Churches are in trouble. A new Gallup poll estimates that only 47% of U.S. adults say they belong to a religious congregation. This is down from 70% in 1999. Leadership and financial issues have contributed to this precipitous drop. Scandals of one kind or another have become so common that few even bat an eye anymore. Lack of transparency in many religious bodies leaves members uneasy as they wonder – what else is happening we don’t know about?
For all that, one cause for declining membership stands out above all others – the horrible response of churches to Covid.
Most churches closed down willingly in obedience to the dictates of Pope Fauci. That shocked millions of Christians. Especially Orthodox and Roman Catholics, as the Eucharist can’t be livestreamed to our homes. None of us ever expected the Church to surrender so quickly and effortlessly. We fumbled through it, doing our best to pray at home and watch services from our couches. We prayed for the parishes to open. When they did, we cowered in our masks, “socially distanced” and felt like total frauds. The icons of the martyrs on the walls judged us as we changed or abandoned practices of our faith that had been considered essential just months before.
Had the clergy quietly, minimally complied with the insane Covid dictates, we might have eventually forgiven the whole thing. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened. From the beginning, most Christian leaders were all on-board the Fauci train. Clergy went to absurd lengths to bolster the narrative that this was the new Black Death. Clergy lectured us about our moral obligation to comply with every government directive as if it were the Word of God. Failing to obediently follow the “rules” would kill innocent people. If you love your neighbor, you will shut up and wear the mask. Instead of inspiring us to overcome the fear of death, clergy preached bland sermons that sounded more like CDC public service announcements than the Gospel. Bible verses were constantly thrown at us to justify clerical cheerleading for rank authoritarianism.
Christians with any critical thinking skills have known since last May that: Covid is only dangerous to the very sick / very old, asymptomatic spread is not a thing, and quarantining the healthy is only good for destroying our economy. Millions of Christians knew we were getting played even as our pastors kept denying that fact to our faces.
In most churches, Christians who openly questioned the government narrative were ignored, belittled as “fanatics,” and/or threatened with reprisals. Of course, the senior leadership made sure to unleash the Karens to assist in the effort of suppressing any crimethink. As a snitch culture took hold, pastors and members who failed to diligently comply with the new state religion, or who merely held unapproved opinions, found themselves: barred from services, stripped of offices, or (in the case of recalcitrant local clergy) suspended. The message was clear: your opinions don’t matter (even if you are an MD or otherwise knowledgeable), you will obey the bishops / leadership, and it is your Christian obligation to do everything you are told no matter how asinine or counter productive.
A year later, most churches are still masked-up and “socially” distanced with no end in sight. In fact, even in states / areas where those things aren’t required, too many local churches are still doing them voluntarily. Those who protest are still getting shush-letters and threats from the leadership. Even as vaccine-passports and eternal masking loom in our future, too few Christian leaders have raised their voices in protest. Truth be told, many thinking Christians are terrified of what our leadership will surrender to next.
Millions of Christians are no longer in church on Sundays. We need to be very, very clear about what is and what is not happening to cause that sorry state of affairs. Some people who quit church no longer believe in God. That is quite sad, but those lost souls are a minority. The majority of “missing” Christians still have faith. At Orthodox Reflections, we know of many Orthodox Christians who barely attend liturgy under current conditions, but still contend earnestly for the Faith as podcasters, authors, bloggers, and evangelists. They love God, but reject the “new normal.” Unfortunately, many churches are more obsessive about enforcing the “new normal” than most secular businesses.
So to all the clergy, do not blame mass apostasy for your diminished flock. The vast majority of people skipping church services continue to believe in God. It’s you they don’t believe in, and that is your fault.
This was an unforced error, by the way, as we know how Christians are supposed to behave in a real “pandemic” and how clergy should lead. Our clergy failed to live up to the examples of the Saints or even to that of faithful foreign clerics. But that failure is not the biggest problem.
Tragically, the biggest problem is that they didn’t even try.
Way back in September of 2020, we wrote this as a response to a priest who had chastised us for criticizing the “leadership” of the bishops:
It may comfort this GOA priest and/or some of the bishops to believe that only a few bad apples are complaining. That is a false comfort. For every criticism you manage to read, there are so many, many more unhappy Faithful who are simply suffering in silence. They are at risk of leaving the Church, and they are exactly the kind of people the Church needs most.
And leave they have.
This article was contributed by a nice lady who chanted for her GOA parish. She is no longer attending services. This article was written by a gentlemen who switched parishes to avoid the masks and the “new normal.” This article was written by a lovely Greek lady who now communes in a Georgian parish, having lost all patience with the Greek Archdiocese. This article explains how many contributors to this site switched to a Western Rite parish to find the real “normal.” This article reminds us that if you don’t defend the Faith, you will go broke.
To further illustrate the current crisis, we have gotten permission to run the letter below. It was written by a man who has (hopefully) temporarily left the Orthodox Church. He was very active in his parish, serving as president of the parish council and even planning to attend seminary. This man’s story should be a wake-up call. As Christ often said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
– Orthodox Reflections Staff
Good evening,
To all of you that have reached out to my family and me after we left our Orthodox Church here in Tyler, thank you. My family and I genuinely miss you.
Many are wondering why we left. We did not leave over the mask mandates alone. There is a great deal more to our decision. Just before leaving, I was serving as your Parish Council President and had been fully approved by the OCA into the Diaconate Vocational Program with an aim at attending seminary. I cite those facts only to illustrate my involvement in church life and the church’s trust in me at the time. I approached our parish priest early last year with different data regarding Covid 19 and the Orthodox Church’s willingness to comply with “governmental expert advice.” Our priest made little effort at dialogue and held the line of opinion that is now unraveling daily in reports from reputable experts the world over.
When a person, organization, or entity makes efforts to suppress and control information that could lead to opposing opinions, there is a problem. Unfortunately, this is the soup of the day in our culture, and it never seems to come from good intentions. For instance, taking approved Orthodox books from the church library placed there by the previous priest or passive-aggressive comments given in homilies to malign those holding different views are just two small efforts implemented. Not to mention what you can read in this article and on the website from which it originated. Of course, some are discrediting those speaking out to instill bias in the broader church. If you choose to research further, you will find an opinion held that those of us without higher “credentials” need protecting from our inability to think for ourselves.
Virtue shaming those of different opinions is a sure method of suppressing information and ideas and reveals more control efforts. Control is the real aim here. Let’s not kid ourselves. If you have different opinions about what you and your family are enduring at the hands of the Orthodox Church leadership or our elected officials, know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
There is much more that is and will continue to come to light. Unfortunately, The Orthodox Church worldwide is complicit. My family and I have prepared for the typical discrediting strategy to suppress our opinions. That is the primary playbook of those that wish to silence and control. We choose to stand with the thousands, if not millions, that agree with this article’s content as it pertains to church and civic life. If disagreement with mask protocols were all there is to this story, it wouldn’t seem challenging to work through. Masks alone are not the entire problem. Archived information can reveal a dark underbelly of both past and present concerns.
If you are one hundred percent on board with submitting to the Orthodox Church, its Bishops, those that control them, and what they intend to do next, then we are not the same. I will wish you well, and I will gladly do so. If I must respond to discrediting or maligning my family, I will do so with other information, articles, data, and, if needed, legal action.
2020 to the present has genuinely been the best year of my life. Truth is not always easy to hear, but it will certainly set you free. My family here in Tyler chooses to stand with others who refuse to be controlled and silenced. We stand with those that choose to exercise their God-given freedoms of open discussion. We choose to have the humility it takes to listen to other perspectives, process the information, and decide for ourselves what we will think and how we will live. We choose to be free.
If you wish to know more, I am easily contacted and found.
Respectfully,
Jason Milliken
Formerly known as Haralambos
It’s so sad that a lot of us have left our churches and attend other true orthodox parishes which still uphold the true tradition, and Christian morals, values who are not in line with these so called new demon normals. Not only do we have to deal with the masks, distancing and multispoons but leaving our home churches because of all this and running around like chickens without a head has been difficult.Hoping to be there early to attend divine liturgy when only 10 people were allowed in. This is Not orthodox and it’s stressful to have to wonder if you will make the liturgy or not. What’s more shocking is the fact that some priests follow these rules to the tee and have deprived people of the blessed divine liturgy on sundays. I am so upset at them for doing all this to the poor innocent people of faith. Shame on you all and for insisting on wearing masks inside the church which is God’s house..its Blasphemy!!!!! Again shame on you all! In Christ! Christina may God help us all!
[…] the broken lives, the suicides, the economic devastation, the health risks of masks, and the spiritual harm. Those things are simply ignored as our moral leaders embrace a faith which is not Christian, but […]
[…] by Pope Francis, praying for a bishop like him for those of the Orthodox faith (see the site Orthodox Reflections), so I believe we might be in a time of opportunity and hope, where if most of Orthodox doctrine […]
[…] by Pope Francis, praying for a bishop like him for those of the Orthodox faith (see the site Orthodox Reflections), so I believe we might be in a time of opportunity and hope, where if most of Orthodox doctrine […]
Good afternoon to all. This is Jason in Tyler Texas. Just to clarify the “formerly Haralambos” statement. My parish priest is the one that originally changed all of my family’s baptismal names back to our pre-baptismal names in his prayers for us and then shortly stopped praying for us completely long before I ever stated we were “leaving” the church. He also spread a great deal of assumptive propaganda about what I actually do feel and think without ever talking with me personally. I did not write that letter for anyone except the local parish though I did agree for it to be published. Thank you to those that expressed their willingness to pray for me and my family. We wholeheartedly love Christ. That has not changed. Hopefully, this will put Herman at ease a bit. Also, Herman, I am certain we are to pray for those that we consider enemies. I do not consider myself your enemy, but if you consider me yours, perhaps you should pray for me regardless of your assumptions about me and my family. It is not difficult to see and hear you are conflicted as you stated further down in these responses. Your hardline based on assumption is perhaps worse than my choice to leave the church as it shows a tremendous amount of judgment without all the facts or an effort to acquire them. This is also a great problem in the church that has been magnified by current events. I don’t know your age or experience and I do not care. What is evident, is a very youthful approach and a very judgemental verdict without all the information you need to make such a stand. I have been guilty of the same and I wish not to be. Herman, I wish you and yours well, as I do all those that love Christ.
Jason,
You and your family are and will continue to be prayed for daily.
May the Lord bless and keep you brother!
At the end of the day it seems that the continuity of the parish outweighs the fearlessness of the gospel, or is it the clergy’s modest pension plan?
Hello Jason/Haralambos, it’s nice to hear from you. Of course I don’t consider you my enemy. I understood that your letter was to your parish and not intended as an open letter. This is why I started off in my first comment asking a few questions, and now, some of those questions have been answered, so thank you for the clarification. I am extremely relieved and overjoyed to learn that you have not left the Church! Please understand that my comments were certainly not intended as a judgement against you personally. It is a reaction to apostasy, which I believe I have the correct viewpoint on. However, please forgive me for making assumptions. I was also reacting to the gentleman who referred to your priest and bishop as “the only schismatics in the story” which I didn’t think made any sense, and which I disagree with. I am conflicted about what to do with the restrictions and how to proceed in the most reasonable manner, however, I am not conflicted with my membership in the Church. I am sorry to hear about your troubles with your priest at your parish. I will pray for you and your family, that with God’s help we can all somehow get through this situation. Please pray for me and mine. God bless.
Herman, I’m “the gentleman” who said that. And, as all are free to read here, you are the one who callously and erroneously threw around the terms “schismatics and apostates.” But I’m glad to see that you apologized for being wrong about that. I was simply responding to your usage of those terms. BTW, tip of the hat to Stephen below for the often repeated and great quote from St John Chrysostom. That’s what I was referring to when I followed up with you on using your term “schismatics.” Why are you conflicted on restrictions Herman? I hope you realize that plagues (and I mean actual plagues, not ones that 99.5% of the small % of people who even get it, recover from) are nothing new. Throughout history, The Church has persevered and remained open. I hope you know the story of Fr Nicola Yanney in Kearney, NE. During the Spanish Flu a century ago, he literally died because he chose to serve his people, rather than staying “safe.” We either believe that things we’ve always said we believed about The Church, the Holy Eucharist, the Icons, or we don’t. It’s really that simple.
Thank you very much for your original letter Jason, and for your reply here. May God richly bless you and your family, especially for what you’ve been put through by your Priest and Bishop.
Jason, you should look into starting a ROCOR mission in Tyler like the group in Abilene (Lubbock?) did.
“The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path”.
St. John Chrysostom
The Church consists of a body of believers. John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
We never obey man over Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hamashiach), our Lord and Savior.
Romans 13 – Be subject to governing authorities, but never over God’s authority.
The masks have been proven to be useless. The vaccines are experiments. Wake up and realize that there is a much more sinister agenda behind all of this – globalism. Didn’t Jesus warn us about this over and over. Matthew 24, Luke 21, Revelation etc.
Good for the Pastors who have stood up to the tyrant governors across the land.
Satan is laughing at us sheep. Division is exactly what he desires among us “true” Saints.
Questions – (1) Is this guy simply choosing to leave his parish, or is he actually leaving the Church completely? It would seem that way, if he says “formerly known as Haralambos.” If he is apostatizing from the Church, I have exactly zero sympathy for him whatsoever. He’s rejecting his baptismal name? He’s dragging his family away from the Church? So his problems are not merely with his bishop or priest. He must not believe that the Orthodox Church is the Church of Christ, or else he would never leave no matter what. This is an indication of some deeper issue, which is only coming to light because of the current coronavirus circus. (2) Why did he really leave? Frustratingly, he doesn’t say, he just for some irritating reason alludes to “archived information.” Look, the time has come to just make all information public. (3) Does he really think that by leaving the Church he will find “freedom”? This last statement makes it clear to me that this man is suffering from some severe delusion. Thank God he left the Church now, before he became a deacon. He’s dragging his family out of the Church over this? This is why I have no patience for the schismatics and apostates – they have no love for Christ, which sounds harsh, but it’s true if they just abandon His Church in such a way. They abandon Him when the going gets a little tough. Well, as for me, I would rather die like St. Maximos, with my own bishop cutting my tongue out and sending me into exile than to remove myself from the grace of God. Do not forget – Съ нами Богъ!
I take your point and agree in substance with you Herman. However, if the man and his family has been abandoned by those who are suppose to be the ones providing the spiritual medicine for their souls and is not presented with alternatives then what are they suppose to do? As you well know there has not been much encouragement and maybe even little need in most American Orthodox Christians minds–or phronema– up until last year to establish a private daily prayer rule and learn The Daily Cycle of Services. I’m not surmising that this man didn’t explore that option as an indefinite solution to our current problems. However, how many of us outside of monastic circles are not familiar with The Tradition(Predanie) and Monastic Rule(Ustav) of St. Nilus of Sorsky? This in my view is a good option for many of us who can’t or won’t enter our temple’s at this time due to persecution. Yes, we need to be careful that spiritual self-deception (prelest) does not set in but by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ He will keep us strong and humble simultaneously until such time we can once again worship corporately in spirit and in truth! let’s pray for Jason and his family that they will have a yearning to return home!
The only schismatics in this story are the guy’s Priest and his Bishop. Tell me again Herman why so many were told yesterday explicitly NOT to kiss the Holy Cross.
There are no schismatics in this story, Daniel. The man who wrote this is leaving the Church, not to join some schismatic parallel jurisdiction, but so that he can “choose to be free.” It’s called apostasy. He’s explicitly rejecting his baptismal name, and by doing so, rejecting Christ. He’s literally leaving the Church entirely. Maybe he’s going to just be secular, or has bought into the protestant “invisible church” concept, or maybe he wants to be a Buddhist. When I read this letter, I saw an extremely prideful man puffed up with arrogance. He had a conflict with his priest, and now is throwing a tantrum, claiming that 2020 was “the best year of his life”… when does “the best year of your life” end up with you and your family deciding to NOT be an Orthodox Christian anymore? This is tragic and terrible.
I also have to bear the “health directives” at my parish – masks, distancing, and no venerating icons, etc. I don’t agree with these measures, and I hate them, and I don’t attend church as often now because of them. I could easily go to my priest with information proving this “pandemic” is a hoax, that it is a globalist plot, and tell him that we need to stop complying with the government – and then get angry at him for not doing what I want him to. However, I’m not the one in charge of the parish. He is. He’s been running our Church for over 20 years, and we all love him, and he has done a massive service to the community. Everyone loves him, he is a true spiritual father for us, our Батюшка. He has decided to quietly bear as much of this as possible, while not being strict about the measures, still observing them, in order to avoid conflict and attacks on the parish. We have neighbors that spy on us, and one neighbor in particular who hates the fact that there is an Orthodox Church next to his house. In a liberal pro-Biden neighborhood, we don’t need the police showing up every Sunday. His hands are tied by this – he’s stuck in between state and federal mandates, and the need to do everything possible to keep our parish open, everyone safe, and the authorities off our back. For me to go and criticize him, and then leave when he doesn’t do what I suggest, would be ridiculous. He’s the rector, not me. He’s doing the best he can to shepherd his flock. Why would I abandon him and my parish at a crucial time like this? If at some point in the (near) future, the government starts to require a digital vaccine passport to enter churches, then I will simply stop attending my parish – but I will never, NEVER leave the Church. I will never cast off the Grace given to me at baptism.
This is a very difficult situation, we are under attack from the cryptocratic world elite, with their billions of dollars, and their ancient Judaic hatred of Christ. I am not convinced that mass apostasy and/or schism from the Church is the appropriate response… If the problems at your parish have become overwhelming and impossible to deal with, simply stop attending. If possible, stay in contact with your priest, or find another priest or bishop. We should not be removing ourselves, or walling ourselves off, we need to be involved in protecting our churches and fighting to keep them open. If you think that by becoming an apostate or by joining some schismatic True Genuine Orthodox Church In Exile sort of group, you are going to help the situation at all, you are wrong, eternally wrong.
1) The article took others to task, not just Orthodox as this is a (forgive the term) ecumenical problem. 2) It is impacting your attendance, and you seem very serious about the faith. The key point for us is this part of the article, “Had the clergy quietly, minimally complied with the insane Covid dictates, we might have eventually forgiven the whole thing. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened. From the beginning, most Christian leaders were all on-board the Fauci train.” Even after a year, we are still hearing from priests and hierarchs about the necessity of complying with all the mandates you hate (and which are discouraging you from going to church) because we are “saving lives,” “setting an example,” etc. We have covered so many of those statements on this site. So your church is in a Biden neighborhood, why not then just say, “We are stuck and to avoid fines, please do this. But I’m not going to try and make this into a high moral duty. We have all seen the evidence that none of this works. So don’t be afraid, just bear with it.” But to our knowledge, very few priests are doing that. Instead, we get obsessive reinforcement of the fear narrative from way too many priests, bishops, and other assorted non-Orthodox clergy. 3) Our lack of resistance is leading us to much, much worse. And it possible to resist. Maybe seeing the police at your parish every week is exactly what the world needs to see? Instead of going along, Christians were the ones who said “no” and went to the lions. Did you see this Protestant pastor? Watch this clip of him throwing the police out of his parish. https://twitter.com/Geopolitics_Emp/status/1378452625172140035 He is a hero now. A protestant. But there are no Orthodox heros at this point. Imagine if we had simply said, “No, we will kiss icons and we will worship the way God instructed.” We have missed a terrible opportunity. 4) No one advocates leaving the church. This is just one example, more people have left parishes as we noted in other articles linked. The point is that to go from parish council and on the way to the seminary to leaving the church (even temporarily) is very extreme. But it is happening quite a bit, and even you said you don’t attend the way you did. This is an opportunity to really look at our response, and the responses of the churches around us. As the vaccine passports bear down on us, what are we doing to defuse the widespread sense (still) of panic in our society that is paving the way to force us to either be vaccinated or become non-humans? Instead of focusing in one man’s failure to keep the Faith, what can we learn to do better?
OR staff: Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it and I want to thank you for the work that you have done on this website. This has been a really difficult issue for me. To be honest, I agree with everything you just said. And also to be honest, I am not quite sure exactly what we should do. Terrible mistakes have been made, there is no doubt. I’m trying to work this out. I’m trying to find some discernment, and trying not to fall towards one extreme or the other (temptations from the right and the left, in the words of Fr. Seraphim). I feel very strongly, however, that the vaccine issue is the ‘hill that we should die on’ so to speak. The vaccine issue is the line in the sand. I was glad to see this article – https://orthochristian.com/138296.html – and I sincerely hope that more bishops follow this example. I don’t think they will, but we can do our part by informing as many people as possible to NOT take the vaccine, and fight against any attempt to introduce digital certificates into parish life. Besides that, I encourage everyone to be patient, keep the Faith, and above all else, do not abandon the Church. I know that you are not advocating leaving the Church, but it is going to be a temptation for people, as it always is during some period of crisis or heresy, and that’s what I am trying to respond to. While it is true that it does appear that some portion (the majority?) of the clergy and hierarchy have abandoned their duties, we cannot do the same in return.
Yah, I never said one word about becoming an apostate. You just made that up. I was simply perplexed that you immediately jumped on the guy, and had nothing to say about his Priest nor Bishop. I guess we see it differently, but to me, those are the “bad guys” in this sad story.
When he writes “here in Tyler”, I’m going out on a limb and guessing that’s Tyler, TX. The OCA Diocese of the South, HQ in Dallas, has handled this thing in truly horrific fashion. It’s absolutely appalling. God will judge those Priests and Bishops who have lead people away from His Church.
I’m very grateful to have this forum. This is an excellent place to contemplate news that fluctuates between heartbreaking and infuriating. Here’s another example: Archbishop Elpidophoros of America just now posted a proud photo of himself being vaccinated, stating, “Grateful to the brilliant scientists and health care workers who, through hard work and by the Grace of God, produce and deliver life-saving vaccines…” Really? These poisons that are being forced upon us are through God’s grace? It gets harder and harder to listen to anything that comes out of the archdiocese.
However, I’ve been attending all of the Lenten services and praying fervently that God will see us through this mess. My connection with the church has become very focused on the liturgies, prayer, confession, and communion. Most parishioners now show up with two masks (hey, it’s NYC, Woke Central), and after church they congregate to laud the vaxx and put down any other point of view. It’s exhausting. Now I just go straight home.
I was tempted to leave altogether, but then I thought, It’s my church, and my spiritual connection: I’m not going to let them force me out. Reading about the history of the church, I take some comfort in the realization that the church can continue on, even if there is corruption in its hierarchy, which has happened time and again.
So every time I receive communion I feel it’s an act of resistance. We can’t let God’s light go out in the world. Jason/Haralambos, my prayers for you and your family! Kali sarakosti!
Dear Haralambos,
to the people who disappointed you, “But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.”(Mathew 18:6)…
…and to you and your family…”I, John your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the Kingdom and the patient endurance…” (Revelation 1:9) and “The one who will stay patient until the very end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)…
…we, the refugees of the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada and the US feel you pain, brother. We, too, have left our parishes, but not Holy Orthodoxy. Be patient, because there is a reason why God has permitted Satan to infiltrate and oppress the Orthodox Church. We are living in eschatological times. If we are patient, we will share in Christ’s victory. It will come sooner than we think. Amen.
[…] you don’t want to. It is changing nappies. It is fronting up to services when God is remote. This world does not want us to meet at all.. It is as if they are afraid we may find some way out of the homes we have made […]
That last letter makes me sad, Lord have mercy, “formerly known as Haralambos.”
The true contention of faith is staying within the Church, and standing for the faith – if this means you are not attending locally because you refuse the innovations, good, do what you need according to the Saints, Holy Fathers and your conscious!
That is different from having a poor catechisis of the faith that the Saints held and stood for – there is nothing noble on LEAVING the Orthodox faith, may God lead Him back! How does one preparing for Seminary do such a thing? We must know our faith, and look at the Saints, we must not rely on ourselves, but on the Saints.
How did they respond to heresy? To the blasphemies of the time? Do we think the Church has never been persecuted?
Look to the Saints, they never left and started schisms or denied their faith due to the Bishops, the fallen nature of man! There have been larger heresies where the “Orthodox” Empire and clergy itself butchered the faithful over Icons, trashing churches and pissing on the floor of Churches – do you READ the Lives of Saints? Or the great heresies the Nicene Creed anathemetized!
As St Paisios says, we must thank God for things how they are, how much worse they would be without Him!
We can still speak of these things online! There are multiple jurisdictions which has turned out to be a blessing! We have WARNINGS from the Saints going back to St Anthony of how mad and terrible the later days would be, how hard it would be to find faithful clergy.
Are we willing to live a life prepared for the Mysteries but only receive them once a year? Travel 200 miles for a faithful priest only once a year to receive the Mysteries? Are we “leaving” the Church when we have the new Martyrs of Russia as an example? Blasphemy! Anathema!
One does not then spurn Christ God Himself and leave His Church. How insufferably spoiled we are in the west!
This present crisis in our church brings to the surface the depths of ones faith.For one to profess to be an Orthodox Christian is one thing, however, to say and practice what they believe is another.We live by FAITH that Our Lord and Saviour will see our faith we have in Him. “Without Me you can do nothing” saith the Lord.