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Thursday - January 04, 2007MistakenIt is a collection of letters and stories of
priests (mostly AngloCatholic) and other Anglicans who have converted to
Orthodoxy.... The reasons I like them is that they capture much of the thought
processes I had to address.... The authors try, but there is no gentle way to
tell someone else they might be in the wrong
place.
"My chief message to my dear Anglican friends is that we're alive and well and enthusiastic about living in the Holy Orthodox Church.... I respect and admire those of you who are suffering and fighting for the Faith in the Episcopal Church. For purposes not clear to me, God may have some reason for keeping you there. ...Why do you want to preserve a system that has become a hindrance to the Faith? Instead of being consumed by trying to defend yourself from a jaded, increasingly post-Christian Anglicanism, you could be working to convert people to Orthodoxy, to a Church which defends and supports her members in the Faith." ...Another deeply disturbing fact was that Anglicanism, unlike the other major Churches of the Reformation, was not a confessional body.... Culture was its glue; the via media (the middle road) its hermeneutic.... A Church which allowed a Bishop Pike to function with a mere censure after denying the Virgin Birth, the Trinity, and the Resurrection was a Church which was more concerned about compromise than truth... ...Abortion, homosexuality, and inclusive language all determined the content, since the Church had to let the world set the agenda for her. The Anglican ethos was founded on a matter of political correctness in the sixteenth century. For me it became painfully obvious that political correctness remained its dominant feature four hundred years later." Saturday - July 01, 2006A Final EntryKallistos Ware, who himself converted
to Orthodoxy a number of years ago. I find his first response very much reflects
my own "struggles" with remaining in
Anglicanism.
Soon I'll create a section just for Orthodoxy, so I can jot some reflections as I spend the next many years getting deep into the mind of the Fathers, the phronema of the Church. Sunday - May 07, 2006A Different ReligionEven though many people in Orthodoxy
are cultural Christians, just like I was used to in the Episcopal Church, many
of the people, clergy, that I have met in Orthodoxy really believe this
stuff.
...Even amongst the AngloCatholics, I'm not used to finding people that, by and large, actually believe what they claim to believe. However, when I attend the Divine Liturgy with Fr. Phillips, after 50 + years as a priest, you truly understand that he believes what he preaches, what he worships.... I've heard some sermons from other Orthodox Priests - and it seems like the same. Saturday - March 25, 2006Its Not About Me, its About Us, or Actually Me and UsI've had several conversations over
the last couple of weeks with different people on some different subjects, so
I'll relate some of them here and make a weak attempt at synthesizing all of
this.
...I know and have known many Muslims over time, but most of them, quite frankly, were the equivalent of C & E (Christmas and Easter) Christians, so its sort of hard to take them seriously. At any rate, I mentioned that in Orthodoxy, you had to be careful with fasting because if you are invited to someone's house during one of the fasts, and they offer you non-fasting food, you should accept so as not to offend and cause them to stumble.... At any rate, in Islam, you are required to fast because God is more important than the other person.... The man in Kabul facing execution is doing so because apparently he has insulted Allah, and Allah must need some sort of protection.... We are careful not to cause others to stumble, as it may impair their walk, and certainly doesn't help us. There are limits to this, as the case where if we help someone who has been sinning to not sin, then this is a good thing. ...Almost everyone phrased things in terms of the fact that they just ignore what is going on in the larger Church, and seek to maintain their own personal faith. ...So, finally, I was talking to a priest in the ECUSA earlier today, and he said a big barrier to his leaving is that he has been charged with being a pastor of souls. ...So Islam is confused in that they seem to think God needs things, and will harm others to give God what he needs. Saturday - March 18, 2006Women and the PriesthoodIn fact, one of the great defenses
against the various heretical sects - in particular the gnostic ones, who
claimed to hold some secret knowledge that they had from the Apostles, was to
point them to all of the Churches founded by the Apostles and point out that all
of these Churches were teaching the same thing - and not this "secret"
knowledge.... This wasn't the basis of why they were declared heretical - that
basis was the various doctrines they held which were at odds with the Church,
and their failure to be obedient to the Church
itself.
...The assumption has become that the no women in the priesthood was merely the outcome of a misogynist culture amongst both the Jews, Greeks, etc. etc. Not to deny that there were, even amongst the Fathers at times, a view of women as weak and frail and generally not capable.... Chrysostom), because at the same time, if you get him started on the qualities of some of the various martyrs, virgins, etc. in the Church he portrays them in a different light. ...Wright handily addresses this), etc. He interestingly allows women to teach converts (Acts 18:26 ), and to have leadership roles amongst the laity, but he does not allow them to teach in Church (1 Tim.... This, of course is not true for certain protestant denominations, who, lacking the Tradition of the Church, figure it out on their own). ...Basically, though, skipping the starting point that John Paul II starts with - namely the Sermon on the Mount and the Creation account it points to, we can jump to Paul's explanation that the Church is the bride (female) to Christ (male).... That is how things work (in a general sense) in the marriage relationship, which reflect the way things work in the Church - the groom(Christ) transforms the flesh of the bride (the Church - and more particularly its members).... This leads, itself, to an entire discussion on the other major point of contention in the ECUSA, homosexuality and homosexual behavior. ...This is not accepted by many in the ECUSA, as Anglicanism in general, has drifted farther and farther away (beginning with the Reformation to be sure) from the historic faith. However, if you stick with Christianity as it has always been (for which you need to look toward Orthodoxy or perhaps Rome - although they have done their own drifting ever since the great schism), then you understand that the priest has a more significant job (that there is something significant about the Christian priesthood is hinted at in the NT, but not fully explored, as for instance in Jude 1:11 ). ...The fundamental problem is that protestantism in general, and Anglicanism in particular, has drifted away from the Historic Faith. Tuesday - March 07, 2006Why We Are Doing ThisFor a long time it has been obvious
that the Episcopal Church, by and large, believes things not only other than
what I believe, but often in direct contradiction. This is in reference to all
of the usual suspects, a disbelief in the Bible, dismissal of traditional
Christian views on morality, etc. This has been going on for a while, and I was
willing to stay and fight the fight.... However, the Lord placed along the way,
people who were willing to raise some critical questions about what I was
willing to do to fight the
fight.
...I can only agree to the statement of faith that the AAC requires you to agree to if I sort of close my eyes and plug my nose.... This supposed AngloCatholic group I left several years ago over frustration that they seemed to be a two issue group.... So I went to return only to discover that they now only really needed you to support two sacraments (per the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral). Agreeing to the statement, however means that you are tacitly approving of people who think there are only two sacraments. ...The problem is that I don't believe much of what they do, any more than I believe much of what the rest of the Episcopal Church does. ...As I reflected, I realized that I don't agree with most of the Angican Communion on these key issues, and many more.... I would be in another room somewhere on the campus teaching about Confession, or fasting, about the need to be alive in Christ (therefore in his Church) and grow or that we would end up not being one of the wheat when things are sorted out at the end. And I know that in that other room the group would be taught that they just needed to say the sinner's prayer, and they would be saved for all eternity. ...I reflected on issues we've faced as a parish over the last several years and realized that there was a large contingent of folks who don't seem to believe much, just that they want things to be the way they were when they were growing up. ...I would stay and fight and maybe the day would come that Anglicanism would return to its roots.... However, I realized that the day would likely come, and relatively soon, that my children would ask why it is we don't believe the same things as the bishops we're called to obey. Tuesday - March 07, 2006Information and KnowledgeKnowledge, on the other hand, speaks
of organizing said information in such a way that you gain insights into the
state of things, and can develop plans for moving
forward.
...We've participated in Orthodox fasting, have Icons in our house, you name it, I've even attended various services (3 Divine liturgies in 2 jurisdictions, plus Vespers and the Sunday of Orthodoxy one year). But this week I finally made contact with the priest at our local Greek Orthodox Church and realized how much I really need to discuss with him. ...In other words, I have all of the information you could possibly want about Orthodoxy, but precious little knowledge.... Often they are not, and to their detriment and the detriment of others, IMO. Sunday - February 26, 2006The AntiochianHe's at a difficult place where he
doesn't understand what is causing us to consider leaving the ECUSA, and yet he
isn't patient enough to want hear it
all.
...We are going to attempt to keep to an Orthodox fast during Western Lent this year, but it will be difficult. If you follow the entire Orthodox "program" you end up meatless for 8 weeks, and dairyless for the better part of 7 weeks.... Its a great spiritual discipline and since we in the West have relegated it to a once a year giving up of sweets, the "traditional" Christian fast seems too hard. |