IN THE NAME OF UNITY...

Is it possible, Jimmy The Rock, other Orthodox Christians, or whoever will respond to this ... is it possible for there to be a \"false unity\", mere outward unity, organizational, where knowledge of Christian Truth is absent ... where there is truths (good doctrines) mixed with some errors, such as FIlioque, purgatory, immaculate conception of Virgin Mary, etc. What of the case of Mrs. Vassula Ryden? Who is she? Is she Greek Orthodox? She seems to be wanting to make very many concessions to Roman Catholicism in the name of Unity with Rome for the Greek Orthodox ... is this a compromising unity, that does not respect not only Orthodox rights and freedom in Christ, but also Orthodox Truth and Gospel unity .... unity in the True Faith, the True Light ... I don\'t know: I haven\'t come into the True Faith, not yet at least .... but this lady obviously seems to want to please Roman Catholicism, but what price must be paid .... for outward unity with papal Rome, which has not recanted Filioque, or Vatican I, etc. See: If interested ... \"True Life in God \"A publication for the American Association for True Life in God, No. 31, November, 2007 www.tlig.org The American Association for True Life in God P.O. Box 413 East Amherst, NY 14051 aatlig@gmail.com Cf. Cavarnos, Constantine. Against False Union. Etna, CA: Center For Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2006. GOD SAVE US. ALWAYS, Scott Harrington Pennsylvania USA

All the blogs and bulletins I\'ve posted, which have not been directed at anyone or any group out here, have brought the moderating staff \"to my door\" as it were, and they\'ve either erased my public posts themselves, or have asked me to set them as private. I feel kind of descriminated against, and I\'d hate to say it, but it seems it\'s \"because\" I am part of HOCNA. Now mind you, some of the moderators seem to be friendly enough, and have a spirit of brotherly love, and have, according to what they have told me, been on my side, thus I have not been deleted from this site yet. But I\'m starting to get the attitude of \"Come on...REEAALY??...WHAT \"CAN\" I post then? You, Brother, have seen what I\'ve posted before, heck, the last thing they deleted on their own, you were participating in! And I didn\'t think that the conversation that that item was bringing forth was hostile or of ill faith...do you? But the mod staff decided that they felt it wasn\'t a topic to have in public view, and they deleted it. That poll was harmless, as far as I could tell. ::shrugs:: But I feel like the \"rules\" on this site are possibly vague enough where they can point to a clause and say \"this\" is not in line with \"this\" section for such and such an implication, etc. But, lest I get deleted for sounding like I\'m rallying a cry against the moderators here, I shall end my note in response to your question of what I\'m afraid of here. Seems like, whatever I\'ve done, has ended up \"steping on someone\'s toes\"...so, for public sight, my answer ends here... God Bless, Dear Brother

It is QUITE possible, dear brother. And that is the union I pray The Church never enters into. It\'s that \"false union\" that is poison for the soul. It is that \"false union\" that errodes the truth, and makes us all heretics. It is that \"false union\" that is what ecumenism strives for, though they do not see it for that at all. Sad, Dear Brother, when the world we live in has gone so mad for unity, that we are willing to lose our own souls for it. \"What profiteth a man if he gains the whole world...yet loses his soul...\" (paraphrased from The Bible, where Our Lord said so Himself.) Indeed, what profit is it if we ALL unite, west and east, and call eachother equal \"sharers in salvation\"...yet lose the grace of God, and bring condemnation upon ourselves for our apostacy? We must be carefull, and keep our eyes on our faith, and guard it as \"The Pearl Of Great Price\"...as it truly is. As the fathers taught, so we should hold fast to that which we have been given, and not change it, or leave any part of it, for the sake of a union that would deprive us of the grace only found in Orthodoxy. In addition to My Brother\'s suggested references, I also suggest the work \"Against False Union\" as well as \"The Strugle Against Ecumenism\" (a history of \"Ecumenism\" and the results it\'s had on many Orthodox nations). Both works are published by St. Nectarios Press, 10300 Ashworth Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98133-9410 Telephone: (206) 522-4471; Fax: (206) 523-0550 In U.S. and Canada: 1-800-643-4233 You can find them on the web by fallowing the links on: http://www.hocna.net/st_annas/ God Bless

Dear friends, It seems the unity we seek is threefold: 1. Unity of repentance heterodox: coming into Orthodoxy ... repentance is not an easy road, but it is a road, not merely a one- timed accomplished event ... we (I) need Christ every step of leaving my errors (and my sins) behind; it is not merely a matter of leaving false doctrines behind, but moral renewal ... and confession to God (and priest when possible) after I have sinned (serious sins) .... So, for example, ISTM, LCA/ELCA, LCMS, other Lutherans coming into Orthodoxy former AG (Assembly of God) and (E)LCA Lutherans, like me ... my road lead from LCA to ELCA to AG back to ELCA and along the way, a few trips to Presbyterian and Methodist churches, though I never became a Methodist ... for a while, I wanted to become a Pentecostal ... I also wanted to become an Confession Lutheran, following the Book of Concord, which, AT THE TIME, I THOUGHT was right ... I never believed Calvinism ... but I learned many things from Calvinist- Reformed/Presbyterian authors ... their eschatology (amillennial/postmillennial) helped move me out of dispensationalism, which I had picked up as a Pentecostal and popular Protestant ... after reading Hal Lindsey, uncritically, I just believed everything Lindsey said .... though I never became a Baptist ... I just believed in pre- tribulation rapture for a while, and read the book by John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question, which changed my mind to believe in the pre-tribulation teaching ... I never learned ESCHATOLOGY from Lutheranism, which is why I fell for dispensationalism ... Lutheranism, TOO, rejects the pre-tribulation rapture view, along with Holy Orthodoxy, which has NEVER believed in this pre-trib teaching.... anyway, my worst problem as Filioque ... I was still attending Lutheran services, along with my parents, but every time they said (read) the Nicene Creed, I could never say \"and the Son\", and so, there was an eerie echo in the choir loft \"and the Son\", like a ghostly voice, haunting me, though the voice was human .... what I mean is, I felt like I believed something that was no long Lutheran ... I didn\'t fit in in the ELCA Lutheran \"church\" anymore... 2. A second level of unity, for those who are closer to Eastern Orthodoxy than the Lutherans are.... the Oriental Orthodox... Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Syrian, Indian... all these wonderful Christians are much closer to the piety and doctrine of Eastern Orthodoxy .... many or most of them follow the miaphysite teaching of St. Cyril of Alexandria, but, for historical reasons, they didn\'t attend Chalcedon, and they seem, some of them, to fear Nestorianism, and have not understood, in some case, apparently, that Chalcedon is not Nestorian... however, all Eastern Orthodox also count St. Cyril of Alexandria as an important Orthodox Church saint .... but I hope, eventually, this schism (minsunderstanding) will be healed, or that, perhaps, in some cases, it has already be healed 3) finally, the third reconciliation .... ALREADY ORTHODOX juridictions and autocephalous churches, or Patriarchates, all Patriarchates and Orthodox jurisdictions, the 4 historical ones, plus the 5th one, Moscow, and the other Orthodox patriarchs: Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, or wherever there are Patriarchs .... to be reconciled to all the dependencies in the USA .... and all the USA competing jurisdictions under on diocese, Metropolitan, for the whole USA ... and then, the most controversial now (even more controversial than the Patriarch of Moscow, ISTM), is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, whom some Orthodox seem in lack of communion with him, because of his ecumenist activities with Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI .... I think these people who are troubled by this fact are led by the Spirit of God.... therefore, we pray (I pray), the Ecumenical Patriarch keep from doing anything that offends the sensitivies of the traditionalist Orthodox.... but I am no one to say whether he has crossed a line that keeps the churches here in the USA out of communion with his churches .... He is still Orthodox, but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Byzantium (Constantinople) is a bit to soft on the popes of Rome .... ISTM ..... perhaps, however, he has commented to the pope on the necessity for Rome\'s doctrinal repentance ..... to again become a Roman Orthodox Patriarch, rejecting Filioque, etc. Anyway, this seems a long way off, but perhaps the Orthodox churches will all get together IF this becomes A UNITY in the ORTHODOX TRUTH .... and errors from heterodoxy are left behind.... and repudiation, leaving behind membership, ecumenical activities with the WCCC (The Georgian Church has taken a strong stance against participation of the Orthodox in the WCC).... SO: 1. Non-Orthodox leaving heterodoxy and becoming ORTHODOX 2. Oriental Orthodox leaving Monophysitism, and reconciling whatever is true in Cyrillian (St. Cyril of Alexandria\'s) miaphysitism with full acceptance by them of CHALCEDON and Chalcedonian Orthodoxy ... and of course, rejection of Monotheletism, and acceptance of councils 4 (Chalcedon), 5, 6, and 7 (which ever of these, if any), that they still need to accept 3) PAN ORTHODOX UNITY historic Patriarchates and all DIASPORA ORTHODOXY UNITY WITH ALL PATRIARCHS, WHO ABANDON ALL ECUMENISM AND PARTICIPATION IN WCC .... NO UNION WITH PAPAL ROME OR UNIATISM UNLESS ROME AND UNIATES REPUDIATE ROMAN CATHOLICISM AND BECOME ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS... TAKE CARE. GOD SAVE US. Scott USA

God Bless You, Brother! :)