Why is the Church suspicious about the liberal tendency in the christianity?

People often place the blame on us, orthodox christians, for conservatism: «Why don’t you get more open for society? Why are all those obsolete medieval rules needed? Switch the divine service to a spoken language! Shorten the time of church services and lenting! You need to attract young people by youth subcultures! You’d better revise your view on the role of women in the divine service…» and so on, and so forth. Usually adding in the end of the sentence: «like catholics» or «like evangelicals».

The central problem resides in this adding.

During its two thousand-year life the Church saw many societies which withdrew from it. We saw the reasons which led to this separation, its consequence, and how these societies degraded from the perspective of the christianity.

It sounds bitterly, but let’s face the facts leaving truthless tolerance aside.

Firstly, the Roman Catholics fell away from the Church due to ambitious claims of their primates. Then, after arguing against these claims and other trespasses, protestants fell away from Rome. Moreover, as they couldn’t return to the clarity of orthodox teachings, protestants rejected the Holy Tradition of the Church, and now they’re gradually rejecting the veracity of Writings in favor of time-spirit.

What began with beautiful slogans of returning to the evangelic singleness of the early times of christianity, stealthily degenerated into toleration to doubtless sin, and now in the majority of protestant denominations into a direct pandering to it.

The proclivity for toleration to sinners smoothly moved to the toleration to sin.

That given it’s no wonder that many of the children of the Church are suspicious about any changes which are to a great extend drawn from the separated communities.

Of course, you shouldn’t be fanatic in regard to secondary things, but there’re things which are hard to overlook.

At this moment some people in the Patriarchate of Constantinople suggest to review the digamy of priests, and the Patriarch of Constantinople personally speaks the tone of Popes in the period of falling Rome.

For some people (especially for «external» people) the issue of the ambition of Fener’s leaders or the issue of priest’s married life can seem unimportant. But looking back at the Church’s history we can’t stay calm. The falling away from the Orthodoxy started exactly with these similar things.

Conservatism is not honored in the modern society. But it’s better to be known as a conservator than to enter the path of gradual falling away from the Church. It’s better to be under the accusation of fanaticism than to begin to let human passions govern you in favor of the naughty world in small ways and totally accept the sin after.

Recorded by Natalia Goroshkova