY FROM "endless genealogies .... and disputes about the law", which do "bring forth strifes (divisions)".
Actually, the \"genealogies\" that the Apostle was referring to were not family trees and the like. I\'m not a biblical scholar, but as I recall in that time groups would have disputes about their origins (kind of like the \"I am of Cephas/Paul/Apollos/Christ\" disputes also condemned by St. Paul). Philosophical schools would have \"genealogies\" of their leaders. These were sort of \"intellectual\" lists, though, not family trees. Both St. Matthew and St. Luke, in their Gospels, wrote genealogies for the Lord, and in the Old Testament there are various genealogies. So researching your family history is not condemned at all. I know this isn\'t central to the discussion here, but I wanted to make that distinction.
