Category: Churches
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Critique of Ecclesiastical Tradition and the Sacred Inheritance
Introduction Critique is the process of analyzing texts and re-reading them, distinguishing in them the essence and the form, understanding the circumstances of their writing, and the social, political, and economic influences that affected their formulation and production. This critique applies to every product of human intellectual and even theological labor. So if the…
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Administrative Heresy
This term is strange to the ear of the believer, for he is accustomed to hearing about heresy in its intellectual form. But that heresy should be administrative requires reflection and a reading that embodies doctrines behaviorally. Doctrines are not purely intellectual terms that do not touch human reality. For what benefit does a person…
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“The Declaration of Failure”
The first Sunday after Pentecost is the Sunday of All Saints, which the Church placed after the Sunday of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, because the saints are proof that Pentecost is an ongoing event in history, and that the Holy Spirit is ever active in history, as Metropolitan Paul Yazigi says (1). The…
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Crookedness of Conduct
The Sunday of Orthodoxy (the first Sunday of Lent, 4 March 2023 ), is not a day of pride in ourselves and in what we were freely given, but a day to evaluate our work by it, that is, to carry out a process of evaluation and critique of our conduct as the Orthodox community according…
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A Comment on the Defrocking of the Metropolitan of Homs
He who speaks about human rights and their dignity and sanctity in the Sunday sermon must apply them in his institutions, in his decisions, and in his manner of dealing with cases. Yesterday’s statement of the Antiochian Synod does not observe the least of human rights and dignity, nor does it attain the lowest standards…
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On the Occasion of the New Case (the Diocese of Sweden):
I apologize first to you, faithful and worshippers, for the stumbling blocks that we, the priestly body, cause you, for not a month passes without stumbling blocks for you, and the distortion of the image of the Church before the foreign nations, because of some case and the manner of handling it. Grieve over us…
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“The Acceptable Year of the Lord / 2024”
We look out upon the new year, carrying to it many tragedies, frustrations, despair, wars, and pains. We have lost the meaning of the Christianity to which we belong, so that all of time has come to mean nothing but the succession of numbers. Metropolitan Paul Yazigi says “the Christianity to which we belong is…
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Administrative Heresy
This term is strange to the believer’s ear, because he is accustomed to hearing about heresy in its intellectual form. But for heresy to be administrative, it requires contemplation and a reading that incarnates doctrines behaviorally. Doctrines are not purely intellectual terms that do not touch human reality, for what does man benefit from Christ…
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Despotism in the Ecclesiastical Institution
Father Lazarus Abboud The Intermediate Dictionary (Mu’jam al-Wasit) explains despotism (istibdad) linguistically: it is the verbal noun of the verb istabadda, and despotism is embodied in a person or a group: istabadda bihi means he monopolized it. Muhammad Abduh says: the despot does whatever he wishes without being accountable, ruling according to what his whims…