An Archbishop in a Pagan Temple

January 26, 2009

#17

Nikola wrote:

moses916 wrote:

I cannot judge, I am only trying to say we should wait and see what was his intent (selling out or sincere prayer in the presence of non-Orthodox). :)

In the presence of non-Orthodox we are called to, ever more so, BE Orthodox. How can we set an example for them, or in the case of a Priest, Bless them if we aren't following our own prescribed Orthodox practices, our Orthodox way? How can a sincere Blessing be made without invoking the name of our Lord? Worse yet, what do we call a Blessing that has been edited to remove name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Is this not, and forgive me if I'm wrong, denying Christ as Peter did, out of fear? Does the need for political correctness somehow outweigh our witness of the Truth? At the very least, one would imagine that an Orthodox Blessing would involve the Sign of the Cross... even if it were made discretely.

I have been blessed by many priests in this way: \\"God bless you\\"; the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was not uttered, or is this \\"un-orthodox\\"? I have heard of many saints who blessed others saying \\"May God save you\\" without hinting at Christ\'s name. Perhaps it would be better to utter His name should the circumstances prefer it, yet nothing is wrong with the other blessings. (P.S. and the greeks are well known at least here in Toronto for nothing making the sign of the cross for the blessing, on the other hand the russian priests here make such a huge cross; i don\'t know if it is different in the states, if they usually make the sign of the cross then your point is stronger than mine nikola)

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