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Ortho Lounge
- Thread starter TrainedLogosmotion
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Does anybody here ever get a sharp disapproval from the priest during confession?
I have confessed lots of sins including porn/fap relapse, laziness, not praying enough, not going to church, disappointed in Christ, not fasting, and being envious of others. But in the end these sins are forgiven.
But once upon a time I confessed to my priest that I took communion at a Roman Catholic church. He asked me "Why did you take communion? Is it a must to take the communion?" and he told me to fast, seriously pray and repent, and I am not allowed to receive holy communion that day (skipped until next week).
When I told my baptismal godfather about this, he also asked me "why did you take communion?". I explained that there must be some goodness in the communion at the Catholic church. But he said "no you cannot, since catechesis it is already explained that we are not to take part in the communion at other churches"
I have known that taking part in communion outside the Orthodox church is forbidden, but I never expected the consequences to be so tough and scary.
I have confessed lots of sins including porn/fap relapse, laziness, not praying enough, not going to church, disappointed in Christ, not fasting, and being envious of others. But in the end these sins are forgiven.
But once upon a time I confessed to my priest that I took communion at a Roman Catholic church. He asked me "Why did you take communion? Is it a must to take the communion?" and he told me to fast, seriously pray and repent, and I am not allowed to receive holy communion that day (skipped until next week).
When I told my baptismal godfather about this, he also asked me "why did you take communion?". I explained that there must be some goodness in the communion at the Catholic church. But he said "no you cannot, since catechesis it is already explained that we are not to take part in the communion at other churches"
I have known that taking part in communion outside the Orthodox church is forbidden, but I never expected the consequences to be so tough and scary.
I need to ask whether you went through Orthodox catechesis, because many of your questions and assumptions are basic Orthodoxy 101. How long have you been Orthodox? Perhaps you need to ask your priest about attending Orthodox catechism classes again. Refresher catechism is a valuable resource for all Orthodox once in a while. Take advantage of it.
To be honest you got off lightly here. Some would have excommunicated you for a lot longer. Some even may insist on chrismation again after a period of excommunication. Getting a scolding and a week's excommunication is pretty mild really considering the gravity of what you did.
You essentially denied a major point of the Creed that is recited every day. Reading some of your posts lately, you gotta get it together brother.
@Doraemon That IS a big no-no, and your priest disciplining you is actually him taking good pastoral care of you. Committing sins out of weakness is par for the course, particularly in today's society, but engaging in ecumenism adulterates your faith, which is what you have to hold on to. Chalk it up to experience and do your penance, but I also recommend you get a little more into Orthodox Theology. Take criticism with humility and it won't hurt. We are all retarded sinners.
It's funny, because usually nowadays, guy are overeducated on dogma and undereducated in religious practice.
If it makes you feel better, here's a story of when I got excommunicated once: Three years into my time as an Orthodox, during the end of the Coof era, I had a bad experience with a demonic woman that seriously damaged my soul for about 3 months. I once even took communion and then later that very day engaged with her. When the entire thing blew up in my face, as it was wont to do, I went to confession and really vented. Some shouting, some crying, some accusations because of my grievances about my priest getting the shot, and in the end my priest went calmly"I think we both agree that maybe you should abstain until the end of lent.". Even gave me a hug after that performance.
I kept going to confession weekly and then during Holy Week, he told me to take communion again and everything went fine.
Having a priest who disciplines you is a good sign in so far as you know your priest is serious about your salvation. You wouldn't want a priest who ignores something like that.
But seriously: Get more into dogmatics. Jay Dyer, regardless of what you think about his character, has some great material as to why RC and Orthodox shouldn't ever mix. Spiritual practice and dogmatics go hand in hand, one works poorly when taken entirely without the other.
It's funny, because usually nowadays, guy are overeducated on dogma and undereducated in religious practice.
If it makes you feel better, here's a story of when I got excommunicated once: Three years into my time as an Orthodox, during the end of the Coof era, I had a bad experience with a demonic woman that seriously damaged my soul for about 3 months. I once even took communion and then later that very day engaged with her. When the entire thing blew up in my face, as it was wont to do, I went to confession and really vented. Some shouting, some crying, some accusations because of my grievances about my priest getting the shot, and in the end my priest went calmly"I think we both agree that maybe you should abstain until the end of lent.". Even gave me a hug after that performance.
I kept going to confession weekly and then during Holy Week, he told me to take communion again and everything went fine.
Having a priest who disciplines you is a good sign in so far as you know your priest is serious about your salvation. You wouldn't want a priest who ignores something like that.
But seriously: Get more into dogmatics. Jay Dyer, regardless of what you think about his character, has some great material as to why RC and Orthodox shouldn't ever mix. Spiritual practice and dogmatics go hand in hand, one works poorly when taken entirely without the other.
We are all sick and need the medicine of the Church, which is the sacrament of Holy Communion.
However, due to certain sins (and this depends on the person and the discernment of the priest), sometimes a penance is necessary for us to take a break from communion and focus on turning away from those sins and leading a proper spiritual life.
If anything, priests nowadays are generally too easy on us. However, people are weaker now, so it is appropriate that for a sin like masturbation might get no penance nowadays, but centuries ago they would have been given a strict penance and not allowed to commune for some time. It's good to go with what the priest says, but if our conscience is burning and the priest does not give a penance, we could always ask for one. It might just be doing some prostrations a day, extra prayers, etc., it might not be abstaining from communion. We just have to leave it to the priest, but we also need to try to communicate things and sometimes it is good to take a break from communing for some time, just like sometimes if one is taking medication they need some time off of the medicine.
I don't know the above poster's priest, but I wouldn't look at it like "the priest is disapproving of me" but rather "the priest is disapproving of my sins and actions."
However, due to certain sins (and this depends on the person and the discernment of the priest), sometimes a penance is necessary for us to take a break from communion and focus on turning away from those sins and leading a proper spiritual life.
If anything, priests nowadays are generally too easy on us. However, people are weaker now, so it is appropriate that for a sin like masturbation might get no penance nowadays, but centuries ago they would have been given a strict penance and not allowed to commune for some time. It's good to go with what the priest says, but if our conscience is burning and the priest does not give a penance, we could always ask for one. It might just be doing some prostrations a day, extra prayers, etc., it might not be abstaining from communion. We just have to leave it to the priest, but we also need to try to communicate things and sometimes it is good to take a break from communing for some time, just like sometimes if one is taking medication they need some time off of the medicine.
I don't know the above poster's priest, but I wouldn't look at it like "the priest is disapproving of me" but rather "the priest is disapproving of my sins and actions."
I have been reading / watching things about the Ethiopian Orthodox claims to have the Ark of the Covenant.
Does anybody know if there are Eastern Orthodox views on that? Preferably from the saints, or at least someone in the clergy.
Also reading about Bob Marley's late baptism into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I know they are different from us Eastern Orthodox theologically, but going from Rastafarianism to Ethiopian Orthodoxy seems like a huge improvement. I always enjoyed Bob Marley's music.
believersportal.com
Does anybody know if there are Eastern Orthodox views on that? Preferably from the saints, or at least someone in the clergy.
Also reading about Bob Marley's late baptism into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I know they are different from us Eastern Orthodox theologically, but going from Rastafarianism to Ethiopian Orthodoxy seems like a huge improvement. I always enjoyed Bob Marley's music.
How Rastafarian Bob Marley Met Jesus Christ Before His Death - Believers Portal
“What most people don’t know, and many try to cover up, is the fact that Bob Marley proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and converted from the Rastafarian faith to the Christian faith before his death. Reggae legend Bob Marley is perhaps the most famous Rastafarian in history. This unique...
believersportal.com
I have been reading / watching things about the Ethiopian Orthodox claims to have the Ark of the Covenant.
Does anybody know if there are Eastern Orthodox views on that? Preferably from the saints, or at least someone in the clergy.
Also reading about Bob Marley's late baptism into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I know they are different from us Eastern Orthodox theologically, but going from Rastafarianism to Ethiopian Orthodoxy seems like a huge improvement. I always enjoyed Bob Marley's music.
How Rastafarian Bob Marley Met Jesus Christ Before His Death - Believers Portal
“What most people don’t know, and many try to cover up, is the fact that Bob Marley proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and converted from the Rastafarian faith to the Christian faith before his death. Reggae legend Bob Marley is perhaps the most famous Rastafarian in history. This unique...
That's the only informative video I know about Bob Marley's conversion. The bishop actually goes into how Rastafarianism is a dangerous heresy and talks a little bit about theology, mostly in terms that are acceptable to the Orthodox.
I'm not sure about the Ark of the Covenant stuff. From my experience, Ethiopians also suffer from "We wuz Kangz" syndrome, albeit less obnoxiously so and admittedly, with a little more justification.
Ethiopians have historically been part of Semitic culture, and similar to Arabs, they felt they had to proclaim ancestral continuity between themselves and the ancient Israelites. It often happens when dogma goes astray. In the 1800s, it was very popular among European protestants to make up stories about how their specific group was actually a lost tribe of Israel or something.
Ethiopians have had damaged dogma for 1500 years, so it's not surprising that this stuff would pop up. There's also been, to my knowledge, a tradition of creating Ark replicas in the region for a while.
They also tend to drone on about how the Roman Empire conspired to have the Book of Enoch censored and not appear in the canon, when in reality it simply wasn't widespread literature among the more established theologians of the day and too dogmatically ambiguous to maintain in the canon that was meant to be used for the instruction of the faithful.
They also frequently claim to be the oldest Christian Church in the world (like Fr Yesehaq in the video), which is also inaccurate, even if you just go by scripture. Maybe he means his Communion, in which case I guess you would logically make the same claim as Orthodox people.
That being said, maybe their Ark is the real one. It doesn't seem very plausible to me though. Beta Israel Jews also don't really have a credible dogmatic or genetic connection to other Levantine peoples as far as I know.
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