Universal Orthodox

[ANGELA]

Has anyone heared of Universal Orthodox and what is it?

Thanks

[Cyprian]

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Perhaps there is more than one group calling itself "Universal Orthodox," so it would be helpful if you provided more info. When I searched on Google the first result that came up were some pot-smoking Rastafarians in the state of Georgia. The Rastafarians are an anti-Christian cult, who worship the deceased emperor of Ethiopia, Tafari Makonnen, a.k.a. Haile Selassie, as their "black" messiah. Things that are often associated with this cult are: reggae music, Bob Marley, dreadlocks, smoking marijuana, and the colors red, gold, and green (e.g. in the flags they adopt).

Universal Orthodox diocese of Georgia
http://universalorthodox.org/

[Pravoslavnik]

Cyprian,

Code: Select all

  Historical question-- unrelated to the topic of "universal" Orthodoxy.  Wasn't Bob Marley baptized in a Greek Orthodox parish in New York prior to his death?  I saw a television bio about Bob Marley a few years ago, and they said almost nothing about his conversion from Rastafarianism to Orthodoxy at the end of his life.  However, they had film footage of his funeral service, and it certainly looked like the service was conducted by Orthodox clergymen of some sort.   These clergymen did not look like Ethiopians (Copts.)

[searn77]

From what I understand, Bob Marley was baptized Ethiopian Orthodox before his death. I watched this interview a while ago but I just kind of skimmed through it and I believe this is the part where Abuna Yesehaq talked about how he baptized Bob Marley into Ethiopian Orthodoxy:

I could be wrong but I don't have time right now to watch the whole interview again.

Also, on this video it appears that it was Ethiopian Orthodox clergymen at Bob Marley's funeral so I'm pretty sure he was baptized Ethiopian Orthodox:

And as a side note, there are many different denominations (called "houses" among Rastafarians) of Rastafarianism with differing beliefs, a situation kind of similar to the different denominations of "Christianity" (like Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Baptist, etc. although there are thousands of denominations claiming to be Christian and I don't think there are even 20 different denominations that claim to be Rastafari). Not all of these Rastafarian groups worship Haile Sallasie as Jesus incarnate and I wouldn't deem all of Rastafarianism to be an anti-Christian cult.

[Cyprian]

From what I understand, Bob Marley was baptized Ethiopian Orthodox before his death. I watched this interview a while ago but I just kind of skimmed through it and I believe this is the part where Abuna Yesehaq talked about how he baptized Bob Marley into Ethiopian Orthodoxy:

I could be wrong but I don't have time right now to watch the whole interview again.

Also, on this video it appears that it was Ethiopian Orthodox clergymen at Bob Marley's funeral so I'm pretty sure he was baptized Ethiopian Orthodox:

That was my understanding as well. As I'm sure everyone is aware, the modern-day Ethiopian Orthodox Church is not truly Orthodox, but only "Orthodox" in name.

And as a side note, there are many different denominations (called "houses" among Rastafarians) of Rastafarianism with differing beliefs, a situation kind of similar to the different denominations of "Christianity" (like Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Baptist, etc. although there are thousands of denominations claiming to be Christian and I don't think there are even 20 different denominations that claim to be Rastafari). Not all of these Rastafarian groups worship Haile Sallasie as Jesus incarnate and I wouldn't deem all of Rastafarianism to be an anti-Christian cult.

Ras Tafari Makonnen himself was an anti-Christ, and was baptized as Haile Selassie in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which as I stated above is not genuinely Orthodox. So I don't see how any cult taking its name from this adversary of Christ could be described as anything other than anti-Christian.