Interesting profile in the 2/15/2000 Watchtower (pp.26-29) praising a 17th-century Orthodox Church Patriarch who was murdered and thrown to the sharks for attempting to effect reform in his church.
QUOTE:
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Cyril Lucaris (b. 1572, d. 1638) was elected Patriarch of Alexandria in 1602 then as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1620 -- second in importance to the Roman Catholic Pope in the then Christian world. He sought to make major reforms within the eastern Orthodox Church including a translation of the Bible in the common Greek language of the day so that everyone could read it. Some changes he wanted to make included stomping out the worship of Icons, the Apochryphal books, and the high authority in which the Church Father's writings were viewed and held on par with the Scriptures.
He saw corruption and hate and ignorance and wanted it stopped by reform and education and presenting this information to the people rather than keeping such information suppressed and forbidden. He was determined to "right" the "wrongs" of his church and point a finger at those wrongs. (Ephesians 5:11)
However, not everyone was happy with the changes and improvements he wanted to make to his church - particularly the church leaders themselves. They especially didn't like the "finger pointing." He was going to "rock the boat" and they would have none of it lest they loose their positions of comfort, security, and authority. (John 11:48) Several conspiracies villified him in the eyes of the people and the authorities in order to have him banished (disfellowshipped). Eventually he was murdered.
. . .
Once again, the ruling ecclesiastical class suppressed efforts to make God's Word available to their flock. They violently silenced a voice that pointed to some of the errors of their non-Biblical beliefs. They proved to be the worst enemies of religious freedom and truth.
Sadly, this is a stance that in various ways survives even to our day. It is a sobering reminder of what happens when clergy-instigated intrigues stand in the way of freedom of thought and expression.
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Can you BELIEVE they actually published that in the Watchtower, and it goes right over the heads of the R&FJW???
<sighhh!> Yes.
(Shades of Raymond Franz.)
Sometimes I think they write that kind of blatant stuff just to flaunt and annoy us xjw "apostates"!