/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>789358

Thank you brother. I hope to stay a while. Maranatha! Here is an icon of holy St. Augustine just for you. I think you should watch your language about Protestants, no? We cannot return hate for hate if they have shown it.

>Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. - Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV)

>789359

I do not understand, what is "reddit-style"? Please explain, God bless.

>>789362

It's hard sometimes. You're new and innocent. Never let go of that. God bless you for comming here, we could always use a fresh perspective.

>>789347

You're still new my brother, welcome in any case. Don't be discouraged by anyone here. Stay safe from the Muslims.

Love, your Maronite brother.

>>789347

Also, Coptanon, I always wondered. Do ya'll pray the rosary? Or something similar like a prayer rope + continuous Jesus prayers like they do out East?

>>789368

>>789373

Thank you brothers. God loves you and so do I. Maranatha! (Christ is coming!) That is what we would say during the sign of peace, which I would offer to you both if I could.

>>789374

We do. We have the Mequteria. Unfortunately there is not much information online in regards to it, but this one by an Eastern Catholic is decent enough in explaining it:

https://citydesert.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/the-mequteria/

It is mainly used to count Kyrie Eleison 41 times, for the 41 lashes of Christ. But other prayers can be used. You can buy one here, from Ethiopia

http://www.mereb.shop/rs/?prodet=true&pid=58793405&vid=49

I have included a picture of my own. God bless you.

>>789376

Yes brother, I agree with Chalcedon. You do know that we came to a consensus in both the 60s and the 90s with the Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox that we have the exact same Christology, no? The Schism should be over for decades now.

The Church I go to is brand new, only opened on October, before that we all went to the Eastern Orthodox cathedral with permission from our Bishop Youssef and took communion there and had access to all their sacraments thanks to the kindly generosity of their bishop. I have seen true Communion between the Churches. We are not different, you and I. It is only man-made Schism that keeps us apart, but God knows we are united in everything but a piece of paper saying such.

>>789383

That simply sounds like ignorance on their parts to me. They should study the Councils of the 60s and 90s brother!

http://suscopts.org/resources/literature/161/the-agreed-statements-oriental-orthodox-responses/

>"In the Holy Synod meeting of the Coptic Orthodox Church on June 2, l990, the "Christological Agreement" which was a product of the l989 Theological Dialogue at the Anba Bishoy Monastery was adopted. In this meeting the Coptic Holy Synod also agreed to accept the sacrament of the Holy Baptism of the other Orthodox Churches that accept our Baptism. This decision by the Coptic Holy Synod was based on the teaching of St. Paul the Apostle, "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). So if the faith is one, the Baptism also should be one as long as this Baptism is based on the true Orthodox faith. This was truly evidenced by the common faith which all the Orthodox churches have inherited from our holy fathers. The agreement of the acceptance of the Baptism was another positive step by the Coptic Holy Synod in supporting the recommendations made by the Pastoral Joint Sub-committee in its meeting in l990 at the Anba Bishoy Monastery and which stated the following: "Clear official acceptance and recognition of the Baptism performed by the two families through the spirit of common tradition and the unity of the mysterieswe can not separate Christ of the mysteries from Christ of the faith.""

As the priest at the Eastern Orthodox Church I went to before our Church finally opened said, agreeing my own priest, "We share the same faith." I still do go to the Eastern Orthodox Church as well, as Bishop Youssef allows it. Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, this should not be a distinction except in regards to the region you live.

>>789391

It is not just these 2 bishops. I have spoken to several priests of the Orthodox Church in America, and the Antiochian Orthodox Church of America and they also allow Copts to take full communion with them as well. Perhaps it is simply an American thing, but the Schism must end through individuals' love and care!

>>789399

It's less that Coptic bishops WON'T, and more that they CAN'T. Explicitly because unlike the smaller Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Coptic Church is 1 big Church, kind of like Rome's. In order to let individual bishops allow that sort of thing, you would have to declare it for the whole Church. Which it seems the OCA and Antiochians do because of their size, but the Copts cannot.

I will tell you what my priest told me. The talks in the 90s were really escalating, and we were in fact set to reunify then and there. Yet some Elders on Mt. Athos vetoed the reunification, and talks have sadly died ever since. I would really like to know why those Elders did such a thing. I cannot find any info on it, but my priest knows those who were there, so I trust his word.

>>789400

>Yet some Elders on Mt. Athos vetoed the reunification, and talks have sadly died ever since.

As an EO, i like Mount Athos, and would love for it to become a pan-apostolic monastic state one day, but seriously, it's also a lair for semi-schismatic monks pushing their isolationist memes, and since we have a lot of respect for monks, rousing various devout, but naive believers in protest against the Church.

Speaking of you, i'd like to thank you guys for giving us the Desert Fathers and St. Anthony the Great(it's also funny seeing EO icons of old Patriarchs of Alexandria dressed in the coptic style)

>>789541

Thank you brother. Your insight into Mt. Athos is interesting, as I do not know much about it.

Yes, the Desert Fathers are some of my favorite literature. St. Evagrius the Solitary was interpolated so much by Gnostic heretics though, which makes me quite saddened. It was so bad to the point many Westerners and even some other Church Fathers thought he was a Gnostic. It happened that way with St. Dionysius of Alexandria as well, along with St. Didymus the Blind and St. Clement of Alexandria. So many of our Saints were interpolated upon heavily by heretics. St. Pamphilus the Martyr writes about many of these in his "Apology for Origen."

I would like to thank you for giving us St. Gregory Palamas. What a wonderful and great Saint he is, his writings are so profound. His ideas on Essence and Energy really destroy Gnostic heresies!

>>789555

You mean those posts that lay all the blame on Jesus' Church for the 4th Crusade and can't even take some responsibility for it themselves? The same posts that call Jesus' Church the devil? Man, why would the mods ever delete those?

Don't forget the mods also delete and ban trad catholics that call for a return to

Sicut Judaeis

>>789637

>Catholics always bring up the 4th Crusade

Any way, this is neither the time or place to start yet another interdenom pooflinging contest.

>>789347

Hey Coptanon, I don't know if you will see this or not, but I just wanted to let you know I miss you. Your positive attitude is something truly admirable and has inspired me to be a better Catholic.

I pray to God that one day the Copts will be reunited once again with Rome and we can Make Christendom Great Again.

>>789347

Ethiopian Christanon here, welcome brother! :)

>>789350

I have been banned for saying 1 Enoch is scripture. I understand a lot of people on here do not view it as scripture, but think about if, what if this was a Protestant run board and all the Catholics get banned for saying Sirach is scripture? Or if Eastern Orthodox started getting banned for saying 3 Maccabees is scripture? There would be a real shit show then. I don't understand why we can't agree to disagree, it's not like we're Gnostics or some shit. We're an African branch of Orthodoxy. Different canons developed in different parts of the Church, the Bible didn't just fall from the sky.

>>794251

I know OP, I can confirm he also got banned for believing 1 Enoch is Scripture as the Ethiopian Church does. How did you get unbanned, brother?

I am a Roman Catholic myself, and have nothing but love for the Coptic/Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Let us stop slandering our brothers so terribly.

From my understanding, the reasons for the rejection of 1 Enoch were not due to the book itself having heresy or occultism, but due to forgeries. This would not be the only instance of this happening in the Churches, the Acts of John, the Clementine Homilies, the writings of Origen quite possibly (read St. Pamphilus' Apology for Origen) and most labelled pseudepigrapha in general.

I will explain.

>"1" Enoch used by at least *some* mainline Jews in the 1st century at the latest, this is evident by the fact Jesus Christ Himself cross references lines and passages that can only be linked back to the book

>Apostles, at the very least St. Peter and St. Jude cross reference to it, as well as immediate Apostolic Fathers such as St. Clement of Rome in 1 Clement.

>By the time Christianity is legalized in the Roman Empire, Manicheanism picks up traction and has with it a Manichean Book of Giants that can be confused with 1 Enoch.

>During this time, "2" Enoch is most likely written by Melchizedekians, a heresy that believed that Melchizedek was higher than Jesus and was born of a virgin birth. (2 Enoch has a section with this exact belief)

>the rabbinical 3 Enoch is written at some point during the 1st-6th century AD, I personally believe it's written around the 2nd or 3rd. (Tannaic period)

>due to there being several Enochic books at this point, 1 Enoch is misappropriated as apocryphal by some of the Church Fathers, including ones I myself admire such as St. Augustine

>St. Augustine, who wrote extensively against the Manicheans and had early associations with them, in his own refutation only can contest against the notion of angels copulating with humans, a view that even the Ethiopian Church does not entirely adhere to. Augustine quotes twice from the NT where it quotes Enoch, and does not recognize the quotes (the one from Jude is even in the first chapter of Enoch!)

>Augustine also does not contest any Christological or prophecy from Enoch, which is a far greater portion of the book than the portions concerning the Watchers and Giants. All of this only makes sense if Augustine himself was familiar with the Manichean Book of Giants.

>Manicheanism specifically spreads all throughout the Roman Empire and extends all the way to China but never reaches Ethiopia or Armenia, the two places that ultimately preserved Enoch.

>the heresies related to the other Enochic books (including rabbinical Judaism) also never reach Armenia or Ethopia, which means they are effectively a non-issue only in the territories that Enoch was ultimately preserved.