3 Trojan Horses: Insider Attempts to Disorient the Orthodox

[Maria]

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/a ... 0-03-016-c

I have placed this essay from Touchstones into the private forum for obvious reasons.

The role of the OCA and the Greek Orthodox Church in the USA is appalling in pushing not only homosexuality, but also innovation, modernism, and secularism.

The author of this essay, "Alexander F. C. Webster (Archpriest), Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Colonel) and newly appointed Dean of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) in Jordanville, NY."

Here are the three Trojan Horses:
1.

First, Fordham's Aristotle Papanikolaou recently signaled his sentiments in his post-election op-ed titled, "Being Christian during a Trump Presidency": "f Christians do not prophetically demand of Trump that he publicly disavow white supremacist support, then Christians are complicit in extending and empowering racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia."10 ...

2.

Second, a respected senior archpriest in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), Fr. Alexis Vinogradov of Wappingers Falls, New York, threw down a gauntlet on this issue in July 2011. For a now-defunct Orthodox blog, he wrote an article titled, "New Beginnings in Community: Gender Issues and the Church."11 He hoped "to start a conversation . . . because among the Orthodox churches, at least, we do not yet have a common platform for respectful discourse on the complex social issues of our day." ...

3.

Third, Archpriest Robert Arida, longtime pastor of the OCA Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Boston, has played the role of Odysseus for this modern Trojan Horse. In June 2011, shortly after New York passed the Marriage Equality Act, which legalized marriage between two men or two women, Fr. Robert posted on his parish website a short essay titled, "Response to Myself." Weighing the implications of the new legal trend, he explored the Church's checkered history tolerating slavery and concluded by proposing an intriguing hypothetical:

• If the Church is going to respond to the legalization of same sex marriage/union it seems that it should begin by considering how to minister to those same sex couples who being legally married come with their children and knock on the doors of our parishes seeking Christ. Do we ignore them? ...

I have only included these three excerpts to avoid violating any copyright laws. Please read the entire article as it involves us ... we are being attacked as deplorable Traditionalists as are those who remain in World Orthodoxy.

[Barbara]

I will read the article as soon as I am able. Thanks, Maria.

So Fr Webster is alerting people to these 3 threats ?? I assume he is highly against these 3 attempts to upset the Traditional Orthodox approach.
I had seen his name mentioned as the new Dean of Jordanville. Is there anything much known about him - just out of curiosity, if anyone has any idea ?

And what's that ridiculous term in the Greek Aristotle's statement "prophetically" ? That is a Protestant / evangelical buzz word, I thought.
What is this Greek Orthodox person doing employing it ? The rest of what he wrote - at least the latter part - is shockingly liberal.

[Barbara]

Brave attempt to expose what's going on. I had no idea it was that bad.

Here is another part of that same paragraph :

I asked Papanikolaou in a telephone conversation to specify what he would deem an unreasonable fear of homosexuals (for that is what the politically correct term "homophobia" means literally) among Orthodox Christians... he also proffered that "discrimination" against active homosexuals in hiring also ought to be prohibited as an offense against decency and common humanity—even in Orthodox parishes and parochial schools

Actually I had no idea what that awful word meant precisely. It's good that Archpriest Alexander Webster explained this.
The second part of the paragraph is shocking and repulsive beyond belief.

What kind of people are populating the OCA and the Greek Archdiocese these days ??

As for Fr Arida, I can not even read his words. I tried before when someone posted about his awful writings here. But I could not make my eyes stay on the page : his ideas must be far too diabolical. Same thing occurred here, despite the excellent writing of Fr Alexander.

I am glad such a person is taking over Holy Trinity Seminary. From that vantage point, he will be able to be heard much more widely. It's urgent that such truth get out to antidote the horrible poisons soaking in wherever vigilance is not maintained in the Orthodox world.

[Barbara]

Fr Alexander's biography from his current Church website :

Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster, Ph.D.


The Very Rev. Fr. Alexander F. C. Webster, PhD, an archpriest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, was born in 1951 in Jersey City, NJ, and raised as a devout Roman Catholic. He converted to Holy Orthodoxy on 4 October 1975. He was elevated to the Subdiaconate by Metropolitan Philip, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, in Boston, MA, on 17 April 1977; ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Christopher, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America, in Monroeville, PA, on 19 September 1982; and ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Bishop Christopher, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America (with then Bishop Maximos of the Greek Archdiocese in attendance), in Sewickley, PA, on 21 September 1982. Fr. Alexander’s previous full-time parish pastorates include Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church in the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America, Falls Church, Virginia (1988-2005); St. Andrew Orthodox Parish on Ft. Ord, California [active-duty military community (1986-1988); and St. Mary Serbian Orthodox Church, Clairton, PA

(1982-1986).

Fr. Alexander holds a B.A. degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania (1972), an M.A. in history and education from Columbia University (1975), an M.T.S. from Harvard University Divinity School (1977), a Graduate Certificate in International Security Studies from the University of Pittsburgh (1985), and a Ph.D. in religion / social ethics from the University of Pittsburgh (1988).

He retired from the U.S.Army on 1 June 2010 as a chaplain in the rank of colonel after more than twenty four years service, the last five of which, back on active duty at Ft. McNair, D.C. and Ft. Belvoir, VA, included twelve temporary duty tours in harm's way in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Kuwait, Qatar and Kyrgyzstan. Previous assignments ranged from a battalion chaplain on active-duty with the 7th Infantry Division (Light) at Ft. Ord, CA to Division Chaplain, 29th Infantry Division (Light), at Ft. Belvoir, VA.

After his military retirement, Fr. Alexander served from July to December 2010 as a full-time Collegiate Traveling Professor of History and Government for the University of Maryland—University College in Okinawa, Japan. Previously he held adjunct or sabbatical replacement faculty positions with The George Washington University Undergraduate Honors Program (2002-2009), American University (1998-2002), Hood College (1996-1997), George Mason University (1993), and Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal) (1989-1998). In addition he served as Professor of Moral Theology and Academic Dean at St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary in South Bound Brook, NJ (1993-

1996) and held a half-time position as a Research Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. (1988-1993).

He is concurrently serving as Adjunct Professor of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, where he teaches graduate courses in emergency management, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Religion at Northern Virginia Community College.

Fr. Alexander is also the author of hundreds of scholarly articles and op-ed essays, as well as four books on Orthodox Christian social ethics: The Virtue of War: Reclaiming the Classic Christian Traditions East and West [co-authored with Dr. Darrell Cole of Drew University] (Salisbury, MA: Regina Orthodox Press, 2004); The Pacifist Option: The Moral Argument Against War in Eastern Orthodox Theology (Lanham, MD: International Scholars Publications, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 1998); The Price of Prophecy: Orthodox Churches on Peace, Freedom, and Security (2d. rev. ed.; Grand Rapids, MI, and Washington, D.C.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1995); and The Romanian Legionary Movement: An Orthodox Christian Assessment of Anti-Semitism (Carl Beck Papers No. 502; Pittsburgh: Russian and East European Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh, 1986).

He and his wife, Matushka Kathleen - also a former Roman Catholic born in Jersey City, NJ, who has served as a special education teacher at Cougar Elementary School in Manassas Park since 1989 - have four grown children and two little granddaughters and live in Ashburn, VA - separated from Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox, only by geography.


http://sthermanorthodox.org/meetourclergy.html