Talk:Eastern Orthodox Church

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This article was built from a stub here, at "Eastern Orthodox", then moved here on Oct 8 2008. ħumanUser talk:Human 16:37, 11 October 2008 (EDT)

BoN[edit]

Reverted, but I'll find some way to work it in. Nobodydon't bother 03:40, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

The Orthodox Church has many patriarchies, the patriarchate of Russia being only one among many. While the Patriarch of Constantinople is considered the Ecumenical Patriarch as well as First Among Equals, there is undefined freedom for all synods concerning doctrine and theology. So attributing some of Russia's past with the whole of the religion isn't fair--"Shut up, Brx." 19:25, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
The ROC is easily half of the Eastern Orthodox faith. Nobodydon't bother 18:28, 15 January 2013 (UTC)
I looked it up, and that's actually correct. I think we should specify that the Russian pogroms aren't indicative of the whole of the religion, though.--"Shut up, Brx." 20:36, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Mass slaughter of Jews not credible[edit]

The article claims; "the Orthodox have been argued to have a unique flavor of mass-slaughter in their history. Yearly pogroms following Easter Mass are the stuff of legend," referencing a brief press cutting from The New York Times in 1903. The piece doesn't name its sources and consists of a fast sequence of appeals to vividness such as "Babes were literally torn to pieces", "frenzied and bloodthirsty mob", "slaughtered like sheep", "the general cry, 'Kill the Jews' al over the city", "worse than the censor will permit to publish"... and so on and so forth. This piece of unverifiable and cheap US propaganda gets the credibility of the article's author for no rational reason. The cutting is available here: Jewish Massacre Denounced --Putin2.jpg Brasov 21:45, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm not liking a lot of this article either. I cited what I could and deleted what seemed BS. But this one needs some work. Most of it is shite, like you said. --P3A58NT86 21:49, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
I've found this source Current Literature: A Magazine of Contemporary Record (New York). Vol. XXXV., No.1. July, 1903. that admits, on page 16, left-hand column, that "It may be that the stories given to the world are exaggerations...". Who would have guessed it, huh? It also admits: "indignation has been aroused in especially England and the United States"... another coincidence, or didn't the rest of the civilized world get "the news"? This anti-Russian propaganda came on the eve of the Russian-Japanese wars when England had signed an alliance with Japan (1902) seeking to restrict naval competition by keeping the Russian seaports of Vladivostok and Port Arthur from their full use (see Pre-war negotiations. --Putin2.jpg Brasov 22:10, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
Figures. That's just great. I don't know if I have the time to factcheck this beast...--P3A58NT86 22:27, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Mostly fair, but[edit]

Speaking as a former believer, this is mostly a fair cop. Although I'd like to point out the "brawling" remark is cited to a BBC story about a fistfight at the Holy Sepulchre between the Greek Orthodox and Armenians, and as the article is otherwise careful to note, the Armenians are not in communion with the Eastern Orthodox. So it was an inter-, not an intra-faith squabble. About the only brawl I can recall at the Holy Sepulchre between two groups who are in communion was between the Copts and Ethiopians back in 2002 -- and both groups were Oriental, not Eastern. I believe there is a small Russian compound at the Holy Sepulchre, but it's well-separated from the areas controlled by the local EO church and it has no historical expansionist tendencies, so I've never heard of fisticuffs between them. 192.35.35.36 (talk) 04:31, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments! Since you clearly know the context, please feel welcome you to edit the article and correct said portion of the text. Remember to include sources whenever possible! Thanks. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 13:10, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Salvation segment[edit]

Are there any citations/sources for this? Gotta admit, it's something I find fascinating. --Scherben (talk) 02:01, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

This section is not true. Eastern Orthodoxy doesn'thave such views. — Unsigned, by: 217.20.66.208 / talk
That's as maybe, but there's still no sources for either position. Thanks for your answer, however. --Scherben (talk) 15:00, 26 March 2019 (UTC)
I think I added the segment on Salvation you are talking about. There are indeed such views in the Orthodox Church. A Sermon (before the Great Lent) from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (https://www.ortodoksi.net/index.php/Patriarkka_Bartholomeoksen_paastopuhe_2015_(in_English)) for example clarifies some of the stuff I wrote. He says we must strive to become "saints" and to achieve the likeness of God. He points out that we should pray that: "He [God] may not overlook us when we are in danger of alienating ourselves from Him" (i.e. we may stray from Faith or Good Works, but can always find a way back). You can go to an any Orthodox church during the Easter period and witness that the celebratory icon has a picture of Christ resurrecting Adam and Eve. That means that even dead people can be saved, that the gift of salvation is bestowed on all of us and that God will not ultimately overlook us even if we in danger of losing faith or committing sin. It was my original intention to add some academic sources as well and I try to do so in the future if no one else does so first. JJohannes (talk) 01:03, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
Thanks for your work, a lot of religious articles on here are remnants of an era of Rationalwiki that is not representative of what it is today. It's nice to see those articles get some love.--Spoony (talk) 01:17, 29 April 2022 (UTC)