Is there an Orthodox hatred of Protestants?

[Brighid]

I don't know how someone could call themselves Christians while denying the Virgin birth and resurrection. That's insane!

 

[ArmyMatt]

I don't know how someone could call themselves Christians while denying the Virgin birth and resurrection. That's insane!

John Shelby Spong does, and he's a bishop in good standing in the Episcopal church.

 

[buzuxi02]

I don't know how someone could call themselves Christians while denying the Virgin birth and resurrection. That's insane!

Many today both laity and clergy do. Optional beliefs. In fact I remember an Anglican cleric saying just that, that in anglicanism it's no longer a big deal to believe in it, optional.

 

[TheLostCoin]

For me, I have no ill-will towards Protestants generally speaking. The Lutherans I’ve had experiences with were all great people, and my grandfather was an Evangelical minister and was a great person with what God gave him.

Any negative connotations towards certain strands of Protestantism that I do have, however, mainly among the Evangelical crowd, are generally due to certain strands of Evangelicalism that jut out for two reasons:

A. There tends to be some horrifyingly evil variants of Evangelical Christianity (Prosperity Gospel, Radical OSAS, Steve Anderson crowd)

B. There’s a systematic, bitter anti-intellectualism among certain strands, such that it’s frustrating even dealing with such people. By intellectualism, I don’t mean blindly believing universities to be a cauldron of truth, but rather, blatantly misrepresenting other religious groups to prove an apologetic point as well as this idea that knowledge can only be obtained if one privately reads the Bible on their own alone with the Holy Spirit supernaturally infusing knowledge in a way that disregards any context which could help illuminate the text.

I don’t think these two things ring true for all Evangelicals, but significant groups of them do.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

If that were true, I’d have to hate everyone in my life (outside of my parish)! My husband, our kids, the rest of my family, friends, neighbors, former co-workers - none of them are Orthodox, but many of them are wonderful, devout Christians.

 

[Chesterton]

My intention is not to offend anyone, but so far, the biggest hurdle for me in joining the Orthodox faith is an apparent dislike for "Protestant" Christians.
I would like to share a letter that I wrote to a friend of mine who is a recent (Australian) inquirer in the Orthodox Church.
"I want to share some thoughts with you and I hope you won't take offense. The Australian priest's words have stuck with me, as well as a cartoon I saw on Facebook mocking protestants...and other bits I've picked up here and there. I've developed a rule over the past year, that if a Christian displays hatred for others, especially other Christians, they are someone who I should assume is not walking with God.
I find it ironic that the priest seemed concerned that I might be taking advice from a "crazy American Ascetic", as I have received most of my information so far from the Australian Father Kosmas. Father Seraphim Rose is the closest I've come to taking advice from an American Orthodox ascetic....and I respect him very much.

I have also noticed an attitude from many of the Orthodox people I've observed of an intense dislike, even hatred toward protestants, and an overwhelming attitude that they can't possibly know Christ.
This truly concerns me, especially when I see leaders with these attitudes.

I realize that America is very corrupt and worldly, my understanding is that the same is true of Australia as well as other countries.
I realize that protestant churches house many "cultural christians" and false converts. Of course, the Orthodox nations like Russia have a terrible problem with this also.
Some of the Orthodox I've seen condemning protestants appear to have worldly and even anti-christ interests.

I know that no person and no church is perfect. I know there are major problems with the protestant churches. But I also know several (Protestant)precious souls who love Jesus with their whole heart and share that love with those around them. These people are living testimonies to Christ's transformation of lives and His miracles. To deny that is, as far as I'm concerned, a denial of Christ Himself.

At this point, I am concerned that I may not be able to move past this issue with the Church. I truly hope that I have gotten the wrong impression or that there are enough people who don't share these views that this issue won't be a stumbling block for me."...
I'd like to hear your opinion and experience on this issue.

I don't hate Protestants, no one I know of at my church hates Protestants, no one I know of here in TAW hates them.

 

[archer75]

I have met a number of Orthodox people whose attitudes I didn't like, and whom I didn't like personally, but I have never encountered hatred of protestants. Snarkiness online is the worst I've seen.

 

[dzheremi]

I've been accused of it here once in the past (not that it matters in this context, since I'm OO, not EO, but y'know; I guess I'm one to watch out for?), but nah...that's not anything I've ever seen myself, neither among the Egyptians I know nor among any of the EO I've known, at least not in real life (mostly Russians and various converts). There is of course a line past which disagreement theologically/ecclesiologically/etc. can seem to morph into something else, which can be alarming. This was actually something I was on the lookout for, too ,while I was in the process of converting from Roman Catholicism, and I was mightily heartened (for instance) when one of the more infamous regional leaders in Egypt, a certain metropolitan who shall not be named, was forced by the synod to retract his previous statement about how Protestants and Catholics won't go to heaven, something which of course cannot be categorically asserted in that way without presuming to know the fate of individuals based on that criterion alone...

Like several other posters here have stated, such a statement would condemn many people I know to be at least believers of some kind (my mother was Protestant, father's family Catholic, etc.), and much better at that than me. More to the point, though, how people respond to such overstatements of the case can be much more helpful than seeking out examples of 'hyperdoxy', as they call it around these parts.

 

[Knee V]

I have met a number of Orthodox people whose attitudes I didn't like, and whom I didn't like personally, but I have never encountered hatred of protestants. Snarkiness online is the worst I've seen.

Yep. There are plenty of Orthodox people that I can't stand.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

The newbie millennials and whatever you call the current batch of 18-25evers. They’re so dang weird it’s not funny....loud, annoying, and quirky. We have a bunch of them dressing like it’s 1865, their hair is a mess, they smoke, their table at coffee hour is absurdly loud, and they’re super opinionated. This one Muslim convert we have is nuttier than a fruitcake. I’m still trying to figure out the odd clothes though. My own 3 kids think they’re utterly bizarre. Some of the 30-somethings are churning out babies like it’s a competition. Oddsville.

My friend, a widowed matushka, always tells me her priest husband and she used to always observe that Orthodox are some of the weirdest people you’ll ever see...

Yep. There are plenty of Orthodox people that I can't stand.

 

[E.C.]

The newbie millennials and whatever you call the current batch of 18-25evers. They’re so dang weird it’s not funny....loud, annoying, and quirky. We have a bunch of them dressing like it’s 1865, their hair is a mess, they smoke, their table at coffee hour is absurdly loud, and they’re super opinionated. This one Muslim convert we have is nuttier than a fruitcake. I’m still trying to figure out the odd clothes though. My own 3 kids think they’re utterly bizarre. Some of the 30-somethings are churning out babies like it’s a competition. Oddsville.

My friend, a widowed matushka, always tells me her priest husband and she used to always observe that Orthodox are some of the weirdest people you’ll ever see...

A presbytera I once knew called it the Church of eccentrics. She's not wrong


I think the generation you're talking about would be Generation Z or Zoomers. Mine, the ones who remember 9/11, are Millennials as much as I hate to admit it. A lot of the "those darn millennials" articles you see in the media are really referring to Generation Z. The biggest difference is that Millennials lived the transition from analog to digital. We had cassettes and chalk boards as kids, but saw whiteboards and knew how to burn CDs in middle school/junior high. We remember the pre-9/11 world. We graduated within a few years of the 2008 Recession.

 

[All4Christ]

A presbytera I once knew called it the Church of eccentrics. She's not wrong


I think the generation you're talking about would be Generation Z or Zoomers. Mine, the ones who remember 9/11, are Millennials as much as I hate to admit it. A lot of the "those darn millennials" articles you see in the media are really referring to Generation Z. The biggest difference is that Millennials lived the transition from analog to digital. We had cassettes and chalk boards as kids, but saw whiteboards and knew how to burn CDs in middle school/junior high. We remember the pre-9/11 world. We graduated within a few years of the 2008 Recession.

I was talking to some coworkers who are around 10 years younger than me on 9/11 last year. There was a distinct difference in our perspective and understanding of the impact of 9/11. I was a senior in high school, attending some college classes, and they were still in elementary school / early middle school. A classmate in my college class was pulled out of class because her father worked in the twin towers. The silence of the room was deafening. While we experienced every second of it in shock and watched the aftermath unfold, they didn’t understand or feel its import. To them, it was a historical event. To us, it altered our view of the world.

 

[dzheremi]

I was already out of high school by that point, so I must confess I was sleeping and when a friend called me up to talk to me about it, I didn't believe him and was mostly annoyed that he had woken me up. "No, seriously. Does this sound like a joke?! Turn on the TV now." It was certainly no joke.

The time immediately afterwards was very confusing, not just in general (in a way that I'm sure a lot of people were feeling), but because I was also was bombarded with e-mails from friends around the world who apparently hadn't studied the United States in their geography courses in school in places like Brazil, Germany, Slovakia, etc. They were so touching, though. "I heard about the great evil that has happened in your country. I am so sorry. Please, if you are alive, let me know so I don't worry." Oof. It felt really weird responding to each one: "Yes, I am alive, but I don't know what is going on." In the coming days, I would find out that a friend of mine lost his aunt on that day, which was like a tiny slice of what people across the country were going through, some much more directly than him. Like all major, society-changing events, I don't know that there is any real way to effectively communicate to people who were not old enough/not alive yet what that was like. I remember thinking to myself that this must've been at least a little bit like what my father would've experienced when he was a teenager and they announced that JFK had been killed. It's chilling to experience an entire society going through collective grief and anger like that.

Anyway...yeah...there are some really weird people at church...

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

The church of eccentrics comment is pretty accurate. Only in Orthodoxy would you see a massive table of Russians, tables of middle-aged white converts, like one black guy and five Mexican folks, tons of old Serbs, and a giant table of Starbucks-sucking, cigar-smoking, pseudo-intellectual wannabes chattering away. One thing about Orthodoxy—-not boring. It’s quite a motley crew. And I’m not talking Vince Neill and Tommy Lee!

 

[Not David]

Being a Zoomer who studies political science allows you to see society from an interesting way.

 

[ILiekCatz]

The newbie millennials and whatever you call the current batch of 18-25evers. They’re so dang weird it’s not funny....loud, annoying, and quirky. We have a bunch of them dressing like it’s 1865, their hair is a mess, they smoke, their table at coffee hour is absurdly loud, and they’re super opinionated. This one Muslim convert we have is nuttier than a fruitcake. I’m still trying to figure out the odd clothes though. My own 3 kids think they’re utterly bizarre. Some of the 30-somethings are churning out babies like it’s a competition. Oddsville.

My friend, a widowed matushka, always tells me her priest husband and she used to always observe that Orthodox are some of the weirdest people you’ll ever see...

ye, that's late millennials and generation Z for you.

 

[dzheremi]

The newbie millennials and whatever you call the current batch of 18-25evers. They’re so dang weird it’s not funny....loud, annoying, and quirky. We have a bunch of them dressing like it’s 1865, their hair is a mess, they smoke, their table at coffee hour is absurdly loud, and they’re super opinionated. This one Muslim convert we have is nuttier than a fruitcake. I’m still trying to figure out the odd clothes though. My own 3 kids think they’re utterly bizarre. Some of the 30-somethings are churning out babies like it’s a competition. Oddsville.

My friend, a widowed matushka, always tells me her priest husband and she used to always observe that Orthodox are some of the weirdest people you’ll ever see...

I'll probably regret asking this, but how does someone dress like it's 1865? Are they in stovepipe hats or something?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Oh I’ll make you regret it, boy!!!

Just kidding...

They wear this weird material resembling Sherlock Holmes, houndstooth pattern material, European taxi cab hats, weird plaid skirts that look out of date as heck, strange coats, wire glasses, 1800’s-ish color mixtures, weird hair. Shoes that look like a cobbler from Jack the Ripper times made them, etc. odd bunch.

I'll probably regret asking this, but how does someone dress like it's 1865? Are they in stovepipe hats or something?

 

[dzheremi]

Huh. Very strange. I'm technically a millennial (though right on the line between that and Gen X), and I've never met anyone who dresses like that. Usually both men and women are in either business casual type attire or jeans and t-shirts. Must be just the 20-somethings. I thought millennials were supposed to be too broke for things like vintage dress-up? Or is that just me?

 

[Chesterton]

Sez the guy who always puts his reply before the quote he's replying to...

They’re so dang weird...