Wouldn't "church tradition" be a better way to describe this denomination? The bible never mention anything about praying to dead people or angels
or the mother of Jesus.
We don't pray to dead people. IN fact, we ask for the prayers of people who are much more alive than you or I
Instead it says that it is just one name that people can be saved by.
Christ.... where have you read differently?
And I don't want to offend anyone, but it seems like in this denomination people are very interested in empty rituals
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Where did you get the idea we are interested in or even practice empty rituals? Please show us.
long beards
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It was good enough for Jesus.... lol But seriously, my priest has a short beard that changes a lot, I don't have a beard and another priest I know has a super long beard. Should I be suspect of him because he wants a beard? Seems a bit closed minded, it woudl seem. Monks tend to have long beards and so do many priests in various countries but these are outwards symbols. No one believes that a person is made holy by a beard. Since when is it wrong to find Symbols helpful? Do you not have a picture of a cross in your room or on your chest?
Like a tux? lol But really, when I hear that, I always think of the woman who put expensive perfume on Jesus feet and then Judas said that could ahve been sold and the money given to the poor. There is a time when we give our best (materially) that we have to God not because he can use it but because it reminds us that all we have here on Earth is His. There is a time to where cut-off jeans and ratty t-shirts (like when building Orphanages in Tijuana) and a time to use our most ornate. The Liturgy is where we offer our most expensive perfume to Christ. But surely you don't beleive the Sunday Service is the only time Christ is present, right? WIth that said, it is fair to say that we Orthodox are interested in all sorts of apropraite atire for God's sake. "Fancy clothing" when worshipping Him as a community on the day of His resurrection, jeans and a tshirt when helping the less fortunate, khakies and a tie when going to the job he gave us, toutous and spandex when dancing in a ballet or a football uniform according to the gifts He has given us. It depends. God is present at all times and our attire does matter because it allows us to do what we are called to at that moment and focuses us on the job at hand.
long ritualized prayers
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we are interested in all kinds of prayers. Short ones in times of distress or great need, repetative ones to keep our minds focussed on him when working on menial tasks, offering good deeds to God, when we say a simple "thanks" to HIm when something goes well and yes, long ritualized prayers. Those prayers help us not stray on our beliefs. If we pass the same prayers down from generation to generation, we learn how to pray from the masters. I won't go too deeply into this, but to say that when we pray those set prayers every day on our own or every week at Church, we have a blue print to go back to. This is why we don't mess with the Lord's Prayer, the greatest prayer of all of them. That is our blueprint. As an Orthodox, there are time when I pray spontaneously to God, but my spontaneous prayers have matured over the years due to learning from those long ritualized prayers. Im not referring to fancy language or the Thees and Thous, but how to pray... and how NOT to pray.
incense is completely biblical and while not necessary, who said anything about getting rid of everything that isn't necessary. When we use incense we are using one of our five senses that God gave us. In fact, we use all five senses in worship. Seeing the icons, touching the icons, hearning the hymns, tasting the Blood and Body of Christ and smelling the insense. Worship is for the entire human being, NOT just his mind. We are careful not to overintellectualize the faith but rather to ingrain into every aspect of our being. Faith is spiritual, mental and physical (which is why at certain times we bow so low that we touch our noses to the ground becuase we are human not just spiritual like the angels, human... like Christ).
and seem to be forgetting the words in the bible that the Kingdom of God is within us.
What do you base that we have forgotten that on?
So how can this denomination that seen to got so much unbiblical be called things like "the ancient way",
We may have things that aren't explicitly from the Bible, but by unbiblical I think you actually mean anti-biblical... if that's so, where are these anti-biblical practices?
when the bible tells nothing about the tings that is common in it? Surely the true ancient way would be more like some of the non-denominational churches of today that only rely on the bible and nothing more
The ones that ignore the words of Christ when He says "This is My Body, this is My Blood?"
and that those churches would be the true orthodox churches.
Have you come here to learn or just preach to us?
Not writing this to offend anyone, just curious about things that seem strange to me.
God bless.
You may not be writing to OFFEND, however you are not writing just because you curious because curious means you want to learn. Let's be honest here, seriously, you are writing because you wish preach to us.... in our home. If you can at least admit that, an honest dialogue can progress, but posting under the guise of "I am curious" while simultaneously imposing your uninformed notions based almost purely on your emotions is not an effective way to start an honest dialogue....
Joshua
, and that those churches would be the true orthodox churches.
