An anecdote and a parable of sorts....

[Miriam]

A man dies and goes to heaven. He is met at the gates by St Peter. As they are walking, the man gasps at the beauty he sees. He asks St Peter, "What is that over there?" St Peter replies, "That's the righteous Catholics and over there are the righteous Protestants and over yonder are the Baptists...." Eventually they come upon a high wall. The man asks, "What's this?" "Shhh," replies St Peter in a whisper, " that's the Orthodox, we don't want them to find out they're not alone up here...."

[joasia]

If all these people are honored for their righteousness in these other faiths, that do not hold the FULL truth(but, live by part of the full truth)..then what did the Orthodox saints live, suffer and die for?

Do you think that the Orthodox saints would sit back and say...well, you believe in Christ...good enough. No. They would say words inspired by God to lead the person to the True Path.

It would make the observance of the Full Truth, useless. And the Orthodox saints would have been living for something that others would be accepted for, despite their lack of the True Knowledge of worshipping the Holy Trinity. It's like me or you being accepted into the forum of the Olympics, for example, and we are not even in full physical form. But, once we are put out there to compete....we would see how much we have been lacking in what is needed to win the race because we are competing with those who are fully prepared and have the ability.

These people have the heart, they have the faith, but they need to come to the full realization of the Truth.

And God has given them every oppurtunity to see it...through whatever means, but if they still stay protestant or catholic or baptist, then that is their fate.

Orthodoxy is not a body of worshippers. It's just a name given when the See of Rome created the Great Schism in 1054 A.D. Orthodoxy means the true faith. The way God wanted us to worship Him. The way Christ taught the Apostles all the truths about God.

These other divisions don't reflect that. They hold onto one concept and make it the whole truth. It's not the whole truth, it's a misconception.

Just like the misconception that halloween is fun or that santa claus is real(to the kids). It's not based on the truth that God has given us to preserve. It has been terribly distorted. Mankind(society) has created these falsehoods and if a person believes in it, it doesn't make it acceptable to God. That goes for the faith too.

Going back to my original thought...the God that created us and this world and sent His Son to us, should be worshipped in the way that HE wants us to worship HIM. It's HIS call. But, mankind has been making up their own concepts about them.

I'll let you in on a little secret...mankind is wrong. They have to come to terms with the knowledge that GOD is in charge and that HIS word is final. We will find that out when we die.

In Christ,

Joanna

[Mor Ephrem]

Orthodoxy is not a body of worshippers. It's just a name given when the See of Rome created the Great Schism in 1054 A.D.

Why do people insist on letting Roman Catholics define who we are? We have the Ecumenical Councils for that. The title Orthodox is a lot older than 1054. If I'm not mistaken, Orthodox was first used at the First Ecumenical Council.

[joasia]

Mor Ephrem

You're right. I was referring to the way people look at it now. It's the original faith, but the world sees it as some kind of body of worshippers.

It just means the true faith.

In Christ,

Joanna

[Miriam]

[joasia]

Miriam,

What are you smiling about?

By the way...Miriam is a jewish name, no?

I keep thinking that there are Orthodox people here.

In Christ,

Joanna

[尼古拉前执事]

Joasia/Joanna, Mariam or Miriam is Greek for Mary. The Greek tradition allows people to name themselves after the Ever Virgin Mary the Theotokos, while this is not part of the Russian traditional praxis. Let us not lash out in zeal without knowledge here.