April 24, 2019<\/a><\/u> by Neon Revolt<\/a><\/p>\n I often find myself having a weird perspective on things, coming to an understanding of issues by piecing together information obliquely, or by going \u201cthe long way \u2019round.\u201d I suppose to some degree, that\u2019s just the nature of the human experience \u2013 what, with having limited time and experience to draw from, you can only start to solve some of these puzzled from where you are. But it\u2019s not lost to me how\u2026 particularly specific and tangential this lead-in will be.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve followed me for any length of time, you\u2019ll know I\u2019ve advocated for Orthodoxy many times in the past, as I\u2019ve endeavored to live an Orthodox life myself. Really quickly, for those who don\u2019t know, Orthodoxy is like, one of the oldest Apostolic, Traditional forms of Christianity there is. To the average Westerner, you would think they look like Catholics with funny hats, but the truth is, the East (Orthodoxy) split from the West (Roman Catholicism) in 1054 AD, due to all sorts of Ecumenical disputes.<\/p>\n Quick Church history lesson: you had the Pentarchy during the first millennia of the undivided Church. These were the 5 seats of power from which the Patriarchs of the church ruled \u2013 Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. These guys were supposed to be \u201cco-equal\u201d in terms of authority, but Rome had a ton of money, and a lot of political power, started committing heresies, and wanted to rule over the other 4 Patriarchs.<\/p>\n The 4 were like, \u201cHey buddy, sorry, it doesn\u2019t work that way.\u201d<\/p>\n The 1 was like, \u201cWell it does now. You\u2019re all excommunicated.\u201d<\/p>\n And the 4 were like, \u201cFine, you\u2019re excommunicated, too!\u201d<\/p>\n And the 1 was like, \u201cYeah, but you still got Saracen hordes to deal with and now you have no money, so enjoy losing your armies!! Pffffffttttbbbbtttt!!!\u201d (That\u2019s a tongue noise).<\/p>\n And the rest is basically a pile of BS history and nonsense. And then lots of Catholics got mad at Rome, too, and decided they were doing things wrong (which, in their defense, they were), and like, 400-600 years later, they all spun off their own Churches (under the guidance of people like Luther and Calvin). But then, some of those guys decided Luther and Calvin were bad, so they spun off. And then others spun off from the spin-off. And some came to American and spun-off. And so on and so forth until here we are, in the modern day, with 45,000+ different Protestant denominations, all equally claiming to know the real truth of God.<\/p>\n In short, the whole situation is a mess. And while I was raised in one of those 45,000 competing Prot denominations, I grew increasingly frustrated with many of the teachings and the conflicts I saw; often feeling like I was taking crazy pills, because it seemed I was the only one who was picking up on these things. So, in my quest for understanding, I figured I\u2019d go back to the roots of it all, and Orthodoxy probably has a better claim than any other group over maintaining original, Biblical teachings and practice. I tried to get onboard with that. I was catechized, baptized, and received into the Orthodox communion a couple years later.<\/p>\n Despite that, my experience within Orthodoxy has been nothing short of absolute suckage. I haven\u2019t been able to integrate into the community, or to maintain the desire to even show up to services for some time. If you ever wanted to see a congregation of the \u201cFrozen chosen,\u201d going through the motions because grandma and grandpa did before them, look no further. I\u2019m not trying to be uncharitable to the actual passionate faithful (of which, there are a handful), and to a certain degree there\u2019s a fair amount of families just trying to raise their kids the right way, but in truth, I don\u2019t see a lot of passion or desire to engage within any Orthodox parish. I see a lot of Ethnic legacies, and pointless traditions carried on because\u2026 it\u2019s \u201ctradition.\u201d<\/p>\n And the best way I can put it is\u2026 It\u2019s like in Japan, where all these elaborate traditions came about for specific reasons, within specific contexts, but that context no longer exists, and so these elaborate rituals have actually lost<\/em> meaning. No one knows why they\u2019re there, or why they\u2019re doing thing; they just go through elaborate mimicry. In the meanwhile, everyone tunes out and goes back to \u201cthe real world\u201d the second the ritual is over. I\u2019ll tell ya; some of the things some \u201cOrthodox\u201d do or say will have you scratching your head, going\u2026 \u201cWait, I thought you were supposed to be Christian\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n In my limited experience, it\u2019s almost like Prots have all the passion despite maintaining all the wrong practices (and many wrong teachings), and Orthos have all the right practices, teachings\u2026 and somehow, none of the passion.<\/p>\n So which is better? And why doesn\u2019t a synthesis exist?<\/p>\n I\u2019m gonna pre-empt a particularly cringe-inducing sayings Prots like to repeat, which\u2026 please, for the love of God, I don\u2019t want to hear again: that it\u2019s \u201cabout \u2018relationship,\u2019 not religion,\u201d dozens of times in the comments.<\/p>\n While the sentiment is alright\u2026 You\u2019re absolutely 100% wrong on that point for a multitude of reasons I can\u2019t go into in this article, but it\u2019s also why you have 45,000 competing different denominations, instead of one, unified body. And all<\/u><\/strong> of these denominations teach outright heresy in one form or another (which many fail to even realize\/understand in the first place, and unwittingly accept). No, really \u2013 that bumper sticker doctrine sounds good on the surface, but it\u2019s one of the dumbest, shallowest things ever uttered by Prots. So please, don\u2019t spam up my comments with nonsense like that.<\/p>\n And no appeals to a vague sense of the \u201cHoly Spirit\u201d either. You sound like plebian hippies, minus the happy-tobaccy:<\/p>\n \u201cJust follow the s p i r i t<\/em>, maaaaaan.\u201d<\/p>\n But I\u2019m not here to knock on Prots today. Like I said, Orthodoxy is faaaaar<\/u><\/strong> from perfect.<\/p>\n One of the things I had to struggle with is understanding the modern hierarchy, because the Patriarchate didn\u2019t go anywhere. No, see, it\u2019s been maintained for 2000 years. Some of the Modern Patriarchs include Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople:<\/p>\n O Bart<\/p><\/div>\n And the other deos Patriarch Kirill in Moscow:<\/p>\n O \u039a\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03a0\u03b1\u03c3\u03ce\u03bd \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03a1\u03c9\u03c3\u03c3\u03b9\u03ce\u03bd<\/p><\/div>\n (See what I meant when I said \u201cCatholics\u201d in funny hats)?<\/p>\n There are others, but for my oblique lead-in to this subject, these are the big two.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re both affiliated with the Deep State. (\u03a5\u03c0\u03ae\u03c1\u03be\u03b5 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03ad \u039f\u03c1\u03b8\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03be\u03af\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b5\u03be\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b7 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u03c4\u03b5\u03af\u03b1;) Or\u2026 at least\u2026 warring factions of the Deep State.<\/p>\n See, Pope Bart up there is a total CIA\/Cabal guy. Go dig his name on Wikileaks sometime. He comes up over and over again. He also tends to clash with Kirill.<\/p>\n But before you go thinking Kirill is a good-guy, well\u2026 he\u2019s \u201cex\u201d KGB<\/strong>.<\/p>\n (And is anyone ever\u00a0really<\/em> ex-KGB?)<\/p>\n He also has a bit of a thing for worldly wealth. Think expensive watches, and expensive cars.<\/p>\n And you can imagine, that doesn\u2019t fly to well in some of the poorer areas of Russia. Which is why, in this church-issued photograph, they edited out the $40,000 watch he was wearing\u2026 \u03a3.\u03b3.: \u0395\u03bb\u03c0\u03af\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03b5 \u03c4\u03bf \u03c1\u03bf\u03bb\u03cc\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u0392\u03b1\u03c1\u03b8\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bd\u03b1 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c7\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9 \u03bb\u03b9\u03b3\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc $40,000.<\/p>\n \u0394\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c5\u03be\u03b7<\/p><\/div>\n But forgot to edit out its reflection in the table.<\/p>\n Welcome to the wonderful world of Orthodoxy.<\/p>\n Anyway, in my effort to find the true church, all I found was deep-state proxies, and most recently, these two guys, Bart and Kirill, have been at war with each other over Ukraine \u2013 to such an extent that it might cause another schism in the Orthodox church \u2013 something that hasn\u2019t really<\/em> happened (to this magnitude) in 1000 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n Historically\u2026 Ukraine has been under Moscow\u2019s jurisdiction \u2013 which means Kiev gets its leadership appointed by Moscow. Constantinople made this official in 1686.<\/p>\n Anyway, some guys weren\u2019t cool with that. They wanted to be out from under Moscow\u2026 and because Kiev is such a\u2026 let\u2019s say important place within Orthodoxy (due to the Kiev caves monastic traditions), they had some ability to \u201clegitimize\u201d those claims.<\/p>\n Anyway, there were two guys who were originally Russian Priests \u2013 Patriarch Filaret:<\/p>\n \u03a6\u03b9\u03bb\u03ac\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2<\/p><\/div>\n And Metropolitan Macarius:<\/p>\n \u039f \u039c\u03b7\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u039c\u03b1\u03ba\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2<\/p><\/div>\n (And I\u2019ll just say right here\u2026 I don\u2019t \u201cget\u201d the hats, either. I just don\u2019t). (\u03a3.\u03b3.: \u039d\u03b1 \u03ae\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd \u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf \u03c4\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c0\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1…)<\/p>\n Anyway, both were excommunicated by Russia, went on to found two competing \u201cOrthodox\u201d churches \u2013 the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate)\u2026 and basically, these Churches which drew a lot of people from around Ukraine.<\/p>\n But they were schismatics running their own schismatic churches.<\/p>\n And normally, you denounce schismatics, but carry on as normal. And everyone knows and shuns schismatics until they repent, at which point, you figure out a way to re-introduce them back into the life of the church.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what normally happens, anyway.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t happen here.<\/p>\n No, instead, this guy, Pope Bart-went rogue, and unilaterally decided\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cHey, you know what? I\u2019m gonna recognize the Ukrainian schismatic churches as legit. Welcome to the fold, Filaret and Marcarius!\u201d<\/p>\n So basically, those two schismatic guys got elevated to\u2026 essentially, the Orthodox papacy, overnight, because the Patriarch of Constantinople (and thus, head of every single \u201cGreek\u201d church around the entire world) decided to side with them. Meanwhile, every single Russian-headed jurisdiction was furious.<\/p>\n Now\u2026 remember, Bart is basically CIA.<\/p>\n Kirill is KGB.<\/p>\n And the Ukraine is essentially the battlefield of this clandestine war between these two factions. There are no real \u201cgood guys\u201d here. There are no real \u201cwhite hats\u201d in this scenario. Just two groups, vying with each other for power.<\/strong><\/p>\n The context prior to this is that\u2026 first you have the (Soros-Funded) Orange Revolution in 2004, between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych (with Yanukovych being the Kremlin-backed guy, and Yushchenko being the CIA\/Soros-backed guy, where Yanukovych originally won, but was accused of massive election fraud \u2013 which is when Soros and the CIA swooped in and fomented one of Soros\u2019 \u201cColor Revolutions\u201d \u2013 in this case, the Orange Revolution. An international body eventually came in, oversaw a \u201cfair\u201d election, and Yushchenko came out on top this time:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Greg1.jpg\")
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