Barbara wrote: ↑Tue 16 April 2024 11:48 pm
Thank you, wonderful answer, eish ! That's SO important for all of us who don't know already to grasp WHY these way too facile stories of miracles are circulating. I had not understood that at all. Are you saying that the Greeks [Greek Archdiocese] are losing people due to some of their outrageous behaviors ?
So they are struggling to keep their regular flock and stem the exodus, is it like that ?
I read that book too. Wasn't it rather bizarre ? I think the young man kept fluctuating between Elder Paisios and his eastern guru, whatever that person was, maybe Hindu ? I seem to recall some really strange experiences he recounted that were clearly demonic in origin when he kept returning to that practice. But still, the book was disjointed and odd.
I didn't think it was inspirational, though it was probably published with the idea of attracting other adherents of Eastern religions to convert to Orthodoxy. Wasn't it published by St Herman of Alaska Press, at Platina ? Very weird book- better left unread !
When it comes to conservatives rather than liberals--who just marry off into Roman Catholicism and attend there or stop going altogether--they are losing people mainly to the MP. Not that many, but I certainly have heard my share of discussions online and IRL with people thinking of or deciding to join the MP. It is enough to make them invent stories and circulate those among the conservatives, which makes me think that there must be knowing agents posing as conservative priests. A disturbing thought. Perhaps intelligence agencies are involved, since they do do such things and try to manipulate religious communities. If they were being rational they would abandon ecumenism because the number of people they lose to mixed marriages is much greater, but evil isn't rational.
The young man of the book had several Hindu gurus over the years. The book was originally published in Greek, so St. Herman Press would only have done the translation. The impression that I got from it, and which I get from a great majority of Elder Paisius stories, is that it tries to tell you about how the elder had more power than the gurus. This is also the main issue that I have with it and it is similar to the critique which St. Nicholas of Japan gave of Buddhist miracles. WOs tend to claim that miracles by their elders and the Holy Fire, etc. prove power and therefore that they are the church.
But--immodest displays of power do not make a good argument for Orthodoxy. They are commonly performed by wizards--this one shows he has enough power to do something, that one comes along and shows he has power to do something even bigger. It may work temporarily but the one convinced by such a display has no depth and will run after whichever wizard comes along next with a more flashy display. Miracles which display the truth of Christianity are rather those which display a different category of power instead of a greater intensity of power.
I'll illustrate with two example miracles, both of which I think come from World Orthodoxy.
There is a story in which a man embroiled in Hinduism comes to Elder Paisius. He talks about what power the gurus have. The elder traces the sign of the cross over a boulder and it explodes, showing that he has more power. It has the problem I just pointed out. Should I believe Hinduism instead, since Oppenheimer quoted its texts when making a much bigger boom? Or perhaps "scientific atheism," since the Tsar bomb of the Soviets was even bigger and that was their teaching? Biggest display of power won't ever work because as long as the observer survives, it could have been bigger.
In another story a priest receives a Buddhist wizard. The sorcerer is eager to show off how his familiar spirit invisibly carries objects, and drinks from a cup lifting off the table. He wants the priest to show if he can do the same. The priest answers that, no, he cannot. He cannot do this thing because his God is humble but hold this cross and try it again. The spirit is as you would guess, terrified of the cross and can do nothing. This demonstrates to the wizard that Christ has power in a completely different class from that of the spirit.
I don't have to question whether the elder really blew up a boulder or not. If God so willed it he could have ended that boulder for the sake of the visitor and He certainly does answer prayers according to His judgement, not what I think of someone's ecclesiastical status. All I need to say is that ironically the priest performed a greater miracle than the elder by not doing anything at all. Humility has power.
