The Last Judgement
Unknown Artist
2001
Church of the Holy Birthgiver and Mother of God “of Kazan”
Tolyatti (Stavropolsky Raion. Samara Oblast. Volga Federal Region)
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
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I go this from a source:
I’m fucking sick of priests who feel the need to butt into parishioners’ lives and pass judgement on lifestyle choices that are neither illegal nor immoral. I have friends whose family moved from the Orthodox Rust Belt to elsewhere in the country for a job opportunity. Their parish choices were an ethnic parish and an English-language parish. Within a year, they’d stopped attending the English-speaking parish because the priest made his disdain for their children attending public school well-known. They rarely attend church now as the priest and parishioners at the ethnic parish made it very clear that since they don’t speak the language and aren’t the ethnicity, they’re lower than low.
Why people choose the schooling options for their children that they do is a very individual decision. Passing blanket judgement on a family for not homeschooling is a bunch of bullshit. It’s not as if they’re in a dangerous inner city school. I could go on and on, with stories that’d make you puke. Priests that refuse to do house blessings and barely talk to people who are in severe financial dire straits, because the family couldn’t financially contribute to the parish. I have another friend, who works a job with shifting non-traditional hours. He has to pay his dues for some years before he gets on a schedule where he has Sundays consistently clear. Now, he’s able to attend church maybe once a month. That’s not good enough for the priest, who publicly berated the guy at coffee hour. This is all just a bunch of bullshit. Who the fuck drives people away over crap like this? If a priest has concerns, such as someone not attending church, well, take the person aside privately. No need to air it all at coffee hour, as way too many priests seem to do.
Firstly, before addressing the problem, let’s ask the question, “Have others addressed this question”. The answer is “Yes”… here’s what a reasonable voice in the Church teaches:
Protecting the Vulnerable
The Church’s Lines of Authority Hold Clergy Accountable
When people hurt and seek out the Church’s help, they’re often very vulnerable. This makes them particularly open to exploitation. This is why the Church holds her clergy accountable through its lines of authority. She can’t allow one of her clergy to exploit or mistreat anyone who’s vulnerable, whether it’s a child or an adult. The Church is a living healing organism, a hospital, one that can heal all of us. For those who hold positions of authority within this hospital, be we bishops, or be we priests, it’s important that we remember that we’ll one day stand before the Throne of God and give account for the souls placed in our care.
Igumen Tryphon Parsons
Superior, All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
Vashon Island WA USA
That’s to say, the asshats playing at culture warrior are chock fulla shit. That’s not what the Church does. The Church WORSHIPS… it does NOT hector, it does NOT shun, it does NOT crusade. IT WORSHIPS. Here’s what Igumen Tryphon had to say on that…
The Work of the Church
Worship is the Main Work of the Church
Orthodox Christianity is known primarily for its worship, for the core of our Orthodox Christian life is to be found in the Divine Services conducted in our churches. I read somewhere that during the height of the Soviet repression, a Roman Catholic cardinal visited Russia; he asked an Orthodox Metropolitan how they managed to survive the horrors and repression of an atheistic State. The Metropolitan responded by saying that no matter what, they always celebrated the Divine Services. Every day, each morning and evening, the Divine Services continued. Although law forbade the Church to operate schools and hospitals, teach children, or visit the sick and imprisoned, they continued to celebrate the Divine Services. Now, the Russian Church has chapels in prisons throughout Russia, it operates schools and hospitals, it has chaplains serving in the military, and its soup kitchens and charitable agencies serve the poor, yet still, to this day, she sees celebrating the Divine Services to be the primary work of the Church. The centrality of worship has always been the main work of the Church, and will remain so until the end of time.
Igumen Tryphon Parsons
Superior, All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
Vashon Island WA USA
It’s time for our Russian Orthodox bishops (ROCOR, OCA, MP) to commend the above two essays to all our priests with the reminder that they’re God’s Men, not the men of this-or-that political or secular faction. As a Russian priest-friend told me, “Our bishop forbids us to take part in any kind of political activity, as the priest is supposed to be there for everybody”. The sooner that our bishops do likewise, the better.
We’re not Crusaders… we’re not papists. We’re not preachers… we’re not Proddies. We’re not shunners… we’re not Sectarians. We’re Orthodox Christians… that’s why we embody oikonomia and pastoral accommodation… we’re Christians, and that IS what we do.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Planned Parenthood Confirms Hack Attack
Tags: Abortion debate, anti abortionists, anti-abortion, Christian ethics, Consistent life ethic, ethic, ethical orientation, ethics, moral, moral dilemma, moral stance, morality, morals, Opposition to the legalization of abortion, political commentary, politics, Pro-life, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Support for the legalization of abortion, United States, United States pro-life movement, USA
Note well that the “Po-Life” poseurs are FOR the “War on Terror”, but AGAINST Single-Payer Healthcare and State-Funded Family Aid… fancy that… it’s like the hangsman calling himself a “Lifespan Modifier”… same thing… I’ve got to find a corner to be sick in… such hypocritical vacuity and self-indulgent fatuity is just too much of a muchness…
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On Monday, Planned Parenthood called on the FBI and the US Department of Justice for help managing cyber security after anti-abortion activists targeted the reproductive health care group’s website, the latest in a series of attacks by activists opposing women’s access to safe reproductive health care. On Monday, The Daily Dot online newspaper reported that a hacking group gained access to Planned Parenthood’s website databases with the names and email addresses of its employees. Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens confirmed that “extremists” attempted to hack the organisation’s systems but didn’t say whether they succeeded, saying, “Extremists have broken laws, harassed our doctors and patients, produced hack videos, and now are claiming to have committed a gross invasion of privacy… one that, if true, could potentially put our staff members at risk”.
The Daily Dot reported that the hackers said they plan to release the organisation’s internal emails soon. On their website, the hackers said they were “seeking to reclaim some sort of lulz* for the years and thousands of dollars that Planned Parenthood have wasted and made harvesting your babies”. The self-professed “social justice warriors” were referring to secretly recorded videos released earlier this month that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing ways to perform abortions to preserve foetal tissue for research and the costs involved. The cyberattack follows weeks of debate among lawmakers in which Republicans have sought to investigate and defund the organisation after the release of the videos. Planned Parenthood receives nearly 500 million USD (29.95 billion Roubles. 3.11 billion Renminbi. 31.92 billion INR. 647 million CAD. 680 million AUD. 452 million Euros. 320 million UK Pounds) in federal funding each year.
On Monday, US House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the US Congress should immediately cut off funding for the group until investigations by two House committees are complete, saying at a news conference, “These are serious questions and regardless of where anybody stands on the issue, knowing the doubt of what’s going on here, is this a place that tax dollars should be spent?” Last week, Republican presidential candidate US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) began fast-tracking legislation to eliminate the group’s federal funding, which could allow for a Senate vote as early as this week.
28 July 2015
al-Jazeera America
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/28/planned-parenthood-investigating-claims-of-website-hack.html
Editor:
Firstly, the referenced videos are frauds, and lawyer friends tell me that the activists may have made them under illegal conditions. The more that comes out on this, it makes it clear that the so-called “Pro-Life Movement” is fraudulent, amoral, violent, and without scruple… all of which means that no decent person can have ANY relationship with it. The Pro-Life Movement is NOT such… rather, it’s an “Anti-Abortion Movement”, which isn’t the same thing at all. Most “Pro-Lifers” support the Republican Anti-Life Agenda… perpetual warmongering in foreign parts, promiscuous use of the death penalty, draconian use of police violence, massive imprisonment of minority populations, torture of kidnapped “suspects” in secret overseas locales (Scalia gave it the thumbs-up and called it “legal”… he’s the American analogue of Wilhelm Frick), lavish giveaways to the Affluent Effluent, opposition to a proper Single-Payer Healthcare System, and slashing of the Social Safety Net. In short, they support the demonic goals of the present Republican Party. The Church can have NOTHING to do with this. If you see someone putting forth the submission that the US Pro-Life Movement and the Church agree, they’re not only wrong, they’re often consciously wrong. They KNOW that the Church doesn’t agree with the GOP Greedster agenda… but they don’t care!
Shall we have a REAL Church to hand on to our kids? Not if we let the “Pro-Lifers” hijack it, we won’t!
BMD