Father Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast
Saints, Seasons, Society, Sins, plus Travels mostly to Greece and who knows what next? by Father Bill Olnhausen
We’ve been tracking the decline of the Mainline Protestants and the rise of the Evangelicals. According to Pew Research in 2014 above, maybe the change in American religion has been even more radical. Look who’s growing fastest now, and rapidly. I can’t begin to describe how different the American religious scene feels today compared to 50 […]
Read More »1. The “Spirit of Disorganization” Years ago the cowboy humorist Will Rogers said, “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” I sometimes want to say, “I don’t belong to any organized Church. I’m Orthodox.” On the whole, the Orthodox Church is the most disorganized organization I have ever heard of – […]
Read More »Results of the Great Schism in the West Rome, cut off from the other four traditional Patriarchates, now saw herself as the One True Church. In isolation her authoritarian and legalistic tendencies were magnified. Some examples: 1 Purgatory, where after death peoples’ sins “are purged away through torment or ‘purifying’ punishments”. Catechism of Pope Paul VI, 1967. […]
Read More »“Cardinal Humbert [of] the holy, primary, and apostolic see of Rome, to which the care of all the churches…pertains… [to] the glorious emperors, clergy, senate, and people of this city of Constantinople…I find great evil” [in this city… Therefore] know…that we thus subscribe the following anathema… unless they should repent. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN.” […]
Read More »Here’s the humorous question with the obvious answer: “Is the Pope Catholic?” The Orthodox answer (to be uttered with a slight air of mystery in your voice) is ”Well… …?” Or sometimes we hear this from non-Orthodox folks: “You’re almost like the Catholics.” The proper Orthodox response (to be offered as humbly as possible) is […]
Read More »
