#clericalism

[philipchircop]

A FORM OF WORSHIP IN WHICH EVERYONE IS INVOLVED

In May 1968, Thomas Merton told an informal gathering of contemplative women religious at the Abbey of Gethsemani:

“I think the whole thing needs to be changed, the whole idea of the priesthood has to be changed. I think we need to develop a whole new style of worship in which there is no need for one hierarchical person to have a big central place, a form of worship in which everyone is involved.”

Thomas Merton, The Springs of Contemplation (Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 1992), 134–135.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Christianity was very different at the beginning. The first reference to the Jesus movement in a nonbiblical source comes from the Jewish Roman historian Flavius Josephus, writing around the same time that the Gospels were taking form. Josephus described the followers of Jesus simply as “those that loved him at the first and did not let go of their affection for him.” There was no priesthood yet, and the movement was egalitarian. Christians worshipped and broke bread in one another’s homes. But under Emperor Constantine, in the fourth century, Christianity effectively became the imperial religion and took on the trappings of the empire itself. A diocese was originally a Roman administrative unit. A basilica, a monumental hall where the emperor sat in majesty, became a place of worship. A diverse and decentralized group of churches was transformed into a quasi-imperial institution—centralized and hierarchical, with the bishop of Rome reigning as a monarch. Church councils defined a single set of beliefs as orthodox, and everything else as heresy.

James Carroll, Abolish the Priesthood

[revolutionoftenderness]

“The tragedy of theological education lies in the fact that young people who seek priesthood are - consciously or unconsciously - seeking this separation, power, this rising above the laity. Their thirst is strengthened and generated by the whole system of theological education, of clericalism. How can they be made to understand, not only with their minds, but with their whole being, that one must run away from power, any power, that it is always a temptation, always from the devil.” 

Alexander Schmemann

[discerningthoughts]

#discernment #stgregorypalamas #stisaacthesyrian #selfknowledge #Hesychasm #empiricaldogmatics VERSUS #moralism #pietism #conservativism #scholasticism #barlaamism #clericalism #sophiology #magicK #delusional #delusion #ecumenismisheresy #worldorthodoxy #roddreher (at Cobleskill, New York)

[discerningthoughts]

#GenuineOrthodoxy #protopresbyterjohnromanides #empiricaldogmatics VERSUS #clericalism #scholasticism #pietism #moralism #barlaamism *** Anything else is heresy!!!! (at Cobleskill, New York)

[discerningthoughts]

Augustine had no idea about illumination and glorification. He completely missed the point on these issues, because he followed the path of the Platonists. The Franks copied his writings and read them, and Augustine’s whole spirituality and piety entered theology up until the modern era. #barlaamism #clericalism #scholasticism #pietism #moralism VERSUS #GenuineOrthodoxy #Hesychasm #empiricaldogmatics

[godmechanic]

ugh this is reminding me of the other GREAT earth & altar piece contra clericalism, discerning discernment

[simchafisher]

Be patient with priests, but not with clericalism

Be patient with priests, but not with clericalism

The National Catholic Reporter has published a strange story about what happens to a parish when arrogant, ultra-trad priests move in and start making the church over in their own image. I say it’s a strange story because it’s hard to tell exactly what happened. Some of the details seem damning — book burnings, secrecy around finances — but others sound like they might be innocuous (oh no,…

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