world elders - world religion

[jgress]

Elder Ieronymos of Aegina was clairvoyant and also a member of the GOC. Abp Auxentios served his funeral (source: Fr Maximos Marretta). New Calendarists actually had the gall to market him as one of theirs too, but the life published by Holy Transfiguration puts to rest that nonsense in their introduction. The author, Peter Botsis, interestingly is a New Calendarist. He downplays Fr Ieronymos' role in the GOC, although he doesn't explicitly deny it.

He didn't join the GOC until late, although he had always served on the Old Calendar, and the New Calendarist authorities left him alone because of his reputation. But once the Metropolitan forced him to concelebrate with him on the New Calendar, Fr Ieronymos left the State Church and joined the GOC. Anastasios told me that reports of his clairvoyance didn't appear until after he joined the True Church, which is very interesting.

Fr Ieronymos knew Fr Niphon, who was the brother of Met Petros of Astoria, and after his repose he left his spiritual children in Fr Niphon's care. Fr Niphon himself has been called a saint by everyone I've met who remembers him. A friend of mine told me that he displayed true humility.

[Barbara]

Yes, some way should be made clear for new readers and newcomers to True Orthodoxy to be aware
of how things are manipulated to make people believe so=and=so elder is the greatest.
I thought that was quite interesting how we all have been TRAINED or CONDITIONED to believe that
Athonite elders are automatically a stage way above the rest.

But surely close discernment is needed to weed out the less good ones. Or the outright false ones, whichever those are ;
I am still hazy on some of these. The names are familiar ; but their ideas and sayings start to blend together.

I thought that actually MORE work in this area needs to be done, to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Everyone can benefit.

Thank you arcmode ! I didn't see anything wrong with what you wrote. What was it that the World Orthodox
person complained about ?

[arcmode]

Well, it was more like I freaked out a bit in general concerning the way to explain these things. It was different talking in person, I didn't use the kind of language I have in the post while talking to my friend, so I wondered if it was bit harsh. I mean, I wouldn't start a conversation by telling someone they are part of a fallen church deep in apostasy and their favorite elders are no better than new age gurus.

But writing is different, you have to be very clear, like a sniper. Talking to them is more like a hug that becomes a wrestle. I put it back up without changing it in the end. Fact is, it's just a harsh reality, so may as well be straight. Also when I saw this guy who wrote 'the crazy side of orthodoxy' http://orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/review ... odoxy.aspx from Regina press, I realized the modernist stuff is just as harsh about tradition, so may as well hit back hard, if not harder.

Anyway I'm working on a much longer piece after doing more research, there are some parallels with the 'elders' stuff and some practices and beliefs of the Lucis Trust, out of the U.N. that are interesting.

[arcmode]

‘Truth is foreign to all overstatements.’ St Ignatius Brianchaninov

[Jean-Serge]

As promised regarding evil eye.

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorithe is Christian morality says regarding eveil eye (page 283)

Saint Basil the Great testifies as follow :

“Even so, those afflicted with envy are supposed to be more pernicious than venomous animals, since whereas the latter inject their poison through the wounds, and gradually the part which has been bitten is consumed by putrefaction, some people reckon that envious persons inflict harm merely through their eyes… with some destructive current, as it were, flowing through their eyes, causing damage and decay. For my part, I reject this explanation, as crude as old wives’s tales; I maintain that whenever the demons, who hates what is good, find intentions congenial to themselves, they twist these for their own ends, so as to make the eyes of envious people subservient to their will” (Homely XI, On envy, PG Vol XXXI, Col 380BC)

[joasia]

Well, it was more like I freaked out a bit in general concerning the way to explain these things. It was different talking in person, I didn't use the kind of language I have in the post while talking to my friend, so I wondered if it was bit harsh. I mean, I wouldn't start a conversation by telling someone they are part of a fallen church deep in apostasy and their favorite elders are no better than new age gurus.

But writing is different, you have to be very clear, like a sniper. Talking to them is more like a hug that becomes a wrestle. I put it back up without changing it in the end. Fact is, it's just a harsh reality, so may as well be straight. Also when I saw this guy who wrote 'the crazy side of orthodoxy' http://orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/review ... odoxy.aspx from Regina press, I realized the modernist stuff is just as harsh about tradition, so may as well hit back hard, if not harder.

Anyway I'm working on a much longer piece after doing more research, there are some parallels with the 'elders' stuff and some practices and beliefs of the Lucis Trust, out of the U.N. that are interesting.

It is an excellent post. I agree with all of it. When addressing those who say they are Orthodox, we need to be straight forward and point out the errors of their beliefs. You are expressing the truth whereas they are expressing lies whether they realize it or not.

I don't think talking to them is like a hug though. It's more like hand ball. They whip it at you and you have to whip it back twice as hard. Or like tennis or ping pong. It's this action of attack and defense.

[Maria]

Maybe it would be good to publish a collection of lives of holy people in the Old Calendar church, if this hasn't been done already.

That would be fantastic... I hope and pray we see this happen!

-Antonios

I agree.