The unrespectability of our religion

[methodius]

I was transcribing some of my old journals this morning, and came across what I had written when I was 19 in response to reading about Leon Bloy. When I got home I finished reading Leon Bloy and marvelled at his faith and devotion. He had been prepared to live nearly all his life in poverty -- nay, in destitution -- for the sake of Jesus

Comments

[poliphilo]

This was my vision of the church too.

And then I served my first curacy under a man who insisted that it was of the first importance that a priest should present himself neatly and make sure his shoes were shined.

A respectable clergy

[methodius]

Ah, a respectable clergy!

So easy to slip into, but when it is the goal -- how sad!

A friend who was seeking a bishop to ordain him in England was told by one that he would not ordain him because he had holes in his shoes. He walked into a shoe shop and said, pointing at his feet, "I want a pair of shoes like these, only new." Then went to see his next bishop.

You may even have met him. He came from Saddleworth, served his first curacy at a place nearby called Reddish or Redditch or something similar. He was murdered in Pakistan a couple of years ago. His name was Alan Cox.

Re: A respectable clergy

[poliphilo]

No, I don't think we ever met, but our paths seem to have crossed. Reddish is a little mill town on the borders of the Manchester and Cheshire dioceses. I was a curate at St Elisabeth's, Reddish in the early 80s.

I suppose I was desperately naive. I had formed the impression that the gospel was in most points opposed to middle class morality; then I got ordained and found church life seemed to be all about promoting it.

Christian

[mizannie]

At 58, I am just barely beginning to

Re: Christian

[methodius]

I think that's wonderful!

Remember the parable of those who laboured from the first hour, and those who laboured from the 11th hour. And pray for me, who have had so much longer to betray the vision so many more times.

Yes, those intentional communities can be very important. I was a member of a couple of such communities, and saw several more. Now they are sometimes called "urban monasticism". The pitfalls are many, but God can use them in spite of all human folly.

Human Folly

[mizannie]

Oh how I am laughing because I have been
right in the middle of some community
human folly! If there's a mechanism in
place for true charity, reconciliation,
these conflicts are grist for spiritual
growth, if not, well, you know the rest
of that story.

One of the things that gives me pause in
the Orthodox churches in these parts is that
women are still somewhat considered lesser,
unclean and all that. Perhaps you can enlighten
me as to the theology of women from the Orthodox
doctrine? It will be a stumbling block, for me,
I think.

I enjoy your writing and your LJ very much. I
take it, you too, have progressed in your journey
from another denomination to Orthodoxy? It seems
that Orthodoxy is the mother of us all, really.

Women in the Orthodox Church

[methodius]

Concerning women in the Orthodox Church, perhaps the best I can do for now is give an excerpt from my journal for 26 March 1998, when I was visiting Bulgaria, though it may be too long for an LJ commentPlamen took me to see the St Peter & St Paul monastery, a few kilometres outside Sofia. It has two nuns, Sr Veronica and Sr Desislava. Sr Veronica, said Plamen, had been a chemist, and St Desislava had studied film production. The monastery was a short way out of town with a double-storeyed house and a whitewashed chapel, surrounded by a high wall, out in the fields near the highway to Plovdiv. It was cold now, with a cold wind blowing off the snow-covered mountains all around, and sweeping across the open fields. Sr Veronica let us in the gate, made of scaffolding planks, and took us through the muddy yard with snow-covered piles of building materials. We went to the kitchen - the only warm room in the house, warmed by a wood-burning stove, and we sat down at the kitchen table. St Veronica wanted to know more about Orthodoxy in South

[ibid]

It occurred to me when reading of the life of Tolstoy, and later readign about John Lennon, how horrified Christians would be were they to encounter him face to face!