Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,
\nCHRIST IS RISEN!<\/p>\n
Enclosed is a new letter from Alexander Kalomiros. The news that our \u201cGreeks\u201d have broken off contact with him is most distressing, though no longer unexpected. This breathes a most unhealthy \u201cparty spirit.\u201d Just the other day we received a \u201csemi-open\u201d letter of Fr. Mamas to Fr. George Grabbe, protesting Metr. Philaret\u2019s signature together \u00abwith Ireney and Iakovos on an appeal for help to \u201cdissidents\u201d in Russia. This didn\u2019t particularly disturb us, although we can see how it might be disturbing to some, especially in view of the vagueness of church awareness today \u2014 but the letter of Fr. Mamas has the same spirit as Fr. Ephraim\u2019s letter to you \u2014 \u201cteachy,\u201d superior, condescending, \u201cexpert.\u201d Further, Fr. Panteleimon publicly \u201crebuked\u201d Metr. Philaret (even though gently) at a banquet in the latter\u2019s honor, to which the Metropolitan (supposedly) humbly apologized. On sensitive questions like this which do not directly affect the purity of Orthodoxy, one would prefer to see less self-assurance and more humility. What of the time several years ago when Holy Transfiguration Monastery painted an icon of St. Gregory the Theologian and gave it to Billy Graham\u2019s magazine to print? Some were scandalized at this, but I\u2019m sure Fr. Panteleimon was ready, not with a humble apology, but with an expert \u201cYou see, it\u2019s this way….\u201d I\u2019m afraid Dr. Kalomiros\u2019 words on \u201cgroup pride\u201d are very much to the point, and it spells danger ahead. We much prefer Dr. Kalomiros\u2019 own agonizing, suffering approach to the preservation of True Orthodoxy \u2014 it is not at all an easy, idle thing to stand for the truth, as the tone of the Boston \u201copen letters\u201d seems to indicate.<\/p>\n
It seems we\u2019ve aroused Dr. Kalomiros to write a book on Genesis! I certainly hope it is in a different spirit from his old epistle to us on evolution! Which again reminds us that our evolution book is dragging…<\/p>\n
In general, we are most sympathetically disposed toward Dr. K. and his lonely, difficult struggle. The Russian situation is difficult enough, but the Greek is impossible!<\/p>\n
Probably you have received the \u201csemi-open\u201d letter to us from Fr. Alexander Lebed. We plan a brief reply, mostly quoting Vladika Averky, whose idea (and not our own) it is to use the term \u201cTrue Orthodox.\u201d What a relief it is not to have to dig up our own arguments, but to leave it to those older and wiser. I suppose we\u2019ll have to send copies to the people he sent his letter to, even though we don\u2019t much like the idea.<\/p>\n
Christopher will probably be leaving shortly for Seattle. I\u2019m afraid we can\u2019t help him much. He\u2019s not interested in studying at Jordanville at all, and in fact seems to have become \u201cbored\u201d and \u201ctired\u201d (!!!) of Orthodoxy \u2014 too much \u201cstruggle\u201d for him. Paul, alas, has much the same problem, and even the tremendously inspiring translation work we gave him for the summer fails to interest him. (If only he has the guts to finish it anyway and set it up on the linotype, we will have a splendid new book!) How can one be bored when there\u2019s so much to learn and do that a lifetime isn\u2019t enough for it?!! If only God will give us a few more years to get out some more publications! We are getting many signs of response from readers, encouraging us to give as much as possible while there is time. The fall of Saigon has hit us deeply \u2014 the ambiguity of the post-war period seems to be clearing up, and the Communist \u201cwave of the future\u201d is swelling up!<\/p>\n
I glanced through Fr. George Lewis\u2019 article on \u201cSex Education\u201d and found it not very interesting \u2014 probably because he begins with the world and never leaves off a very matter-of-fact, pedestrian approach to the question. On the contrary, we should begin with the Holy Fathers and raise the mind above the world before entering into battle.<\/p>\n
Must get to work. Tomorrow, God willing, the last page of the new OW is finished.<\/p>\n
With love in Christ,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey, CHRIST IS RISEN! Enclosed is a new letter from Alexander Kalomiros. The news that our \u201cGreeks\u201d have broken off contact with him is most distressing, though no longer unexpected. This breathes a most unhealthy \u201cparty spirit.\u201d Just the other day we received a \u201csemi-open\u201d letter of Fr. Mamas to Fr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}