jgress wrote:If Fr Seraphim did not insist on the literal interpretation of the six-day creation (i.e. six 24-hour periods), then I stand corrected.
I will try to find the exact quote for you where Fr. Seraphim seeks to persuade, but is not insistent. It might take me a while, but I will look.
If St Ephraim believed in this, then his views should be heard with respect...
Not only St. Ephraim, but many of the great luminaries, such as St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian, for example, among many more, taught that the days were literal 24 hour days. You can find St. Ephraim's Commentary on Genesis online, where he writes about the 12 hour days and nights.
...but they should be measured against other patristic sources that permit a more allegorical interpretation, such as St Basil the Great, or St Augustine.
I'm not sure what you are referring to here. Both St. Basil and St. Augustine believed the six days to be literal days.
I never meant to imply that the Boston monastery, or the HOCNA jurisdiction, has ceased being True Orthodox. I do not believe this, even if I don't always agree with the views they promote.
The Boston Monastery (HTM) and HOCNA departed from True Orthodoxy many years ago, and they confess a number of heretical teachings. If I regarded them as True Orthodox, I would have never fled from them. That is why I am greatly scandalized by bishops from HOTCA refering to them as a "True Orthodox Christians" and as a "True Orthodox Jurisdiction" in official documents.
And as regards evolutionism, they have lately come out more firmly against it, at least judging by Met Ephraim's published sermons.
Yes, they have been forced to backpedal and recant, thanks in part to the efforts of Fr. Seraphim and Platina, who rightfully opposed their nonsense.
I am not prepared to call evolutionism itself a heresy, however. Fr Seraphim wanted it to be labeled heresy, but recognized that it had not been so labeled.
I'm with Fr. Seraphim. It needs to be labeled a heresy, because it is a very pernicious one, that deprives those who believe in it from communion with the Holy Spirit.
If an evolutionist denies the Creator or creation, then yes, I call that heresy. But if he says that evolution is simply a description of the mechanism of creation, it is hard for me to see what is intrinsically heretical about that.
Ah, but when you ask these heretics to explain in detail this "evolution" as a "mechanism of creation," they fall into all sorts of confusion, contradictions, and blasphemies in opposition to the truth. Countless times I tried to get one of these heretical proponents of evolution who meddle on this forum to answer some of the most basic questions about the origin of Adam. Every time he wiggled this way and that, trying to change the subject in order to skirt away from answering the questions, until eventually he was shamed into silence.