Inquirer asking another question about "canonical" churches

[khomes]

As it is now. I agree with just about everything the old calendar churches say. The only thing I am not sure of is if they are the true ones or if mainstream Orthodoxy is graceless, which some people say.

I have read a few things by some old calendar people. I have talked with a few people and I agree with what they said, for the most part. I'm just not ready I make the jump over there. I'm not sure weather the ecuminism you see in some priests and bishops makes the whole church heretical or if those particular people are heretics, or if they are just mistaken. Either way, I don't believe in Ecumenism. At the moment I strongly hold that St.Philaret of New York the new confessor is truly a saint of God. Also, I do truly believe that St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre (Toth) is truly a saint. As is St. Elizabeth the new martyr. What does the old calendarists churches say about St. Alexis and St. Elizabeth? They both died before the start of the ecumenical movement and both were on the old calendar. St. Alexis brought 20,000 eastern catholics back to Orthodoxy and through his groundwork, a total of 100,000 eastern catholics became Orthodox in the years after his death. He died 1909.

[searn77]

I know a deacon in our synod who attributes his coming to true Orthodoxy (as he converted a number of years ago) to be by the prayers of St. Alexis. Also, in my parish, we have icons of St. Alexis & St. Elizabeth, & my priest & I both visited St. Tikhon's monastery to pray at the relics of St. Alexis. I'm not aware of any Old Calendarists who hold anything but a positive view of these saints.

[khomes]

The only reason I brought up St. Alexis and St. Elizabeth is that St. Alexis was received through Confession of faith and St. Elizabeth was received via Chrismation even though she had a Lutheran sprinkling baptism.

[searn77]

While I don't know the details of how St. Alexis & St. Elizabeth were brought into the Church, it is evident from their lives that they are saints. The priests/bishops who received them apparently applied economia when bringing them into the Church. A great article about economia that might bring clarity to their situation can be read here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzJKrDV ... sp=sharing

Unfortunately, the bishop who wrote this article & his synod (HOCNA) have for the past few years embraced a heresy known as "name-worshiping", but this article that he wrote about economia is fantastic & completely orthodox.

[khomes]

Thanks. I really liked the article. It made a lot of sense. So right now. I am deciding between ROCOR-MP, the GOC- Metropolitan John and the GOC-K. Any help would be great. What made everybody here chose to join the Traditional/ True Orthodox Church? I seem to be in a lack of reading material on the subject if anyone could suggest some things to read up on. Again. Everything so far I agree with you all, I'm just not sure if we're ready to make the leap.

[searn77]

Thanks. I really liked the article. It made a lot of sense. So right now. I am deciding between ROCOR-MP, the GOC- Metropolitan John and the GOC-K. Any help would be great. What made everybody here chose to join the Traditional/ True Orthodox Church? I seem to be in a lack of reading material on the subject if anyone could suggest some things to read up on. Again. Everything so far I agree with you all, I'm just not sure if we're ready to make the leap.

You won't find any debate about which synod is best on this part of the forum, and I don't really plan on debating this anyways. While I would never recommend ROCOR-MP, I would suggest that if there's a TOC church near you, to visit it before deciding which synod to join, because it would be great if there was a TOC church that you could attend regularly rather than joining a TOC church that you could only visit a few times a year. Even though this site hasn't been updated in awhile, it provides links to all of the TOC synods that have a presence in America, and all but one of these websites provides a church directory. If you have any problem finding a certain synod's church directory for any reason, let me know: http://trueorthodoxdirectory.us/

I definitely would stay away from ROCOR-MP, due to its neglect of St Philaret's anathema against Ecumenism and the general corruption which led to its union with Moscow. If anything, consider the other ROCOR synods that did not enter into communion with Moscow. You can find Vladimir Moss' history of ROCOR here: http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/d ... 0_2007.pdf

Obviously I'm partial to my own synod. I sent you a PM about a week ago, I think, about some of this stuff. I'm not sure if you received it or not. Basically I'm in Metropolitan John's synod because this is where God led me. But also, Fr Seraphim Rose spoke about how we should maintain connections with holy elders, even if they may seem "liberal" to us. He wrote this when addressing some super-correct people in his own synod that were following their own super-correctness rather than following their elders in ROCOR who knew Orthodoxy in their hearts. I'm not saying that Metropolitan John is "liberal" in any sense that I can think of, but his spiritual father, Vladyka Theodore, was a very holy man who will eventually be glorified as a saint, and you can tell that Metropolitan John has learned much from him. You can read about Vladyka Theodore here: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-562277
You can also read about the history of the Milan synod, as well as a current synod, in a book written by Dcn Joseph Suaiden titled Lux Veritatis in PDF form or in a paperback book: http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/joseph-s ... 80670.html
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joseph-suaiden ... 26478.html

I'm not aware of any detailed book or article written about the GOC-K, other than some of an explanation from HOCNA's book The Struggle Against Ecumenism which was a great and detailed book, but there was a HOCNA bend to it. I can tell you that when I visited a GOC-K monastery for a few days a couple of years ago, I really enjoyed talking to some of the monks there.

[StephenS]

Greetings:

May I respectfully suggest, as a longstanding member of pre-2007 ROCOR, that you avoid ROCOR-MP at all costs. For all the reasons given and because it has allowed itself to be the victim of a long standing KGB/FSB plan to either destroy or subvert the principled stance of ROCOR, as was.

Both the MP, set up by order of Josef Stalin when his back was against the wall, and now ROCOR have been subverted and now serve the Russian Federation. This tragic situation sounds not at all a suitable spiritual home for a serious enquirer into the Christian Life.

Best wishes in the future.