This was an excellent post on historic Christian society and the unfortunate rise of the nation state, until the part about the modern ecumenical movement started, at which point it devolved into equivocation (there are many types of ecumenism, not one heretical monolith) and a very unsophisticated critique (repeated ad nauseam on sites like orthodoxinfo) of Lumen Gentium’s “subsistit in.”
Ecumenism that understands Orthodoxy and Catholicism in a historically accurate way understands that we have largely the same theology, the same ecclesiology (yes, including “subsistit in”), and compatible religious cultures.
I will add that Catholic-Orthodox and Oriental-Orthodox ecumenism are unique among modern ecumenical movements (different than dialogue with Protestants or interfaith dialogue) in that they are not centered around papering over differences, but rather healing historic divides to the extent possible. Their aim is atoning for past sins, not ignoring the effects of those sins.
Actually, it took me three reads. And yes, it is worth it. There is a lot of the venerable St. Nicholas in Fr. Stephen.
ReplyDeleteThis was an excellent post on historic Christian society and the unfortunate rise of the nation state, until the part about the modern ecumenical movement started, at which point it devolved into equivocation (there are many types of ecumenism, not one heretical monolith) and a very unsophisticated critique (repeated ad nauseam on sites like orthodoxinfo) of Lumen Gentium’s “subsistit in.”
ReplyDeleteEcumenism that understands Orthodoxy and Catholicism in a historically accurate way understands that we have largely the same theology, the same ecclesiology (yes, including “subsistit in”), and compatible religious cultures.
I will add that Catholic-Orthodox and Oriental-Orthodox ecumenism are unique among modern ecumenical movements (different than dialogue with Protestants or interfaith dialogue) in that they are not centered around papering over differences, but rather healing historic divides to the extent possible. Their aim is atoning for past sins, not ignoring the effects of those sins.