The Unity of the Church and the Super-Correct

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We must refrain from living the life of the super-correct

Driven by fear, there are people who leave the Church and head into schism. In Greece, there are at least eighteen “Old Calendar” Orthodox churches claiming to be THE Church, not recognising each other as canonical. In the USA, there are nearly the same numbers, some Slavic, others of Greek origin. Prideful people populate these groups; they think of themselves as the only remnant of Christ’s Church. These people practise a form of Christianity filled with self-righteous rigidity, totally lacking in humility. Walling themselves off from World Orthodoxy, they become extremely pharisitical*, harsh, punitive, and rotten to the core. In their legalistic approach to the canons and traditions of the Church, they enter into a state of constant judgement against anyone outside their arrogant cultish religiosity.

• Pharisitical: A portmanteau of “pharisaical” and “parasitical”; by this neologism, Abba Tryphon suggests not only pettifoggery, but also a vampiric parasitism. It suggests how such an attitude not only deadens the conscience and narrows the mind, but also how it feeds upon the very life-force and humanity of the individuals involved. I’d call this a rather inspired turn of thought.

In their narrow-minded approach to the Church, they fail to trust that the Holy Spirit is guiding and protecting His Church. They don’t see the Holy Spirit operating in the life of people because they closed themselves off to the Holy Spirit. Where is the life of the Church manifested among such people? They do nothing for the love of humanity and their lack of love begets more schism. Schism begets schism begets schism, becoming a never-ending downward spiral into the abyss. They base their usual premise on the issue of the calendar change and false ecumenism. The calendar issue is more important to them than Church Unity is, forgetting, as they do, that the early Church celebrated many of the great feasts on different days. False ecumenism is hardly an issue today; the number of theologians and bishops truly caught up in it has dwindled to almost nothing, along with the liberal thinking that has gone out of fashion since the fall of communism. The Russian Church, the largest of the Local Churches, has taken a strong stand against false ecumenism and is powerfully pushing forth the unchanging canons, traditions, and faith of the ancient Church.

Orthodox Christianity has withstood 2,000 years of attacks and persecution, yet the gates of hell haven’t prevailed against her. This was Christ’s promise to His disciples before His Holy Resurrection. To believe otherwise is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

20 June 2016

Igumen Tryphon Parsons

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Editor:

My reply to this was:

Our Church is the BIG TENT. Oikonomia, kids… the Church “bends” the rule for this-or-that individual, but the rule doesn’t go in the dumpster. Remember, the Church has Christ’s mercy in it, not Judas’ pride and stiff-necked judgement. I do daresay that the Church will survive being compassionate to save souls… after all, the Apostle did say, “Love God and do what you will”. That isn’t licence to do vice… but it does imply that there are several roads to “good”… do think on that…

BMD

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It’s a Gas… World’s Biggest “Fart-In” Planned During Clinton’s Convention Speech

Oops… I FARTED! Right when she paused for emphasis… Andy Cuomo laughed his ass off! It was those refriteras I was eatin’…

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Great news for all #NeverHillary fans who refuse to support the presumptive Democratic nominee. Activists are planning the “world’s largest fart-in” during Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention. Organised by Poor People’s Economic Rights Campaign and 2012 Green Party vice-presidential candidate Cheri Honkala, the “fart-in” will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on 28 July. As for how to get participants all warmed up, Honkala will turn to the “musical fruit”. She told Truthdig:

We’ll hold a massive bean supper for Bernie Sanders delegates on American Street in my Kensington neighbourhood on the afternoon of 28 July. We’ll set up a Clintonville there, modelled on the Hoovervilles of the 1930s where the poor and unemployed built shantytowns. The Sanders delegates, their bellies full of beans, will be able to return to the Wells Fargo Center and greet the rhetorical flatulence of Hillary Clinton with the real thing.

The “Beans for Hillary” supper includes Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders on the invite list, although nobody’s “caught wind” yet on whether he’s accepted. The group called for canned bean donations and the homeless will receive the leftovers. RT’s Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and ordained minister, will open the event with a prayer. Honkala released a number of reasons why she thinks Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, stink, stating:

They decimated the working class with the North American Free Trade Agreement. They exploded the prison population under the 1994 Omnibus Crime bill and draconian drug laws that mandated life sentences. They destroyed the welfare system; under the old system, 70 percent of the recipients were children. They turned the airwaves over to a half-dozen corporations by deregulating the FCC. They ripped down the firewalls between commercial and investment banks that precipitated the global meltdown. There isn’t a war they don’t support. Their record on civil liberties is appalling.

Police arrested and handcuffed Honkala, along with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, in a “black site” after Stein tried to debate “democratically-elected” President Barack Obama in 2012.

Clinton’s vow to tackle “systemic racism” is a sick joke

Tweets:

• Very excited for the massive #fartin if @HillaryClinton rigs the election enough to actually win. Kelly Szymanowski @kelszym
• @GodandtheBear @Truthdig I’m sure her speech will be flatulent. As usual LOL SGT GRAVES USA RET. @sgteatme2012
• #Hillary Clinton is as likable as a fart in a crowded elevator. But because of women like her, I’ve got the right to vote for somebody else. Nadia Business @talk0underworld

20 June 2016

RT

https://www.rt.com/usa/347554-clinton-fart-in-convention/

Iranian Quds Force Commander in Syria to Prepare Major Aleppo Operation on the Heels of Op in Fallujah

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On Monday, the media arm of Hizbullah al-Nujaba, a major Iraqi Shiite anti-terrorist movement, announced that Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani is in Syria in preparation for a large-scale operation by the Syrian Army and popular forces in Southern Aleppo. The Farsi-language media source MNA reported that General Soleimani went to Syria after intensified clashes between government forces and terrorists in Southern Aleppo Governorate. On Sunday, General Soleimeni was in Syria for briefings on events and operations of Nujaba forces in Southern Aleppo. This occurred whilst the IRGC Quds Force commander was in Iraq in recent days to help Iraqi forces in operations to liberate Fallujah. On 10 June, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Ebrahim al-Jafari stated that General Soleimani was in Iraq to help in the anti-terrorist campaign against at the specific request of the Iraqi government, saying:

General Soleimani is in Iraq at the Iraqi government’s invitation to provide military advice to the Iraqi forces.

This came just two weeks after the Syrian, Russian, and Iranian Defence Ministers met in Tehran to discuss the future course of the war in Syria (see this and this). Naturally, this didn’t please Saudi Arabia, so the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs summoned  Saudi Ambassador Samer al-Sabhan “to remind him of his duty not to interfere in the country’s internal affairs”. On his Facebook page, the ambassador vehemently criticised the fact that Iranian military advisers were with the Iraqi forces fighting to liberate Fallujah from ISIS occupation. Besides this, on 12 June, a delegation led by the first secretary of the Saudi Ambassador, Salah Abdallah Hatlani, came to visit Saudi prisoners held at al-Hout (Nasriyah). Hatlani declared that the King of Saudi Arabia had done everything in his power to free them. At present, these individuals are in prison for crimes they committed as ISIS members. In April, the KSA proposed to send its army to fight ISIS in Iraq. However, a number of Iraqi political leaders believe that the KSA is one of the main covert supporters of the terrorist organisation.

20 June 2016

SOTT.net

https://www.sott.net/article/320636-Iranian-Quds-Force-commander-in-Syria-to-prepare-major-Aleppo-operation-on-the-heels-of-op-in-Fallujah

22 June 2016. What are the Differences Between Rusins and Ukrainians?

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I saw this on FB:

When I was growing up in the 1960s I asked my Aunts what was the difference between Russians and Ukrainians. Of course, my Aunts had only our local (but ubiquitous) Ukrainian Nationalists in mind when they emphatically stated, “We don’t hate other people. We’re Christians and we love them. Ukrainians (they meant the Nationalists) only like themselves and hate others, especially, Blacks, Jews, and Russians”. I’ve grown up… I understand that, now…

I need add nothing…

BMD