To understand the Eastern Christian perspective regarding change you also have to understand their history and what they lived through, so you can appreciate their defense of, and devotion to, their religious traditions and duties.
For 500 years they endured terrible persecutions and sacrifices to preserve their faith. You can see what is going on in theMiddle East in today's headlines to understand how violent the experience was for the Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Chaldean and other Eastern Christian denominations.
While there were times of quiet between Muslim and Christian communities, it was similar to how in the past Jews had to live among European Christians, or Black-Americans during the Jim Crow years. The dominant group allows you to exist, but don't get too successful or draw too much attention to yourself, otherwise the dominant group will punish you to re-affirm their dominance. For Eastern Christians, it was by the paying of a tax to the local Muslim leaders or giving up a son for religious conversion and military training or a daughter as a sex slave for their harems.
You might say that was so long ago, but as recent as 1922, my father's family escaped the modern Turkish genocide and ethnic cleansing of 150,000 Greek men, women and children in Smyrna in 1922 and the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in Eastern Turkey. The same ethic cleansing that is happening in today's Middle East. The Orthodox church continues to experience harassment from the modern Turkish government, a member of NATO, just as the Coptic church does in Egypt.
For 500 years they endured terrible persecutions and sacrifices to preserve their faith. You can see what is going on in the
While there were times of quiet between Muslim and Christian communities, it was similar to how in the past Jews had to live among European Christians, or Black-Americans during the Jim Crow years. The dominant group allows you to exist, but don't get too successful or draw too much attention to yourself, otherwise the dominant group will punish you to re-affirm their dominance. For Eastern Christians, it was by the paying of a tax to the local Muslim leaders or giving up a son for religious conversion and military training or a daughter as a sex slave for their harems.
You might say that was so long ago, but as recent as 1922, my father's family escaped the modern Turkish genocide and ethnic cleansing of 150,000 Greek men, women and children in Smyrna in 1922 and the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in Eastern Turkey. The same ethic cleansing that is happening in today's Middle East. The Orthodox church continues to experience harassment from the modern Turkish government, a member of NATO, just as the Coptic church does in Egypt.
In more modern times, Eastern European countries also had to endure, an additional 50 years of tremendous persecution from the Communist governments. Thousands of priests and bishops were executed, churches and monasteries were destroyed or turned into storage buildings or offices and many faithful parishioners were sent to the gulags. The KGB installed church leaders who would submit or collaborate with the secret police. School teachers kept round the clock vigils outside of churches to make sure if students visit a church, that they would be brought to the authorities for interrogation. People would lose their jobs or be imprisoned if they went to church. Only the elderly were allowed. People were instructed to report to the authorities anyone who showed religious beliefs.
Eastern European Christians, paid a very high price to preserve their traditions and their faith, therefore changes are very carefully deliberated. While you will find Eastern Europeans friendly and hospitable, because of centuries of defending their faith, they are careful with change.
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