Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
He said that in the EO church that you pay attention to what the priest says during mass, but ignore what he does that might be sinful.
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Just a few small remarks to give an explanation. In the EOC, mass is called the Divine Liturgy. Probably, about 70% of the service is a common prayer, with hymns and the prayer
Kyrie Eleison! Lord Have Mercy! Господи помилуй! The priest's sermon only takes a small part. It is not the center of the Liturgy. The main part is the sacrament of the Holy Communion.
The EO priests are human beings. None of them is perfect. So, there are bad priests in the EOC. (Personally, I have never met them, but I can't deny the fact that they exist). However, the Sacraments are still valid even through bad priests. And if a layman has some problem with his priest, he can ask the bishop to solve the problem.
Personally, I think the sins of bad priests are not the sins of the Church but the sins against the Church. Since we don't judge Christ and His apostles by Judas, we also don't judge a church by her sinners. Prof. Osipov writes, "Indeed, any Local Orthodox Church or non-Orthodox church can be judged by her saints. Tell me who your saints are and I will tell what your church is. Any church calls as saints only those who realized in their life the Christian ideal, as this Church understands it. That is why canonization of a certain saint is not only testimony of the Church about this Christian, who according to her judgment is worthy of the glory and suggested by her as an example to follow. It is at the same time a testimony of the Church about herself. By the saints we can best of all judge about the true or imaginary sanctity of the Church..."
When I compare WL and WN with EO saints, monks, Church and Desert Fathers (like St Anthony the Great, John Chrysostom, St Seraphim of Sarov, Optina Elders, and Russian Hieromartyrs, Martyrs and Confessors of the Communist Yoke), the two "spiritual giants" of the LRC don't look that big.
PS I want to share a story about a Russian Orthodox priest, not a saint. The story was told by the White Army officer who had been arrested by the reds (the Red Army) and kept in a jail. In the jail, he met an EO priest who was also arrested. The officer knew the priest before the Russian Revolution. It was a "bad" priest. He had a weakness for vodka and he was often seen drunk. Sometimes laymen even had to carry the priest home because he could not walk. Nobody had any respect for the priest. So, the officer was very surprised to meet the same priest in the cell. The reds interrogated and beat up the priest severely every day. But every time when the priest, covered with blood, came back to his cell after the interrogation, he told to his cellmates: "Brothers, let's pray for our prosecutors so that the Lord may forgive their sins". He sang "Our Father" and everyone joined his prayer. The officer asked the priest, "Why are you here? What do the reds want from you?.." "They want me give a sermon in the church that Communism and Christian faith are similar. They say Christ fought against the rich and we also fight against the rich. Christ helped the poor and we also came to help the poor", said the priest. "But" he continued, "I tell them that they are mistaken. Christ taught, 'Give away' but you teach, 'Take away' (rob)... Later the priest was shot dead by his prosecutors. Thus, this ordeal showed what kind of men his was. In spite of his weakness, he had a pure heart and was faithful to the Lord until the end. But there were also "good priests" who left the Church after the first signs of danger. So, it's not for us to judge people, even priests. Only God knows their hearts.
PPS In Greek, Prelest is "Plani".