There is a challenge within Orthodoxy, one which rings truer now than it even did in the time of St. Justin Popovic simply because we are further down the road. Truer because in this age, the call for unity is greater as we see the world tearing at the very fiber of the soul of humanity... more pain, anguish, confusion and suffering in the world that destroys our bonds as the body of Christ and as the human race. This challenge is a call to defend Holy Orthodox Christianity not by leaving the arms of the battered church, but by standing in defense, behind her walls as sentinels.
"Hence, a division, a splitting up of the Church is ontologically and essentially impossible. A division within the Church has never occurred, nor indeed can one take place, while apostasy from the Church has and will continue to occur after the manner of those voluntarily fruitless branches which, having withered, fall away from the eternally living theanthropic Vine—the Lord Christ (John. 15:1-6). From time to time, heretics and schismatics have cut themselves off and have fallen away from the one and indivisible Church of Christ, and have thus ceased to be members of the Church and parts of her theanthropic body. The first to fall away were the Gnostics, then the Arians, then the Macedonians, then the Monophysites, then the Iconoclasts, then the Roman Catholics, then the Protestants, then the Uniates, and so on—all the other members of the legion of heretics and schismatics." - St. Justin Popovic
Let us meditate for a moment on the fact that this was written by someone who never left Holy Orthodoxy.
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I will not get too much into depth on the subjects of what brought us to the point we are at today, with bishops cutting off communion with patriarchs. Much has been said for and against, by greater and more learned men than myself. I will speak my mind as any good Orthodox Christian ought to regarding the term “canonical” and how it is used both as a sword and a shield.
Having taken my stance, I find myself now having the words to explain it. May our Loving Lord Jesus Christ be a light unto my path and I pray that if I am lead astray that our Lord would look upon me as He always does and mercifully lead me to the truth where I am wrong. May He also never allow my words to lead others astray, so that I may not be convicted of a greater sin. Amen.
Certain arguments on both sides (Ecumenist vs. Anti-Ecumenist) that I have come across have within them a grain of truth. To demonstrate this I will use two major articles from two very reputable theologians in our time. These two statements will basically summarize the arguments so at that time I will offer a third argument of my own, one which is the very stance which I have taken and one which I believe God Himself has lead me to. After the third argument I will express a few of my own opinions on the matter. To God be the Glory and never my own. Amen.
From the “anti-ecumenist” perspective:
What makes a church truly canonical? Is it not the adherence to what has been taught
everywhere, at all times, and by all the Orthodox Fathers of the Church (St. Vincent of Lerins
445)? If we cannot confess our faith and identify it with the faith of the Church's confessors and
saints, then indeed we are not confessing the Orthodox Christian faith, but we are in reality
mocking our ancient Orthodox Faith. But first of all, pray that we may not be lead astray by the
"sirens of ecumenism.” We need to be bonded to the spiritual ark of the church and not give in to
the compromised faith of those who have rejected the Orthodox Faith and accepted a new
adulterated faith, which no longer represents the faith confessed by the Holy Fathers, that is, "the
faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). - ROCAUSA – Canonical Churches – What does it mean?
The Body of Christ consists of all those who confess Orthodoxy. Even in the face of long periods of separation over matters of Faith and doctrine, Orthodox who condemned each other as errant have often had to reconcile and recognize each other's Orthodoxy on the basis of the decisions of unifying synods and councils. Those who prematurely preach the alienation of believers with whom they disagree are at risk of total condemnation by these unifying synods, and especially if, as the case seems to be with ecumenism, they hold to popular and trendy views that in essence violate the integrity of our Faith. - ArchBp. Chrysostomos of Etna
From the “ecumenist” side:
‘The union of the Churches is not a manufactured article; one discovers and finds it through obedience to Christ, in whom unity is already accomplished.’ - Karl Barth
“Visible, organic unity, when eventually it comes to pass, will be a miracle of God. Our task is to remove the human obstacles that hinder the accomplishment of this divine miracle, and thus to clear the way so that there may be free scope for the Lord to act. ‘Receptive ecumenism’ signifies, therefore, learning and receiving from one another; but this will prove effective only if on both sides we are seeking to learn and receive from God.- Bp. Kallistos Ware
The quotes I chose were not of the hardline ilk on either side, but were from those men who prove to be rational and God-loving men. This is not to imply that others are not, but that the majority seem to have different agendas. Why did I choose these quotes? Because I believe that in demonstrating the basis for my opinion, I should look rationally, with all the goodness and love that I can muster as a seeker of truth, at what is presented. Are there talking heads within the Ecumenical movement that have gone off the deep-end? Of course?! The flavor of the words of certain people like Patriarch Bartholomew et al should make any good Orthodox Christian want to spit. He and his recent predecessors have been on a run to make all Eastern Orthodox Christianity uniform, streamlined in governance and in outer appearance.
The agendas I have chosen to steer clear of on either side of this subject are 1.) A belief that the Church of Christ is somehow broken or in disunity. As an Orthodox Christian I believe as all Orthodox believe, that She is the Church and that others have broken away from Her. Rome made it's choice. Protestantism never even had a chance since it broke away from Rome, not Orthodoxy. 2.) A belief that we must “wall ourselves off” from the rest of the world which in my mind seems too much like elitism and smacks of gnostic tendencies if taken too far.
Looking closer at what anti-ecumenists are doing, by cutting off communion with certain bishops or “World Orthodoxy” as a whole, I can understand why. It is a reaction to protect their flocks, to protect the church from infiltration of modernist and humanist tendencies. Who can blame them? We have seen in recent history that Ecumenism can lead to terrible consequences. Vatican II proved that given the freedom to do so, people within the church will go as far as they can. The old saying “give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves”, proves true. New introductions into the liturgy of Rome of pagan, Buddhist, Unitarian Universalist and much more happened soon after Vatican II. For us Orthodox, this is a scary thought, that our faith could be defiled in that way.
There is also the tendency in this country to have a very apocalyptic view of the near and present future. That being stated, it seems to have influenced Orthodox parishes from mainstream Protestantism with the great influx of converts, including convert priests. With this view, one can express that the main goal of all ecumenism is to create a one world religion which is controlled by the Anti-Christ. While this has been a belief in Christendom from almost the beginning, it has taken its current form with the dawning of semi-public, political Freemasonry and the New World Order language from our world leaders in this country and abroad.
I can not agree that all ecumenism is bad, however. After studying in depth the Christological language of the early church fathers and the history of the Chalcedon incident, it is evident to me that our separation with (at the very least) the Coptic, Indian and Ethiopian Oriental Orthodox Churches is pointless. In my opinion this issue comes down to the formula which St Cyril used to explain the natures and essence of Christ. This is at least a good starting point and much is already being done in this movement. For those who do not wish to reconcile our differences, I have found a lack of love in their language which is bothersome and some of it sounds more like squabbling at the very least, xenophobia at the worst, and much less like the language of disciples of Christ.
Having met, prayed and spoken with Ethiopians and Coptic Christians and shared the Eucharist with them, I can come to no other conclusion than that our two churches are One, which only needs the unanimous support of our monastic clergy and patriarchs. It is my belief that much of our laity are ready and waiting and the movement in our clergy is a strong presence as well. Much in the way of education efforts has yet to be done, but I pray that our patriarchs will not delay too long.
As for the “unification” effort between Orthodoxy and the Roman church, I can only say that IF it is to happen, it must happen methodically. My opinion is that there is a need to continue dialogue with Rome, that the Moscow Patriarchate is working along those lines in a safer way than Constantinople, but that we must be cautious not to rush into this. As of late it seems as though we are making headway towards a “political” unification process and one can only wonder if this is the agenda of those who would sacrifice our church doctrine as if it were mere ideology, rather than utter truth. Working politically with the Roman Catholic church is meet and right as long as it stays outside the altar. However, Orthodoxy is not broken. The Gates of Hades has not prevailed against the Church. She is one just as the Lord is one. We are not as some would say, “Two Lungs”. If the Roman Papacy wishes to join the ranks and reclaim Her rightful See as First Among Equals, may our Lord do this wondrous miracle to His glory. But if those behind this movement are nothing more than modernist charlatans, they will be discovered because darkness can not hide in the light. I will not take sides on this subject until more has been revealed. We must be cautious that we do not embitter others for this would hinder true unity.
One bad bishop does not infect the whole church. Even a bad Patriarchate does not infect the whole church. I can find something wrong with every jurisdiction all the way down to the parish level, be it New Calendar or Old, be it “World Orthodoxy” or other. Should I then abandon our beloved church? If so I would find myself lacking communion with my creator. Does this mean that those who have become “schismatic” have somehow lost Christ? If they have taken the appropriate measures to leave with a group of bishops then it seems that Holy Orthodoxy is being preserved canonically, although I can not understand one lone bishop governing his own church, walling himself and his parishes off from everyone else. Men need to be held accountable because our flesh is weak.
This leads me to the subject of Orthodoxy as a visible manifestation. Protestantism and Humanistic ideologues would have us believe in a spiritual, universal and invisible church. Our beloved Holy Fathers of the church always spoke of this invisible church as within the confines of the physical communion. Historically we were always willing to share with each other. Patriarchal vicars and diaconal legates would travel across diocesan lines to meet, pray and commune with each other as a symbol of our unified faith. If a church does wall itself off from all else, it runs the risk of elitism and with the logical conclusion becomes a cult, forgetting the Spirit whilst maintaining the Law.
For the anti-ecumenists to say that the larger jurisdictions of Orthodoxy are somehow all in apostasy by association with ecumenist bishops is not logical. We must assume that if a jurisdiction is maintaining communal unity with another jurisdiction, that at least one is acting in good conscience, with hope, trepidations and the understanding that they are looking after their flock with sincerity. Every bishop knows the spiritual consequences of leading their flock astray.
There has been so much turmoil in our beloved church over the last two thousand years that shows us that just because one bishop or patriarch, sometimes even many, has gone off the deep-end, does not mean that all of Orthodoxy has fallen. Do we believe the words of our Savior or not? We should then cling to our church with the sober understanding that she has in the past persecuted her saints! Should we speak out according to our conscience? Of course, or we are not men! Should we act according to our conscience? Yes, as long as we have prayed and deliberately rooted out all pride with humility and repentance, asking forgiveness and admonishing our fellow Christians to the best of our ability. It is not the duty of one to judge one another, but for all to judge rightly how to live according to his own conscience that we may all be led in Spirit and in truth. We must accept where we are at while always striving to live with and grow closer to our brothers. If they have been led astray, we should always hold out our hand, being willing to have it cut off if necessary but always holding it out to continue to show the love that Christ first showed us. So let us all (Orthodoxy) join in one body, celebrating with each other often, allowing Christ God to work out division amongst us that we may be the physical body of Christ, unconfused. Let us speak up and stand aloud to confess the true faith while loving our brothers and sisters who confess a similar faith. In the words of our Lord Jesus, “If they are not against us, they are for us!”
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