Barriers to Unity Part 2: Nationalism and Thinking in Terms of "Diaspora"

"Christ, in his humble condescension, is hidden throughout all mankind" 

+ Metropolitan Georges (Khodre)

"If the passing millennium was an era of religious-nationalistic hostility, could we possibly hope that the next one will be a time for nationalities to come to a respectful appreciation for each other? What an incredible witness it would be if Orthodox nationalities would assert the Gospel-based, charitable and prudent attitudes towards other members of the human race!"

+ Fr. Alexander Garklavs

Culture and ethnicity, diversity of the different Orthodox cultures can be a very positive thing, but what is often dangerous is the walled in mentality, of "them vs. us" that has created Jurisdictionalism and Orthodox "Denominationalism" in North America. Culture and Ethnicity has also been recapitulated by the Cross and Resurrection, and as such has the potential for restoration instead of the fallenness which creates the idol of nationalism.

Orthodoxy: An Unlimited Expression

Orthodoxy: An Unlimited Expression
by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios
(Recorded by Yale Divinity School on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - 5:30pm)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um_h0HwMRaw

Transcript

St Isaac the Syrian and God's Love

Fr Aidan Kimel has posted a lovely (and challenging) series on St Isaac the Syrian's views on God's love, judgement, penal sub, and Orthodox understanding of salvation.

The writings of St Isaac challenges us I think because of the paradox and incomprehensibility of the astonishing wonder of God's love. Perhaps again we must appeal to an apophatic paradox: God's Love is incomprehensibly beyond what I think love is, yet this love has been encountered and can be touched in and through the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We partake of Bread and Wine that is Body and Blood. We behold the Man, Who is God in the Flesh.

We are in wonder and ask the Theotokos to pray for us, for how humble is she who in her womb, she embraced Him whom the heavens could not contain? It is this tremendous paradox that humbles us and yet raises us, beyond compare. May we live out our Baptism and glorify God with His Saints.

In regards to the universalism of St Isaac the Syrian, I agree with Fr Aidan that we must tread carefully on the subject, and realize our own sinfulness and readily repent, growing in union with God, growing in union with the infinite depths and mysteries of Divine Love, that one day we may have the humility to love in the Way and Type of Christ.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of Goodness and Giver of Life, Come dwell in us, cleanse us of all stain, guard us from the Enemy, teach us to love, repent and pray, free us from delusion and the fallen passions, and save our souls, O Good One.

May our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ the Son of God, Who we Glorify with the Father and the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

ps. I highly recommend Fr Aidan's blog http://afkimel.wordpress.com and have also included the series in one big post below:

Orthodox Interchurch Dialogue (Critical Look at Challenges)

If you've five hours this weekend (especially if you are Coptic Orthodox) I highly recommend listening to the following talk:

Orthodox Interchurch Dialogue (Critical Look at Challenges)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDv_VsNxQjM

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Divine Liturgy

On the Divine Liturgy Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkAz950LXHU

On the Divine Liturgy Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-f47DL5fWg

What is the Gospel?

What is the Gospel?
An Orthodox Approach
(but keep in mind this is only brief description and not intended as a formula or a package)
http://saintpaulemmaus.org/for-visitors/what-is-the-gospel-message/

The word Gospel is used all the time in the media, by religious people, and even as a genre of music. But what is the Gospel?

Adam’s Lament

Adam’s Lament

by St Silouan the Athonite

Adam, father of all mankind, in paradise knew the sweetness of the love of God; and so when for his sin he was driven forth from the garden of Eden, and was widowed of the love of God, he suffered grievously and lamented with a great moan. And the whole desert rang with his lamentations, for his soul was racked as he thought, 'I have distressed my beloved God'. He sorrowed less after paradise and the beauty thereof; for he sorrowed that he was bereft of the love of God, which insatiably, at every instant, draws the soul to Him.

In the same way the soul which has known God through the Holy Spirit, but has afterwards lost grace experiences the torment that Adam suffered. There is an aching and a deep regret in the soul that has grieved the beloved Lord.

Adam pined on earth, and wept bitterly, and the earth was not pleasing to him. He was heartsick for God, and this was his cry:

Aquinas and Orthodoxy

Aquinas and Orthodoxy
by Fr Andrew Louth

Talk given to the Oxford Orthodox Christian Student Society, at the Danson Room, Trinity College, Oxford, October 20th, 2011, 19:00-20:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqa74WEj03s

Transcript:

Barriers to Unity Part 1: Antipaty and Ennui

One of the telling things that Fr Kenneth points out in his book "Common heritage, divided communion: the declines and advances of inter-Orthodox relations from Chalcedon to Chambesy" is related to implenting joint commission on a lay level and some of the barriers to doing so:

"There are, at the same time, Orthodox faithful and clergy who not only consider the “other side” as heretical and even know much of the history of the “Chalcedonian schism” but (in varying degrees) deny outright the progress made in inter-Orthodox dialogue. As a consequence, they sometimes openly brand faithful from outside their own communion as schismatics or heretics in an archaic, “medieval” fashion."

Orthodoxy as the Basis for Unity

"I am deeply convinced that Orthodoxy; which is the basis of every interaction between us and other Churches, is a unifying factor not a divisive one. I am also convinced that adhering to it is the right way. With love and humility, we strengthen the common factors that bind us all together. There will undoubtedly be differences, not in essentials, and this a source of propitious diversity. This shall be considered a richness to us, and not a deviation of our adherence to Christ.

Therefore, we hope to accomplish all steps towards a full sacramental unity with our brethren in the Eastern non-Chalcedonian Churches, based on what we have agreed upon in Chambesy as a positive result of a long and extensive dialogue. If we realize this, we should be able to show that we have offered a living example of the credibility of our endeavors to achieve unity and to witness to our loyalty to the Lord." 

+ Patriarch John X, Vision for the Antiochian Orthodox Church, February 17, 2013,  http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2013/02/john-xs-vision-for-patriarchate-of.html

Receiving and Giving

"I was walking on Queen street and a couple that was panhandling called me over. They asked me to open my hands and I did. In my hands they emptied all the money they had collected in their half eaten paper cup. The man said" father we want to help you since you have helped us". Over the years they have blessed me by letting me help them, but now I was able to also bless them by receiving their gift. As Jesus reminds us it is more blessed to give than to receive."

+ Fr. Roberto Ubertino

Not the same as the Moral Life

"The Christian life is not the same thing as the moral life. It cannot be described as a series of right choices (the Jesus choices). Our lives are not bifurcated into right and wrong. Our paths are far more complex."

+ Fr Stephen Freeman, http://glory2godforallthings.com/2013/03/05/what-would-you-do/

Knowing God

"Communion with God is arrived at through prayer, and this study is precisely a study of prayer. If to a certain extent I enter into the field of dialectics, it is not in the hope of convincing by argument but simply to observe that the paths of prayer traverse even this sphere of human existence. Every attempt to rationalise spiritual experience may be met with a variety of objections, because each one of us, in the ideal realm of his own contemplation of the world, is at liberty to establish whatever scale of values he pleases." + Archmandrite Zacharias

"It is impossible for one who follows this path (to contemplate the perfect holiness of God...and to acquire sanctity) to indulge in abstract rational cogitation even concerning the mysteries of the faith." + Archmandrite Zacharias

"Some there are who argue about faith, and there is no end to such disputes, but we must not quarrel about faith, but only pray to God and His Mother, and the Lord will enlighten us not by means of argument - and will enlighten us speedily. Many men have made a study of all the faiths but the true faith they have not come to know as they should; but if a man will pray to God in humility that the Lord may enlighten him, the Lord will make known to him how greatly He loves mankind. The proud man thinks he can comprehend everything with his mind but God does not grant this.But we know the Lord: He has made Himself manifest to us in the Holy Spirit, and the soul knows Him, and is joyful and glad and at ease, and in this lies our hallowed life." + St Silouan

Saving Communion

Saving Communion
by Fr Stephen Freeman
http://glory2godforallthings.com/2013/03/07/saving-communion/

Few things are as fundamental to the New Testament as the reality of communion (koinonia). It means a commonality, a sharing and participation in the same thing. It is this commonality or sharing that lies at the very heart of our salvation. This communion is described in Christ’s “high priestly prayer”:

The Mystery and the Process of Death

"The last moments of death are perhaps one of the most profound moments in a person's life...we should do everything we can to ensure we with do not deprive someone of their last, perhaps prayerful encounter of this mystery of their death...and their life."

+ An Orthodox Priest

The Mystery and the Process of Death

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/07/the-mystery-and-process-of-death.html

An interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and St. Vlassios by Pavel Chirila, Professor and Doctor at St Irene’s Hospital in Bucharest (Romania).

May Be One

Fr Stephen mentions that the prayer of our Lord Christ that "we may be one" is particularly Eucharistic and Ecclesial and not ecumenical. (http://glory2godforallthings.com/2013/02/11/america-and-the-perversion-of-christianity/)

At first I wonder if my current concerns are also affected by the American Evangelical ideas of ecumenism. I think that yes there is a sort of fallen ecumenism which is focused on reductions. However I think when we say Oneness in terms of Orthodoxy being Orthodoxy we must keep in mind that this is not a label or an appeal to denominationalism.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom On The Prodigal Son

On The Prodigal Son
by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

How simple and how restrained are the words in which the Gospel describes his cruel rejection of his father, and prepares his departure into the far, the strange country! “Father - give me my part of thy inheritance!” Do these words not mean: “Father - I can't wait until your death! You are still strong, and I am young; it is now that I want to reap the fruits of thy life, of thy labours; later they will be stale. Let us come to an agreement: for me you are dead; give me what belongs to me or what would belong to me after your actual death, and I will go, and I will live the life I have chosen”.

On Orthodox Worship

"I suppose some people have zeal, but the point is actually not to have a bunch of emotional ecstasy. Worship, like all of Orthodox life, is to be sober – absolutely not dour or down-in-the-mouth, but primarily connecting with God in the innermost center of our being – which in Orthodox Theology is the heart, but please do not understand this as having to do with emotionalism.

The Ethiopian Liturgy: A Bird's Eye View

The Ethiopian Liturgy: A Birds Eye View
by Rev. Dr. Mebratu Kiros Gebru

Fr Mebratu's PhD Dissertation: "Liturgical Cosmology: The Theological and Sacramental Dimensions of Creation in the Ethiopian Liturgy", from St Michael's College, Toronto, 2012

http://youtu.be/wU3RQieF55Q

Transcriber's Note: Fr Mebratu mentions a lot of very very good points, however there are some categories in this particular presentation which appeal to "Western Scholastic Methods" or maybe Roman Catholic Systematic Theology which divides Liturgy into identifiable parts and compartments. Ie. the danger being of course that one kills the frog when one dissects it to study it. 

Father does briefly reference interdependence in the Divine Liturgy but his lecture doesn't emphasize that the Sacrament of Communion cannot be isolated from Sacrament of the Assembly, Sacrament of the Kingdom, Sacrament of Entrance, Sacrament of the Word, Sacrament of Unity, Sacrament of Anaphora, etc. 

The other issue is that Fr Mebratu mentions modern absence of Catechumens which suggests that either the catechumenate is not in use as a missiological apparatus or that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church does not have Catechumens. One would hope that the existence of the rite of Dismissial of Catechumens would encourage the Church (this includes all Orthodox Rites) to have active work in Catechizing those we 'mission' too, and encouraging the use of the Catechumenate as the Traditional method of evangelism and mission instead of appealing to heterodox methodologies and presuppositions. If Orthodox missiology is Liturgical, Trinitarian and focused on Theosis, then the Official use of the office of the Catechumenate is an integral sacramental work of the Church, for the synergistic cooperation of man's union with God. 

Still, this lecture does give a fascinating insight into the Traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Glory to the Holy Trinity. 

Transcript:

Blurred Lines

Blurred Lines: Priestly Pastoral Care & the Responsibility of the Laity
A lecture by Archpriest Steven Ritter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzSKUOWB7zo

Transcript:

On Worship

"It’s not “limiting” God nor “legalistic” to be faithful to what He gave us. The worship “in spirit and in truth” is precisely the vast tradition of Orthodox liturgical worship given by Christ and then elaborated within the Church. To worship in spirit and in truth does not mean that that deposit from Christ is abandoned in favor of the whims of modern taste and secular culture. Christ Himself kept the Jewish calendar and participated in synagogue and temple liturgy, so interpreting His words in such a way as to draw condemnation of His own actions doesn’t really make much sense"

+ Fr Andrew Stephen Damick

A recent post by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick discusses the appeal of the "Rock Band and Sermon" package that has become the tradition of American Evangelical Mega-church approaches. 

Sometimes these trends also have appeal among Orthodox living in the Lands of Immigration. One might hear that there is 'worship' music and then there is Liturgy or Liturgical music, but such dichotomies and categories feed into the secular presuppositions and also imply that Liturgy is not worship but something else.

On Freedom and Choice

“We live in an age whose chief moral value has been determined, by overwhelming consensus, to be the absolute liberty of personal volition, the power of each of us to choose what he or she believes, wants, needs or must possess …." 

+ David Bentley Hart, In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments.

 “unconstrained personal license might actually serve to make society as a whole less free by making others powerless against the consequences of the ‘rights’ we choose to exercise…" 

+ David Bentley Hart, In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments.

“We are free not merely because we can choose, but only when we choose well. For to choose poorly, through folly or malice, in a way that thwarts our nature and distorts our proper form, is to enslave ourselves to the transitory, the irrational, the purposeless, the subhuman”

+ David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions.

The Place or the Person

The following post by Joel Miller asks the question if place or person is required for change?

"Ever feel like a change in circumstances would make life easier? You’re not alone.