what is the refutation or pushback from Greek or Russian orthodox when it comes to priests more or less extorting their parishioners for donations/money?
i know someone who is 3rd gen Greek american, whole family is still pretty much GO and attend different churches across the US and still are members/donate to a church in Greece as well.
Theyve talked about NUMEROUS times and situations where the priests will basically extort them for more donations because the church needs new floors, new windows, etc etc or that if they (the parishioner) want the church to help them out in some way, they could make a generous donation and the church could help.
Im not sure if in ROCOR this is similar? I have no reason to believe it isnt, but i know for a fact that in GO its pretty common. My question is as someone who is seeking Orthodoxy coming from Protestantism - how do you reconcile this?
I know the common answer from some is to report abuses or heretical teachings/practices to Bishops or higher ups, but the fact that in the GO church this seems pretty commonplace must mean either no one reports it or no one see's it as an issue.