Yes, thinking. Thinking about unity. Thinking about the Church. You know I am an Orthodox Christian, a Greek. You may also know that I really love this ‘flavor’ of Christianity because it keeps alive the language of the Greek Bible. Yes, I am ‘an original languages Bible man,’ and I am always on the lookout for anyone else who can find inspiration and spiritual strength from going into the storehouse of God's Word, to bring out things new and old.Why am I thinking about unity? Well, because the Orthodox Church in America thinks that it needs to be united. United? In what way that matters is it not united? Εις κυριος μια πιστις εν βαπτισμα, one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5), isn't that enough for us? And what's more, we are millions of Christians who with the rest of the Orthodox world confess One God in a Triad of Persons: heavenly Father, only-begotten Son, and Spirit holy.
Then, there's the Symbol. What symbol? The Symbol—yes, I know, most Christians call it the Creed, but I prefer ‘Symbol.’ Why? Because ‘creed’ instantly cages in one's thoughts and makes one a prisoner of ‘religion,’ but this is no mere religion. It's not about what I believe, but in Whom I trust—πιστευω, I trust—which includes but goes beyond mere belief. It is the Person of Jesus Christ, not ideas about Him, that saves. Well, He saves those who trust Him.
So what is this unity that we lack? I am at home in my Greek church, and receive the Holy Mysteries there. And I am at home in the American church, and receive them there too. And when I worship with the Eritreans, swaying and praying with them as they beat drums and shake sistrums, I am at home, and if I am prepared, there too I partake of the Mysteries. I am at home in the church of Antioch, and the Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians also welcome me among them. Everywhere I go, He is there, and we break bread together.
Home is home, and there is only one Church, and within her the many mansions manifest even in this world that the Lord promises to prepare for us in the world to come. I think sometimes that bishops, priests and deacons think that the unity of the Church depends on them. Well, in a way it does. They are ikons of our unity. They provide a focal point for our meetings in the Lord, for worship, for instruction, for philanthropy, for mercy. But they cannot add anything by pronouncement or jurisdiction to that which Christ already provides to those who trust Him.
‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight… But now my kingdom is from another place,’ says Jesus Christ to those who like Pilate would ask Him if He is a king. ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’ (John 18:36-37). Sometimes I think Christians feel they must present a ‘united front’ to the world, so that they can make an ‘adequate response’ to the challenges the world throws at them. Yet Jesus says, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight…’
Human nature, even when it is tamed and has begun to change into the Image that it reflects, still labors in a weed-ridden field. None of us is infallible or beyond failure to grasp the most obvious truths. The more we exalt ourselves or let ourselves be exalted, the greater the danger that we may fall prey to illusions. Having received in full measure the grace of God in His abundant mercy, we think we have to strive and labor to purchase for ourselves what He has given us free of charge. Unity in the Holy Triad is one of these gifts. Not recognizing Divine Unity we may overlook it as we hurry to achieve human unity.
There is nothing systematic about unity. When it is real, it just happens. The Church stays together because it wants to be together, and it does not do this to please, or to threaten, the world. How will the world know—and know for sure—that the Orthodox Church in America is united, is one? Not because we are all under a single hierarchy in chain-of-command jurisdictional formation. Not because our ‘spokesmen’ can pronounce and pontificate on current events and issues. No, the world will know that we are one in the way that Jesus Christ says it will.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:22-23
4 comments:
Please bear with me, because I was a little confused regarding your remarks about receiving Holy Communion. It is my understanding that only the Orthodox can receive Communion in an Orthodox Church, and that they are forbidden (by the Orthodox)to receive Communion in the Roman Catholic Church or any other church. However, I think I understand your concerns about administrative unity--as a power struggle, and as system to present to the world. Yet, I have mixed feelings about it because the Roman Catholics have done this without losing the diversity or spirituality of their faithful. Is it the possibility of an Orthodox Vatican that you are concerned about? Or, is it just the possible loss of focus on Christ, on trust, on the triumph of an illusion over the love of one's neighbor? I do not mean to challenge you--I just feel conflicted within myself about the concept of a physical unity of the nationalistic or cultural branches of Orthodoxy in the USA; thinking that unity is a good thing, yet knowing that an American-based national or geographical unity will not necessarily produce spiritual unity (within Orthodoxy as well as with other denominations).
Melanie,
Perhaps you are focusing too closely on my remarks about receiving communion in a variety of different churches to notice that the point I am making is that an Orthodox Christian is admitted to communion in any other Orthodox church. I am not referring to communion in any churches but Orthodox ones. My point is that on a grass-roots day-to-day level, Orthodoxy is already united. The concern here is that administrative unity can sometimes have adverse effects on the Church in other areas, doing much worse than 'robbing Peter to pay Paul.'
The Orthodox Church sometimes errs in interpreting the canon law too laxly, at other times too strictly, according to one's personal taste. Canon law says that there should be a single Orthodox hierarchy in each country. Following it strictly, which is what people are thinking we should do, means there should be a 'Church of America' in the same sense and with the same practical effects as there is a 'Church of Greece' or 'Church of Russia'. The problem arises in that the modern world consists of nation states which are anything but homogeneous. (This has always been the case, however, to some degree.)
My point is that Orthodoxy has a strong tradition of contextualizing faith to culture and language. That is how there came to be national Orthodox churches. But the fact is, there is only one Orthodox Church, as to faith, but it is administered in at least two dozen 'national jurisdictions'. America, Canada, Australia—indeed, any country that is not a historic Orthodox 'homeland'—is inhabited by Orthodox of many ethnic origins and, hence, the continued rationale for a multitude of jurisdictions, each within its own ethnic framework.
It is this weakness of Orthodoxy that is its strength: diverse yet one, not by coercion but voluntarily. That is why there can be no institution of a 'supreme head' or 'vicar of Christ on earth' as in Roman Catholicism. The major difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism (to use the ordinary terms for these two groups) is not so much in doctrine or dogma as it is in administration and organization. To the Orthodox, Catholicism seems too controlled, too centralized and even impersonal. To Catholics, Orthodoxy seems like a administrative free-for-all, a kind of tribal and chaotic form of Catholicism.
I hope this clears up your misunderstanding about what I was trying to express in this post. Thanks, as always, for your comments.
Thank you for extending your essay with further explanation. Your love for and devotion to the Church shine through your words. At the risk of again focusing too closely, what is it that prohibits the Orthodox and Catholics (using the these terms as the common labels) from receiving Communion in one another's churches? Is it an organizational issue rather than doctrinal? If I am not mistaken, there are other churches, such as some Presbyterian churches, which permit anyone (member or visitor) to receive Communion and would consider it cruel to turn people away. I am wondering (and maybe I should do this research myself) if there is a biblical foundation that only the members of the particular church (Orthodox or Catholic) are allowed to receive Communion. Again, I could be wrong, but I think the Orthodox and the Catholics accept one another's baptisms--a convert does not have to be baptized again. I should probably study more Church history.
Currently the Orthodox Church, in most of its branches, will accept any Orthodox Christian to receive the Holy Mysteries without further qualification, but a few will not.
There are some Orthodox communities where the clergy feel they must be sure that the prospective communicant is not only Orthodox in faith but worthy as to life before they will be welcome at the Cup.
There is no intercommunion between the Orthodox and any other church body, officially, but some exceptions are made. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and possibly Lutherans have sometimes been admitted to Orthodox communion in an emergency, because Holy Church in its humility recognizes that Christ can and does work outside the visible walls of the Church.
Thanks for your comment. ;)
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