24 April 2017. From the Russian Web… It’s Just Another Normal Day in Siberia

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The Particular Judgement and the Toll Houses are NOT the Same Thing

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A Russian priest told me this:

The level of interest in the Toll Houses is proportional to one’s education in the faith. The ignorant love them. The educated are much more circumspect, and many reject the more popular manifestations.

There is a difference between the Particular Judgement, which is an important part of Sacred Tradition and IS doctrine, and the Toll Houses, which are (at best) only a theological opinion, and are mostly folk belief found amongst the ignorant. That is, one MUST believe that there’s a Particular Judgement. That’s doctrine. However, the Church is silent as to the details of it. Ergo, talk of the Toll Houses is sheer mummery, at best. No Council of the Church has EVER affirmed the Toll Houses in the form that one sees amongst ignorant konvertsy (the Serafim Rose crowd, in particular).

The Toll Houses weren’t a factor in Church Life prior to Rose’s untutored and rambling writings in the late 70s. Never forget that Rose lacked even a basic seminary formation, let alone any advanced study at a recognised Orthodox institution. That is, he lacked the credibility and education to have even posited his notion in the first place! The konvertsy swoon at a notion floated by a man who lacked the basic grounding that seminary and monastic formation give one. Too many of these toddlers take Platina’s hagiographic propaganda at face value. Rose was a simple hieromonk without the slightest hint of clerical formation, he wasn’t an archimandrite, and he certainly wasn’t a trained academic theologian. Furthermore, the St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood was a minor parvenu skete in the backwoods of Northern California, not a major influence in world Orthodoxy at all.

A priest told me that one must believe in the Particular Judgement, but that it wasn’t healthy to be speculating on the details:

You will face judgement, mark my words… but it does us no good to try to trick out the details.

I find this sage advice. Unfortunately, the Toll House nutters won’t stop squalling about their “Doctrine”… as for me, I’m tired of refuting their nonsense. Just because I’m stopping to reply to the Toll House trolls doesn’t mean that they’re right. I have things that are more important on my plate… like being a Christian and having a real life.

One last thing… no Church is considering Rose for canonisation. You can’t call him “Blessed”, as that’s the Orthodox title for a canonised Fool-in-Christ. Interesting that the konvertsy use a papist concept here (just as the Toll Houses are a corrupt form of the papist Purgatory, as St Mark of Ephesus pointed up)…

Keep it focused. There are demented toddlers afoot, screaming out this-or-that Patristic quotation. Pray for these idiots… we’re Christians; that’s what we do. Don’t feed the trolls…

BMD

Lavrov sez: “We Won’t Leave the People of the Donbass in the Lurch”

War damage in the Donbass… the fighting continues… but for how much longer?

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Minister of Foreign Affairs S V Lavrov said in an interview:

Our efforts will continue to aim at preventing “hotheads” in Kiev from starting a new cycle of violence in the southeast. In any case, we won’t leave the people of the Donbass in the lurch. The process of settlement in the southeast stalled because of the persistent reluctance of the Ukrainian leadership to fulfil its obligations under the Minsk Agreements. We’ll continue to work hard to make Kiev stop its blockade of the Donbass and proceed to a full implementation [of the Minsk Agreements]. We expect a similar attitude from the West, as they’ve repeatedly claimed that they want a speedy implementation of the Minsk Agreements, as they stated that there’s no alternative to them. The main point of the Minsk Agreements is that there should be direct dialogue between Kiev and Donetsk and Lugansk. Neither Russia nor the new US president nor anyone else will be able to do anything for the parties to the conflict, for a settlement depends upon direct negotiations between the parties on mutual guarantees of security and the principles of building a common future.

28 March 2017

RIA Novosti

https://ria.ru/world/20170328/1490939666.html

Macron Forged Ahead After First Round of French Presidential Election

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French Interior Ministry final data revealed that Emanuel Macron took first place in the first round of French presidential election; Marine Le Pen is hard on his heels. Macron secured a lead over his main rival, populist nationalist National Front leader Le Pen, gaining 23.75 percent of votes, while Le Pen had the support of 21.53 percent of French voters. At the same time, right-neoliberal François Fillon had 19.91 percent, whilst leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon had 19.64 percent. At 19.00 local time (17.00 GMT), the voting ended as the polling stations across France closed. The law prohibited French media from publishing any preliminary results until the last polling stations closed.

24 April 2017

Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201704241052921791-macron-wins-first-round-french-election/