I have visited some of your churches and I have seen crucifixes, statues of Virgin Mary and in some cases statues of the same Saints we venerate in the Catholic Church.

With all due respect I have two questions for you: Do you have forums in Internet which can be visited? Do you get posts from BASHERS as frequently as we Catholics do?

I'll be very grateful if you are kind enough to answer my questions.

In the meantime I'll be praying for you.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Enrique

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), November 21, 2002

Answers

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-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), November 21, 2002.

There are a growing number of Anglican/Episcopal (Anglo-Catholic) sites and forums out there (heck, I've got one "Our Lady's Forum" on yahoogroups.com ,but it doesn't get *any* traffic at all....sigh, no one wants to discuss the role of our Lady in salvation history I guess, at least not with us lowly Anglicans.

Anglicans get bashers only during the annual National Pilgrimage to the (Anglican) Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in England. Its kinda fun to watch all the Evangelical hecklers line the procession route. I've seen it once.

Orthodoxy does not get bashed that much here in the States because its just not as visible an entitu as Roman Catholicism...you'd have to go Russia and Greece for that: all the funady evangelies bombasticly thundering against the idolatry called Icon veneration

-- Michael Lilly (anglicanformary@yahoo.com), November 21, 2002.

sigh, no one wants to discuss the role of our Lady in salvation history

Sigh.

-- (Sigh@sigh.again), March 07, 2004.

I do not know of any forums to discuss the differences in the faith, unfortunatly. Because Orthodox Church is small compared to other denominations in America, we are not the subject of focus or bashers. The Church stays out of political issues and tries to focus on your direct relationship with God. The influence it has in the United States is minor in comparison to eastern Europe or the Mediteranian.

With regards to Mary,Theotokos, the Mother of God, she is venerated daily in every single Orthodox Church. Just like Catholicism, she is considered "number one" of all of mankind. We pray for Mary to hear our prayers and her icon is always prominant in the Church. Unlike Catholicsm, Orthodoxy believes that Mary was born with sin, but was kept protected from the temptation of sin by the Holy Spirit - she elected not to. Catholics as you know believe that Mary was free from sin and borne pure. Regardless of the differences, Orthodoxy and Catholicism have so much more in common with the impact and effect of Mary that what divides us. She is the new Eve for mankind.

Peace be unto you -

-- Mark Christopher (hermanandlilly@comcast.net), June 30, 2004.