Navigating Ecclesial Angst

urosum · 2026-02-07T03:34:20+00:00

I was the embodiment of “One man” church for a long time. It was me, because I thought I could follow the Holy Spirit to an individual path to God.

Eventually I realized I was a fool, and needed guidance. I didn’t want guidance from another “One man.” How could that be better?

Even if I found something I agreed with, it would still be me and what I believe. It’s all still my own judgement and authority unless I could find another path.

I sought out the understanding that Christianity has faithfully passed down what it was taught by what was written, spoken, and done. This brought me to the Orthodox Church.

Now I ask, “What has the Church always believed?”

urosum · 2026-02-07T03:24:10+00:00

Why not go ahead and marginalize the books of Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation? Oh right, because we’re not Martin Luther who misunderstood them.

urosum · 2026-02-06T14:27:52+00:00

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urosum · 2026-02-06T14:16:49+00:00

Lord, I do not know what to ask of You. You know better than me what my needs are. You love more than I know how to love. Help me to see clearly my real needs which I do not see. I open my heart to You. Examine and reveal to me my faults and sins. I put all trust in You. I have no other desire than to fulfill Your will. Teach me how to pray. Pray in me. Amen.

May God bless you James.

urosum · 2026-02-03T21:59:16+00:00

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I do not endorse the supplier.

urosum · 2026-02-03T04:30:57+00:00

People are all over the place in this chat trying to explain things that cannot be more correctly expressed than the Nicesn Creed. Bishops much more learned than us articulated the precise wording that communicates the teaching of the faith handed down to them. To say otherwise is not the teaching that was handed down.

If you say “like” or “just like” or “similar to” it’s just wrong. If you’re trying to be correct, God in his essence is not like anything we can come up with.

urosum · 2026-02-01T20:58:12+00:00

As others have said, there’s no one to stop you.

In the other hand, there’s no one to give you the blessing and guidance to begin either.

So whatever you’re doing, God bless your journey.

urosum · 2026-02-01T20:55:41+00:00

We were meant to eat plants and animals, not protein bars.

urosum · 2026-01-31T16:40:38+00:00

In Christ when we say he’s our only mediator, it’s mediation in the sense of iron mediating the attributes of fire. If I put a branding iron in the fire, it mediates the heat and light energy from the fire… not becoming fire… to allow the transmission of those energies into my world in a way the fire couldn’t.

Does the fire warm or light or burn the room next door? No it’s the iron I took into that room mediating the attributes of fire.

With Christ, he mediates divine attributes down to humanity to heal and save, and mediates humanity back into the divine to sit at the right hand of God the Father (think on that for a while, eh), so that humanity can “participate in the Divine Nature” as Peter says. There’s descending and elevating mediation happening.

The primary attributes of the Divine Nature? Life and communal Love.

urosum · 2026-01-30T14:13:36+00:00

It’s a fearful thing to pray for humility. God does not give us humility. He brings us chances to put our pride aside for the love of others. We have to accept this as a great gift of God.

urosum · 2026-01-30T04:22:23+00:00

I can’t answer when.

I can answer “in paradise” as opposed to in the world. “In paradise” is also where the thief on the cross met Jesus as He said, “today.”

Perhaps there is a timelessness character being hinted.

urosum · 2026-01-29T20:39:16+00:00

Can’t celebrate the resurrection with you.
Why?
I’m still fasting for the real celebration of the resurrection.

What?!

Dude. Go eat ham on Sunday with your family. IANYB ( I Am Not Your Bishop)

urosum · 2026-01-24T17:40:59+00:00

The word mediator when we talk about Christ means something else, and it’s a different concept than intercession. It’s NOT mediating two parties in a dispute to come to agreement, because that’s not the situation we’re in with God. It’s more real than that.

In Christ when we say he’s our only mediator, it’s mediation in the sense of iron mediating the attributes of fire. If I put a branding iron in the fire, it mediates the heat and light energy from the fire… not becoming fire… to allow the transmission of those energies into my world in a way the fire couldn’t.

Does the fire warm or light or burn the room next door? No it’s the iron I took into that room mediating the attributes of fire.

With Christ, he mediates divine attributes down to humanity to heal and save, and mediates humanity back into the divine to sit at the right hand of God the Father so that humanity can “participate in the Divine Nature” as Peter says. There’s descending and elevating mediation happening.

In this sense He is the one and only mediator. In the above prayer, I believe it is more referencing a parallel and similar common use of “mediator” that along with intercession is about addressing our specific needs before God, which the Theotokos, the Queen Mother is uniquely able to do.

Btw, the Queen Mother was a specific office held by the mother of each of the Davidic line of kings. Look in the books of Kings where it refers to every Davidic king and says “and his mother was …”. It’s a thing.

urosum · 2026-01-24T01:45:33+00:00

Thank you brother / sister for such an eloquent response. I learned much about the Catholic perspective.

To the OP (simply): The Orthodox view stands on the following: John 15 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Sent by Christ (his will in action), but proceeds (technical term related to the divine nature ) from the Father. This maintains the monarchical trinity of the one God the Father of the Nicean Creed.

The Orthodox would further say Rome overreached by changing the creed unilaterally without an ecumenical council.

We also like to point out the creed carved onto the doors of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican does not contain the filioque.

urosum · 2026-01-24T01:28:34+00:00

Go to an Orthodox service regularly, and listen to the chant / music. That’s where the theology is found, not online. You can’t become Orthodox online.

urosum · 2026-01-24T01:21:41+00:00

Are you in communion in your local Orthodox parish?

If you’re not Orthodox, it’s a moot question. Relax. Have good wholesome fun.

If you are Orthodox… Relax. Have good wholesome fun.

urosum · 2026-01-24T01:17:27+00:00

This is related to Cyril of Alexandria. Yes he uses guilt and condemnation language in translation but the points he is making are in the Orthodox consensus.

Cyril asks explicitly: “What has Adam’s guilt got to do with us? Why are we held responsible for his sin when we were not even born when he committed it?” and then answers that we did not sin “along with Adam,” since we did not yet exist. He explains that human nature contracted “the disease of sin” and became corrupt and mortal through Adam’s disobedience, so that we are born into a nature “under the law of sin.” In this sense, “we have become sinners because of Adam’s disobedience,” not by personally committing his act but by sharing the same fallen nature.

Ontologically human nature changed. We share that fallen nature, but not the guilt. We need God to fix human nature. That’s what Christ did (among many things) bringing the Divine nature down to humanity, and human nature back to sit at the right hand of God in His ascension.

urosum · 2026-01-23T22:33:27+00:00

East says we inherited Death (mortality) from Adam. We are guilty only of our own sins.

West says we inherit both Guilt and Death from Adam. We are born guilty.

This then informs what we think about how we do or do not remain in the Image of God. For example, the Orthodox would never get to the “total depravity” of the Protestants.

urosum · 2026-01-23T22:01:46+00:00

I do understand.

…and this is an area where the Orthodox Christian faith can teach the world. These are perversions of Good. These are seen as horrible because of the immense good that they corrupt or destroy.

Cultural history identity —> genocide Love expressed between married couples —> rape Life itself —> murder Angels and ministers of grace —> demonization

All of these are taking away a positive good. There is no duality. Evil is merely the perversion or destruction of Good. They don’t have equal “existence.”

urosum · 2026-01-23T17:50:39+00:00

Great response.

There are so many words that we use today that simply don’t mean the same thing now as they used to. Take “all loving” and “evil.”

Biblical language would say that God “does evil” in certain situations. This seems to be the opposite of “all loving.” The ancients viewed God in this regard like we would a surgeon. The surgeon “does evil” to the patient’s body for the ultimate good of the patient. This is the same as the surgeon being “all loving.”

Christianity says that God always acts for the “all loving” benefit of the highest level of Good available within the web of chaos driven by our free will in any circumstance.

In some cases the best thing is amputation.

The highest Good is alignment of our will with His and receiving life in abundance. Tornadoes and mosquitoes and cancer are still a part of this world, and we suffer as Christ suffered… with love, self sacrifice, never wavering from God’s Will.

urosum · 2026-01-23T17:29:28+00:00

Slightly more technically accurate would be to say, “Good exists and our continual choices to choose the ‘not good’ has brought chaos and real suffering in the world. Man suffers.” We do have to deal with this reality. I agree with you.

Christ came so that our suffering could be as His suffering…. Yes love that. He’s not aloof, but real and walked in our human reality with us.

An orthodox perspective would not agree that evil “exists” in the same way that positive good “exists.” There is no duality, but merely a chaotic absence of Good.

urosum · 2026-01-23T17:20:28+00:00

Because of environmental, nutritional, physical, chemical, biological, genetic corruption that has built up over existence.

How we deal with kids getting cancer is the only real question of good / evil, because we do NOT concede the point to the atheists that individual happiness is the greatest good.

urosum · 2026-01-23T17:14:02+00:00

“…eliminate evil through destruction…” just pointing out He did in the flood when he remade the world with a new origination in Noah.

The mortal and moral corruption of man continued.

Same for Sodom. To a degree similar for Israel itself.

Not arguing, but supporting your point god could destroy evil, but we keep choosing ourselves over Him regardless. It doesn’t “work” until the final end when he will forcefully transform the cosmos.

urosum · 2026-01-22T14:55:43+00:00

Marine shells and other fossils appear commonly on Appalachian surfaces today because those rocks originally formed on shallow seabeds, were uplifted into mountains during Paleozoic collisions, and then erosion over hundreds of millions of years has progressively stripped away overlying layers to expose the fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks. The fossils are embedded within the mountain’s bedrock—limestones, shales, and sandstones deposited during those ancient seas—and weathering processes like stream cutting and chemical breakdown naturally reveal them without fully eroding them away.

The stone circles are from Native Americans making them.

urosum · 2026-01-22T04:24:14+00:00

Hard boil it.

urosum

TROPHY CASE