My Opinion on Union, Part 1

[rublevpupil]

Here, at long last, are my thoughts on the recent union. The first half, at least. If anyone has problems following it, my apologies- it does get a bit rambling, I think. My opinion is a bit complicated, and trying to express everything hasn't been the easiest. Part 2 to follow shortly.

Comments

[naqerj]

Please do continue these posts. These questions are of importance to me, too.

[zaika_krasivaia]

Yes, please write more!

[ioulios]

Paul, I'm very glad to read concerns about the Union such as yours--that is, focused on pastoral matters rather than in dubious canonical concerns. Looking now from the outside, but as a child of the Church Abroad, I share many of the same concerns. I posted a rather long reflection along these same lines some time ago in a Spanish forum; do you happen to read Spanish?

Looking forward to the rest of this!

[rublevpupil]

Unfortunately, my comprehension of Spanish these days is virtually nonexistent :\

I do have canonical issues, but theyre more difficult to articulate, and (for lack of a better way of putting it) they don't affect people as directly as the pastoral issues. Does that make sense?

[ioulios]

Ah, that's a shame. Perhaps I will translate it sometime and share! (I thought about doing it in the last couple of days already, but as it was a rant, it was just a tad bit long. :-)

And I didn't imagine that you have no canonical concerns; I only meant that most of the canonical "arguments" being hashed our ad nauseam in some internet fora are largely irrelevant. I should have been clearer! But in any case, a reflection dwelling on pastoral issues is a welcome change.

[rublevpupil]

Well, if you ever feel up to translating it, or part of it, I'd be very interested to read it. I'm somewhat suprised here to realize that there are others with the exact same concerns!

Erie

[anonymous]

Unfortunatly, the Parish in Erie suffers from the same afflictions of many other parishes in the US. The young people are not really interested, and most have left because Erie is such a depressed area. They certainly have done well keeping their traditions while preaching in the language that everyone can understand, but they are certainly not thriving. This of course has to do more with the general apathy towards religion in this country that has even infected Orthodoxy (ie. most DP churches with no youth).

Re: Erie

[rublevpupil]

At the All Diaspora Youth Conference in the summer of 2004, I got a chance to meet the 5 youth that came from Erie. Two were priest's kids. It was very interesting to learn that the other 3 were converts! But overall, they didnt seem particularly outgoing- seemed pretty happy sticking to themselves, for whatever reason. Youre entirely right when you point out that there are other factors at play in Erie: location is an important thing with American parishes.

My point is that they would have died out 20 years ago if they hadnt translated everything to English 30 years ago.

[olga_1821]

It seems like I missed one of the most interesting posts of my Friends page :) Well, better late than never.

Yes, the "ethnicization" of the Church can be a great problem sometimes. And I always had the impression that the ROCOR is the most problematic area in this respect.

I was profoundly shocked by Fr. Serafim's interview that you mention. I do not doubt his priestal authority in any way (who am I to do it, after all?), but...

There is absolutely no mention of Christ and Holy Communion in the whole interview - only "Russian culture", "Russian heritage", etc, which are always put first, with "Orthodoxy" ("Russian Orthodoxy") coming second. Is that a Christian attitude? (Again, no personal reference to Fr. Serafim).

And these lines

If a Russian person becomes either an American, or a Frenchman, or an Australian, he usually falls away from the Church.(...)We here have a double assignment, to teach our youth not only Orthodoxy, but our culture - otherwise they do not stay in the Churchseem to me like a passive recognition of one's