By now many have read this headline and have rolled their eyes,
shaken their heads, and repeated the cliches that i have heard a
thousand times (which is impressive, since I have only been Orthodox
for 8 months).
Many are nothing but racial slurs, and I won’t repeat them, the others have to do with endless petty squabbles, no one’s in charge, they are still living in the 4th century, rude and don’t know how to behave out in the real world....
I must admit, I was a bit embarrassed at first reading the short
press release on the EWTN site. It did sound like bad manners, or at
that least someone should have done their homework before giving the
Church of Estonia a seat at the table.
And I read and prayed, and read some more. And then I read a few other
news releases, most saying the exact same thing, except one name kept
showing up. A name I recognized. Someone who’s writings I have been
reading for quite some time; someone I have grown to deeply respected
and love; and in an article dated 28 May 2007 Bishop Hilarion of
Vienna and Austria made a prediction. Though stated much more
eloquently, basically he said this meeting was a train wreck waiting to
happen......not because of any of the cliche reasons mentioned above,
but because of something that happened months before; a result of a
general misunderstanding (still?) of how the Orthodox church works.
And it does work, and works well, for almost 2,000 years. The Headline said:
You can read the interview with Bishop Hilarion, if this is a
subject that interests you. But unless you have a dog in this fight, I
find that most people would rather not put in the effort it takes to come to the conclusion, that the Church is a Mystery.
...A reason I write any on this with fear and trepidation, and why this post may disappear tomorrow.
Once you get a glimmer of how things work (and that’s all you can get, I know people who want to nail things down and hate the M word, will be tempted to say this is impossible to remedy and might as well cut and run. It is impossible for us, but not for God.
After reading the story behind the story that will probably never be told, (it’s too complicated for a short press release), though I pray fervently every day for unity, I found myself almost grateful that they walked out in protest. Nothing against Estonia, they were just a catalyst for something much larger and more important.
It was about impatience, frustration, assumptions, and most of
all, that the East not being forcefully pressed into the mold of the West (which I am not critcizing....that is just as much a Mystery to me), even if
it would streamline the move toward unity....and even if there needs to be changes made on the Orthodox side, which may be, and is possible.
And it may sound like the committee, and Cardinal Kasper, and Constantinople were on Terra firma, after all an Ecumenical council, one we recognize, did give Constantinople the place of "first among equal", as the "New Rome", so to make things more complicated it appears we can't even abide by what we claim to agree but it is more about what "first among equals" means...there has been no similar development in the East as in the West on that office; To identify the Orthodox Church,is a matter of who She is in communion with, as it's not Rome, Constantinople, or Moscow (I know about the whole embarrassing "Third Rome ", Where the Bishop is (the local Bishop, holding guarding the True Faith, which is Union with Christ) there is the Church. Each local Church is this way is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. And it is only in as far as she is in Union with Christ she is in perfect union with every other Bishop and his flock who holds the same faith.
Should there be a system that creates a single voice for the Orthodox Church, to make the process of reunion, and help settle issues that She has never been confronted with before? If it is, then it will be done under the guidance and seal of the Holy Spirit, who has led us this far by faith......and had never failed. But when? Timeliness to accomplish things are a whole other ball of wax. Father Reardon likes to joke the orthodox church has two speeds-the fast track--it may be done in less than 200 years, and the slow track....things that we are "still" working on.
Father Freeman is right, by all standards, we are a miserable failure, held together "moment by moment, on the love and forgiveness of each by all and of all by each. Either the Bishops of the Church love and forgive each other or the whole thing falls apart."(Glory to God for all things, The Church as Failure.)
We find our unity, our Faith, our survival, and our Ecclesiology in the Cross, in humility. Contrary to rumor, we do have Doctrinal standards, creeds confessions, but they are not the "entrance" to the Church, nor the glue that holds Her together; that place is held by Christ, and a direct encounter with Him through the Worship and Liturgy of the Church (a poor summary of Father Fenton's excellent and informative words on Creeds and Confessions in Orthodoxy) See the link for it on his Website, Conversi ad Dominum
There is nothing I pray for more than to be able to commune at the same table as my Catholic brothers and sisters, but not at the price of overturning what has safeguarded the faith for 2,000 years (not to mention the Faith that is saving my own soul), in exchange for expediency. And I will ( By Mercy) be at that table when they finally are able to share it together, as the Whole church is present at every celebration of the Eucharist.
By modern standards may it borders on the ridiculous. It should
have fallen apart centuries ago, and looks like it may collapse
tomorrow, but today it stands, so we keep working toward unity.
How can you run an any organization like that.
Seems the “Aha” moment for Cardinal Kasper, the Vatican’s President
of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (who is still
trying nobly to nail jello to a wall), came just a couple years ago:
when he realized the Orthodox Church is not an entity in any way
resembling Roman Catholic structure, headed by an Eastern Pope (though
he very generously tried to help elect one for us---it would
make
everyone’s job easier and the process go faster).
He said: "We are increasingly conscious of the fact that an Orthodox Church does not really exist" -
(From FIRST THINGS, May, 2002;scroll down and see “Multi-Speed Ecumenism”)
“...the Orthodox Church is a family whose members freely associate together through the matrix of the Common Orthodox Faith, Whose model is the Holy Trinity, a pattern of unity in diversity. There is no such thing as authority being imposed from outside, even by some politically powerful or wealthy, secular-style organization. Authority in the Orthodox Church is not conferred in some secular, legalistic manner, as a result of financial wealth or political power, or even numbers of faithful. Authority in the Orthodox Church is granted by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love. The voice of that authority is heard through Church Councils, whether Pan-Orthodox or merely local, or through inspired individuals...
O Cardinal, you have been looking in the wrong places! Seek, and ye shall find!“
I know that’s not much help when you really need to talk to whoever is in charge of this chaotic mess, called the Orthodox Church.
Lord have Mercy on us all, and forgive me if any of my words offend. It is not my intention.
I am just trying to make a defense for what looks indefensible Maybe I should leave that to God.