#Greek Orthodox Church

[gemsofgreece]

HONEStly I'm a polish catholic and still voted greek orthodox in the poll klfjsdfkjd IT'S THE DRIP.

Usbsjakoaksnskak it’s not like I am the representative of the Greek Orthodox Church but thank you on its behalf 🙏 I had a lot of fun with this poll although to be honest some Catholics took it to heart so bitterly, it was a slight mood killer at times.

Aesthetic wise, I really like Catholicism. The architecture, the statues are superb. They are like palaces. Orthodoxy is very beautiful too, in a different way. Orthodox style can either be extremely extravagant or extremely humble, there is no in between. Or a mix of these two, like going through a hole in a semi-wrecked wall and there are jewels of gold and emeralds casually hanging from a barely coping wooden icon from 700 AD in there. That kind of thing.

In terms of teachings honestly, the differences aren’t all that serious IMO. I barely understand the issue in most of them.

Again thanks for the voting and….. just mentioning we are competing against the Amish on Monday. For anyone who wouldn’t like to displease these dripping dudes 😂😂😂

JK much love 🇵🇱✝️🤍☦️🇬🇷

[lumeke]

[travelella]

Holy Trinity Church, Berat, Albania

Vladan Raznatovic

[ancientsstudies]

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque by paandeli.

[soulrestinginstpetersburg]

[soldatenkoenig]

Meteora, Greece

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

*bangs head on the table repeatedly* Why. Do. The. Brothers. And. Sisters. Of. Christ. Love. To. Hate. Each. Other. So. Much.

You're Christian. I'm Christian. They're Christian. We all believe Jesus is God. We all believe God is love. Why all the hate?? So what if they believe Mary was assumed into heaven and you don't? So what if you believe Mary was ever a virgin and you don't?

There are lots of things we disagree on. But you know what? We agree on so much more!

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us humans and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one, holy, universal and apostolic Church. We confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and we look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

We are all Christians for we are all anointed by the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God.

[religious-extremist]

Westerners often accuse the Orthodox Church of losing the essence of Christianity, because the Orthodox lands were subjugated by Islamic powers: the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Ottomans, the conquest of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria.

The funny thing with Islam is that, when it conquers a foreign land, their leaders demand a tax, the jizya, from those who do not convert to Islam. The more Christians converted to Islam, the less jizya they were able to collect; so they didn’t want too many of the Christians to convert to Islam, because then they would have less money.

But then Westerners say, God must have despised the disobedience of the Eastern Romans, of the Christians who called themselves Orthodox! They say that’s why God punished the Greeks; He used the Turks to destroy the Greek people and oppress their religion and scatter them and their congregation.

St. Kosmas the Aetolian spoke well when he said that God indeed showed His mercy upon the Greek people when, instead of letting them fall into the hands of the Venetians, the Papists, God preserved the Greeks by allowing the Muslims to take Constantinople instead. The Fall of Constantinople, this great tragedy which was indeed caused by the apostasy of the Greek people’s hearts, was also a great blessing.

Had the Venetians taken over, subjugated the Orthodox under the Papist yoke, we would have lost the Orthodox faith, forced to conversion. The Muslims at least had some incentive to preserve Orthodox Christianity amongst the Eastern Romans: that is, to collect taxes from them.

So those who had no faith in Christ our God had apostatized and became Muslims, and the ones who remained became saints, of faithfulness stronger than diamonds and brilliance more resplendent than the sun. The purest of gold can only be tried by fire, after all. Even the Old Testament spoke of “the righteous remnant.” And so, until today, the Orthodox faith remains unadulterated, preserved by these souls, the bulwark of Orthodoxy.

[thepatristictradition]

Suffering is not What You Think

(The Penitent Magdalene)

So often you hear, when people leave their churches, their gripes surround suffering. Why would God allow suffering? Why would God allow babies to be murdered and die of cancer? Why would He allow war and cannibalism and pedophilia? Why did God allow me to see my mother die? Why did he allow this or that?

What I cannot help but notice is that the people saying this are never talking about their own suffering.

"Why does God allow war?" said a cowardly young man who has never seen bloodshed. "Why does God allow cancer?" said a woman who is perfectly healthy. "Why does God allow abuse?" said a man who had the privilege of watching the sex abuse crisis of the RCC play out on the TV screen and not in the sacristy. "Why did God allow my mother do die?" said a daughter who is still alive.

We may mourn, and we ought to mourn, the sorrows and the fallenness of this world, but witnessing suffering is not the same as suffering.

(Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone)

This was never more clear to me than when I spent a summer arguing with my anti-natalist, atheist sister. She would spend hours berating my poor mother and father for the heinous crime of having children. During one of these spats, my sister turned to me and said, "How can you support natalism?" which she said like a slur, "your grandmother abused you from the moment you were born."

Now, this is true. Truer than she knew, or, if I have it my way, will ever know. My grandmother (who was my and my sister's primary caregiver) always despised me because I was born with a deformity. Her hatred only intensified when my sister was born. My sister was, in her eyes, perfect. As a child, my sister would ask for me to be abused in front of her, for her amusement, by my grandmother.

My sister witnessed plenty of my suffering, but she experienced not an iota of it. And yet, she used my suffering as a way to say that all of human life is suffering. She used it to discredit the worth of all human life.

(Ophelia)

I find this is always the case. When I was an atheist, I was confused by people who brought up the "problem of suffering". I never viewed my suffering as something that made my life worse. Even as an atheist and a child, I saw clearly how the suffering I experienced and was experiencing was driving me toward a larger purpose. This pattern of thought followed me into the sexual abuse I experienced in middle school and into my conversion.

My atheist associates, whose suffering I know well, likewise never cite their suffering as a reason for their disbelief. When you really get down to it, "God is a big meanie" is not a reason to reject His existence, say these associates of mine.

It is only being a witness to suffering-- usually an impotent witness-- that causes this specific kind of apostasy. Even if my sister had stopped encouraging it, I still would have been abused. Her behavior would have made little difference. It is the same for the sufferings I listed earlier. Regardless of what we tell ourselves, no boycotting, no Instagram post, and not even tax evasion or immolation will stop the Genocide Israel is purporting against the Palestinians. We, far removed, poor, and powerless foreigners, are impotent. We can do nothing to help someone with a terminal illness not die-- it's terminal. We can do nothing to help the kidnapped children we see on the news, taken from their homes halfway across the country. We cannot bilocate, live forever, or have infinite money.

When these people say, "Why does God allow suffering?" they are actually asking, "Why does God allow my impotence?" The implication is that, of course, they would solve these sufferings if only they were not impotent. Is this the case? I don't know; who am I to judge the heart of another man?

Whatever the case, it is clear to me that witnessing suffering is of some different metaphysical nature than the actual experience of suffering. I've written a little about this privately, so I will get around to expanding upon it in further posts.

[gemsofgreece]

In Kýthira island, Greece || Giorgos G. Photography

[orthodoxangelos]

Orthodox churches ☦︎

[love-promethea]

and when the guilt consumes you, what will you hold onto

[andijaart]

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

Righteous Joachim and Anna, parents of the Most Holy Theotokos

MEMORIAL DAY SEPTEMBER 22

Celebrating the memory of Your righteous, O Lord, we pray with them to You: "Save our souls."

💫International Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Immovable Ladder of Jerusalem

At first glance, it seems like an ordinary wooden ladder, but this small object beneath a window of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has remained untouched for centuries.

Known as the Immovable Ladder, its story is deeply tied to the status quo agreement governing this sacred site.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is shared by six Christian denominations — Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Syriac Orthodox.

Since 1852, the status quo agreement has ensured that no changes can be made to the church’s structure or furnishings without unanimous consent from all six groups.

This fragile balance of power has preserved peace within the church but has also left the ladder untouched for over 250 years.

Whether a symbol of unity or division, the ladder remains frozen in time, a quiet reminder of the delicate compromises that hold the world’s most sacred spaces together.

[justanorthodoxgirl]

May 5, 2024 is Pascha (Orthodox Easter) this year.

I am already looking forward to it!☦️♥️