A response to the hit piece on Hank Hanegraaf’s Greek Orthodox temple

Dear Mr Maples,

I have read your piece describing your attempt to ‘confront’ Hank Hanegraaf at a Pascha service at his new Greek Orthodox Church in light of you thinking that he has left the Christian faith. I have read some responses to you about this, especially the ones by James Deagle, Rod Dreher, Orthodoxidation, and Craig Tugilia.

The above writers take your propositions about the Orthodox Church quite seriously; unfortunately, I do not share their seriousness because I am not convinced that you are at all a serious writer. This is because in reading your piece, I found it adorable how much you go out of your way to protest all the various trappings of the Byzantine liturgy, forcing yourself to dislike that to which you are secretly and mysteriously drawn. This is of course my projection into your psyche, and unlike Deagle above, I am not above tit for tat. Even for a Protestant, you do protest a bit much.

When you decide to be received by chrismation into the Holy Orthodox Church (or perhaps, since you have ‘sat through Catholic masses,’ you might join me in being part of a Greek Catholic Church if you wish to be in communion with the Bishop of Rome), please feel free to write me. Barring the event that you are unable to produce a valid baptismal certificate, your baptism would most likely be valid. Especially if you can sing, you should consider converting; we are not above taking you in only for your evangelical voice – no longer on the blogosphere, we would hope, but mystically representing the seraphim in the Divine Liturgy.

Christ is risen!
Justin Tse
Eastern Catholic Person