A JTO reader sent me the link below which has an apparently authentic first hand assessment of the recent Bishop demotion from "an Antiochian who wears black" (AWWB). The assumption is that this AWWB is a deacon or a priest. Since the Metropolitan is still continuing his crypticism, such information from the ranks of the clergy is helpful. I received a harsh comment from a JTO reader (which I didn't post because of reader's slang usage of the word "God") presumably relating my posts concerning the Metropolitan's actions as that of a Baptist deacon talking to his pastor. While I must apologize to good Baptist deacons everywhere, I must also remind the reader and others that the submission we have to those who "rule over us" does not include the idea that the Laity are to shut up, chill out and not ask questions. All need to be reminded that the Laity are the Fourth Order Of The Priesthood, and that Orthodoxy is not Papist but ordered by consensus. When one man, one church, one emperor strays from the canons, doctrines or scriptures, all righteous everywhere must speak. To the accusing reader: Anthanasius was a deacon when he grabbed the reigns of the emperor's horse.
Now, being in the bosom of the Church, I am discovering things from this vantage that perplex me. The state of the Church as a whole, the apostasy from Dogma, Canons and Scripture coming from the hierarchy of most major Orthodox jurisdictions is alarming and can send one into despair. When one becomes convinced that it is happening it is not difficult to admire groups like ROAC who tenaciously adhered to that which was handed down. They fight Ecumenism and Sergianism and are being persecuted, tortured, physically attacked by the state-created, state-owned Moscow Patriarchate with which they refused to commune while all of the members ofSCOBAparticipate by their silence. Groups like ROAChave been called "schismatic". Is it accurate to consider the smaller group the schismatics if it is the larger group that is apostatizing? ROCOR is the group that went against their 60-80 year condemnation and anathema of the Moscow Patriarchate as heretical, to join with them, selling their birthright for a mess of pottage. ROAC, groups like them and the ROCOR in Russian refused to...and they are accused of being schismatic. Why? Because they will not submit to the Moscow Patriarchate who was established by Joseph Stalin, still is controlled and infiltrated by former KGB, was responsible for the genocide of millions of our Orthodox Brothers and is led now by a multi-billionaire "Patriarch" who amassed his great wealth by cooperation with an atheistic state by the import of alcohol and tobacco? Once one does research on the history of the Moscow Patriarchate, it becomes clear as to whom has broken from true Orthodoxy. It is certainly not the faithful Bishops of ROAC and others in Russia and abroad who are having their lives, lands, churches, stripped from them by violence at the hands of the apostate church. These discoveries in my Journey To Orthodoxy cause me to question my own communion with any part of the church who communes or endorses such.
I have also been perplexed to find the level of compromise and apostasy from the patriarchs as they continue to create a World Orthodox Church by melding it into the World Council of Churches (WCC) reshaping the Orthodox Church to conform with the world's view of spiritual harmony. Also alarming is the level of collusion on the part of local priests who remain in league with such heretical hierarchs and do not warn their parishioners.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"
What of the sincere parishioners who have no knowledge of where their apostate hierarchs and priests are leading them? One has likened it to a frog in a pot of water on a stove. As the water heats up, the frog will simply adjust to the temperature until he is boiled to death. We are not frogs and Christ's exhortation to follow truth and to abhor heresy and apostasy should cause us to jump out of the pot as soon as we see the flame.
" Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron."
Here is evidence that the flame is nearing the boiling point and the iron is heating up:
Take the quiz: WHO SAID...
1. It is "the fundamental ecclesiological truth" that Orthodoxy and Papism "constitute the two lungs of the Body of Christ"
2. "Our Churches are recognized mutually as Sister Churches, responsible together for the preservation of the One Church of God...We exhort our faithful. Catholic and Orthodox to strengthen the spirit of brotherhood, which derives from a single Baptism and participation in the sacramental life." 3. "We do not hold that exclusivity means judgment or exclusion.The idea that membership in a visible Church organization is requisite for membership in heaven is based on a false paradigm--that we somehow parallel the kingdom of God in this world. The kingdom is not an exterior reality, rather it is interior, at least until the end of time. "
4. " We remind all that every form of proselytism... is absolutely condemned by the Orthodox.Proselytism, practiced in nations already Christian, and in many cases even Orthodox,...poisons the relations among Christians and destroys the road to their unity. "
5. "[W]e now clearly realize and understand that our two families [Orthodox and Monophysites] have always loyally guarded the same and authentic Christological Orthodox faith, and have maintained uninterrupted the apostolic tradition although they may have used the Christological terms in a different manner. It is that common faith and that continual loyalty to the apostolic tradition which must be the basis of our unity and communion... The two families accept that all the anathemas and the condemnations of the past which kept us divided must be lifted by the Churches so that the last obstacle to full unity and communion of our two families can be removed by the grace and the power of God. The two families accept that the lifting of the anathemas and the condemnations will be based on the fact that the Councils and the fathers previously anathematized or condemned were not heretics...."
6. "We respect an individual's choice with regard to his or her faith, and we do not proselytize anyone, nor do we participate in dialogues between Christians and our brother Muslims in order to convince them to accept our own faith."
7. "If the diverse peoples of a culture look to the memories of their faith traditions, whatever they may be, they will be sustained, they will be fed the food of God's spiritual knowledge...Orthodox Christian and modernist, Protestant and modernist, Jew and modernist, Catholic and modernist:however we worship, as long as we abide in our faith and unite it to our works in the world, we bring the living and always timely message of Divine Wisdom into the modern world."
8. (To Zoroastrians, Hindus, etc.) "We are united in the spirit [sic] of the one God, 'Creator of all things, visible and invisible' ... we are convinced that there is more that unites the community of man, than divides us ".
9. " Brothers and sisters, the watchword of the Holy Orthodox Church today is unity. We are learning unity within our own house; we must pursue unity with all the children of God... Roman Catholics and Orthodox, Protestants and Jews, Muslims and Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians: the time has come not only for rapprochement, but also for an alliance and joint effort... We have within our grasp the vision of the Psalmist: "Behold, how good and how pleasing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" We pledge to you today that the Orthodox Christian Church will do everything in her power to fulfill that vision. "
10. " The Orthodox Church does not seek to convince others of any one particular understanding of truth or revelation, nor does it seek to convert others to a particular mode of thinking...Whenever human beings react to the perspectives and beliefs of others on the basis of fear and self-righteousness, they violate the God-given right and freedom of others to come to know God and one another in the manner inherent to their identity as peoples...Such xenophobic tendencies are chiefly the result of being out of communion with God...When human beings are in communion with God, who Himself is the very essence of inexhaustible love, xenophobia-- fear of the other--is not possible since human beings do not see each other as strangers, but rather asbrothers and sisters in communionwith the loving Lord. "
Who said these things?
Answer:
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church said all of these things in various speeches and in his leadership role in the World Council of Churches * (WCC). His predecessor Patriarch of Constantinople even said this: "We are deceived and we sin, if we think that the Orthodox faith came down from Heaven and that all [other] creeds are unworthy. Three hundred million people have chosen Islam in order to reach their god, and other hundreds of millions are Protestants, Catholics, and Buddhists. The goal of every religion is to improve mankind."
What did Jesus mean when He said,
"I am THE way, THE Truth and THE Life, and no man
comes to the Father except He comes by Me."?
According to the Patriarch and the WCC, Jesus said,
"I am A way, A truth and A life and everyone can
come to the Father through me and a few other directions."
What did Jesus mean when he said,
"All authority has been given to ME in heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..."?
According to the Patriarch and the WCC, Jesus said,
"Quite a bit of authority has been give to me so go and be in loving communion with other religions being careful not to proselyte them to me for their way is just as good as any, after all we don't want to offend."
ALL member Churches represented in SCOBA do follow this heresy and apostasy to their own destruction and the destruction of the flocks they shepherd.
Another former Patriarch of Constantinople seemed to understand this:
"We know that salvation itself is a property of the One Church, and that no one can be outside of the catholic [small c] Church and yet share the Faith of Christ, or be saved...Neither do we offer any part of that hope to the ungodly heretics, but we place them entirely outside of that hope; indeed, they have not the least participation in Christ, but vainly assume for themselves that saving Name."-St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (4th Century AD)
Remember Saint Chrysostom's words as you participate in His Liturgy this Sunday. If your Priest, Bishop, or Patriarch is a member of the World Council of Churches or condones such by his action or inaction, thus promoting a gospel that is not of Christ and His Apostles, then depose them or flee from them.
Remember these words:
" Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
'I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.'
Therefore
'Come out from among themAnd be separate, says the Lord.Do not touch what is unclean.And I will receive you."
" I will be a Father to you
And you shall be My sons and
daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty."
So take note of the links of the Orthodox Churches on the JTO site, who refuse to participate in the great apostasy and heresy that is Ecumenism and The World Council of Churches.Contact these Orthodox communions to see how you might enter their community of believers.
Otherwise the icon you venerate will look something like this:
It started in the 60's when the Pope began to ask forgiveness for various "sins" of antiquity. Interestingly enough this new found repentance started about the same time as the Roman Catholic promotion of Ecumenism. If only the Papal confession included sins of heresy, the confessions might be less suspect. Here is a suggested list of real sins the current Pope might consider confessing:
A Fiction Account of Repentance:
“I, Pope John-Paul, would like to ask the forgiveness of the whole world for spreading my evil and destructive doctrine, which is called Roman Catholicism.
“Among the heresies I would like to renounce is the heresy of the Filioque, which destroys the theological understanding of the Trinity. I would also like to renounce the following heresies:
“our diabolical teaching on purgatory, which is similar to the teaching of Origen;
“our distortion of all the sacraments which we accepted when we were Orthodox – for example, our heretical practice of baptism by sprinkling, which is like the practice of the Protestants, and our use of unleavened bread, which is like the Jews;
“our teaching that I the Pope am infallible, a teaching that forms the foundation of all the above-mentioned sins, which thereby witness to the fact that I am not infallible.
“From all the above examples it is evident that I have fallen away from True Christianity, and therefore both my actions and those of my predecessors are like the actions of the pagans, like whom I in the name of ‘Christianity’ killed, burned and destroyed everything that I could and everyone that I could for the sake of spreading my false teachings.
“The list of such evil works includes the Inquisition, when innocent people were burned at the pillar of shame, which witnesses to my unchristian attitude to people; and the crusades, which ravaged the capital of Orthodox Byzantium, Constantinople; the invasion and conquest of America, as a result of which with my blessing the two main indigenous civilizations there were annihilated; the murder by dismemberment of the holy Martyr Peter the Aleut, an Orthodox Christian who suffered in San Francisco at the hands of my Jesuit monks because he did not want to convert to my disgusting faith; and in our century, my predecessor Pius XII’s blessing of forcible conversion in Croatia, during which 800,000 Orthodox were killed because they did not want to convert and be subject to my papal authority.
Continuing the cryptic nature of the recent decision of the Holy Synod of Antioch and Metropolitan Philip's support of the demotion all Bishops to the status of Auxiliary, this announcement appears on the Antiochian.org website.
The meeting would have to be "special" considering the unprecedented move of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America to that of a single ruled church jurisdiction by fiat. What happened to consensus? How is it canonical that the Self-Ruled agreement, constitution and bylaws are stricken overnight with the support of the Metropolitan and without the consensus of the Bishops who rule? Papist? Certainly not the Orthodox way. We can only hope that the specialness of the meeting is so-called because our demoted Bishops will not stand for such an independent act outside the canonical method of governing. No Patriarch nor Metropolitan is above the will of God.
It would behoove the Metropolitan to come into the open concerning the actual real life reasons The Decision (of the Holy Synod) was made in the first place. Thinking that the use of phrases such as "preserve the unity" is sufficient communication highly underestimates the reaction of the laymen to such ambiguity. It would also behoove the Metropolitan to invite some laymen and lowly, subservient priests to the Special Meeting so as not to rule from an Episcopal Tower. JTO is hearing from priests and laymen who all express consternation and alarm that will not be quenched by posturing and subterfuge.
Whether it was The Decision itself or the method in which it was made, it has resulted in turmoil and has the potential of severely dividing what has been one of the most respected jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. If the Patriarch or the Metropolitan determine that they can rule without the consensus of the people as a measure to the rightness of their decisions, then they have become isolated and out of touch indeed. How will you lead if there is no one left to follow? More than one has told JTO that they can get no response from the Metropolitan's office. JTO has personally experienced this with a previous matter in which a mailed letter went unanswered. Is anyone home up there?
The proof of Holiness in our Bishops and Parish Priests in this hour will be whether they will care more to safeguard their careers and positions rather than the Church of Christ. Will they stand for the right or will they cower under ecclesiastical power? There is a common story that once Metropolitan Philip was in conversation with a parishioner concerning the Canons. As the parishioner was giving his opinion the Metropolitan interrupted, "You don't tell me what the Canons say. I tell you." Could this be the pervasive attitude that is The Decision? Could this be the hierarchical papist attitude that causes the great divide of the Antiochian Church? Pride comes before the fall and until evidence and answers are forthcoming as to the rightness of the recent events, conclusion are limited to the negatives.
I have always said, "It is a wide Church." Damascus Syria, where the See of Antioch resides, is not larger than the state of Nebraska. In North America there are no more than 55,000 parishioners the Antiochian Diocese. There are almost 300 million Orthodox worldwide and about 500,000 of all jurisdictions in North America. If Metropolitans or Patriarchs err in matters of Canons or faith to the harm of the people they must either repent, be removed or the people must remove to another diocese. I hope all, including our Bishops and Priests, will consider this as a viable option should The Decision be revealed to be one not from the heart and will of Christ.
Orthodox Prophets blog posted an article recently warning churches of the coming government attempt at control. The marriage of church and state through the voluntary 501c3 status allows the state to intrude. The recent attempt by a state legislature to take over control of a Catholic Parish's finances is just the beginning. Please read again the article 501c3's- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
A new definition has crept into World Orthodoxy in recent years. World Orthodoxy has begun to recognize Orthodox Churches on the basis of their being 'canonical'. By this newly accepted definition, to be 'canonical' a church must be in full communion with Constantinople. Constantinople has become World Orthodoxy's touchstone. In fact, occasionally there are press releases that describe the Patriarchate of Constantinople as an Eastern Papacy or "the leader of World Orthodoxy." The late Patriarch Demetrius described the Ecumenical Patriarch as the foremost bishop of Orthodoxy. If a church falls away from communion with him, it is no longer 'canonical'.
Let's ask a simple question: How did the understanding of the term 'canonical' change? According to the Holy Fathers, the venerable term, 'Canonical' always referred to the pious observance of the Holy Canons of the Church, and, most certainly, to those Canons relating to the beliefs and pious practices of the holy Orthodox Church. However, because of wars and political turmoil in the 20th century, the administrative structure of the Church became disorganized, most especially in the Diaspora. 'Mother,' in other words, ethnic, Churches sought to preserve Orthodoxy by preserving its canonical organization, i.e., the organization described by the holy canons for dioceses and synods. Sadly, in the course of this organizational struggle for external order, any canons relating to the Apostolic Faith and the doctrines of the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils, that is, to her inner, mystical life, were deliberately overlooked by the hierarchs who considered themselves to be the architects of this quest for order. These men were prompted by the syncretistic and anti-dogmatic spirit then prevalent, a spirit which continues today, a spirit which controls all current thought and practice in World Orthodoxy.
Satisfied that they had jettisoned the mystical life of the Church of Christ, these revisionist hierarchs in the Diaspora, and elsewhere, hastily sacrificed the Church's unity in Apostolic truth for the modern idea, foreign to guidance of the Holy Fathers, of the unity of mankind. This modernizing group imposed an external administrative union in order to preserve the unity of an outward ecclesiastical apparatus, now stripped of the inner life of the "faith once for all delivered to the Saints" (Jude 3) with all parishes welded together under one headquarters.
As an example of how this new restructuring of Orthodoxy in the Diaspora functioned, Parish Council members taking their pledge in Greek Archdiocese of America churches were asked to promise to be obedient to the canons and traditions of the Orthodox Church. Generally, these canons and traditions are viewed as abstract principles, which were not defined or clarified by the priest administering the pledge. This pledge is usually interpreted as complete obedience to the ruling hierarch.
The renovating hierarchy, as the chief plank in its modernizing platform advanced the novel theory, unknown to the Holy Fathers, that the canons are Laws which are to be interpreted by the ruling hierarch who decides what is and what is not 'canonical' in this new way of thinking. This is the way that the Patristic, truly Orthodox, understanding of the canons was set aside. A former bishop of the Greek Archdiocese who taught at Holy Cross in Boston shared his thoughts with his students about the Holy Canons. He remarked that over the years he had carefully studied the canons and had come to one conclusion: there was only one canon which needed to be obeyed in the church. He cynically declared that only those canons which spoke of hierarchal authority and obedience to the bishop needed to be obeyed. All other canons could be ignored.
Such a militaristic or, better, papal interpretation of the canons allowed individual patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops the freedom to act entirely apart from the wisdom and guidance of Holy Tradition. Such renovationism, so they thought, gave them unrestricted license to ignore any and all of the Holy Canons. They thus played the role of the sole authentic interpreters of the canons. This attitude reduces all the canons to one straightforward operating principle: "Obey your Bishop." With this axe in hand, the modernizing hierarchy quickly proceeded to align the Church with the spirit of the age and not with the Spirit of Christ.
Such a procedure may well bring to mind to mind the current method by which decisions are made in the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The Supreme Court now feels free to change prior decisions of the Court as well as laws passed by legislative bodies on the basis of the contemporary understanding and interpretation of moral values. For example, abortion may have been wrong at one time and condemned by the Supreme Court, but the Roe vs. Wade decision defined that there were other value systems which needed to be acknowledged. For the modern way of thinking, morality becomes a relative value and is never absolute. The modern mind desires to live in a world where there are no absolutes (aside for its demand that there are no absolutes), aside from its nihilism. Further, there is no Divine Authority on which to base any decisions. God has been dethroned and in His place stands the Supreme Court.
The interpretation of the Holy Canons has thus become a selective response controlled by the contemporary moral and irreligious scene. Ecumenism, a form of relativism, is in. The many canons forbidding joint prayer with non-Orthodox are out. These canons, so the story goes, are "old fashioned." There is no hesitation in having non-Orthodox Christian persons participate alongside the clergy of World Orthodoxy at funerals, in wedding services, vesper services, Theophany services, and even in Divine Liturgies. And this has happened often enough over the past 40 years that it has become a standard practice. Many, but not all, Orthodox Christians are not surprised or disturbed when such concelebrations take place. Very many Orthodox Christians in the so-called "Canonical" Churches are confident that the union of the churches has already occurred. The rites of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches are now acknowledged as "grace filled" by all the so-called "Canonical" jurisdictions, while the Mysteries of the traditional Orthodox Christians are deemed as invalid. What is ignored is that the Church has steadfastly taught that outside the Church there is no salvation; no mysteries (St. Cyprian of Carthage 268).
The canons are clear in that heretical baptism is not a baptism, but is a curse and defilement. The Holy Fathers teach with one voice that the "One baptism" referred to in the Nicene Creed is the mystery performed under the guidance of a right-teaching, right-believing, Orthodox bishop. If one recognizes the non-Orthodox baptisms then why shouldn't one recognize the other non-Orthodox rites: chrismation, Holy Communion, etc? Actually, many of the clergy of the "canonical" jurisdictions have already done so.
What makes a church truly canonical? Is it not the adherence to what has been taught everywhere, at all times, and by all the Orthodox Fathers of the Church (St. Vincent of Lerins 445)? If we cannot confess our faith and identify it with the faith of the Church's confessors and saints, then indeed we are not confessing the Orthodox Christian faith, but we are in reality mocking our ancient Orthodox Faith. But first of all, pray that we may not be lead astray by the "sirens of ecumenism." We need to be bonded to the spiritual ark of the church and not give in to the compromised faith of those who have rejected the Orthodox Faith and accepted a new adulterated faith, which no longer represents the faith confessed by the Holy Fathers, that is, "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
And one final point: Not one canon of the Orthodox Church teaches that one has to be in communion with Constantinople (or any other "ancient see") in order to be canonical or Orthodox!
Pray for soul of the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois who was shot and killed today as he preached. A Message About Today’s Loss
(From the Church's Website)
Today, a little after our 8:15 service began, a man entered First Baptist Church and fired several gunshots at our Senior Pastor, Dr. Fred Winters. Pastor Winters was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds.
Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss.
In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives. We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God’s Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in.
To those who believe in the power of prayer, we covet your prayers right now.
20,000 hits is not significant in the eyes of the blogging world, but JTO doesn't adhere to all of the blog traffic methods and rules. We started posting in 2006 and those who have found us are the tried and true blogging surfers. We are humbled that so many people from all over the world read and comment on JTO. If you haven't taken the time, look for the Archived Articles to the left and see what you have missed. You will find most of the articles and comments as relevant now as when they were first posted.
Below is an example of what a few months traffic on JTO looks like. Look for your country and you might find you are not alone. Thanks to all JTO readers!
In recently perusing the September 2006 JTO article, I Am No Mathematician, I was reminded of a few very tough facts. The Orthodox Church is losing the race for the souls of men on the North American Continent. The concerns about the decision to alter the role of Bishops in North America are varied, but the most important concern may be easily missed amidst the political maze that can become the focus of such a jurisdictional decision. We can lose sight of the the fact that we are the body of Christ under His jurisdiction and that the Church's chief role is to,
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..."
If Doctor Phil were Orthodox, he might ask the question of us, "So how's that working for you?" Given that there are less than 500,000 Orthodox Christians of any Jurisdiction in North America, the true statistics of Church growth on this continent should shame us. Contrast that with the 529,000,000 people who live in North America. How does Orthodoxy compare with other religions?
each have more practicing members in the United States alone than Eastern Orthodox has in all of North America? Eastern Orthodoxy is not even included on major lists of religions in the USA due to its statistically insignificant numbers.
Did you know that the Wicans/Pagans/Druids have more practicing members in the United States than does the Eastern Orthodox?
"So Antiochian Archdiocese of North America," asks our hypothetically Orthodox Dr. Phil, "how's it working for you?"
Given that there are less than 55,000 members of the Antiochian Orthodox jurisdiction in all of North America, did you know that ALL official religions in the United States have more active participants than the Antiochian Orthodox Church has in all of North America, with the exception of the cultist 60's era Eckankar? While the Antiochian Orthodox Church boasts of its 33% growth under Metropolitan Philip's pastorate, other heterodox and heretical groups have far exceeded that with growth upwards to 400% in the same time frame.
So when concern comes over the major restructuring of the Bishopric on this Continent it is not simply a question of personalities, control or ulterior motives, it is a real concern that the little progress the Orthodox church has made on this continent will be set back for years. Sometimes it seems we are attempting to preserve the Syrian church through containment rather than promote the cause of Christ. In any case, the Orthodox Church is losing the race for souls and these Sad Stats are the proof.
A JTO reader sent me the link below which has an apparently authentic first hand assessment of the recent Bishop demotion from "an Antiochian who wears black" (AWWB). The assumption is that this AWWB is a deacon or a priest. Since the Metropolitan is still continuing his crypticism, such information from the ranks of the clergy is helpful. I received a harsh comment from a JTO reader (which I didn't post because of reader's slang usage of the word "God") presumably relating my posts concerning the Metropolitan's actions as that of a Baptist deacon talking to his pastor. While I must apologize to good Baptist deacons everywhere, I must also remind the reader and others that the submission we have to those who "rule over us" does not include the idea that the Laity are to shut up, chill out and not ask questions. All need to be reminded that the Laity are the Fourth Order Of The Priesthood, and that Orthodoxy is not Papist but ordered by consensus. When one man, one church, one emperor strays from the canons, doctrines or scriptures, all righteous everywhere must speak. To the accusing reader: Anthanasius was a deacon when he grabbed the reigns of the emperor's horse.
