Eastern Orthodox Christianity 2.0

“Martin Luther once remarked that he believed the pure Faith of primitive Christianity is to be found in the Orthodox Church,” according to this very informative UK site on Orthodoxy.  I’ve also read that some early Lutheran leaders in Germany corresponded with a Patriarch of Constantinople over a number of years.  But in the end, [...]

A knowledgeable, intelligent working-class layperson I know in the Latin Church, even a product of parochial schools, even arguably in the Latin Church’s most conservative jurisdiction, who hasn’t been to Mass much since it was translated into English, was shocked to learn that her Church teaches that God’s Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, [...]

(Opinion Alert: Just a few ruminations.) 
Was it an accident that Rome and Constantinople’s break in communion of 1054 became permanent?  Like I’ve said, there were previous ones.  Doctrinal divergence?  Even this hadn’t prevented patching-up differences previously.  And between 1054 and 1453 there were several attempts to do so again.  The last one actually resulted in [...]

According to their parish webpage at oca.org (scroll to bottom section), he appeared in a dream to several leaders.  How cool is that!  More details are on their own website.  (I guess they can’t work this into the movie!!)
Looks like they need help renovating, too, I imagine because the wet southern-Alaska coast weather is murder on [...]

The interview, conducted by email by a magazine, is mostly reproduced by another blogger here, though he re-posted it in installments, so start with Number One at the bottom of the page and work your way back up.
I might offer for clarification, first, that there have been several more-or-less intensive missionary periods in Orthodox Church history:

the first [...]

Excommunication, for Orthodoxy, is not expulsion from membership in the Church, merely barring from receiving Communion, usually temporarily, on account of some sin or other offense taken particularly seriously by Holy Tradition or the Canons.  This article is very informative.  In fact, when Latins discuss this kind of excommunication, they state that you’re still required to [...]

The blogger from the previous post, Mr. Brooks Lampe in the Washington, DC, area, here tackles some heavy stuff, without it coming across too heavy! He’s reporting and reflecting mostly on a book by Philip Sherrard, whose writing can be extremely dense - well-planned, well-packed, making for downright oppressive reading, like much philosophy can be [...]

(Polished and expanded a little on 18 January 2008.)
How can Orthodoxy possibly dovetail with liberal Roman Catholicism?

Collegiality and conciliarity; no Papal Infallibility. While the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has some very supportive supporters, he’s really not supposed to be a worldwide ecclesiastical autocrat, merely “first among equals” among the bishops of the Orthodox Church, permanent [...]

Yesterday was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles. The Gospel reading for Divine Liturgy was Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Matthew 16:13-19 (here, from the NAB).
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When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
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They replied, “Some say [...]

A book of Orthodox feast-day traditions characterizes today, the 50th day after Holy Pascha, as follows (emphasis added):
On the day corresponding to this day of salvation, the day of Pentecost, the Savior’s Apostles, who were suddenly instructed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, became possessors of the greatest wisdom and spoke clearly about heavenly [...]