[obegeLype]

Dear Fr Michael,
I very much share your views on this issue.
Addressing the issue of the other thread on who we pray for- I also wonder if this is why the Church has us be restrained in who we pray for publicly in the services (rather than in our personal prayers). Prayer outside of the parameters of what the Church provides in the wording of the litanies,etc can lead to a kind of 'free prayer' guided by the spirit of relativism. I think this happens naturally unless we are very cautious. We forget that Christ & His Truth are the final arbiters of all things- whereas in prayer our own sentiment comes into play & it is easy to reach the conclusion that "everything is alright" with the person we are praying for. This again gets to the idea that I mentioned in the other thread that if we are not careful we begin thinking as if our prayer makes a kind of super-church above the actual Church of Christ which of course is false.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Greapyjeory]

Dear Fr Michael,
You wrote:\quote {but I'm not ready for a "unity" without real unity.}
From the beginning of my sojourn as an Orthodox Christian I have been told that this was the official position of the Orthodox Church about unity. In effect how can we have unity without first having attained a basic unity of Faith? Or to put it the other around to our non-Orthodox Christian friends- the reason we cannot accept unity is because we have not yet attained unity of Faith.
Will there be unity anytime soon? Only God (and perhaps saints of great insight) knows. But I was positively struck by the 60 Minutes program on Sunday on graduates from a RC college or seminary in Rome from America. Almost all were more traditional and one young man about to be ordained to the priesthood commented that his generation of Roman Catholics was more conservative than that of 20 years ago. Sound familiar? But a return to 'traditional' values could result in a return to regarding us openly as heretics as much as a return to Patristic standards. And how much would the normal pew-sitting faithful accept such fundamental changes towards traditional values? Let's hope & pray this happens- then perhaps miracles may really begin to occur. After all as another Orthodox website pointed out- the Popes of the Middle Ages certainly began what amounted to a spiritual revolution (negative by our standards)-so why not a new Pope who starts a revolution towards Patristic standards? Is this unrealistic or not?
I would also submit that before other Christians (we are mostly talking about Roman Catholics here though) go too far talking about unity- come visit our churches & watch our piety & mind-set. How do you react to this? I don't mean one visit but really getting to know us & our lives. If you do this you may understand why we are so adamant about our Faith-what it is that is so valuable to us that we want to retain.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[accotMask17]

that is why i said my prayer for him like that:

....Most Holy Mother, my Protector, cover me and comfort me in that last moment, by your maternal love, find excuses for my deeds, read my heart and speak for me to Your Son! Cry out to Him to have mercy on me according to the desires of my heart and not according to my mistakes and weakness, not according empty folder of my life deeds! I was so weak O God, so terribly weak!

The Saints of all time pray for my soul at that moment, by the holiness of your lives, convinces our Father to see me so small and vain, as I’m! So my Lord will have not asks much from me, will not judge me from highest standard, but rather have compassion on me who is such insignificant! Ask HIM, Who is Merciful and Compassionate, to forgive me and by His Own Holy and Precious Blood, which he shared for everyone, ransom me from devils hands! And let me enter the New and Everlasting life, clean and forgiving, in the name the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! Amen.