Friday, September 17, 2010

Orthodox Demotivator #1

H/T: Byz. Tx.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Holy Spirit makes up for what is lacking. Clearly with some the Holy Spirit has more to make up.

Anonymous said...

Oh my. Sides hurt. So funny.

Larry Anderson said...

All I can say is that I like my clergy to be imperfect. Perfect ones a) wouldn't be human and b) would be impossible to live with. Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm confident that I'll never face that problem. :-)

Alexander said...

Fr George Metallinos says something which I think is relevant to this. He says

"It's one thing being a simple (sacramental) 'carrier' of the Holy spirit (priest) , but to be a Vessel of the Holy Spirit (Saint) is something else entirely".

In a perfect world the two should be the same, of course.

I hope I translated it in a way that makes sense.

Steve Robinson said...

Alexander, Amen. Dimitru Staniloea has a beautiful passage on what it means to be a saint and it far surpasses the character of most human beings, much less clergy. The Holy Spirit may "make up what is lacking" in the human being in terms of a sacramental ministry, but the ability to offer up our entire life in praise and thanksgiving is far more difficult than being a sacramental "carrier of grace". Being ordained does not automatically turn a sinner into a saint, it merely gives the sinner a sacramental role within the Church and permits him to call down the Holy Spirit and preside over the change of bread and wine. However, in his OWN life he still has to not "quench the Spirit" and cooperate with grace to be personally transformed into the image of Christ. The sacraments aren't magic, not even holy orders.

Caleb S said...

HA HA Wow. The tears: they flow!

Fr. Ernesto Obregon said...

GASP, GASP, wheeze, wheeze, my sides hurt from laughing. It made me wonder just how big a ding dong I am!

Subdeacon Bob said...

The original post , along with other photos of that Russian Church on Byz.Tx. blog, are incredible. But your take on the photo is spectacular! So I took the .jpg off your blog and printed it on 5x7 photo paper, put it in a frame, and hung it on the wall with all the other motivational "stuff" we used to get from my last employer. It fits right in!! And thanks so much for your humorous approach to the Faith, it just proves that since Godhas a sense of humor in creating us, we should share the laughs! Subdeacon Bob

Anam Cara said...

I'm going to have to make a print for our priest. We have a laugh each year because his ordination date is 1 April.

Steve Robinson said...

Anam, That's awesome! LOL!