Question for Greek Orthodox christians

[Nikolas222]

Hi. I was looking for the nature of sinfulness of a certain act and I was looking at the web site http://www.oca.org and it gave me the answer i was looking for. It is an Orthodox website, but I dont know if it had correlating data with the Greek Orthodox church because it is called Orthodox Christiand in America. Is this site correct for me?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[ufonium2]

The OCA is very much OK, fully canonical and all that. Also a great website. Don't discount them because they aren't "Greek Orthodox." Greek is an ethnicity, Orthodoxy is the faith.

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

It's great for you.

 

[Nikolas222]

no but there are a few differences. They are the same denomination and Church, but they are seperated from each other For example:

-Church is either Greek, RUssian, Serbian, etc...

-Divine Liturgy said in Diffrent language

-Extra traditions

-other stuff

for the Greek Orthodox info, i got to goarch.com (Greek Orthodox ARCHdiocese). I just didnt know if the sites were in communion with each other because of cultural diffrences

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

no but there are a few differences. They are the same denomination and Church, but they are seperated from each other For example:

-Church is either Greek, RUssian, Serbian, etc...

-Divine Liturgy said in Diffrent language

-Extra traditions

-other stuff

for the Greek Orthodox info, i got to goarch.com (Greek Orthodox ARCHdiocese). I just didnt know if the sites were in communion with each other because of cultural diffrences

There is no difference in beliefs between different jurisdictions.

 

[Philip]

The OCA is a daughter of the Church of Russia. She is completely Orthodox.

 

[Matthias]

I've been to that website many times, although being from New Zealand means some of the stuff is somewhat irralevant. It's an awesome website though!

 

[prodromos]

Hey Matthias, they fixed your flag!

[edit]
And now you've gone and changed it for China?
[/edit]

 

[Momzilla]

Church is either Greek, RUssian, Serbian, etc...

The church is the church. To paraphrase St. Paul, in the Orthodox Church there is neither Greek, nor Russian, nor American, nor Serbian.

 

[Matthias]

Haha, yeah, I feel terrible at asking Andreas to see if he could fix it! Through taking Shaolin Nam Pai Chuan, I have taken a real interest in China, its language, culture, and way of life.

I'm going to take an acupuncture course/degree after my BA/BTeach degree. I have such a deep interest in Chinese medicine and believe it is far superior to Western medicine.

If you ever take a Shaolin Kung Fu class you'll definitely enjoy it. The meditation and spirituality that goes alongside it is absolutely amazing. I'm definitely planning to decorate my room with Chinese posters and idols and get some Chinese clothing.

Andreas, I am definitely sure that flag will come in handy sometime down the track. Maybe Erwin will let me have two flags?

 

[prodromos]

If you ever take a Shaolin Kung Fu class you'll definitely enjoy it. The meditation and spirituality that goes alongside it is absolutely amazing. I'm definitely planning to decorate my room with Chinese posters and idols and get some Chinese clothing.

I don't quite know what to make of this, but it does not leave me with a good feeling . Caution, grasshopper. The evil one has many snairs.

 

[Nikolas222]

i meant cultural diffrences. I know that we are all one church. What we need now in our time is an anti-schism machine or something.

 

[Eusebios]

i meant cultural diffrences. I know that we are all one church. What we need now in our time is an anti-schism machine or something.

Homme,
Just so you understand. There is no schism between the OCA and GOARCH. The two are both fully canonical and in communion with one another. In NE Ohio where I live (Canton specifically) there are two large Greek parishes, St.Haralambo's and Holy Trinity. When His Eminence, Metropolitan Maximos celbrates divine services there, many of us OCA folks from Holy Assumption attend. During Holy Week, the entire Orthodox community in the area (Serbs, Russians, Antiochians and Greeks) gathered at the other large Greek parish Holy Trinity for the service of Holy Unction. On the feast of the Annunciation, we gathered at Holy Annunciation(GOC) in Akron, a multi-ethnic celebration of this holy feast. If there are ethnic divisions, I agree, there dhould not be. But don't let ethnicity keep you from experiencing the many wonderful treasures that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church has to offer.You are obviously a bright and devout yuoung man and I am greatly encourgaed that a 14 yr. old has such a strong interest in matters of faith. Rest asured that the OCA is a wonderful resource in your sojurn.
His unworthy servant,
Eusebios.

p.s.-I have the GOARCH site bookmarked in my "favorites: section.

 

[countrymousenc]

If you ever take a Shaolin Kung Fu class you'll definitely enjoy it. The meditation and spirituality that goes alongside it is absolutely amazing. I'm definitely planning to decorate my room with Chinese posters and idols and get some Chinese clothing.

Matthias, please forgive me for being presumptious, but I don't think this is a good thing. Please talk to your priest about it before you do anything.

 

[Matthias]

Oh, no, nothing Buddhist, just dragons, martial artists photos, chopsticks and stuff, nothing Buddhist or religious. Idols was probably the wrong word. More like ornaments of ying yang, and dragons.

 

[katherine2001]

I think you should still talk to your priest about whether you should be doing this. Eastern philosophy permeates the martial arts and it can be very subtle. It's amazing how massage therapy is steeped in Eastern philosophy. My sister-in-law is a massage therapist so I hear a lot about the underlying theory behind it. Please talk to your priest/spiritual father about this. It may not be so innocent.