While in prison for his part in the 1923 Munich “beer hall putsch,” Adolf Hitler wrote a book setting forth his vision of Germany, past, present, and future. Ever since then people have pointed to his book, Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), to argue that nobody should have been surprised by all that Hitler attempted: He had already told us.
In advance of tomorrow evening’s airing of Ancient Faith’s “documentary” on Orthodox deaconesses, here’s a brief warning (under 10 minutes) of what’s at stake in the debate over deaconesses, based on Carrie Frost’s book setting forth her vision of the Orthodox Church, past, present, and future.
What do Orthodox feminists want? Everything up to and including a “conversation” about women as priests and bishops. Frost says as much in her book.
Many thanks to Fr. Peter Heers for making available this clip of our much longer talk.
O Theos, (He Who is the One God), O wv,[on], He Who is the One Who Exists, [the Only Existent One], is preached in the Gospel as a Loving Father of the Heart. Women’s Ordination destroys the understanding of God as He has revealed Himself to us. It changes the religion by changing the gender of the Father God into a genderless entity beyond our ken. It also destroys Monotheism by splitting the unity of God into the Hindu conception of Sky Father/Earth Mother.
Amen.
In the intro to the book, Carrie Frost frets not about the absence of deaconesses, but the absence of female priests. This sets the tone for the entire book which makes the whole thing feel more like an argument for women priests than deaconesses. I don’t know that she said the quiet part out loud but she sure came close.
Yes, indeed.
She’s chair of St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess. Clearly the cause to “restore” the female diaconate is just a stepping stone for the advocacy of priestesses.
More of a sign of the fall of the Church. We can add this to the gay baptism in Greece, the trans “chrismation” in Bulgaria, praying with Muslims in mosques, elevating defrocked priests to bishops in Ukraine, the Greek American archbishop giving a pro choice message at a pro life rally( then doubling down on it), AND also saying all religions are equal. Add this to raging antisemitism becoming the norm in Orthodoxy saying the quiet part out loud.
Certainly a sign of a all of some people from the Church, but the Church will survive, thank God.
Only a remnant, the Church militant will survive
What concrete steps can we in the Greek church take to put an end to this insanity?
Thanks for the interest.Sorry for not responding sooner. (I’ve only recently recovered some use of my right hand after a fall in May.)
Quite a few concrete steps come to mind. Some involve making a nuisance of yourself, which not everyone feels comfortable doing, but others are easier and even fun. Here are a few off-hand ideas:
1. Organize a multi-jurisdictional committee of Concerned Orthodox Faithful to encourage anti-feminist activism and respond to feminist activism.
2. Spread the word using the resources here (blog posts, slide presentation, talking points, books)
3. Organize joint letters of concern to bishops, priests, and parish councils.
4. Write individual letters of concern to the same.
5. Meet with like-minded people at other parishes to get them active.
6. Ask embarrassing questions at public events. This is hard but very effective when more than one person does it at the same event, as it spoils the illusion that everybody is on the feminist side.
7. Stay active in your parish in the usual ways to maintain connections, but don’t give much money and let people know why.
8. Find another parish when you can do more good elsewhere. Our Lord Himself advises “shake off the dust from your feet” (Matt 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5) to testify against communities who will not listen to the truth.
If you think of any others, let me know, and I’ll put together a blog post on the subject.
Thank you so much!