Until recently, I prayed the Creed by rote, not much recognizing the extraordinary supernature of this profession. Lately, as our creed becomes more and more alien to the world around us, I pray it with much greater thoughtfulness.
Your story from Tikhon’s book helps reinforce our Catholic faith by placing the words into the mouth of an atheist. It also gives a tip on how to navigate and possibly survive individually and as a community in a totalitarian milieu. Our American “can-do” spirit is much needed as we dodge the inflammatory bullets of our times. As wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
My God, I suppose someone who minimises the role of the Pope would also minimise and dismiss genocide (deliberate murder of civilians plus destruction of Ukrainian language and books) by shilling a book of someone closest to putin who is directly installed in occupied Crimea where Greek Rite Catholics have seen their churches taken, where both Ukrainian and Russian speaking Orthodox priests who reject occupation are murdered. This Tikhon is a schismatic and persecutor. Shame on you.
Obviously I don't support what Tikhon is doing today, and that is hardly the point of this recounting of an old story of an old monk during Soviet times.
Why, nowadays, is everything always "guilt by association"? That's absurd. Does every post have to carry a proviso: "The quoting of this source does not imply agreement with anything he has said or done since the time it was written"? Like cigarette packages with government warnings?
All you needed was to note that Tikhon plays a very troubling role in Ukraine nowadays and then pivot to your story. Saying people dislike Russia nowadays was rather weak.Unfortunately nowadays there are unscrupulous opinion formers happy to ‘shill’ as its called. It should be noted that post 1942 the Russian Orthodox and other eastern bloc counterparts enjoyed relative privilege with a constrained but secure toleration. Romania worked in a very similar way with persecution of the non Ortho. It still has an effect as major population blocs regionally are completely indifferent to any religion. The West is barely better. Religion stats are a very murky field, which means it's worse.
I'm no fan of Putin or Russia. I simply didn't want people to dismiss a story from the Russian Orthodox. Let's face it: every Christian body is in desperate shape at this time in history. Triumphalisms abound but the statistics tell a grim story.
False equivalence: "Every Christian body is in desperate shape at this time in history." True, but not every Christian body is a major adjunct to an un-just war--a war meant to conquer another people--and squelching of religious liberty. I believe Edward is right, Dr. K., and this is one of your rare missteps. Now how will you handle it? By digging in your heels? Or by accepting reproof?
Greg, I don't see what the cause of reproof is. I said absolutely nothing false in my article. And in my replies, I explained why. If we have to hedge about every single statement with a battery of qualifications, where has intelligent reading gone? No one can read this post as a glorification of Russia, Putin, or Tikhon. And yes, I will double-down and say: every Christian body in the world is suffering attrition, corruption, and heterodoxy, even if their troubles are of different kinds.
I suppose being as intellectually gifted as you are and a champion of what is right makes it especially difficult to admit you goofed on this one. I'll call it what it appears to be--pride. If you won't admit that giving Putin's confessor a bully pulpit is a bad idea, then you're intellectually dishonest.
I don’t understand the story but I think the monk was correct. The head abbot seems only interested in his fancy drink instead of the reverence needed. This is probably way too simplistic.
No, the abbot here is pretending to discipline the monk when he really agrees with him, in order to "keep the peace." They are having a good laugh at the expense of the Soviet apparatchik.
Until recently, I prayed the Creed by rote, not much recognizing the extraordinary supernature of this profession. Lately, as our creed becomes more and more alien to the world around us, I pray it with much greater thoughtfulness.
Your story from Tikhon’s book helps reinforce our Catholic faith by placing the words into the mouth of an atheist. It also gives a tip on how to navigate and possibly survive individually and as a community in a totalitarian milieu. Our American “can-do” spirit is much needed as we dodge the inflammatory bullets of our times. As wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
My God, I suppose someone who minimises the role of the Pope would also minimise and dismiss genocide (deliberate murder of civilians plus destruction of Ukrainian language and books) by shilling a book of someone closest to putin who is directly installed in occupied Crimea where Greek Rite Catholics have seen their churches taken, where both Ukrainian and Russian speaking Orthodox priests who reject occupation are murdered. This Tikhon is a schismatic and persecutor. Shame on you.
Obviously I don't support what Tikhon is doing today, and that is hardly the point of this recounting of an old story of an old monk during Soviet times.
Why, nowadays, is everything always "guilt by association"? That's absurd. Does every post have to carry a proviso: "The quoting of this source does not imply agreement with anything he has said or done since the time it was written"? Like cigarette packages with government warnings?
All you needed was to note that Tikhon plays a very troubling role in Ukraine nowadays and then pivot to your story. Saying people dislike Russia nowadays was rather weak.Unfortunately nowadays there are unscrupulous opinion formers happy to ‘shill’ as its called. It should be noted that post 1942 the Russian Orthodox and other eastern bloc counterparts enjoyed relative privilege with a constrained but secure toleration. Romania worked in a very similar way with persecution of the non Ortho. It still has an effect as major population blocs regionally are completely indifferent to any religion. The West is barely better. Religion stats are a very murky field, which means it's worse.
I'm no fan of Putin or Russia. I simply didn't want people to dismiss a story from the Russian Orthodox. Let's face it: every Christian body is in desperate shape at this time in history. Triumphalisms abound but the statistics tell a grim story.
False equivalence: "Every Christian body is in desperate shape at this time in history." True, but not every Christian body is a major adjunct to an un-just war--a war meant to conquer another people--and squelching of religious liberty. I believe Edward is right, Dr. K., and this is one of your rare missteps. Now how will you handle it? By digging in your heels? Or by accepting reproof?
Greg, I don't see what the cause of reproof is. I said absolutely nothing false in my article. And in my replies, I explained why. If we have to hedge about every single statement with a battery of qualifications, where has intelligent reading gone? No one can read this post as a glorification of Russia, Putin, or Tikhon. And yes, I will double-down and say: every Christian body in the world is suffering attrition, corruption, and heterodoxy, even if their troubles are of different kinds.
I suppose being as intellectually gifted as you are and a champion of what is right makes it especially difficult to admit you goofed on this one. I'll call it what it appears to be--pride. If you won't admit that giving Putin's confessor a bully pulpit is a bad idea, then you're intellectually dishonest.
I don’t understand the story but I think the monk was correct. The head abbot seems only interested in his fancy drink instead of the reverence needed. This is probably way too simplistic.
No, the abbot here is pretending to discipline the monk when he really agrees with him, in order to "keep the peace." They are having a good laugh at the expense of the Soviet apparatchik.
Thank you. I’ll listen again.