Be free of them. Leave the dead to bury the dead.

Really? That is what hurts your friends? Disagreement not vanishing from the face of the earth?

They ask “why”. Here’s why. Because you are making up a heresy, measuring up Orthodoxy and the Fathers by the measure of private likes and dislikes – and even that would be ok, if kept to your private damage; after all, it’s your life, your choice.
But making fool of unsuspected Christians, leading them into believing that they will be “blessed” through sodomy, THAT is evil, THAT is hate – hate for truth. You see, Christ warned of those who do not enter the kingdom of heaven and at the same time neither let others enter. Maybe your “Love/Hate” motto-repeating friends will classify His words at that context as “hate” too. Well, too bad, can’t do anything about that.

They absolutely refuse. Absolutely. Any time you refuse to frame everything in *their* terms, they cry oppression and hypocrisy, and, as usual, make it all about them. That isn’t love. If you want, go ahead and post the list of “gotcha” questions the above poster, and I guarantee you that no answer will be sufficient. When that happens, the charges of turning willfully from Christ will come, just as predictably as the pseudo outrage at being called out for their behavior. At most, you’ll get a lot of stuff about “ineffable” and “mystical” and “mystery” and “tradition” – it’s the standard fall-back, when authority is absent. No possible way tradition could be wrong, because, of course, error only became possible *recently*, no possible way deviation from tradition could be right, for the same reason. Everyone is an erring sinner, except of course the elusive “fathers” of the Church (and how conveniently the “fathers'” prejudices reflect their own – which could not, of course, be, in any way, a reflection of *their* underlying brokenness, but their, and their adherents absolute comprehension of what is right. Why? Because they said so and it’s an ineffable mystical mystery of tradition).

Now, given that sort of trickery and emotional manipulation, that sort of absolute disdain and rejection, how could that be anything but hate? It’s the pattern of an emotionally-abusive parent or spouse. What good can come of it? If they truly believed what they say, wouldn’t they also welcome the chance to “shake the dust from their feet” against us? Why come back? Because they can’t beat you down, can’t raise themselves up by it, if the relationship is over.

Andre, I wrote you entire pages and you selected one excerpt and made a flag of it. I gave you so many questions to answer and you dodged, quote, “While I would like to engage you on every point that you have raised, I would like to begin with a simple question…” – but you never took the challenge to reply to a single one of these (and numerous subsequent) arguments I posed.
How convenient!

But you know what truly offends me Andre? Flirting priesthood status. When you state outloud that you have abandoned priesthood on your own (as if you could continue anyway!) you should have the dignity to not accept others calling you “father”. Instead, you have replied that you leave it to God to judge if the grace of fatherhood has ever left you. And again your name comes up in every review on controversial books with the fat bold title “written by an Orthodox Bishop” on the front cover, who is …anonymous.
How convenient!

Thomas,
I hope that you will reconsider attending the Divine Liturgy. The grace that flows at the mystery is indeed one of Christ’s greatest gifts to us. I understand you might have been hurt, many of us have been injured by other Orthodox, some well meaning, others meaning us harm. Please know that you are loved and cared for by God Himself. I bid you peace. Andriy