Roots of Orthodoxy: A Warning

Earlier this year, Jonathan Cabada—host of the popular YouTube channel Roots of Orthodoxy—posted a video admitting that he is neither Eastern nor Oriental Orthodox. He’s a Roman Catholic who occasionally attends an Eastern Catholic (or Uniate) parish. 

Now, that may not seem so bad. After all, Roots of Orthodoxy is mostly just interviews with priests! What’s wrong with that?

Here’s the thing. Cabada still projects the image that he is Orthodox. For instance, his Instagram bio says: “The Church Founded By Christ in A.D. 33”. Obviously, he doesn’t believe it’s the Church founded by Christ. Otherwise, he would be Orthodox! Yet that seems to be the impression he's trying to give.

Moreover, Cabada has a second channel called Roots of Faith where he promotes Roman Catholic and Miaphysite clergy. How many Orthodox inquirers are being redirected to this heterodox content?

Also, while Cabada interviews many excellent Orthodox priests, he also promotes some questionable views. For instance, he has a disproportionate number of videos with Western-Rite priests. Among them is Fr. Peter Kavanaugh, a Western-Rite priest who used his appearance on Roots of Orthodoxy to promote the Sacred Heart devotion.

Now, believe what you like about the Western Rite. But during an interview with an Eastern Catholic priest for Roots of Faith, Cabada admits that he promotes Western Rite priests because they “prove” that Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians have more in common than we might think, etc. 

At another point during this interview, he declares: “I know I’m going to get a lot of heat for saying this, but I think the East has a lot to learn from the West. I see a lot of denigration of the intellect [among the Orthodox]. They’re not able to express certain theological concepts.” A bit later, he continues: “I don’t think a lot of [the Orthodox] would say that that’s their intention, to be anti-intellectual. But I do think it is a byproduct of putting the intellect in a certain category.”

Cabada has an agenda. And despite what he might claim, it's not simply to promote Orthodoxy. His goal is to present Orthodoxy and Catholicism as "two sides of the same coin." And he is willing to publicly criticize Orthodoxy in order to create that impression.

We must also add that Cabada also produces videos for Alex Jurado, a.k.a. Voice of Reason. As most readers will know, Jurado is one of the most virulent critics of Orthodoxy on YouTube. So, Cabada is a Roman Catholic helping a Roman Catholic apologist produce anti-Orthodox polemics… and yet he runs a YouTube channel called “Roots of Orthodoxy.”

Like many Orthodox Christians, I have profited from the interviews on Roots of Orthodoxy. And to be clear, no one is saying that he, as a Roman Catholic, should not interview Orthodox priests. Matt Fradd, Ruslan KD, and Austin Sugges are three non-Orthodox YouTubers who routinely interview our clergy. No one minds. Indeed, we're grateful for the exposure!

Our concern is that Cabada takes the Orthodox "brand" for himself—even as he publicly criticizes Orthodoxy and promotes heterodox views within our Church.

In light of the above, Orthodox Christians and inquirers alike should approach Roots of Orthodoxy with discernment, recognizing that it is not an authentically Orthodox voice—that, in many ways, it works to undermine the Orthodox witness.

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