Recently, I read some disturbing statistics regarding the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. I believe it was the Pew institute that said that a poll had shown that only 17% of Roman Catholics in this country still believed in their church’s doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I spoke with a close friend of mine who is a Roman Catholic priest, who said that his take on that was that when you dumb down the mass and you take away the mystery, that is the result. Now, we Orthodox have not dumbed down the Divine Liturgy. We haven’t sharpened it. We haven’t destroyed the essence of the mystery. But something else is happening that really disturbs me. That we have allowed governments around the world to dictate to us whether our churches can be open. Whether people can gather together and worship before the throne of God. Whether they can safely Receive the Holy Mysteries. For an Orthodox Christian, this is unconscionable. (watch the video below to hear more from our Abbot)
About the author
Fr. Tryphon is the Abbot of the Monastery of the All-Merciful Saviour, which was established in 1986 by Archimandrite Dimitry (Egoroff) of blessed memory. The Monastery is under the omophore of His Eminence Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
