Other jurisdictions, including the OCA, showed slower declines, while the number of new parishes increased. A census for 2010-2020 (.pdf here) found that the number of Orthodox Christians in America shrank by 17%, with the large Greek Orthodox Church declining 22%. In Eastern Orthodox flocks, leaders are also trying to make sense of two conflicting trends. The pandemic was especially challenging for bishops and priests in ancient, liturgical churches, since life in their parishes is built on intimate sacramental acts in confession, Holy Communion and anointing the sick. This chaos will lead to change, one way or another, he said. The goal for church leaders is to listen and respond with biblical images, themes and stories - as opposed to more acidic chatter about politics.
It's a time when conspiracy theories about vaccines containing tracking devices echo decades of science-fiction stories, while millions of people navigate daily life with smartphones in their pockets that allow Big Tech leaders to research their every move. There is chaos in politics, science, schools, technology, economic systems, family structures and many issues linked to sex and gender. But the alarm is not a false alarm, necessarily." They may think that they have an inside track based on what they've heard and think that they know what is going on. It's like an alarm bell that you can hear, and you can understand that the person that's ringing the alarm maybe doesn't understand what is going on. "Even the craziest conspiracy nuts, what they are saying is not arbitrary," he said, in Diocese of the South meetings in Miami, which I attended as a delegate from my parish in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Wild rumors and questions, he said, often reveal what people are thinking and feeling and, especially, whether they trust authority figures.
Pageau focused, in part, on waves of online conspiracy theories that have shaken many flocks and the shepherds who lead them. "If some of you didn't believe me back then, I imagine you are more willing to believe me now," he said.
Thus, he doubled down on his "chaos" message several weeks ago, while addressing the same body of OCA priests and parish leaders. Pageau didn't predict a global pandemic that would lock church doors.īut that's what happened. Fear and angst were bubbling up in media messages about zombies, fundamentalist handmaidens and angry demands for "safe spaces." And corporate leaders, especially in Big Tech, were throwing their "woke" weight around in fights over gender, racism, schools, religious liberty and other topics. The French-Canadian artist was reacting to cracks in "cultural cohesion" after Donald Trump's rise to power, with wild reactions on left and right. That was the warning that - four years ago - iconographer and YouTube maven Jonathan Pageau offered to leaders of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the South.
0 kommentar(er)
