C
CindyGia
Guest
Good Afternoon!
The Byzantine Church in my neighborhood had a small tent/flea market sale this weekend and I rented a table to sell my handmade rosaries. A couple of the church parishioners came over and began to somewhat “bash” the Catholic church by saying that they are the “true” church of Christ and that Constantinople started the Roman Catholic church in 356. I already knew that this was incorrect and asked if they had read “the Da Vinci Code” to come about this false notion. They said they hadn’t and insisted the Byzantine Church came before the Roman Catholic Church. Then a lady came over and told me that Byzantines had no need to say prayers like “the rosary” because they did not believe in saying prayers “repetitiously only to forget them 10 minutes later.” I told her that saying the rosary was not just saying prayers repetitiously but are beautiful prayers to meditate on the mysteries of Christs’ life. That shut her up for a minute but she went on to say that they believe in just being very medatative and spiritual rather than rattling off repetitious prayers. She then went on to say that Byzantines don’t have all the “militant” rules Catholics have to deal with with having to kneel, stand, kneel, stand, and that if they so desired to kneel they could, if they wanted to sit, they could, and that it was all relative to how a person felt that day to praise God. Anyway, I talked to my parish priest about the comments made by these Byzantine parishioners and he said that what they said is a bunch of baloney. He explained how it wasn’t true but I just didn’t grasp his brief explanation about the Eastern Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church. Can you explain in better detail why these people believe the Byzantine Church came first so that I can go back there and defend the faith. I’d like to print out whatever it is you can send me and take it over there after their Sunday mass. I would personally like to see the looks on their faces when they realize what they are saying is incorrect.
Thank you.
The Byzantine Church in my neighborhood had a small tent/flea market sale this weekend and I rented a table to sell my handmade rosaries. A couple of the church parishioners came over and began to somewhat “bash” the Catholic church by saying that they are the “true” church of Christ and that Constantinople started the Roman Catholic church in 356. I already knew that this was incorrect and asked if they had read “the Da Vinci Code” to come about this false notion. They said they hadn’t and insisted the Byzantine Church came before the Roman Catholic Church. Then a lady came over and told me that Byzantines had no need to say prayers like “the rosary” because they did not believe in saying prayers “repetitiously only to forget them 10 minutes later.” I told her that saying the rosary was not just saying prayers repetitiously but are beautiful prayers to meditate on the mysteries of Christs’ life. That shut her up for a minute but she went on to say that they believe in just being very medatative and spiritual rather than rattling off repetitious prayers. She then went on to say that Byzantines don’t have all the “militant” rules Catholics have to deal with with having to kneel, stand, kneel, stand, and that if they so desired to kneel they could, if they wanted to sit, they could, and that it was all relative to how a person felt that day to praise God. Anyway, I talked to my parish priest about the comments made by these Byzantine parishioners and he said that what they said is a bunch of baloney. He explained how it wasn’t true but I just didn’t grasp his brief explanation about the Eastern Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church. Can you explain in better detail why these people believe the Byzantine Church came first so that I can go back there and defend the faith. I’d like to print out whatever it is you can send me and take it over there after their Sunday mass. I would personally like to see the looks on their faces when they realize what they are saying is incorrect.
Thank you.