Vote for Our Patron

[throughhiseyes]

I would like to add Padre Pio to this list. His devotion and love for his Christian brothers and sisters is well documented. His devotion to the cause of Christ is proof of this love. He spoke greatly about charity and love.

 

[Philip]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Padre Pio was not Orthodox, was he?

 

[Reader Nilus]

He was a Roman Catholic Capuchin priest.
Jeff the Finn

 

[MariaRegina]

July 3, 2003

Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Christ is Glorified in His Saints!
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him Forever!

Perhaps we should add another rule in our Orthodox forum to promote charity among us: A MANDATORY CHRISTIAN GREETING, such as:

GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST! GLORY TO HIM FOREVER!

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE IS AND ALWAYS SHALL BE!

CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

CHRIST IS ASCENDED! FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN!

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Have I missed any? Please post if you know of any more. I'd like to learn them and use them.

We need to address each other with a Christian greeting as did our ancient brothers and sisters in the Lord.

How many times are we reminding ourselves of the Lord? That should be our whole goal -- not argumentation to checkmate everyone else. That temptation comes from pride. If I have been guilty of that, may the Lord forgive. It is so easy to forget the Author of Love and Truth: Christ.

May we ever keep Him on our mind.

Therefore I propose that we imitate Saint Seraphim of Sarov who always greeted Muslim, Jew, Greek, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians with the greeting:

My Joy, Christ is Risen!

Perhaps he should be our patron as he is the embodiment of what every Christian should be. He became a living flame of God. He became the Light of Christ while living on this earth.

Reading his life is awesome.

May Christ be glorified in us!

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth

 

[Maximus]

I have hearty dislike of anything mandatory.

Making a Christian greeting mandatory would kill the spontaneous joy of it (for me, anyway).

I also think making it mandatory would be the same thing as rendering it perfunctory.

Double-plus ungood (IMHO).

 

[CopticOrthodox]

The greeting Christ is Risen! In truth He is Risen! is liturgical & it's customary to use it at all times during the Holy 50 to remind us of the special time & where our focus should be. The other greetings listed are far less standard, and far less normal to use. Their use or disuse varried greatly from juristiction to juristiction, and in many areas nothing like that is customary outside the Holy 50, so I don't think requiring something like that would make much sense.

 

[Photini]

Dear in Christ Elizabeth,
I'm not so sure about making it mandatory. But wouldn't it be beautiful if we all addressed each other in such endearing terms? I also recently read the life of St Seraphim of Sarov, and my son also read a shorter kid-appropriate version of his life...and wants to have the name Seraphim when he is baptised next month!
Another saint that showed so much love for all the world was St Silouan. Here's a couple of quotes:

" O all ye peoples of the earth, I fall on my knees before you, beseeching you with tears to come to Christ. I know His love for you. I know, therefore I cry to the whole world. if one does not know a thing, how could one speak of it?"

"I am an old man awaiting death, and I write the truth out of love for the people over whom my soul grieves. If I should help but a single soul to salvation, I will give thanks to God."

I think it is truly beautiful Elizabeth, that you have such zeal and love,that you use these greetings not only at certain times of the year...but at times when they are unexpected, and so very touching. I for one, thank you and humbly beg your prayers.

Your sister in Christ,
Photini

 

[MariaRegina]

Making a Christian greeting mandatory would kill the spontaneous joy of it (for me, anyway).

I also think making it mandatory would be the same thing as rendering it perfunctory.

Double-plus ungood (IMHO).

My Dearest Joy in Christ, Maximus:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

You know just typing that greeting turns my irritation into love.

Seriously, after I type a prayer, I don't have the urge to flame. I'm thinking would Jesus do that? He asks us to love those who inflame us!

You are probably thinking that a prayer would take the fun out of a discussion group? No not really. It just makes them more friendly and look at the intensive exchanges we have had in the treads dealing with the Pope. At one point they were coming non stop.

I guess some people will be bored in heaven with no flaming allowed!
We'll be praising and glorifying the Lord for eternity. Guess we'll have to get use to it right now, since eternity is going to be for a looooong time, forever and ever and ever! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth

 

[Maximus]

From chanterhanson: My Dearest Joy in Christ, Maximus:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

You know just typing that greeting turns my irritation into love.

Funny you should mention irritation.

Did what I post irritate you?

From chanterhanson: Seriously, after I type a prayer, I don't have the urge to flame. I'm thinking would Jesus do that? He asks us to love those who inflame us!

I am not sure what you mean by "flame."

I disagree with your suggestion that a Christian greeting be made mandatory. I seriously doubt that is "flaming," but if it is, so be it.

I have nothing against Christian greetings. It's the mandatory part to which I object.

From chanterhanson: You are probably thinking that a prayer would take the fun out of a discussion group?

Yeah, that's just what I was thinking! (Excuse the sarcasm.)

How does disagreeing with you on mandatory greetings translate into an aversion to prayer?

From chanterhanson: I guess some people will be bored in heaven with no flaming allowed!
We'll be praising and glorifying the Lord for eternity. Guess we'll have to get use to it right now, since eternity is going to be for a looooong time, forever and ever and ever! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth

We'll be praising the Lord, all right, but we'll do it because we want to, NOT because someone made it mandatory.

All the mandatory stuff will be going on in hell.

Are you suggesting we get used to that now?

 

[MariaRegina]

Funny you should mention irritation. ...

I am not sure what you mean by "flame." ...

Yeah, that's just what I was thinking! (Excuse the sarcasm.) ...

All the mandatory stuff will be going on in hell.
Are you suggesting we get used to that now?

My Dearest Joy Maximos:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

You know I was just thinking, if the Board did make mandatory salutations necessary within the Orthodox forum, it might be a lot more charitable. But don't worry, it's not going to happen here, because some dude will just cut and paste all the prayerful greetings into a form letter and insert his message without even considering the prayer in the first place, then the greetings will truly be perfunctory, as you put it. So why bother, there is always a way to circumvent a rule. That's life on planet earth.

Now where in my most recent message did I mention the word "mandatory?"

No, you didn't irritate me. Don't take things personally. It was the intensity of some remarks made by previous posters. Some of the other forums here have had very heated debates, that we have been mostly spared.

You weren't being sarcastic in your previous post, but you even admit that you are now. Isn't that kind of inflammatory? I still love you in the Lord, because you're my brother in Christ!

The Catholics have a joke about mandatory praise in hell that will drive the atheists crazy. Guess you've heard that one.

Your sister in Christ,
Elizabeth

 

[MariaRegina]

Dear Maximos:

Why do the atheists hate mandatory prayers?

Because that's hell to them!

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth

 

[CopticOrthodox]

"some dude will just cut and paste all the prayerful greetings into a form letter and insert his message without even considering the prayer in the first place, then the greetings will truly be perfunctory,"

This was exactly his point, but insead of assuming he had some good reason for what he said, you jumped straight to accusations that he was saying it because he wanted to have fun without God.

Where did you say make it mandentory? You suggested making it a rule.

I realize that you have the best intentions, but the way you word things seems to carry a lot more hostility, and come accross much more confrontationally than you intend.

 

[MariaRegina]

"some dude will just cut and paste all the prayerful greetings into a form letter and insert his message without even considering the prayer in the first place, then the greetings will truly be perfunctory,"

This was exactly his point, but insead of assuming he had some good reason for what he said, you jumped straight to accusations that he was saying it because he wanted to have fun without God.

Where did you say make it mandentory? You suggested making it a rule.

I realize that you have the best intentions, but the way you word things seems to carry a lot more hostility, and come accross much more confrontationally than you intend.

Dearest Brothers in Christ:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

Please understand!

I was not trying to be confrontational.

In my most recent post - I did not use the word mandatory at all. I knew it would not work, that is why I mentioned the "dude."

I was using satire all along - just to make you guys think because we all need to try to be a little more charitable.

I think we really need to rethink our patron saints!

I would like to change my vote to St. Seraphim of Sarov! As his greeting, My Joy, Christ is Risen is an excellent ideal to follow.

Hopefully, we can have multiple patrons! I think we need to have

A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

In other words we don't need just three patrons, we need all the Saints and Angels to help us be charitable.

Lovingly in Christ God

Your Sister in Christ-God,

Please forgive me a sinner!
Elizabeth

 

[Maximus]

From chanterhanson (post #24): Perhaps we should add another rule in our Orthodox forum to promote charity among us: A MANDATORY CHRISTIAN GREETING, such as:

That's where the word "mandatory" came from.

I don't mean to be confrontational either. I merely said I don't like things that are mandatory, especially when it comes to the Faith.

But I understand that chanter was trying to do good, not bad.

So, let's get back to the actual topic, shall we?

 

[MariaRegina]

So, let's get back to the actual topic, shall we?

Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

Agreed!

So I want to switch my vote to these 4 powerful saints:

SAINT SERAPHIM OF SAROV (love)
SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA (love of the Truth)
SAINT ANTHONY OF THE DESERT (ascetical love)
SAINT MARY OF EGYPT (repentance and hope for sinners)

We should include a lady, don't you think?

Can we have a longer list?

Yours in Christ-God,

Elizabeth

 

[Reader Nilus]

We agreed to have only common saints of both Oriental and Eastern Orthodox as our Patron.
Jeff the Finn

 

[MariaRegina]

We agreed to have only common saints of both Oriental and Eastern Orthodox as our Patron.
Jeff the Finn

My dearest joy in Christ:

Christ is glorified in His Saints! May He also be glorified in us!

That's a Paleolitic rule, if you don't mine the saying. Time to break it.

Why can't the Coptics and the Eastern Orthodox recognize each others saints? It's about time some serious reconciliation is done here.

Yours truly in Christ,

Elizabeth

 

[Reader Nilus]

I for one am very interested in the Oriental Orthodox saints but the sources for information on them are hard to find at least on the Internet and in English. If we are voting and I am not sure what the numbers of Oriental vs Eastern Orthodox Posters are, I would assume that there are more Eastern Orthodox so the chances of an Eastern Orthodox winning a poll is pretty good, that is why we agreed to have the Patron picked from the saints common to both of us.
Jeff the Finn

 

[Philip]

My dearest joy in Christ:
Why can't the Coptics and the Eastern Orthodox recognize each others saints? It's about time some serious reconciliation is done here.

I agree that there needs to be reconciliation, but we do not have the authority to recognize Saints that the Church has not.

 

[Philip]

If we are voting and I am not sure what the numbers of Oriental vs Eastern Orthodox Posters are, I would assume that there are more Eastern Orthodox so the chances of an Eastern Orthodox winning a poll is pretty good, that is why we agreed to have the Patron picked from the saints common to both of us.
Jeff the Finn

I think CopticOrthodox is the only regular OO poster.