Re: the calendar issue

Hey Marianne! Im about your age (my mom doesnt want me to give out my exact age) and I have been wondering about a lot of things in the orthodox church lately. I have been part of the russion orthodox church since I was a baby and didnt have to wory about converting (I am thankful for being born into an orthodox family). I realized something a couple of months ago. I was thinking about obediance and your own beliefs verse holy tradition. You know how when your realy young and you dont understand things and you disagree with your mom/dad about something? Latter in life you usually realize they were right (for example: wearing a seat belt). This is because of there experiance in life that you didnt have. I just wanted to relate this to what you said-

It has always been the duty and privilege of the Orthodox faithful to make a stand to the heiarchy when something is amiss! This is one of the main differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. When the Pope says something, it goes, disregarding what any one else says. This attitude is what has led them into so many sad problems. The pope is sort of an ecclesiastical dictator, and thus the laity's position is hugely undermined. One of the hallmarks of the Orthodox Church is that no one is given more power than another. In fact, power is not a role in its politics, according to the canons. Indeed, the Holy Spirit speaks through the entire Church, not a single patriarch, nor even a group of patriarchs.

Maybe what I said came out wrong but I just wanted to say that in Orthodoxy you must also trust authority even if you dont understand them at the time. A monk obeys the abbot, a priest obeys the bishop, we obey the priest and (most importantly) God. This is not to say that you cant ask them about your concerns or present your vews but it lead up to the big T and the little t (my dad was talking to me about this a little bit ago). The big T is the essential beliefs of the orthodox church that has been handed down from christ. We MUST obey this even if we dont understand it (then we should research it and ask questions). The little t is things like the calender. These are little things that are different in every parish and area. These dont realy matter that much and should not be put into the big T. I hope this helps. As I said im only about your age and still discovering things about orthodoxy so what I have said may not be totally correct or relevent but I was just trying to help. If I said something wrong PLEASE someone correct me. I dont wanna give someone bad advice or anything.

Jesse