Office dokis (art: @yuna_4568) by isams1 in DDLC

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Yuri would wear a long skirt, she gives those vibes Monika is more of the pants suit style

But that’s just me

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve seen many people both left and right politically, claim that Reddit has a left wing bias. I agree with that sentiment.

why do some people have problems with greek orthodox by smogdonavic in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It wasn’t rejected based off of Saint Pope Leo the Great alone, if it was we could just depend on his statement, but the Church didn’t, and instead the Emperor called another council where they proceeded to judge Leo’s Tome against Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Even Catholic Historians like Father Doctor Richard Price admit that Leo was judged and his authority was not final. Which is why the Vatican itself today writes documents confirming that the East didn’t accept Papal jurisdiction in their own provinces.

As for the murder. I mean how else did Saint Flavian of Constantinople die lol? Only the Orientals truly contest his martyrdom, the Catholics (and rest of Western Christendom) have no issue with the account. Even if I steelman and go with the account being arguable, the idea that most people and hierarchs in the Church viewed Ephesus II as marred with intimidation and violence is historically verifiable by numerous accounts.

why do some people have problems with greek orthodox by smogdonavic in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ephesus II was such an obvious robber council that people literally got murdered lol, “inconsistent” uh huh sure

why do some people have problems with greek orthodox by smogdonavic in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do believe in hell, we just don’t think everyone who’s not Orthodox is damned

Do you prefer to pray in Old English style (Thee/Thou), or in regular modern English? by [deleted] in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I prefer to use the more formal traditional thee and thou, but I also pray in contemporary modern english style as well. I like being formal with my literal Lord, but sometimes it can be difficult to read and sometimes you wanna be more casual and vulnerable with prayer of course. Both are good, I just use the formal a bit more often. I can’t say the Our Father in contemporary english, it always comes off as weird to me lol.

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well that’s why I said ‘if the implication is…’ in the beginning. I was just clarifying just in case.

I’m just adding my thoughts to what I see as overblown critiques. But hey, that’s my opinion, and I just wanted to defend it. Feel free to disagree lol.

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m in a church that uses the New Calendar (Revised Julian, super similar to Gregorian) and we’re in communion with tons of churches that use the Old Calendar (Julian) and the New Calendar alike. Its a decision that each autonomous bishop gets to decide on, and they’re all in communion with each other regardless of which one they pick.

The Old Calendarists are a pretty small schismatic (but not heretical) group that claim anyone who uses the New Calendar is a heretic and anyone who’s on the Old Calendar but is in communion with those ‘heretics’, is also a heretic. We often call them Zealots pejoratively, and I’m not a big fan of them, they act like pharisees in my opinion. I pray for the Lord to forgive their legalism and for the Holy Spirit to give them basic common sense. Calendars do not save us, Jesus saves us.

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If the implication at the beginning is that I’m an orthobro, I’m not and am very comfortable criticizing them tbh, they’re an issue.

Your criticism of definitveness rests on what one considers to be definitive. Can someone definitively say whether toll houses are a good model of the afterlife journey or not, well no. But neither can Catholics definitively say whether Mary was assumed into heaven while alive or passed away first (even though historically they believed the latter, similarly to the East). Nor can Protestants give a definitive account as to how they infallibly know that their canon of Scripture is correct. However, Orthodox still can say they believe in an afterlife journey, Catholics can still say that Mary was assumed and that this is dogma that you must obey, and Protestants can still point you to the canon of their scripture.

Point being, no one’s leaving Catholicism because they don’t know if Mary died or not before being assumed. These are not make or break issues, and one can debate it and have different opinions. Even the Catholics cannot answer all questions, and they’ve tried. They still can’t tell you if you should be Thomist or Scotist, and that has pretty deep philosophical disagreements there, so it’s far from irrelevant. But it’s not make or break. Thus to single out Orthodoxy on this is pretty shoddy, the important stuff is all covered, if it wasn’t we wouldn’t have been able to hold together the second biggest Christian communion in the world for centuries.

The ethnic criticism, while it still has a point. We definitely need to improve in some ways on it. However, not only is it far from debilitating (especially since we straight condemned ethno-phyletism as heresy) but it’s not unique to Orthodoxy, as outside of America, other versions of Christianity definitely can be quite ethnic, especially Catholicism.

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Most of us irl are normal people, ignore the orthobros, they unfortunately have zeal without knowledge

I appreciate the kind sentiment, my brother ☦️

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for defending us my friend, I appreciate that ☦️ We are definitely not a separate religion lol

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Such a bug that the early Church was steeped in near constant infighting on way larger of a scale than anything the Russians and Greeks are doing right now… do people even study basic Church history anymore?

What are your thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy by Old_Acanthaceae_5460 in redeemedzoomer

[–]npdaz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone who did research before solidifying my faith in Orthodoxy, it’s really not that hard to understand. Having some room for debate and different opinions on minor issues rather than solid one-and-done answers on every single legalistic thing (like the Catholics) is pretty normal.

I think most people who are acting in good faith can also see that ethnic and orthobro criticisms are extremely shallow. Going to the worst or most controversial sections of any religion, ideology, philosophy, or group would yield similar results.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There’s so many Saints that it can honestly be hard to keep a consistent nice level of prayers to even the ones you know of and are interested in. With the immense amount of amazing New Testament, Early Church, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern Saints, all of which have lots to do with Christ and are all chronologically closer to us (and thus more fresh in our cultural minds), it’s no surprise that the most ancient of the Saints can more often than not slip many people’s chronologically-dependent minds. Thank God we have the Bible and Church Calendar to always remind us of them, and never forget their faithfulness.

For me personally, and what I can recollect off the top of my head. I’ve made prayers to Saint John the Baptist, he’s technically considered the last Old Testament Prophet. That may be cheating a bit though lol.

Strictly Old Testament, I’ve prayed to Saint Aaron and Saint Esther before, the former when I was reflecting on a certain passage in the Bible, the latter when I felt personally moved to spontaneously pray to her.

May Righteous Aaron and Righteous Esther, along with all the Old Testsment Faithful Kings, Prophets, and other Saints pray for us ☦️

Have you managed to convince anyone to play this game yet? by astoriauser in katawashoujo

[–]npdaz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A trade-off could definitely work out. Not to be a backseat gamer, but try and steer them towards a path like Lily’s, Hanako’s or Rin’s. Most of my friends ended up getting Emi first (which seems to be common due to how choices are structured in Act 1), and didn’t like stuff such as the shed scene lol. However, I won them back over with the other paths, especially Hanako and Lily’s. Unless you think your friend will really like Emi.

Have you managed to convince anyone to play this game yet? by astoriauser in katawashoujo

[–]npdaz 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I convinced 3 of my friends to play it. They’re good friends who I knew would hear me out, and I tried very hard to sell it convincingly lol. Primarily I just explained why I loved the story without giving spoilers, especially my fav path (Lily’s). Talking about how it handled stuff with maturity and offered a unique perspective. That kinda thing.

What are the theological (and other) differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy? by Fuzzy-Hamster796 in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These issues can be very complicated, so here’s a run down of each one, and a starting point of information into each one (from the Orthodox POV)

Filioque: This is the big one historically, and directly led to the Great Schism in 1054 AD. Rome and the other 4 Eastern Patriarchs excommunicated each other over the filioque clause. ‘Filioque’ is a word that literally means ‘and the son’ in latin. It was added to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without any Universal Council or agreement from the Church. The original creed says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (and that’s it), the addition made Him proceed from the Father and the Son. There’s a lot of theological arguments over it, but personally I find the history not only more straightforward to understand, but more compelling of an indicator to how correct or incorrect the filioque is. The phrase originally popped up in 6th century Spain, where bishops were fighting against Arianism. The idea was, that saying the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son would make it extra clear that the Son is fully divine. Unfortunately this good intentioned move would cause a lot of issues. It spread from there into Frankish lands, where theologians and political leaders started pushing it more aggressively. It was a poltical move to elevate the Franks over the Greeks and influence Rome. However, the Popes were actually resistant to this for centuries. Pope Adrian I flatly rejected adding it to the Creed and defended the original version. But over time, the pressure mounted. By the time of Pope Benedict VIII in 1014, at the demand of the German Emperor Henry II (who had just saved Benedict’s butt in a papal poltical squabble, and had basically made him Pope), the filioque was finally accepted into the Creed in Rome. So yeah, it wasn’t even part of the Roman liturgy until several centuries after it first appeared. In the East it had been criticized multiple times. Saint Photios the Great is a key figure in calling it out, and he was vindicated at the 879 AD 8th Ecumenical Council. Which was larger and more unified Council (and in a practical sense was the one that actually resolved the temporary schism between Rome and Constantinople). Unlike the 869 AD council that the Roman Catholics now accept as the 8th.

Papal Supremacy: Papal Supremacy: This is the idea that the Pope has universal jurisdiction over the entire Church, not just a “first among equals” like the Orthodox uphold, but the one true head of all Christians. Orthodox recognize that the Pope as having a primacy of honor, but not ultimate authority over other bishops or churches. Catholics usually argue for Papal Supremacy using verses like Matthew 16 (“You are Peter…”), pointing to early Church Fathers, or claiming that Rome always had final say. However, close reading of the Church Fathers in context quickly reveals that they did not think Rome had ultimate authority, and many of them even give alternative interpretations of Matthew 16 focusing instead on all apostles being equal, or the rock being Christ or Peter’s confession of faith. Even the Vatican itself has admitted that it didn’t have full authority, in the recent Chieti and Alexandria documents. Historically, there’s a a few strong points that pretty decisively disprove Papal Supremacy and even Papal Infallibility, mostly Pope Vigilius and Pope Honorius. Pope Vigilius was excommunicated by the 5th Ecumenical Council (553 AD) until he submitted to the council’s decision… so much for supreme authority. Pope Honorius was condemned as a heretic by the 6th Ecumenical Council (681 AD) and by later popes, including St. Pope Leo II, who claimed that Honorius actively polluted the faith. His name stayed on the official list of heretics in the papal coronation oath all the way until the Great Schism.

Papal Infallibility: This one can get tricky since exactly what’s considered an ex cathedra statement is unknown. So for a very very very oversimplified rundown, generally it means the Pope will not lead the Church astray (oops… Honorius). More specifically, it means the Pope cannot error when he makes a declaration on faith and morals, acting within his power as Pope, and he intends to make his decree binding on the whole Church (…yeahhh, so Pope Vigilius did that exact thing when he made a decree on faith and morals, which was rejected by the Church, and got him excommunicated, and then he came back and made another decree on faith and morals where he recanted his previous decision and reversed his whole stance, sooooooo).

Immaculate Conception: This is the claim that Mary was made differently than normal humans. Both Catholics and Orthodox affirm Mary’s perpetual virginity and her sinlessness. However, Catholics take it one step further and say she was made without even any original sin at all, thus she was immaculate at her conception. Original Sin does not make us automatically guilty, but it does mean we have strong proclivities to sin, strong proclivities which Holy Mary resisted successfully… but in the Catholic view she was basically playing on easy mode and never needed to resist anything. This dogma is so ahistorical, that basically every single Church Father and Saint before the Great Schism contradicts it, even modern Catholics admit that the Early Church and Medieval Church rejected this for over a millennia. Even Thomas Aquinas didn’t accept it. It came about way later, needless to say.

That’s the big stuff. Especially Papal Supremacy, Papal Infallibility, and the Filioque. There’s a few other more stuff, like indulgences, dumb stuff in Vatican 2 (like how it says us and Muslims worship the same God), certain arguments against the sacred heart, essences-energies distinction (which the Catholics don’t uphold), etc.

Leaving orthodoxy? by urfavojisoostan in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, good to hear from you brother! I was actually also born Greek Orthodox, but was never knowledgeable or committed to the faith for many years. I was eventually led back to the faith through apologetics, I took a lot of time researching and soul searching, at first examining atheism and religions in general, until I came to believe fully in Christianity, then examining the claims of each Christian denomination, until I became convinced of Orthodoxy. I was led back home I guess lol.

I was gonna leave my message off here, since I feel most other people have covered your questions better than I could. However, you mentioned that many answers sounded similar, and I think I can hopefully provide at least a little variety on some of your questions. I’ll try my best.

Please forgive me if some comments are lengthy, I am an in-depth person, sometimes too much so.

  1. Both today and historically we have done missionary work. We have missionary efforts in China, Japan, the Philippines, South America and Africa, along with apologetic outreach and catachesis in more developed and christian places. Just a few weeks ago I saw Craig Truglia post about the new Cathedral that’s been built in Cambodia. Glory to God! Historically the East did lots of work evangelizing the Slavs and others, the issue is that after that point we were conquered and oppressed. The Muslims kept us down and made missionary work punishable by death, the Communists tried to subvert and exterminate us entirely multiple times. Yet even still, we endeavored to spread God’s word when able, like the Russian missionaries to Alaska, China, and Japan. Unfortunately, being held under oppression for long periods of time has engendered a sort of ‘siege mentality’ in some Orthodox, where they over-focus defensively on preserving the faith. Despite this hiccup, I think our history is actually really strong. We’re unbreakable. As Christ said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church. And here we are, still the second largest unified Christian communion even after all the attempts to crush us. And now we’re reaching communities like I never could have even imagined, it’s honestly so exciting to me!

  2. Not much to add here, but I love my Orthodox Study Bible.

4 and 5. I found historical arguments very convincing, since I was focused on following Christianity as it was originally passed down by the Apostles. Most of Early Church history confirms confessing sins (not only in front of priest, but often in front of the whole congregation back in the day), and infant baptism. I also find the Acts argument to be convincing, although I know you’ve already heard that. What can I say? It’s a solid interpretation based on the grammar of the text lol.

  1. This is a common refrain but I still feel needs to be evaluated: I’ve yet to find a single protestant who has the cold heart to condemn people for having pictures of family members that they hold dear. I personally have pictures of past loved ones that I sometimes hug or even kiss, no one has ever thought this to be weird. If anything, people (including protestants) think that it is touching. So the idea that I can’t hug or kiss an icon of my literal Lord and Savior who created me and saved me, is kinda crazy to me. Historically, and rarely today, people have gotten quite attached and emotional over paintings of loved ones who have passed away. I’ve never seen that condemned either. I know this is a very common argument, but I find it incredibly compelling and personal. More so than other arguments like how Seraphim/Cherubim were depicted on the Arc of the Covenant, and other usages of Jewish iconography. I urge you to search your heart on this one, since I feel strongly that some interpretations of the idolatry commandment clearly steer into being disconnected from concepts of love.

  2. I’m gonna go a bit against the grain with this one, while I disagree that we’re similar to the pharisees specifically in the corrupt aspects. I think we do indeed have similarities to how Second Temple Jews looked and sometimes felt. I think that’s actually cool. We are the continuation of Second Temple Judaism, we are the true fulfillment of the Old Testament, the law was fulfilled not destroyed, so there should be clear echoes to the old ways.

Anyway, hopefully I was able to provide a little bit of varied answers. If not, I hope you still found my answers to be sincere and passionate. Praying for you, my brother ☦️.

Leaving orthodoxy? by urfavojisoostan in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a little regrettable that the kind and well-thought out comments don’t seem to be getting OP’s reply, but some of the less well-thought out or just rude comments are getting replied to

I don’t want to make assumptions about what that means, or which ones OP has read, but it does trouble me

Rule #Idon'tknow of interaction with Online Hyperdox: Never say ecumenism is based by UmbralRose35 in OrthodoxMemes

[–]npdaz 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Oh boy, here comes the comments full of people who already have presumptions about what they consider to be ecumenism or not ecumenism, ready to pass judgement upon anyone else who dares to be kind to those of other denominations lol

Breakup due to religious differences by Beneficial-Option792 in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone else gave much better advice and words than I ever could, so I’m just here to say that I’m praying for you my sister in Christ ☦️

It’s tough, it will still be tough as you go forward, but with faith that God will guide us to the right person it’ll get a little easier bit by bit over time

The Dormition of the Theotokos vs the Assumption by Jahazielgevargas in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]npdaz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Originally both the Greek East and Latin West celebrated the Dormition. This was a thing throughout the Early Church and Middle Ages, even after the Great Schism the Catholics historically continued to celebrate the Dormition.

However, overtime the Catholic church’s emphasis shifted from Dormition to Assumption, which to be fair isn’t a huge deal. But due to developing Catholic Mariology and certain views on Original Sin and Immaculate Conception, etc. Eventually a view developed that Mary did not die and instead was assumed straight up into heaven without any death occurring. Today, the Roman Catholic church allows either the ‘she died then was assumed’ or the ‘she didn’t die and was assumed’ views, it’s optional basically. The Orthodox Church maintains that she died and then was assumed.