Bursting of the Containment Wall

By dogcatcher on March 27th, 2015
  Two points addressed in our recent article “THOSE WHO THE GODS WISH TO DESTROY, FIRST THEY ELEVATE! [PART TWO]” have caused readers to strongly react to the current conditions in our failing Metropolis of Chicago. The first is: “What has occurred in the Metropolis of Chicago is a ’bursting of the Containment Wall‘ which has artificially protected the Hierarchs from the objective observations of their Laity.” “All the President’s Men” have tried in vain to reinforce the wall; now that it has burst, they are trying in vain to do damage control. The second point identifies a collective understanding many have about our Church leaders. In that article, it was expressed as: “…….that we Orthodox Christians in this Metropolis have lost our “collective community trust” in the Hierarchy. Those who the Church is here to serve no longer trust it.” Many wrote to our Editorial Board and asked about both these concepts. A short narrative of a few young Clergy who are staunch followers of radical Ephraimite teachings is very telling about these points. Our informed readers have observed a loss of the “collective community trust” in the leadership. This loss has resulted in disaffection with our Church, its ministries and its works. Trust is generally earned; when forced upon one, it is easier for one to lose one’s trust. Actions of our Clergy, be they Priest or Hierarch, have promoted this loss of the collective trust among the Laity. Our first example concerns a sermon given several Sundays ago in a Metropolis of Chicago Parish that had recently welcomed a follower of the radical Ephraimite teachings. His sermon was given in both Greek and English, a laudable skill. Yet he found a highly unorthodox way to introduce a heretical version of Orthodoxy to his new congregation. In the Greek language version, he told Parishioners that “only the Orthodox will know salvation”. He followed with comments that were, according to those in attendance, “anti-Semitic.” When asked by a Parishioner about the anti-Semitic comments, he is reported to have stated: “well 4 other Metropolis Priests have given the same sermon today!” We find troubling that 5 Priests in our Metropolis have also gone against the conventional teachings of our Faith and now know who will be saved. It is clear that some of our pulpits are manned by spiritually immature clergy who do not know the Faith. Can it be that some of our Parish Clergy continue to be controlled by one “Super Ephraimite Priest”, their puppet master, who controls the sermons of his naïve and theologically ignorant followers? But clearly the loss of collective community trust is with the Hierarchs who will never be engaged enough to reprimand such offensive behavior. The anti-Semitic comments have now entered into the everyday thinking of our Ephraimite followers. Let us not forget their leader’s commentary in his book “A Call From the Holy Mountain”. Elder Ephraim’s book has multiple disparaging comments about other religions. In one of his anti-Semitic comments he states as follows: “It is well known that the devil-instigated Zionism is coordinating two insidious operations both within and without the Church aspiring to one and the same end: to destroy the fortress known as Orthodoxy”. (Please see page 43 of this masterpiece!) The Editors and readers of Gotruthreform.org believe those responsible for destroying Orthodoxy are active from within. As evidenced by this and numerous other distortions of our Faith, the unsupervised agents of our decay are now well planted within the churches and pulpits. A second Ephraimite Clergyman has caused a mass migration of cradle Orthodox Parishioners as they flee the church where they were baptized to find some religious sanity. In fact, he is a living example that something is going terribly wrong at our Seminary. He is a “repeat offender” in this manipulation of our Faithful. Several Sundays ago he decided to misstate our Orthodox Faith yet again. This time, the Sunday school children were his witnesses. During the Sunday school sermon, he used both an empty chalice and a prescription bottle as exhibits. He related how a prescription needs to be approved by a Doctor just like communion needs to be approved by your Priest. So far there is no real quarrel here about his analogy; some on our Editorial board even appreciate the “props” and the analogy itself. But then it takes an ugly and theologically unsound turn. The Ephraimite Clergyman then states that if you take medicine that is not prescribed to you it CAN KILL YOU! In the same way if you take communion and you are not properly ready, it CAN KILL YOUR SOUL! Did this Priest learn this at our Seminary? We surmise that the Priest scared these young children into thinking that they can kill their own souls in order to secure obedience, a cornerstone practice in the Ephraimite cult. Throughout the history of our Church, we have had the greatest of sinners become the most revered of Saints. Their souls were obviously not killed. Saint Mary of Egypt is an example of God’s love and forgiveness. “She began her life as a young woman who followed the passions of the body, running away from her parents at age twelve for Alexandria. There she lived as a harlot for seventeen years, refusing money from the men that she copulated with, instead living by begging and spinning flax. One day, however, she met a group of young men heading toward the sea to sail to Jerusalem for the veneration of the Holy Cross. Mary went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. But when the group reached Jerusalem and actually went towards the church, Mary was prohibited from entering by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church patio, where she looked up and saw an icon of the Theotokos. She began to weep and prayed with all her might that the Theotokos might allow her to see the True Cross; afterwards, she promised, she would renounce her worldly desires and go wherever the Theotokos may lead her.” (See: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Mary_of_Egypt). Mary of Egypt has gone on to become an example, among many, of ones possibilities for redemption. No matter how one sins or how many times, the door to the Kingdom and our own salvation remains a possibility that only God and he alone can open or close. The power of God’s salvation does not rest with Ephraimite Priests or demons in “toll houses.” The containment wall has burst because the Laity has had enough. We know that the chalice pill bottle Priest will not be reprimanded, and he will continue to prescribe his unorthodox religion . He will not be spoken to; he will not have to answer to anyone because no one in a leadership position is paying attention. Even the lay leaders of his Parish are resigned to just keep him in place in order to protect their church from a more severe form of radical orthodoxy. It is sad but true; we have lost faith in our leadership and the conditions continue to deteriorate every day in the Metropolis of Chicago. When will the Archbishop or Patriarch intervene?