MISSIONARY-POSITION ORTHODOXY

[ursusanglicanus]

Our annual 3-day diocesan clergy conferences (I have just returned from my third) are mixed blessings. Valuable opportunities to catch up with other priests, meaningful morning prayers, a few excellent one-to-one conversations, offset by the inevitable lengthy ‘discours de circonstance’, and a constant being careful of whom I say what to.

This

Comments

[renardetraisin]

Or am I missing something .... хорошее начало:))

Меньше думать о себе, не сравнивать себя ни с кем, меньше рефлексировать о своем пути в прошлом. Что было, то прошло.

Только вперед - "задняя забывая, в переднее простирайся" (к Филипис. 3.13)

[renardetraisin]

I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead (Philippians 3:13)

[ursusanglicanus]

Glad to hear from you despite the present walls of misunderstanding.

[xoxlobandera]

I sense of lack in this 'way' of being part of a wider creation, or striving for something really beautiful, a sense of being ‘dépassé’ by something. We end up, not ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’, but in moral, suburban dullness.

Exactly! Let me add a few words from my perspective. To me, this Orthodox framework could be useful for some people. However, this framework appears to be self-sufficient, almost like a kind of yoga practice. It doesn't require the Church, and I believe that is incorrect.

[ursusanglicanus]

It doesn't require the Church, you are right, but the Church lays claim to it as its territory.

[volchik_lamyra]

Very conservative communities across religions, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim (I have no knowledge of other kinds but would suspect the same), tend to have one thing in common: prohibitions and demands of the religious practice are time-consuming and anxiety-inducing, running the risk of completely occupying a person’s mind with preserving ritual purity and creating breeding grounds for all kinds of controlling and abusive behaviors. Masturbation can be compared to other solitary physiologic discharges, but sex is about interpersonal connection. Remembering that one’s sexual partner is a person with human dignity is what should be stressed.

[ursusanglicanus]

I note your wording 'anxiety-inducing' and 'complete occupation'. I don't remember hearing the word 'joy' in this particular context.

[volchik_lamyra]

That’s right, there isn’t any in this context.

[volchik_lamyra]

Prohibitions are not about joy, they are about survival and safety, avoiding damage and danger. Joy is in the practice of gratitude and benevolence, of finding and appreciating moments of beauty. Prohibitions would be insufficient, something positive is required. I guess it’s a whole another story

[mmekourdukova]

Как показывает опыт многих десятилетий, даже и такая (из проблемной среды) молодёжь довольно быстро соображает, что её водят за нос, и бросает практики, все результаты, вся цель которых которых сводятся к самим этим практикам.

Остаются лишь самые тупые, неспособные к самореализации вне приходского кокона. Но это не наша проблема, это ваша (клира) проблема :-)).