Im Leaving Catholicism for Good Coming Home to Orthodoxy

[catgeorge]

Well in some areas in Greece and probably all of Greece; Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is seen in higher religious regard than Jesus himself.

Anyway - differences are irreconcilable as what is and what is not divine and who is "first amongst equals" where theology literature are opposite ends of the spectrum....

I sit extremely comfortable with Constantinoples definitions.

However monfret as I do not have your deep understanding on theological matters. If the conversion is based on any other reason other than spiritual then you will be kidding no one but yourself.

[monfret]

Well in some areas in Greece and probably all of Greece; Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is seen in higher religious regard than Jesus himself.

Anyway - differences are irreconcilable as what is and what is not divine and who is "first amongst equals" where theology literature are opposite ends of the spectrum....

I sit extremely comfortable with Constantinoples definitions.

However monfret as I do not have your deep understanding on theological matters. If the conversion is based on any other reason other than spiritual then you will be kidding no one but yourself.

My conversion to miaphysite orthodoxy is based on a strict reading of history and an unbiased look at the theology of the fathers.Romanists simpely distort it all,misquote,take out of context etc Romanism is not a self consistent doctrine.


I ask the holy spirit to give me his Graces and guide me into all truth.I believe he will take care of me.

[Óttar]

Well in some areas in Greece and probably all of Greece; Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is seen in higher religious regard than Jesus himself.

Like I said, the Mother archetype is the most powerful archetype in the minds of men, and the Mother was the first archetype to be venerated by mankind, so it is natural that She be held in the highest esteem.

Some anthropologist spent a lot of time in rural Greece and she found a village where the people worshiped a mysterious figure known as Despoina "Mistress". At first, she thought the villagers meant the Blessed Virgin, so she said, "Oh, you mean Panagia." The villagers told her, "No." and they told her "Panagia is in the church." and then they invoked Despoina and pointed towards the mountains.

There is also a pair of saints, a mother and daughter named SS. Demetra and Agia Kore.

[catgeorge]

Virgin Mary churches along the Aegean Sea

[monfret]

Padre Pio was a VATICAN 2 ist

I unite myself with my brothers and present at your feet my affectionate respect, all my devotion to your august person in an act of faith, love and obedience to the dignity of him whom you are representing on this earth. The Capuchin Order has always been in the first line in love, fidelity, obedience and devotion to the Holy See; I pray to God that it may remain thus and continue in its tradition of religious seriousness and austerity, evangelical poverty and faithful observance of the Rule and Constitution, certainly renewing itself in the vitality and in the inner spirit, according to the guides of the Second Vatican Council, in order to be always ready to attend to the necessities of Mother Church under the rule of your Holiness.

I know that your heart is suffering much these days in the interest of the Church, for the peace of the world, for the innumerable necessities of
the people of the world, but above all, for the lack of obedience of some, even Catholics, to the high teaching that you, assisted by the Holy
Spirit and in the name of God, are giving us. I offer you my prayers and daily sufferings as a small but sincere contribution on the part of the least of your sons in order that God may give you comfort with his Grace to follow the straight and painful way in the defence of eternal truth, which never changes with the passing of the years. Also, in the name of my spiritual children and the Prayer Groups, I thank you for your clear and decisive words that you especially pronounced in the last encyclical "Humanae
Vitae"; and I reaffirm my faith, my unconditional obedience to your illuminated directions.

May God grant victory to the truth, peace to his Church, tranquility to the world, health and prosperity to your Holiness so that, once these fleeting doubts are dissipated, the Kingdom of God may triumph in all hearts, guided by your apostolic work as Supreme Pastor of all Christianity.

Prostrate at your feet, I beg you to bless me in the company of my brothers in religion, my spiritual children, the Prayer Groups, my sick ones and also to bless all our good endeavours which we are trying to fulfill under your protection in the name of Jesus.

Humbly yours,

P. Pio, Capuchin

[Al-Meksiki]

Save some time, stop deluding yourself and just leave Christianity already

[Hithaeglir]

Like I said, the Mother archetype is the most powerful archetype in the minds of men, and the Mother was the first archetype to be venerated by mankind, so it is natural that She be held in the highest esteem.

Some anthropologist spent a lot of time in rural Greece and she found a village where the people worshiped a mysterious figure known as Despoina "Mistress". At first, she thought the villagers meant the Blessed Virgin, so she said, "Oh, you mean Panagia." The villagers told her, "No." and they told her "Panagia is in the church." and then they invoked Despoina and pointed towards the mountains.

There is also a pair of saints, a mother and daughter named SS. Demetra and Agia Kore.

Τhe village was in Arcadia,Peloponnese?

[Sarmatian]

Well in some areas in Greece and probably all of Greece; Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is seen in higher religious regard than Jesus himself.

I wouldn't say she is held in higher regard. She is simply closer to people since while she is His mother she still a human, not a God. While His will works in mysterious ways, His mother is simple and comprehensible authority to address. She is easier to speak to.

[Loki]

Probably unsurprisingly, having been brought up in a completely Protestant society, I find devotion to Mary as odd, to say the least. It seems really foreign to me and I can't get my head around it.

[Herr Abubu]

What is this? I've never heard of such a thing. Sergei Bulgakov, a Russian Orthodox mystic and theologian raised Sophia (Holy Feminine Wisdom) to divinity, but he was excommunicated by the Orthodox church. Excessive veneration of the Blessed Virgin is bound to happen in a religion like Christianity that is so patriarchal. In psychology, the most intense archetype is that of the Mother; the Hero comes in distant second. The Mother was the first icon to be venerated in human history, so feelings of adoration toward the Feminine are only natural in Homo Religiosus.

Some Catholics take their already excessive views of Mary to another extreme by identifying or replacing the Holy Spirit with Mary. It is a very fringe view, of course, but one that evolved out of and isn't entirely inconsistent with the already excessive Mariology of the Roman Catholic Church. It has great precedence in the ideas of the immaculate conception and Mary as coredemptrix, which already divinize her. That doesn't mean the Orthodox don't recognize her as unique even amongst the saints, however.

As for Bulgakov, I don't know enough to make any judgment. He was accused of peddling gnostic, and it certainly does sound possible. I'm not sure whether Bulgakov was simply propounding Platonist metaphysics as a counterbalance to that time's virulent metaphysical nihilism, nominalism, as some of his defenders have argued, or whether he used Sophia in a gnostic sense.

And the excesses of the Latin Church has less to do with excessive masculinity and more to do with bad theology on the part of the West and just a tendency for excess in general when it comes to the West (interestingly, whereas both Protestants and Catholics tend to go into extreme dialectical positions of theology, Orthodoxy tends to find a third way out of these never ending dialectics).

Consider Mary's place in Orthodoxy, first of all, and then consider her position in Protestantism. Then also consider Catholicisms bizarro inner life. One Catholic saint tried, or actually did get, a heart transplant due to some conviction she was having the Immaculate Heart of Jesus transplanted into her or something like that. Another, or the same, I don't remember, thought the Holy Spirit, to which she was... married, like many Catholic nuns within certain orders, was giving her orgasms.