Lazar Puhalo is Not a Canonical Orthodox Bishop, He’s a Deposed Deacon

Lazar Puhalo is Not a Canonical Orthodox Bishop, He is a Deposed Deaconby Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –
Puhalo is an impostor and illegitimate hierarch of the Church. His views are not only not Orthodox, they are not even Christian.

Retired “Archbishop” Lazar Puhalo is not a canonical bishop of the Orthodox Church. Puhalo remains a deposed deacon (Lev Puhalo) who was defrocked in 1981 for heretical teaching and rebellion against his bishop. He was found guilty of multiple violations of Church canons and laicized by the Synod of ROCOR. Puhalo was never canonically reinstated as a deacon, or rightly ordained a priest, or properly elevated as a bishop by any canonical Orthodox Church or legitimate Orthodox jurisdiction anywhere. [Read more…]

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Hidden Source of Heresy is the Pride of the Human Mind

Christian Ecumenical Councils Hidden Source of Heresy is the Pride of the Human Mindby Fr. Boris (Dolzhenko) –
Heresy is an aberration of the Faith; it is a distortion of the true teaching of Christ, which was preached by the Apostles and preserved intact by the Church.

The hidden source of heresy is always the pride of the human mind, which does not want to submit to the teaching of the Church, but places one’s own mind, one’s own understanding, above that of the Church.

Heresiarchs were people who were self-assured, stubborn, and ready to resist even the obvious truth, going against entire Councils of the Holy Fathers. Taking care for the purity of the Orthodox Faith, the Fathers of the Church found an effective means for dealing with heretics: [Read more…]

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George Demacopoulos: Christian Moral Teaching isn’t Black and White

George Demacopoulos False Teacher No Moral Right or Wrongby Fr. John Whiteford –
This is part of a pattern on the part of the Fordhamites at “Public Orthodoxy,” of downplaying Christian morality, and suggesting that it is fluid, something apart from dogma, and therefore open to debate and revision.
…
To have an Orthodox bishop participate in this March, be given a platform, and to have him endorse “a woman’s right to choose” to kill her baby was an embarrassment. And make no mistake, everyone understood exactly what he was saying.

The Washington Post cited it as an example of a “pro-choice” shift among many Christian and Jewish groups. George Demacopoulos, editor of “Public Orthodoxy,” who champions the abandonment of Christian morality in the Orthodox Church, is cited in support of Archbishop Elpidophoros’ [pro-abortion] coming out speech: [Read more…]

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We Are Called to Proclaim the Good News of the Truth

Orthodox Christians Are Called to Proclaim the Good News of the Truthby Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) –
Today we may not face the heresy of Arius, but there are many other false teachings which are spreading among the people and are causing the faithful to go astray from the path to salvation.

On the Sunday after the Ascension we remember the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. In honoring them, we remember an extremely special time in Church history which followed on the heels of three centuries of persecution. In 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great published the Edict of Milan, which gave the Christian Church the legal right to exist and essentially brought the Church out of the catacombs and into the open. A new epoch began in the life of the Church: everywhere churches were being built and thousands of people received baptism and started [Read more…]

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Scandalous Activists Attack OCA Synod For Rejecting Same-Sex Unions and LGBTQ Identities

Scandalous Activists Attack OCA Synod For Rejecting Same-Sex Unions and LGBTQ Identitiesby Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –
Faith is Fear, Tradition is Tyranny, Sin is Virtue, Truth is Falsehood, Order is Oppression

An Orwellian, ungodly spirit continues to engulf and embolden homosexual and academic activists (inside and outside the Orthodox Church) who seek to normalize homosexuality, legitimize “gay marriage,” and incorporate the LGBTQ madness in the teaching, practice, theology, and sacramental life of the Orthodox Church.

To counter and call to repentance those deceptive voices, the OCA Synod, at the latest All American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, issued a clear and direct statement that categorically rejects same-sex unions and any of the false LGBTQ sexual identities that contradict the right order and theology of the Orthodox Christian faith: [Read more…]

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Baptism – Holy Sacrament of the Orthodox Church

Baptism - Holy Sacrament of the Orthodox Churchby Fr. Thomas Hopko –
The practice of baptism as a religious symbol did not begin with Jesus. Baptism, which means literally the immersion in water, was practiced among the people of the Old Testament as well as the people who belonged to pagan religions.

The universal meaning of baptism is that of “starting anew,” of dying to an old, way of life and being born again into a new way of life. Thus, baptism was always connected with repentance which means a moral conversion, a “change of mind,” a change in living from something old and bad to something new and good.

Thus, in the Gospel we find John the Baptist baptizing the people as a sign of repentance in preparation for the Kingdom of God which was coming to men with Christ the Messiah. [Read more…]

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All Mount Athos Monasteries Denounce Scandalous Conduct of Elpidophoros on Baptism for Gay Couple

All Mount Athos Monasteries Denounce Scandalous Conduct of Elpidophoros on Baptism for Gay CoupleMonks and Abbots of Mt. Athos –
It is clearly foreign to the teaching of the Gospel and the Orthodox ethos to allow it to be understood that a “same-sex couple” can be considered as a family and to recognize the right of such a couple to adopt children

On the occasion of recent public appearances and positions taken by members of the clergy of the Church, including hierarchs, who have created the impression that it is possible for the Church to accept any other form of family, apart from the one established by the Holy Gospel, the Holy Community of Mt Athos wishes to respond publicly.

The Holy Mountain, as a place of prayer and asceticism, in an unbroken liturgical and spiritual continuity, [Read more…]

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OCA Synod Categorically Rejects Same-Sex Unions and Homosexual Self-Identity

We reject any attempt to create a theological framework which would normalize same-sex erotic relationships or distort humanity’s God-given sexual identity.
OCA Synod Categorically Rejects Same-Sex Unions and Homosexual Self-Identityby OCA Synod –
The Orthodox Church teaches that the union between a man and a woman in marriage reflects the union between Christ and His Church (Eph. 5). As such, marriage is by this reflection monogamous and heterosexual. Within this marriage, sexual relations between a husband and wife are an expression of their love that has been blessed by God. Such is God’s plan for male and female, created in his image and likeness, from the beginning, and such remains his plan for all time. Any other form of sexual expression is by its nature disordered, and cannot be blessed by the Church in any way, [Read more…]

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Reasons Why The Orthodox Church Cannot Baptize Surrogate Children of Homosexual Couples

Reasons Why The Orthodox Church Cannot Baptize Surrogate Children of Homosexual Couplesby Fr. Antoine Melki –
There were many reactions in the news and on social media to the Baptism celebrated by Abp. Elpidophoros, the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, of two children from a surrogate mother, whose paternity is claimed by two men who declare an association in a same-sex marriage. Some of these reactions are serious while some others are emotive, for or against the act. The discussion of the legality of what happened is not the concern of this article, although the form required for the Baptism in the Orthodox Church was not respected.

Regardless of the political and social effects of this Baptism or the scandal that it provoked among believers, the aim here is to respond to the emotional reactions and questions that some people raise, whether out of ignorance or bad intention, such as whether any priest has the right to refuse the Baptism of any child; what about the children of fornication; and other questions. [Read more…]

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The Beauty of Holiness Carries Surprises

Orthodox Nuns The Beauty of Holiness Carries Surprisesby Fr. Gabriel Rochelle –
The beauty of holiness is in the face of a nun. Beauty untouched by any artificial, chemical, or cosmetic means can stun you, especially if costuming prevents you from viewing the rest of the body. When you are limited to the face you see with an intensity that eludes you if there is more to observe. It’s like being deprived of one of your senses, which accentuates and heightens and sensitizes the remaining senses. If you see a figure robed in black except for the oval of her face you see more than were she clothed in is called normal attire.

The beauty of holiness is evident in all ages. Age has not only its privilege but also its unique beauty. This is also true, then: the holiness of beauty may be seen in the face of a nun – and it is ageless. [Read more…]

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