Thanks Mark, I have a few thoughts that seem to mirror yours.
Concerning the Arian controversy, an apt analogy is that of parents and children, there are indeed times of emergency when others have to step in right away and rescue children from abusive parents. However, the norm must stand. Intervention must be, as you say, the exception to the rule. To simply do away with territoriality might be as bad as doing away with biological parents as caretakers. Nevertheless, just as no parent has the right to brazenly abuse children, so no bishop should have the right to rape the faith and tell others to take a hike. Finally, as you suggest, intervention may bring consequences and must not be done lightly, for it is an emergency judgment that the local bishop has left the faith--and that for the sake of the "children", timely action is needed. If the local bishop is vindicated as being orthodox, those who orchestrated the intervention should be disciplined.
GCM+

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