Hi all,
I had a really discouraging conversation today with a friend of mine who is ex orthodox. It seems she's had a really bad experience with some priests and comments they've made... Her issues included that:
1) according to this priest, infants who are not baptised cannot be saved and go to hell.
2) that the heterodox go to hell
3) that when she asked him for advice he said something to the effect of " well as a priest I am the intercession for God and you" and he did not really support her when she asked about verification from scripture and tradition.
Can someone please clarify the actual Orthodox stance on these issues? I felt really bad for her, she is now evangelical and we're sharing our stories so it's really sad to see people experience this in a church I'd really really consider joining.
I'd agree with Matt. It does sound more like a possibly schismatic priest.
Do you know what parish she went to? I'm not asking you to post it here, but maybe you can look to see if it's actually a canonical parish. There are some Churches with "orthodox" as part of the name that are not canonical, or maybe not even orthodox in any sense of the word.
As others have said - we trust babies to the mercy of God. Being that they are innocent, and He is a good, loving, and merciful God ...
And we don't judge the salvation of anyone - certainly not the heterodox as a group. God judges. Though I have seen a number of laypeople who perhaps interpret certain statements by some Church Father in a way to say such a thing - but never a priest I trust.
As far as being an intercessor for us - well, yes, if a priest prays for people he is interceding for them. If I myself pray for someone, I'm interceding for them.
Did he say he was the mediator between her and Christ? I've never heard an Orthodox priest say such a thing implying we must go through a priest. I for one appreciate the sacrament of Confession, and I want Father's prayers of Absolution, but he is praying for Christ to forgive me. I ask forgiveness myself too, immediately, if I need to. That's all a little harder to address, but we don't place the priest as some kind of wall between ourselves and Christ. I'm just not sure what the priest meant.
God has been with me for a long time, and His hand has guided me through different situations. I wasn't always in the Orthodox Church. But I believe God taught me things, then brought me here.
For someone to deliberately leave I have much more grave concerns. God is always the judge, but I couldn't in conscience ever offer anyone assurance in making such a decision. You can certainly pray for her though.
I'm not sure if you were asking if the priest should be reported to his bishop? It's possible to do so. I'm also not sure if your friend "heard correctly" exactly - I can't judge from here at all of course. If a canonical priest was saying such things, perhaps there needs to be a conversation. I don't really know much about such things though - I can only ask questions and have slight opinions, but if that's what you're asking, maybe someone more knowledgeable can suggest a course of action. I would think making sure what the priest really did say ought to come before bringing before a bishop? Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding ... Perhaps not?