- Mar 11, 2003
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I'm the opposite. I don't automatically trust our hierarchs (especially some that are speaking very strange things that border on the heretical as of late...at least in my jurisdiction). We are and should question our hierarchs' statements if they go against the Church's teachings. So, as I've said, having seen that quite often in this last year or two (and it isn't just about the virus, but about other canonical issues), I tend to be pretty vigilant on this. After all, some, if not most, of the past heretics were hierarchs, and the laypeople, knowing the faith well, spoke against them.
The importance of what the elders were saying, which are tied to Saints' warnings, were predicted before covid and they'd already reposed before that time, especially the one that died in 2016, which makes his words even more compelling, and quite amazingly accurate.
I trust the hierarchs and all of clergy that follow the elders who are spiritual children of the Saints of our church over our clergy/hierarchs generally speaking.
Anyway, I understand your point of view. Just sharing mine. I've followed this path since I've been a practicing Orthodox (revert - baptized at one years old into the Church but didn't grow up in it and came back to it in my mid-twenties).
Thank you for sharing.
To clarify my view - we absolutely do need to be vigilant, but I don’t hold the elders to be higher than the hierarchs, and don’t really see a reason to do so (from my POV). They should dovetail each other.
Ultimately it is the universal consensus of the Orthodox Church that matters - with the overall teachings of the saints, the Fathers of the Church, the hierarchs and clergy, and the ongoing teaching of the Holy Spirit through the mind of the Church.
However, I do try to follow my priest’s guidance, who in turn follows the bishop’s guidance, as unto God, even when I have difficulty doing so.
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