It is nice to hear from you again. You were one of my favorite posters. We should exchange emails sometime.
Good to see you, too.
Well, tbf, James is at least half-Mexican. But I think it is fine to ask why he expects others to leave their Church homes for Russian ones before him taking the first initiative and joining an Ethiopian Church.
Well for starters, because I am not the one claiming that the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox are entirely the same despite being out of communion with each other. I am not saying that we are different either or that the are heretics - I am simply not qualified enough to answer. Only that for those of us who do claim that we are the same, usually the Oriental Orthodox, it strikes me as very hypocritical or at least inconsistent with their logic to attend a struggling Ethiopian parish with hardly any members rather than merge with the larger Greek or Russian parish down the street. I would say the same thing if the tables were reversed only I’ve found that the Greeks and Russians are at least honest enough to admit that their reluctance is the result of nationalism whereas the Oriental Orthodox claim to somehow be above that.
Well, like LoveJoyPeace said, the fact is that they aren't in communion. Compare it to the way some EO feel about the Catholic Church. So, what ever points about "logistics" issues that one might raise, it's kind of a silly thing to demand of them if the Bishops haven't formally established anything (and even then, there's plenty of cases of struggling EO churches near larger ones and it seems cruel to demand that they pull up roots).
Why do you think that most of them are motivated by eschatology or racism and not just the fact that they feel more comfortable in the community that they happen to have been born or converted into?
I don’t. My question is not so much why the Oriental Orthodox are nationalistic as much as it is why they are so hypocritical about it. We Orthodox are the most nationalistic branch of Christianity in the world yet like I stated above, I’ve found that the Eastern Orthodox are at least honest about it whereas the Oriental Orthodox claim it does not exist and/or try to hide it. That would be understandable in and of itself, but when they are simultaneously criticizing the Eastern Orthodox for the same exact thing, calling every political establishment Babylon, accusing them of racism and white supremacy, and likening the use of flags to idolatry it strikes me as hypocritical. And no, I am not speaking of Gebre. He has criticized Haile Selassie before so he is at least consistent in his ideology. But there are others like Gebre who do all of these things despite sporting the Ethiopian flag and glorifying Emperor Selassie as if he were some sort of saint, claiming to be “woke” and supporting Black nationalism. And yeah, it usually comes from strange white guys in Bob Marley shirts.
I have a hard time believing that many of them (among the Ethiopians, let alone the five other OO Churches that your posts have strangely been ignoring this whole time) are really "claiming it doesn't exist." Sure that you're not conflating hypocrisy with
recognizing that one is guilty of a sin yet still recognizing that it's a sin and trying to work past it? I'd rather see someone try to fight against their own hypernationalism, even when their efforts are imperfect, then just admit it and go about their day like nothing is wrong.
And if you see white LARPers as the major offenders here, why not just call
them out instead of posting sweeping generalizations?
