A Strong Delusion and a Cat
2 Thessalonians 2:11
Barely a day goes by when I do not wonder at the mental gymnastics of the world orthodox.
We must, in the end, count ourselves blessed to see the Word of God so literally manifested.
“.. because they received not the love of the truth, they they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
1 Thessalonians 2:10-11
I think people must love a puppet show.
What I find most fascinating is how the ‘conservative’ world orthodox stand, as if to one side, commenting on the behaviour of the ‘progressive’ orthodox, apparently safe in the knowledge of their own salvation.
If anyone shall pray, even in a private house, with an excommunicated person, let him also be excommunicated. 10th Canon of the holy apostles
If any clergyman shall join in prayer with a deposed clergyman as if he were still a clergyman, let him also be deposed. 11th Canon of the Holy Apostles
Just a couple of, you know, Apostolic Canons there.
The world orthodox are funny in a couple of ways, and what I relate is from experience.
Firstly, they are genuinely interested in ‘watering down’ orthodoxy for the sake of keeping up with the times. They have begun to believe the Lie and so they cannot help but seek to corrupt others.
They discourage the age-old fasting schedule of the Church as ‘extreme’.
They try to guide zealous converts away from their zeal and towards the compromise and mediocrity of their own cursed position. It is not recommended for new converts to, for example, study the Canons, or to pray too much. (!)
They cite rules for ascetics and monks as if they apply to the laymen. The, let’s face it, rather short prayer rule given as a minimum standard in the True Church - Morning and Evening prayers from the old Jordanville prayer book - is only for the ‘experienced’. Oh Gosh, half an hour, you say? Steady on!
Why?
As if they are dealing with hordes of vulnerable sheep who will fall prey to ‘super-correctness’. What a joke. Just ‘correctness’, that’s what is being avoided.
Even with the internet, the surge in conversion to world orthodoxy is hardly anything to write home about, and what harm if some of them do read the Canons, or start praying more? They might fall away? Yes, they might realise that the world orthodox are a bunch of well-read charlatans.
Here is an article from the ‘conservative’ side of the world orthodox - reporting on the uncanonical activities of the ‘progressive’ side of the world orthodox.
https://orthochristian.com/155347.html
Honestly, they might as well all be protestants at this point.
Here is another gem:
https://orthochristian.com/147132.html
What gets me is the way this publication refers to the “Orthodox Community”.
There is no world orthodox community! Despite all being ‘in communion’ with each other, there is no agreement on anything!
Truly the world orthodox are under a strong delusion. Nothing means anything for them any more. I’m lost for words.
Here is a cat in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Those world orthodox that point out divisions and differences in “True Orthodox circles” should take a good look at themselves. Even their lucrative endeavors fail to keep them unified!
From my experience, we GOC of Greece are also not really always on the same page with some issues. At least it's not scandals of such proportion, rather disagreements on tradition. But those fights never end for some reason.