Well. I am 23 minutes in and I can tell that he wants to do things his own way.

I have a very DEEP sense that if he was ever Orthodox at all, it was left when he was very young.

He didn't spend any significant time in Church.


Perhaps I am wrong, but he said Orthodox Christianity wasn't biblical- and THAT is a statement of somone completely unaware of the Revalation of GOD.

Fr. Tom,
I am a pilot and go to Australia, specifically Sydney, quite often.  I attended a Greek Orthodox parish for Divine Liturgy last Sunday.  Let me speak of my experience.

All of the service was in Greek.  The homily was even 50% in Greek.  When I looked at the archdiocese website, looks like this is the same for EVERY parish.  They one have one Divine Liturgy in English a month, the last Saturday.

The parish was what I would define as fairly empty, compared to its copacity.  The man giving the homily, made a comment that made it appear the parish is packed for Pascha but not any other time.  This jives with what your guest said.

From my experience, I am unsure how anyone attending a parish there could understand Orthodoxy.  I am only an English speaker, as I am sure most attending that church.  If I can’t understand the Liturgy, the hymns, even 50% of the homily, even the Six Psalms, etc…how can anyone in this environment understand anything about true Orthodoxy, beside the cultural aspect about “being Greek”?

I have to say that from my experience in Sydney, I can why the guest is doing what he is doing, while his journey seems to be the same as mine but in the opposite direction.  I found Protestantism to be severely lacking and found the fulness of the faith in Orthodoxy.  I found Protestantism to not to be teaching the Gospel I read in Scripture.

As someone who spiritually languished under Protestantism and its graceless errors driving me into a life of the occult, this effort to undermine and subvert Orthodoxy drives a desire in me to do whatever I can to establish not only more robust catechesis for cradle Orthodox, but eduction and defense against these greatly deceived wolves seeking to take out the flock of Christ.

I wonder how many of these ex Orthodox Aussies would have stayed if the services were in English, the parents went to services more, and there was an in depth catechism.  🤷🏼‍♂️ but I bet it would help.

This is so sad.

I too went through a transformation through various churches to examine the differences and try to find the so called "perfect" church. Well, as it turns out I did find the "perfect" church - Christ Himself, with the help of the various churches I attended. I also learned the differences of the churches I attended and I finally decided to go back to my Greek roots and go with the Greek Orthodox Church. People like John Diacos are perhaps trying to bring as many people to Christ as possible the easiest way possible. What doesn't feel right is his attempts to turn people away from Orthodoxy. That might work for some, but I find the spirituality, sacraments and traditions of the Orthodox Church to be very useful and helpful to me growing in the faith of Christ, that is, theosis. This doesn't mean that those who are not in Orthodoxy can't be saved. Of course some can and will be. I just find the Orthodox Church to be my "home" in this fractured world that's hurtling towards a catastrophic climax, both physical and spiritual, just prior to Christ's return, and I would find transitioning to another denomination at this stage as repugnant and destructive to my journey with Christ. Each to their own.

EVERYONE!  REMEMBER.  

THE CHURCH MUST KEEP BOUNDARIES.
OTHERWISE WE CANNOT CONTINUE INTO AN UNKNOWN FUTURE, WHERE THE SHIP MUST HOLD TOGETHER.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT THE HELM.
WE HAVE TO KEEP A TIGHT SHIP.

My issue with Protestantism is that it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny without relying on special pleading.

This is required listening for every priest in monoethnic parishes. Also, within mono ethnic communities we need to be talking about what it means to culturally assimilate into a new country while preserving our identity in Christ within the Orthodox Church. It’s also important to note that cradles were the first to leave and priests within mono ethnic communities bank on the idea of preserving their identity in culture.

We must not be quick to judge hearts except our own. We must extend the grace and patience the Lord has given us to others. We shall defend the faith with the utmost zeal, but with the humblest love.

This was painful to watch. This poor lost son of the Church is lost and looking to lead others astray like a Judas goat. Pray for him. I may just be a relatively new convert, but I can see and feel the changes being made in my heart through the Eucharist. To say that it is just a symbol is to deny reality.

41:16 Show us someone in the ancient Church who held your view.

I’m a former evangelical, and I realized that I simply wasn’t paying attention to what the scriptures really teach about the Eucharist. I just took what I had been told and didn’t investigate. Yet even before seriously learning about Orthodoxy, I was already sensing that we were not treating communion seriously enough.

John Diacos talks about going back to the original traditions of the Apostles and very early Church Fathers regarding his criticism against Orthodoxy. Is he ignorant, arrogant or both? The Eastern Orthodox Church is most definitely based on the original traditions of the Apostles and the very early Church Fathers.

47:51 I asked him the question on the stream  about the gospel being lost by the early church and John basically gave a non-answer. He said that people can get things wrong, implying they did, and it was lost. If this is the case, how do we know his version isn't wrong and needing to be corrected? This constant reforming to discover what was lost is not even biblical.

Fr. Tom, I don't even want to listen to this. I saw a clip of his ramblings and it was upsetting enough. And I saw your face squirming. Can you post a summary of his objections and interject the true Orthodox teachings?  Lord have mercy on his soul.

42:49  His view is:
The Eucharist is to Christ what fireworks are to America.

Excellent discussion!

Let's get one thing straight here. Protestants in general, and John Diacos specifically believe that Salvation is by faith alone. The correct view is the Orthodox understanding that Salvation is by the Grace of God through living faith, as distinct from dead faith, in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as evidenced by our fruits with the help of the Holy Spirit who will teach and guide us while we are in communion with the Holy Spirit who will keep reminding us of everything that Jesus spoke about. In that light, people like John Diacos are teaching an incomplete gospel.

You were very gracious, Fr. Tom.  My gut feeling is that John would like to “help” us — right out of Orthodoxy.

Please have on Bishop Emilianos who is a student in Texas and was bishop in Australia. Ask him to speak to these issues of ethnicity, catechesis, identity, the gospel, wtc