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Have a care with all internet sources that purport to give you the “Teaching of the Church”… virtually none are credible. NONE of the Western websites ever get it right, so, please, don’t attend to them. Sources such as Elijah Borek, John Whiteford, and “Ask an Orthodox Priest” are just as suspect… the authors lack the theological creds to be dispensing Church info (an authoritative voice would have a kandidatura or its equivalent from an Orthodox institution… no secular, Proddie, or Papist venues need apply). Furthermore, sites such as Pravoslavie or Pravmir are NOT official Church productions… they simply have the funds to have fancier websites (Pravmir has ties to the SVS crowd and Pravoslavie has ties to Russian oligarchs and neoliberal elements… both may be getting Langley money (Shevkunov has suspiciously close ties with Potapov and Pravmir has ties to Lyonyo Kishkovsky)).
I AM NOT DISPENSING SPIRITUAL ADVICE NOR AM I TELLING YOU “WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES”.
I’m an internet journalist, not a priest (wrong gender), not a theologian (no theological creds), nor am I connected to the Church apparat in any way. I CAN smell a phony a mile away, though… my advice to you is to ask your priest if you have a spiritual question. That’s his training… that’s what he “does for a living”. Virtually none of the internet sources are any damned good… that INCLUDES so-called OrthoWiki (another unofficial source, a senior archpriest called it “convert rubbish”). You do yourself a disservice by ignoring the real Church in favour of this “virtual Church”. I can’t get to liturgy as often as I’d like, but the real-deal liturgy and the real-deal Christians that I interact with are where it’s at. Here’s something that I commented upon in the Onion Dome:
Fr Vasili asked, “Real coffee or virtual coffee?”
“Real. Virtual coffee is most unsatisfying”.
Fr V said, “As is virtual Orthodoxy”.
Our intrepid editor said, “Truer words have never been spoken”.
(my comment) I LOVE that. “Virtual Orthodoxy”… I get to liturgy about once every three weeks… but there’s NO substitute for LIVE worship. NONE. Something special happens there. I’ve heard “halfodox”, “cacodox”… but “pretendodox” is pretty good. Pass the jug and cheer!
Of course, Fr Vasili is Alex Riggle’s famous “Is Outrage!” priest. This is a good place to put this to bed. Go to the real Church… leave the virtual one alone… it’s nothing but self-centred pseudo-theological wanking… it’s pointless, fruitless, and clueless. Don’t get tangled up in it.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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