A Church Trial

I received this afternoon an email from my spiritual father containing an excellent letter written by Igumen Philip (Speranza) from the Archdiocese of Canada (which Fr. David enthusiastically endorsed). I don't think there is any copyright issue so I am going to post it in its entirety.

I also wish to take this opportunity to append some comments I made in my previous post regarding the current situation in the OCA. It is very important to remember to approach all things with a Christian spirit. It is also important to remember that due process must be observed. Recent events in North Carolina have demonstrated all too well the dangers of prejudging a case based on rumors and innuendo. To the extent that any of my comments have shown or implied a lack of respect for the presumption of innocence pending a thorough hearing before an impartial court, I repent and ask forgiveness.

It has also been pointed out to me that there is a lot going on behind the scenes which may not be public knowledge. And yes, some of the people who have been calling for more accountability in the Church have been using immoderate and intemperate language. Such actions do no service for the Church.

I remain deeply concerned about the direction events have taken since Holy Pascha. And I am also convinced that Met. +Herman has a conflict of interest which should cause him to recuse himself from any further role in the investigation of the misconduct which has been publicly acknowledged to have occurred. However beyond this I will suspend judgment pending further evidence and the outcome of the forthcoming trial.

THE TEST OF OUR INTEGRITY

Sources report that Protopresbyter Robert Kondratick, former Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, will appear before a Spiritual Court on June 11 to answer various finance-related charges. How the Spiritual Court conducts the trial and what we expect of it will be the acid test of our moral integrity and our spiritual maturity as individual persons and as the Orthodox Church in America. The standard against which we will be measured is found in Micah 6:8, “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

The moral virtue of justice might best be defined as “the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbour.” Justice towards God requires us to give to God the worship, the glory, the respect, the obedience and the love that are His by right; justice towards other people disposes us to respect their rights and to establish (insofar as we are able) that harmony with them which creates and develops equity (fairness and equal treatment) of persons and the common good. To “do justly” means actually living that definition, as God expressly commands through the prophet Amos: “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream (5:24, RSV).”

In the case of Fr. Kondratick, the virtue of justice demands of him what he owes to the Spiritual Court and to the Church as a whole: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In Ephesians 4:15 the Apostle teaches that one inalienable characteristic of spiritual adulthood is “speaking the truth in love;” in verse 25 Paul insists that being “members of one another” in the one Body of Christ demands that “each one of you speak truth with his neighbour” (NKJV). The former Chancellor owes it to all of us to tell us the plain, unvarnished truth about how finances were handled in the Central Church Administration and what his role actually was. If he is guilty of wrong-doing, he must heed the injunction of James 5:16 to “confess your trespasses to one another,” because that is the only way for him and for the Church to even begin to find the healing we so desperately need. If he has made mistakes, bad decisions, and/or errors in judgment, he needs to own up to that as well, and in as much detail as possible. More painfully, he must break the ingrained habit of discretion and speak the truth in love about other leading figures in our drama and about their roles in our financial fiasco. We deserve to know.

By the same token, the Metropolitan, the Accuser, the attorney for the prosecution, and the Spiritual Court, both members and president, owe a great deal to Fr. Kondratick in this matter. They owe him clarity in the charges and full disclosure of the evidence against him. As has been noted elsewhere, in Matthew 18:15, the Lord Jesus Christ commands us bluntly, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault…;” hence, the prosecution has a duty to be very explicit and focused in its charges; to tell the accused in detail why such charges are being brought (i.e., disclosing all the evidence upon which they are based); and to bring only charges for which the accused can legitimately be held responsible.

One would also suggest that, although it be a departure from ordinary practice, because this is so high-profile a case, the prosecution owes it to all of us to disclose publicly exactly what the charges are and to disclose at least the Special Commission’s report, upon which (reportedly) the charges are based. To give the whole Church the mushroom treatment, especially in a case like this, is to withhold from us what is certainly our due, viz., information which concerns all of us.

In that vein, justice also requires the Spiritual Court to cite explicitly, not only to Fr. Kondratick but also to all of us, some Canon, some provision of The Statute, or some officially-sanctioned document which makes crystal-clear what responsibilities and areas of accountability the Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America actually had during the time in question. Simply to assume that the Chancellor bore ultimate responsibility for anything and everything that happened in the Central Church Administration overall and from day to day, especially with respect to financial matters, for example, violates the provisions of Canons 38 and 41 of the Holy Apostles, which lay such responsibility on the shoulders of the Bishop (and by extension here, the Metropolitan), and Canon 26 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which lays responsibility for day to day financial administration on the shoulders of the steward (who corresponds more to the Treasurer than to the Chancellor). Another example: was it the Chancellor’s responsibility to examine each employee’s work product to make sure that person was actually doing the job he/she was paid to do, and doing it properly; and, if so, how often? If failure to do so is one of the charges (directly or by implication), upon what authority is that charge based?

Let us also note that “doing justly” demands that the charges against the former Chancellor be only those “breaches of canonical or moral discipline” over which The Statute of the Orthodox Church in America (Article XI,3) gives the Spiritual Court jurisdiction. Since the one and only penalty prescribed by The Statute for clergymen in these cases is deposition from Holy Orders; and since nowhere do the Sacred Canons order the deposition of any presbyter or deacon guilty of incompetence, errors in judgment, well-intentioned but ultimately bad decisions, and/or sheer stupidity; therefore the charges against Fr. Kondratick can be legitimately only those breaches of discipline which are the product of knowing, deliberate and sinful wrong-doing. Making mistakes and/or generally screwing up are not sufficient canonical grounds for deposition; deliberate wrong-doing is.

Fairly obviously, “doing justly” requires the Spiritual Court to give to the accused, not only all the evidence against him, but also any exculpatory evidence; sufficient time to review the evidence; and both full opportunity and fairly wide latitude to present evidence and testimony to refute the charges. All of these we find in secular courts; and because the Lord tells us in Matthew 5:20 that unless our righteousness “exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,” our standards certainly cannot be any lower than those of secular courts. Admittedly, Article XI,4,d of The Statute empowers the Court to determine what “experts and witnesses” are “acceptable to the court” (one of the more dangerous provisions, in this writer’s opinion); but given the weight of power and authority against the accused, justice demands that the power to exclude “experts and witnesses” as unacceptable be used sparingly, if at all.

The bottom line is really quite simple: for the Spiritual Court, “doing justly” means providing what all of us raised in the traditions of the British and American justice systems would see as a genuinely fair trial.

But to what end? Here, the test is whether or not we genuinely “love mercy.” In a recent reflection, Fr. John Garvey wrote, “ …the calls for heads to roll, the anger, the gleeful desire to see clerics on perp walks, the unwillingness to take to heart the understanding that repentance means not only the confession of the guilty but also the compassion of all the rest of us---all of this is disheartening.” Amen! How often must we hear the words of the Apostle in Galatians 6:1 before we actually take them to heart and live them: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted”? How often will we deliberately choose to pass over in silence the Lord’s insistent teaching in Matthew 18:15ff that the purpose of discipline in the Church is not punishment but to “gain your brother,” to effect repentance on the one side and forgiveness and reconciliation on the other? Calling for Fr. Kondratick’s head does neither.

Further, many of us among the clergy of the Archdiocese of Canada remember well how the then-Chancellor was present at the trial of one of our brother priests in the Spiritual Court of another diocese to which he had been transferred. Perhaps improperly, but with genuine pastoral love, Fr. Kondratick intervened several times, entreating the accused simply to promise to be obedient to his Bishop (in a matter in which the Ruling Hierarch had every right to demand obedience). If the accused had done so, the charges against him would have been dropped. Only because he continued to refuse such obedience was he ultimately deposed. Fr. Kondratick understood clearly that the Scriptural object of that exercise was to gain his brother, not lop off his head.

Do we understand that in his case? Do we understand that to “love mercy” is not optional? Do we understand how chilling we should find the words of the Lord in Matthew 7:2, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you”? Even supposing (purely for the sake of argument in matters which demand real, concrete, substantial proof) that Fr. Kondratick were guilty of everything with which he is charged and of all our worst imaginings: what then? If anyone’s desire and goal is anything other than to gain a brother, that person does not love mercy and will receive none from the Lord.

Which leads us to the point that doing justly and loving mercy can occur only when we do “walk humbly” with our God. It is only when we are bluntly, brutally honest before God with ourselves about ourselves…and our own sins…and our own failings…and our own nasty little secrets we want to take to the grave with us…and our own mistakes and errors and dumb decisions…and our own stupidities…and our own pride and arrogance…and our own rationalisations of our sins and faults…and all the excuses for our bad behaviours and bad attitudes that we pull from our soul like Kleenex from a box: only then are our “righteous indignation” and demands for the punishment of that evil s.o.b. over there transformed into a hunger and thirst for true justice and a longing to exercise mercy. This does not preclude appropriate discipline; but the spirit in which that discipline is desired and deployed makes all the difference.

June 11 it begins. By what happens, by what all of us allow to happen, by what we want to happen, our moral integrity and our spiritual maturity will be tested yet so as by fire. What will the verdict be…on us?

Igumen Philip (Speranza) is a priest in the Archdiocese of Canada.

Well done...

To the Vatican Security Service for their alert response today when a man jumped over a police barricade and attempted to climb onto the back of Pope Benedict's open air jeep. Happily the man does not appear to have been armed. However as one might imagine security has been an issue since Benedict's predecessor was nearly killed in the same square back in 1981, also while riding in an open vehicle. The individual was overpowered by alert security agents and quickly removed from the scene. The video of the incident suggests that +Benedict was not even aware of the disturbance behind his car. Vatican officials have been tight lipped about the whole thing but it appears the individual was questioned by police and subsequently sent to a psychiatric hospital for observation.

See the video clip here

Quote of the day...

“I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought,”

- Hillary R. Clinton, United States Senator from New York (D) speaking on her faith and its role in her marital difficulties.

I think we will leave the comments off for this one.

A SORROWFUL EPISTLE

Archbishop +Job writes to the clergy of the Diocese of the Midwest on the current situation in the OCA.

... In the short time since Pascha, serious and tragic mistakes have been made, the suspension of the Special Commission being, in my judgment, one of the worst. My friends, we have a crisis of leadership. I had stated that I stood in support of the Metropolitan in this crisis. I should have clarified this and should have stated that I support the positive decisions that he has made – and there certainly have been some. But there have been far more poor decisions, made unilaterally, without consultation and communication, which, as we see have had devastating results. At the Diocesan Council meeting I described myself as being “ at the end of my rope.” Now I find myself in a worse state of mind. I ponder on such things as “Desperate situations require desperate measures.” I am persuaded that I am not alone, because I have heard that there are those who were against the Palatine Resolution who have now changed their positions. Fathers and Brothers, souls are at stake! We cannot forget that.

A few days ago, I read a comment by someone on the ocanews.org website. It concluded with, “God, save us from our bishops!” and I confess that I cried. Never would I have imagined that such a statement could be made. Now it appears that it is held by many. God help us!

Read the rest here.

Like so many I have been struggling with this sad scandal. It has been at the least a terrible distraction to the faithful and at most it has damaged people's confidence in the Church and caused serious spiritual harm. In the Synod of Bishops there have not been many heroes. I believe Archbishop +Job to be one of them. It is difficult to put in words the sense of deep frustration and disappointment I feel with regards the conduct of the Holy Synod and of those generally in positions of responsibility in the Church. What is worse is that at times I catch that sense of frustration and disappointment turning to anger. This is the kind of Epistle that should have been penned by every bishop in the Church. Where are our bishops?

Hat tip to OCA News

A Cinderella Fast?

Ah, here we are — another opportunity to fast for a season! Monday, June 4, began the Apostles' Fast, leading us to the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, on June 29. Is there “joy [that] cometh in the morning,” or “weeping and gnashing of teeth?” I find that Orthodox Christians can hardly object (thought they may want to) to Great Lent, or even the Nativity Fast (“Advent”), but find their voice when it comes to the summertime fasts: The Apostles’ Fast, as well as the Dormition Fast. These latter, perhaps especially the Apostles’ Fast, are relegated to a netherworld of plausible deniability. I skip that one, we say. Truly the Apostles’ Fast is the Cinderella of Orthodox fasting seasons: we may acknowledge her as a sister, but we’d rather pretend she wasn’t there.

It’s funny how we love those fast-free weeks, thinking them quite proper and appropriate, while one of these “lesser fasts” (they’re actually called that, in the books…) hardly warrant our attention. If they do, they loom as a major imposition that seems hardly applicable to us. “Isn’t this one of those “monastic disciplines,” we demand. “Good grief,” one says, “did you realize that, when the feast of Saints Peter and Paul lands on a Friday, it’s a fast day?” Then we roll out the non sequitur, as if it were self-evident: if the feast isn’t important enough to override a fasting day, then the fast that prepares for such a feast must not be that important. "Why bother?" we declare, "After all, it’s summertime."

In my experience as a priest, no appeal or argument will dam such tsunamis of avoidance. Some of us have made up our minds; Great Lent and “Advent” are quite enough for some.

The rest of us may be not really happy with the prospect of another fast, which sometimes (in our ignorance) arrives like an unexpected and difficult guest. Yet, truth be told, we want to be faithful to the holy traditions of the Church and her cycles of worship. Nevertheless, as good Americans, we want to know why. “Why, in heaven’s name (no other authority will do) is there this Apostles’ Fast? What’s this one 'for?'"

The answer, in a sense, is really no different than the answer for any other fast or spiritual discipline. It’s the Orthodox Christian way. We prepare, then we feast. We empty ourselves, then God fills us. The classic tools of Christian spirituality are prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. There is no real stoppage in these dynamics of spiritual life: we slow it down, and enjoy, for the really big feasts like Pascha, Pentecost, and Christmas. This is our way, and now that Pentecost is done, and so-called “ordinary time” is here, it’s time to get on with it.

Nevertheless, the Coptic Pope Shenouda III helps us a good deal more with this:

The Apostles’ fast in the New Testament: When the Lord Jesus Christ was asked why His disciples did not fast, He replied: ‘But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast’ (Matt.9:15). The Apostles did fast together and not in secret, and the Lord accepted their fast. Some examples of the Apostles’ fasts: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them.” (Acts 13:2,3). —“Communal Worship and Fasting” by H.H. Pope Shenouda III

This makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? On the one hand, fasting came after our Lord’s Ascension in anticipation of God’s great Gift of the Spirit; on the other, the Apostolic Church fasted after Pentecost to “stir up” this self-same Spirit for complete infilling and mission. In our day, the entire Church is called to apostolic life and mission — to gather the world up into God’s net, to echo the festal hymn of Pentecost. If Jesus predicted such fasting, and the Apostles did such fasting as they prepared for and engaged in mission, why wouldn’t we follow their example?

Isn’t that, after all, the meaning of the post-Pentecost season? Isn’t this why we get on our knees for the Kneeling Prayers at Vespers for the Feast of the Holy Spirit, on the Monday after Pentecost? If anything, to my way of thinking, it is the absence of fasting during that post-feast Trinity Week that demands explanation. Fasting just makes sense for the authentic Christian and church. The Apostles’ Fast gets us back on track, in the normal mode of sacramental discipleship.

Christianity Today Magazine just published an incredible interview article with an interesting fellow. Simon Chang is not only an Evangelical Protestant theologian native to Singapore, in the so-called “Third World”; he is also a member of the Assemblies of God, a pentecostal denomination (AG). Remember, the AG was one of the fastest growing denominations in the 20th century. Yet, remarkably, in considering Christian mission, this pentecostal theologian demands that we must ask

What is the mission of the Trinity? And the answer to that question is communion. Ultimately, all things are to be brought back into communion with the triune God. Communion is the ultimate end, not mission.

If we see communion as central to the life of the church, we are going to have an important place for mission. And this is reflected in the ancient fourfold structure of worship: gathering, proclaiming the Word, celebrating the Eucharist, and going out into the world. The last, of course, is mission. …

Such a vision is precisely what we in the Orthodox Church teach. This is why the feast of All Saints flows from the headwaters of Holy Pentecost. And it is why the rapids of the Apostles’ Fast come on the heels of All Saints. Mission flows from communion with the living God, and mission requires a total reliance upon God that is expressed so rightly in fasting and prayer. It’s no accident that Chang is so Orthodox in his understanding of the relationship of mission to community of the Holy Trinity, as he demonstrates his point from the Orthodox Liturgy itself:

… [I]f you go to an Orthodox service, you'll be amazed at the elaborate way in which the end of the service is conducted. It's not just a word of dismissal—there are whole prayers and litanies that prepare us to go back out into the world.

Perhaps you and I don’t really “get” what we do every Sunday, and need this wise Pentecostal theologian to literally re-orient ourselves to our Eastern Orthodox Faith and life. With the Apostles’ Fast, we are sent out—dismissed!—into the world to effectively bear witness to communion with the Living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! This fast, then, is “about” mission and life in the Spirit as we journey in this world in radical dependence upon God, celebrating, worshiping, and participating in the life of the Holy Trinity.

That is what the Apostles’ Fast is all about. So, let us not nag and cajole our brethren who would rather ignore this wonderful season of Orthodox Christian discipleship! Rather, let us simply “do it” with joy, washing our faces and living the Life of Christ. After all, this fast may be like Cinderella, a lovely lass, though misunderstood and distained by some. Yet, in the end, she wound up with some pretty good company, as I recall.

Pontiifcations has moved

Fr. Kimel has returned from his holiday and Pontifications has moved to a new site. Please note the new address in your book marks. The old site is still experiencing some technical problems but should be back up soon for archives.

Hat tip to Mike at Sacramentum Vitae.

Motu Proprio: Not wait long ...

Rorate Caeli quoting Card +Bertone on the Tridentine Mass indult...

I believe one will not wait long to see it published. The Pope is personally interested that this should take place. He will explain it in his accompanying letter, expecting a serene reception.

The Tragedy of Suicide

The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) has issued a pastoral letter on the subject of suicide which I found to be really good. This is of course an extremely difficult and emotional topic for many people. It is also not as black and white as some have tended to believe. SCOBA's letter reflects the importance of understanding the mental and spiritual health of suicide victims while reaffirming the traditional Christian condemnation of the act.

The traditional practice of the Orthodox Church is to refuse a funeral and burial in consecrated ground to suicides. However, even the Fathers understood there were sometimes mitigating circumstances which call the Church to forbear and leave judgment to God. As pastoral council I believe this letter is one of the better ones to come out of SCOBA in a while. As a side note it also corresponds rather closely to my understanding of the Roman Catholic position on the subject. I commend the letter to the reader in its entirety.

Subject labels...

As some may have noticed in the last couple weeks I have begun using labels at the bottom of my posts. Since I sometimes post more than once on a given subject this may help the reader to locate other posts on the same theme. Unfortunately those labels do not go back beyond May of this year. I have begun going back through the blog and adding labels to older posts. But this process is rather laborious and will be a "when I have the time" project. In the meantime those wishing to find older posts on a given subject can use the search device at the top of the blog, which actually works pretty well.

Some more thoughts on the indult

No. It's not out yet. But since when has that slowed discussion? Anyways there is a good article in the Saint Austin Review on the perpetually imminent Tridentine Mass indult. The discussion of its implications is pretty sharp.

Hat tip to NLM.

Those Kneeling Prayers!

THOSE KNEELING PRAYERS OF PENTECOST VESPERS

This past Monday Eve -- that is, on Pentecost Sunday afternoon -- we prayed the Kneeling Prayers at the Vespers for Holy Spirit Day, on Monday. I love coming to each feast day, in its distinctiveness, and partake of some unique aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ communicated through that liturgical celebration. And Pentecost does not disappoint, with its annual Kneeling Prayers.

Yet, as a priest and the one leading the people of God in these important prayers, I must admit a certain degree of struggle with these prayers. Undoubtedly, "love-hate relationship" is much too strong, but you get what I mean. These prayers are, well, quite long; priests are tempted to read them quickly, which would result in less than full comprehension. They're read once a year, so there's no opportunity to absorb them over time by repetition, week by week. They're written in classic Byzantine style, not certainly in classic English style, with its genius of directness and simple elegance. (You can tell I teach writing, eh?) I wish that I were more pious, less of a sinner, so that such thoughts wouldn't enter my head like so many birds stealing the fruits of faith, but there you have it.

So, let's look more closely at them, in order to understand them better. In these Kneeling Prayers there's actually seven different prayers, done in three sets of kneeling: two in the first set, two in the second set, and three in the third set.

Each set ends, sealed as it were with a lovely capstone, with one of the ancient vesperal prayers for light, from the Great Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople. That much makes sense: praying for light as we re-enter the world from the heady days of Pascha-Pentecost, and enter "ordinary time" in our cycle of the church year. We need the light of Christ in the dark paths of this world, as our Gospel for the Feast proclaimed.

I believe that the latter is important to the content of these prayers: all the talk (prayer) about forgiveness, strength, and even death makes sense as we turn the corner from the glory of Pascha and into the normal mode of sacramental discipleship. We kneel. We fast. We sin...and confess. We beg for God's mercy. We die...or rather enter into eternal rest in the God of the living. These are the dynamics of authentic spirituality and real life in Christ. Such things always involve struggle, spiritual warfare, and self-denial as we joyfully offer up our lives as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable. They are the core of sacramental discipleship, of preparation and fulfillment in our festal cycles, of self-emptying and divine infilling by the Holy Spirit. Walking in the light is no cakewalk. So, we kneel. And we pray, at length, prayers which embrace the various dimensions of being a Christian seeking the fulness of the Spirit of God this Pentecost season.

St. Paul commanded us to pray with understanding. Certainly this is all the more true on the Great Feast of Pentecost. For on this day the Apostles spoke in languages they did not know, in order to be understood by the crowds of non-Palestinian Jews in Jerusalem for the feast. The holy fathers call Pentecost the Anti-Babel: God's remedy for the confusion of tongues when He judged the builders of Babel. So, we need to understand these Kneeling Prayers. Heed, then, the wise words of the late Father Alexander Schmemann, onetime Dean of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, about these special Pentecostal Prayers:

We are invited to kneel. This is our first kneeling since Easter. It signifies that after these fifty days of Paschal joy and fulness, of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the Church now is about to begin her pilgrimage through time and history. It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfillment and salvation.

All this is revealed in the three prayers which the celebrant reads now as we all kneel and listen to him. In the first prayer, we bring to God our repentance, our increased appeal for forgiveness of sins, the first condition for entering into the Kingdom of God.

In the second prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to teach us to pray and to follow the true path in the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence. Finally, in the third prayer, we remember all those who have achieved their earthly journey, but who are united with us in the eternal God of Love. The joy of Easter has been completed and we again have to wait for the dawn of the Eternal Day. Yet, knowing our weakness, humbling ourselves by kneeling, we also know the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit who has come. We know that God is with us, that in Him is our victory.

Thus is completed the feast of Pentecost and we enter "the ordinary time" of the year. Yet, every Sunday now will be called "after Pentecost" — and this means that it is from the power and light of these fifty days that we shall receive our own power, the Divine help in our daily struggle. At Pentecost we decorate our churches with flowers and green branches — for the Church "never
grows old, but is always young." It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit - "the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life - comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity," and fills our life with meaning, love, faith and hope.

Moscow takes aim at (new?) Rome

Despite all the ink spilled over the subject of my preceding post, many Orthodox (including yours truly) will tell you that the Filioque is something that can probably be overcome. In fact most of the differences between Orthodoxy and Rome are in my opinion not insurmountable. This doesn't mean it would be a cake walk. But with a lot of charity and patience and a healthy dose of creativity most of the separating issues probably can be overcome to a degree sufficient to permit some sort of restoration of communion. The key word there is "most."

To me and I think again most (I only avoid the term "all" out of an abundance of caution) Orthodox the deal breaker is papal primacy and Vatican I. The language in the decrees of the First Vatican Council regarding the universal jurisdiction of the Pope and his infallibility are regarded as heresy by almost all Orthodox. And unfortunately the language used in those decrees is so crystal clear and unambiguous that there is not really any wiggle room for creative reinterpretation or "doctrinal development."

Wherefore we teach and declare that,

• by divine ordinance,
• the Roman church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other church, and that
• this jurisdictional power of the Roman pontiff is both
  • episcopal and
  • immediate.
• Both clergy and faithful,
  • of whatever rite and dignity,
  • both singly and collectively,
• are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this
  • not only in matters concerning faith and morals,
  • but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world.
    

And...

So, then,

• if anyone says that
  • the Roman pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and
    • not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church, and this
    • not only in matters of
      • faith and morals, but also in those which concern the
      • discipline and government of the church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that
  • he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that
  • this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful:
  let him be anathema.
  

This is just not acceptable to the Orthodox Church.

In fairness we Orthodox, partly from historical circumstances, have been very clear in articulating what primacy is not, and not particularly clear about what it is. Indeed until recent times the subject has not really been much on anyone's agenda. There really was no need. However some years ago the late +John Paul Magnus of blessed memory issued a challenge to the Orthodox world to give our interpretation of the function of the Roman See. The silence was deafening. Now we are coming to the point where the silence will need to be broken. At the forthcoming session of the Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue the topic is to be the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in the Church. I would give a lot of money that I don't have to be a fly on the wall of that meeting (with a universal translator).

As an interesting background to this, the chilly relations between Moscow and Constantinople seem to be growing cooler. Moscow has long accused the Patriarchate of New Rome of meddling in the affairs of the other churches (Russia's in particular) and of asserting a jurisdiction it does not have. Whereas +Bartholomew and the Synod of Bishops in Constantinople have been taking a more expansive view of things. Met. +John of Pergagmum, one of the foremost theologians in the Orthodox Church today, has strongly hinted at a broader interpretation of primacy than what has been normative within Orthodoxy. Of course nothing he has written even comes close to supporting the monarchical claims of the First Vatican Council. It is with this fascinating mix of church politics as a background that we see Moscow announcing that it is preparing an official position on the subject of primacy in the Church.

The Interfax News Service reports...

‘Our principal affirmation is this: primacy in the Church is necessary, also on the universal level, but on the level of the Universal Church it cannot be the primacy of jurisdiction but only the primacy of honour’, Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, Russian Church representative to European organizations, told Interfax on Monday.

‘There can be no compromises’ in this matter for the Moscow Patriarchate, he said. The aim of the theological dialogue is not to make a compromise but to identify the original understanding of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in the early undivided Church, he noted.

‘Historically, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in the Christian Church, from our point of view, was that of honour, not jurisdiction. That is to say, the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome was never applied to all the Churches’, the bishop stressed.

No real surprises there. However, one might begin to wonder just who Moscow is taking aim at when reading a little farther down we note...

‘We consider it (the primacy of Constantinople - IF) exclusively as primacy of honour, while the See of Constantinople itself tends occasionally to give a broad interpretation to this primacy. These are the questions I believe around which principal problems will emerge’, Bishop Hilarion said.

We aint called "byzantine" for nothing.

All of the politics aside, the bottom line remains. Vatican I is the show stopper. I know of no Orthodox hierarch or credible theologian who would accept it. All of the other debates won't amount to a hill of beans because Vat. I is a nonnegotiable for the Roman Catholics and also for the Orthodox. In order to overcome it one or the other would have to cease to be what they are. And that is not gonna happen.

The Filioque part MMVII

If there is one issue between Orthodoxy and Rome which has been beat to death, buried, then dug up and beaten some more it is the Filioque. If you doubt me just do a brief Google search on the matter. Or better yet go take a look at the archives on Energetic Procession and Sacramentum Vitae, two excellent blogs that generally deal with things over my head. On which note Mike Liccione has just posted his latest installment on the subject. At the end of that installment he quotes a proposal that the wording of the Creed be altered (again) to read...

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the Giver of Life, who comes forth (ejkporeuvetai) from the Father as the one in whom the Son is begotten and who proceeds (proei'si) from and through the Son in communion with the Father, and together with the Father and the Son is worship and glorified.

An interesting suggestion. But given the fact that we would require an Ecumenical Council (at least from our side's POV) to alter the Creed, wouldn't it be just easier if Rome removed the offending phrase from its version? Now I am not going to get into the issue of it's being heretical or not. That's being hashed out by people who probably translate the Sunday comics into ancient Aramaic for fun.

What to me is pretty hard to argue is that whether or not the Filioque is truly heretical when properly understood is moot. That's because the overwhelming majority of those in the pews DO NOT grasp the elaborate points Mike is making. And it is not practical to try and instruct the vast sea of ordinary laymen in the intricate points of advanced theology. They read "who proceeds from the father and the son" and foolishly believe what someone raised with a basic command of English would assume. Namely that it means what it says.

Now people like Mike and Benedict XVI and various others can hash out the finer points on the legitimacy of the Filioque, but I have a question. Why? What possible purpose does it serve? It was added illegitimately to the Creed (even Card +Ratzinger has acknowledged as much). I see no compelling reason for retaining it. And the likelihood that it is causing confusion among the Roman Catholic faithful, of whom I would hazard a guess that 99+% do NOT understand the true meaning of the Filioque as posited by Mike and other RC defenders, seems beyond doubt.

Back in the good old days before "heresy" was effectively removed from the Roman Catholic dictionary, the Holy Office (just typing the old name gives me chills) used to routinely suppress or condemn writings for a variety of reasons. One reason cited more frequently than heresy, was that the writings had a "tendency towards heresy." That would seem to be a good way of phrasing the principal objection.

In a nut shell my argument against the Filioque is this. Irrespective of whether or not it is heretical when properly understood, it is heretical as it is almost universally understood by the Roman Catholic faithful. And there is no practical way of correcting that short of removing it. It is an impediment to restored relations with the Orthodox Church. Its addition to the Creed was accomplished by means that have been publicly acknowledged by the current Pope to have been improper. And it serves no purpose which can justify its retention when weighed against the harm it is doing. The Filioque should be removed from the western creed until the issue of its orthodoxy can be resolved by a future council of the church.

The Cost of Filling Up the Tank

You don’t need a church newsletter (or a religious blog) to tell you that the price of gasoline has skyrocketed. We are all taking a second look at each and every trip that we make, from forays to the grocery store to more ambitious outings. More than that, we are driving differently: accelerations are made with care, pretending that proverbial egg is under the pedal. We shop around—without driving too much—for our car’s fuel. Gas has gone from a mundane, everyday necessity that we hardly consider to something that shapes our basic behaviors and lifestyle. It’s a basic need, and now it is costly.

At Pentecost, celebrated this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, we celebrate and embrace a Reality that, like gas in our cars, makes our spiritual lives “go:” the Holy Spirit. If cars need gas to help us fulfill our various callings and desires, Christians need this Holy Spirit, given at Pentecost, to fulfill their callings in Christ. Now the teachings of Jesus, as well as the saving realities of His passion, death, and resurrection, are established in His People. All the prophecies of the Torah and the Prophets pointed to this “Day of the Lord” when the Spirit of God would become the driving force of God’s covenant people. Without this gift of the Spirit, God’s People continue but are stuck—out of gas—unable to fulfill everything that God has revealed in Christ.

Despite appearances to the contrary, there’s no shortage of God in our world. The only fuel crisis for the Christian is refusing to fill up our lives with the Spirit of God. That is why St. Paul commanded Christians to “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We have to keep our tanks full. The consequences of not doing so are similar to not keeping gas in our automobile’s tank: we will stall out, stranded on the roads of life, flashers embarrassingly shouting our vulnerability and lack of foresight. It’s bad enough to be physically out of gas, yet it’s even worse not to be filled with the Spirit. We are, after all, talking about eternal things, the essence of who we truly are.

So, how do we fill up our spiritual tanks with the Holy Spirit? This, according to St. Seraphim of Sarov, the great 19th century Russian wonderworker, is the ultimate question of the Christian’s life:

…the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ's sake, they are the only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. … [O]nly good deeds done for Christ's sake bring us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. …That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said: "He who does not gather with Me scatters."

St. Seraphim merely echoes what St. Paul was saying in Ephesians:

Do not get drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your hearts, always and for everything giving thanks in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

All this involves a twofold movement: emptying, and filling. You cannot pour anything into a full container; first, you have to empty it out. That’s why we can’t be “drunk with wine” or anything else, for that matter. We’ve got to make room for God in our lives; this involves concrete actions and effort, and must be done first. We’ve got to turn away from our passions, and engage in the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. That’s self-emptying, in order to be filled.

Second, we’ve got to glorify Christ in His Body, the Church, and in our lives. St. Paul stuns us with the imperative of worship in order to have a life brimming with the Spirit. In this brief passage,he mentions three forms of hymnody (“psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”), two types of worship expression (“singing and making melody”), one way to fulfill all this properly (“all your hearts”), and the content of it all (“giving thanks”). To that, St. Seraphim adds concrete “good deeds” done in the Name of Christ. It’s no accident that this movement is imprinted on every cycle of Orthodox Christian worship, as we continually prepare for—emptying!—and then celebrate—filling!—the feasts throughout the church year.

It’s all very simple, really, but it is costly, to be sure. “Emptying” and “filling” is the basic rhythm of our life in Christ, in the Spirit of God. The Feast of Pentecost recalls us to this dynamic, powerful life. We say in the Dismissal Hymn for Pentecost that by the Spirit of God “the fishermen were made most wise.” The implication for you and me is that Spirit of God can change anyone, no matter what. Have you checked your gauge lately? Are you willing to pay the price to truly fill up?

The bombshell and the gun

Venus Ramey circa 1944

And today...

A Colt Detective Special

In 1944 Venus Ramey won the Miss America contest. She was a pin up girl in any number of American military barracks, she sold war bonds and her image adorned the side of a bomber. In the language of the time she was quite a bombshell. However the headlines and attention were long behind her or so she thought as an 82 yr old living quietly on her Kentucky farm.

The only problem is that she had suffered from a rash of burglaries where person or persons unknown had been stealing things from her barn. About a month ago she became aware of uninvited guests in her barn. So naturally she did what any normal 82 year old lady would do. She grabbed her walker and a .38 revolver and went out to nab the crooks. When confronted one of them announced he was leaving whereupon she replied "Oh no your not." Then balancing her weapon on the walker she proceeded to shoot out the tires of the would be getaway car. After which the intruders decided to just sit down quietly and wait for the cops.

The video at the linked news report show her handling a short barreled (snub nosed or "snubbie") .38 special, probably a Colt Detective Special. Now I used to carry a little snubbie (Taurus Model 85) back when I lived in Virginia. And I can tell you that while they are fine for close quarter personal protection they are not designed for target shooting. Hollywood film nonsense notwithstanding people just don't go around shooting out car tires with a gun that has a 2" barrel. All I can say is...

What a broad!

From Russia with love...

All is not warm and fuzziness coming out of Russia these days.

TALLINN, Estonia, May 24 — When Estonian authorities began removing a bronze statue of a World War II-era Soviet soldier from a park in this bustling Baltic seaport last month, they expected violent street protests by Estonians of Russian descent.

They also knew from experience that “if there are fights on the street, there are going to be fights on the Internet,” said Hillar Aarelaid, the director of Estonia’s Computer Emergency Response Team. After all, for people here the Internet is almost as vital as running water; it is used routinely to vote, file their taxes, and, with their cellphones, to shop or pay for parking.

What followed was what some here describe as the first war in cyberspace, a monthlong campaign that has forced Estonian authorities to defend their pint-size Baltic nation from a data flood that they say was set off by orders from Russia or ethnic Russian sources in retaliation for the removal of the statue.

Read the rest here.

News from the travelling priest

Fr. John Whiteford (ROCOR) has returned from his trip to Russia to witness the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion. You can read all about his exciting trip and the many things he got to see while there over at his blog. There are some excellent pictures and a few video clips of the event and some of the other sights.

All in all it sounds like his trip was pretty awesome. I also had a good time during my two trips to Russia. However the first trip (1987) was marred when I came down with a really bad case of Stalin's Revenge right about the time I got back to my ship in Italy (I was in the navy). For the better part of several weeks I could not even look at food without without having to make a mad run for the head (navy term for restroom). Since I was already so thin that my shipmates would toss loose change at me in the passageways with the words "go buy some food" this was not a good thing. By time I began to recover I had become so emaciated I looked like an extra from "Schindler's List." Unfortunately inability to put on weight is not a problem I suffer from anymore.

The Music of the Russian Orthodox Church

There is a magnificent series of music videos on youtube featuring the music and chant of the Russian Orthodox Church. You can see a list here or just go to the youtube home page and type in "Russian Orthodox Music" for the complete list of videos. Even ignoring the music the scenery in the videos is breathtaking in itself. Below is a sample of one.

Of stolen land and genocide

They are among the poorest people in the western hemisphere, and they won't take $600 million in blood money from us. Apparently honor and nobility are not always for sale. These people should haunt the conscience of our country.

Read the rest here.

Tax Free Immigration

Memo to the IRS:
It appears that the 12+ million illegal immigrants who are to be allowed to stay in the United States as part of the pending immigration "reform" bill are to be exempt from paying back taxes.

I have just decided to renounce my citizenship and become an illegal alien. Please note I will no longer be paying taxes..

No Confidence

The ongoing situation in the OCA has taken another turn. Met. +Herman has now suspended the work of the special investigative commission looking into all aspects of the scandal that has shaken the church. This was done without consulting either the Metropolitan Council or the Synod of Bishops. It is the latest in a series of steps +Herman has taken that are to say the least controversial.

Unfortunately most of these measures have clearly had as their objective the suppression of any questions that might prove embarrassing to the central administration of the OCA. The record includes making false and misleading statements, suppressing reports, abusing hierarchical authority in silencing critics or removing them from positions of trust within the church and attempting to bully the Metropolitan Council into subservient compliance with his agenda of non-accountability. This must not continue.

It has become increasingly clear that the vast majority of both clergy and laity who have any knowledge of the scandal are loosing confidence in +Herman's ability or willingness to deal in an upfront manner with the issue of accountability. This is creating a crisis in confidence in the leadership of the OCA across the board. There is at least once diocese that is in something very close to open revolt with many parishes withholding money from the central administration.

I believe that the time has come to make a statement that the stonewalling needs to come to an end. The Metropolitan Council should demand that +Herman rescind his decree suppressing the Special Commission. If he refuses the council should pass a resolution of no confidence in the Metropolitan's conduct of his office. Obviously such a measure would be non-binding. But it would send a powerful if symbolic signal to +Herman that he has pushed the envelope to its limits. The Synod of Bishops should also not permit this latest act to pass without a response.

The situation is fast reaching a point where +Herman's suitability to remain in office is coming into question. Any further obstructionism may necessitate a discussion of that very serious issue.

Not invited

“I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion,”

-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on his decision to not invite V. Gene Robinson and Martyn Minns to the Lambeth Conference in 2008.

Read the whole story here

Hat tip to T-19

Predictably this is producing outrage among the usual suspects. In what can only be described as truly breathtaking chutzpah some are accusing the ABC of precipitating a schism! Read the comments below Jake's thoughts if you have the intestinal fortitude.

T-19 has moved

As many have noted a lot of the blogs on the classical Anglican net (T19 and Pontifications prominent among them) have suffered from chronic tech issues and down time. Titus One Nine's new address is below.

http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/

The Immigration Fraud

On the subject of the current immigration debate Thomas Sowell has written a prescient piece.

Back in 1986 it was "unrealistic" to round up and deport the 3 million illegal immigrants in the United States then. So they were given amnesty -- honestly labeled, back then -- which is precisely why there are now 12 million illegal immigrants.

As a result of the current amnesty bill -- not honestly labeled, this time -- will it be "unrealistic" to round up and deport 40 million or 50 million illegal immigrants in the future?

... Its advocates' argument is that illegal immigrants will have to meet certain requirements to become citizens. But amnesty is not about how you become a citizen.

The word is from the same root as "amnesia." It means you forget or overlook some crime, as if it never happened. All this elaborate talk about the steps illegal immigrants must go through to become citizens is a distraction from the crime they committed when they crossed the border illegally.

Instead, all attention is focused on what to do to accommodate those who committed this crime. It is a question that would be recognized as an insult to our intelligence on any other issue.

Read the rest here.

My personal opinion is that this is rather akin to announcing that any thieves who have not been caught and jailed may keep what they stole prior to Jan of this year if they are willing to pay a fine. This is a joke, a very bad one. We are either a country based on the rule of law or we are not. I particularly feel badly for the poor fools that played by the rules and have been patiently waiting for for the opportunity to enter the United States legally. What a slap in their face.

Hell, Universalism and the Episcopal Church

There is a short essay with a large number of comments over at T-19 by Canon Kendall Harmon on the subject of Hell in TEC. I commend it to the readers attention.

Brief Hiatus

Having (unbelievably) found myself with a 3 day weekend, I am going out of town until Monday to visit some friends. I will still (probably) have access to the internet but posting and comment moderation will be limited or nonexistent until Monday or Tuesday. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Memory Eternal

It is with sadness I note that Fr. Michael Trigg pastor emeritus of St. Michael's Western Rite Orthodox Parish in Whittier, California (Antiochian Archdiocese) reposed in the Lord on Saturday the 12th of May instant.

May his memory be eternal.

Hat tip to Bill for this news.

Fred Thompson replies to Moore

As some of you are aware the (very) liberal film maker Michael Moore recently caused a small ruckus by visiting Cuba as part of filming his latest propaganda piece supposedly on health care. Former Senator Fred Thompson (possible GOP presidential candidate) was among those who criticized Moore for the trip. Moore responded with a statement taking shots at Fred's taste in cigars and ended with a challenge to debate Moore on health care. Fred's reply is below.



Personally I think it's high time we had a president who knows the correct use for a good cigar.

Surprise: Oswald did it...

So says Vincent Bugliosi the famed prosecutor of Charles Manson in a new book that is longer than Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and capped with around 1200 pages(!) of end notes to back up his conclusions. This monumental work has received widespread critical acclaim. But don't expect all the conspiracy devotees to give up. Some are already preparing to do battle with the new book.

As someone who was for many years rather inclined to the belief that there was more to this than we were told, I have been slowly coming to the conclusion that I (and many others) may have been looking for something that was never there. I look forward to reading the book as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.

In Communion!

Glory to God!

A great and bitter schism has ended and the two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church are again united.

Church bells pealed in Moscow as leaders of the Russian Orthodox faith signed a pact on Thursday healing a historic schism between the church in Russia, which for decades cooperated with Soviet authorities, and an offshoot set up abroad after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

After a choir sang sonorous hymns, Moscow Patriarch Alexy II, leader of the main Russian Orthodox Church, led the ceremony with a sermon praising the healing of the split. Later, he formally signed the pact with Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the somber celebrations, which were broadcast live on television.

Worshippers and white-robed clergy thronged the Christ the Savior Cathedral, symbolic of Russia's rejection of its communist past, when atheism was state doctrine and many believers were arrested and imprisoned.

Read the rest here...

Feast of the Ascension

"I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God, and Your God" (John 20:17).

In these words the Risen Christ described to Mary Magdalene the mystery of His Resurrection. She had to carry this mysterious message to His disciples, "as they mourned and wept" (Mark 16:10). The disciples listened to these glad tidings with fear and amazement, with doubt and mistrust. It was not Thomas alone who doubted among the Eleven. On the contrary, it appears that only one of the Eleven did not doubt - St John, the disciple "whom Jesus loved." He alone grasped the mystery of the empty tomb at once: "and he saw, and believed" (John 20:8). Even Peter left the sepulcher in amazement, "wondering at that which was come to pass" (Luke 24:12).

The disciples did not expect the Resurrection. The women did not, either. They were quite certain that Jesus was dead and rested in the grave, and they went to the place "where He was laid," with the spices they had prepared, "that they might come and anoint Him." They had but one thought: "Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulcher for us?" (Mark 16:1-3; Luke 24:1). And therefore, on not finding the body, Mary Magdalene was sorrowful and complained: "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him' (John 20:13). On hearing the good news from the angel, the women fled from the sepulchre in fear and trembling: "Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid" (Mark 16:8). And when they spoke no one believed them, in the same way as no one 'had believed Mary, who saw the Lord, or the disciples as they walked on their way into the country, (Mark 16:13), and who recognized Him in the breaking of bread. "And afterward He appeared unto the Eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen Him after He was risen' (Mark 16:1O-14).

Read the rest here...

Ratzinger on the Lefebvrist Schism

Fr. Kimel has posted some remarks by then Card +Ratzinger on the Roman Catholic Traditionalists who revolted under the leadership of Archbishop +Lefebvre. I had not seen this particular quote before and I think it is well worth a read. I think they are all the more interesting given the current efforts by +B16 to heal this particular schism.

More on the reunion

The International Herald Tribune has a nice article on the restoration of unity in the Russian Orthodox Church.

MOSCOW: The atmosphere was tense, laced with nearly a century of mistrust and bitter feelings, when President Vladimir Putin met in New York with leaders of an émigré church that had broken with the Russian Orthodox Church after the Bolshevik Revolution. The breakaway church had vowed never to return as long as the "godless regime" was in power.

"I want to assure all of you," Putin said at the 2003 meeting, "that this godless regime is no longer there." Then, recalled the Reverend Serafim Gan, a senior priest of the breakaway church, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Putin added: "You are sitting with a believing President."

That meeting set in motion years of difficult negotiations that on Thursday are expected to be capped by the signing of a canonical union at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was dynamited by Stalin in 1931 and rebuilt in the 1990s. Church members are calling the signing - which coincides with the feast of Ascension - the symbolic end of Russia's civil war and confirmation of the Russian Orthodox Church's central role in post-Soviet society.

Joint services will also be held this weekend at Butovo, a Stalinist killing field outside Moscow that is now an Orthodox shrine to the Soviet dictator's victims, and at the Kremlin's Dormition Cathedral.

"This was a place of much sorrow, temptation, suffering, and the death of martyrs," said Father Gan about Butovo. "Now this place serves revival. I think that's what was deeply touching for all of us."

In an interview broadcast Monday on Vesti-24, a state-run news channel, Patriarch Aleksei II of the Russian Orthodox Church said "the Lord is helping us in this time, this time of spiritual revival, to gather up the stones that were so thoughtlessly scattered in the past."

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, known informally as the Russian Church Abroad, will retain its name and administrative autonomy, said Father Gan. But Moscow will exercise ultimate authority in appointments and other church matters.

Read the rest here.

The end of a schism

On Ascension Thursday the long standing schism within the Russian Orthodox Church will come to an end. Last summer the IV All Diaspora Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) gave its approval to pursuing reunification with the mother church in Russia. The two have been estranged since the 1920's, mostly over The Russian Orthodox Church's perceived collusion with the Communist regime then running Russia. Although ROCOR maintained communion with the Serbian Church and the Jerusalem Patriarchate its relations with most of the other canonical Orthodox jurisdictions have been strained at various times.

ROCOR has also been a supporter of some of the so called "old calendar" jurisdictions. A number of these groups received their episcopal orders from ROCOR. However over the last few years most of these groups have broken communion with the Church Abroad as it became increasingly clear that it was interested in healing the schism with the mother church in Russia. For most of the last century ROCOR has been an uncompromising bastion of Orthodoxy, especially for the emigre (white Russian) community. It is well known for being conservative in its interpretations of church canons and disciplines.

The restoration of formal communion will occur at the celebration of Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Thursday. Following which the Church Abroad will once again become part of the one Russian Orthodox Church, while maintaining a certain degree of self governance. This will also by default resolve the questions of communion between ROCOR and the various other jurisdictions such as the OCA, which has at times been the target of sharp criticism from ROCOR.

All Orthodox Christians should rejoice in this great miracle of spiritual healing.

Jerry Falwell Gravely Ill

The news services are reporting that noted Protestant televangelist Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his Liberty University office after he missed an appointment. Sources are reporting that he is very gravely ill. This is a developing story.

Update: The Rev Jerry Falwell has reposed. Memory eternal!

A cult fights back...

There is an interesting article over at the New York Times about how the Church of Scientology (COS) has launched a pretty bare knuckles campaign against the BBC. Why? Because the BBC is doing an investigative documentary about the SOC. For years this cultish organization has been well known for reacting fiercely against any criticism or attempt to expose to the light of day the inner working of one of the world's most successful con-jobs. Some of the comments below the article are worth a glance as well ( although some tend to lump all religion into the same category as the SOC).

P.S. In case any Scientologists want to take issue with my appraisal of your "religion" feel free to comment provided it is not abusive.

Quote of the day...

There were several candidates, but I had to give the award to leftist and pro abortion Mexico City lawmaker Leticia Quezada.

“I’m Catholic and I’m going to continue being Catholic even if the church excommunicates me. My conscience is clean.”

Quote of the day...

I meant to post this last week but forgot. After some brief thought I decided not to post his actual quote because I want you to go and visit his blog. But yea Fr. Huneycutt has a way with words that sometimes just hits the proverbial nail right on the head. For the record if I could only look at ten sites a day, Orthodixie would be on the list. Anyways check out Fr. Joseph's comment on the Episcopal Church.

Another correction: Arrrggghhh! This is the second one this week. Fr. Joseph has pointed out that the above quote was actually from Mark Krikorian. It was being quoted over at Orthodixie. I apologize to Mark for failing to give proper attribution.

Social Update

For those of us who were not invited, it appears that the Haute Formal (white tie) dinner at the White House last night for Queen Elizabeth II was a success. Incredibly Mr. Bush managed to get through it without tripping over his own tail coat or drinking water from a bottle as some had feared. Everything was done in a way demonstrating that yes... we Americans are capable of putting on a ritzy party. In addition to the white tie dress the dinner featured a five course meal (prepared by the White House chef de cuisine) served on the gilded Clinton china with gold flatware and candelabra. Several different wines were offered for the various courses (although the president is a teetotaler). After dinner entertainment was provided by the famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. Later there was dancing to music from the Marine Corps Band.

The New York Times can breath easily again.


A correction: In the original post above I referred to the china used in the state dinner as being 200 years old. However a reader correctly pointed out to me by email that the china was in fact the Clinton china that was commissioned by the White House Historical Society commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of the White House. I have corrected the text to reflect this.

The Christian Flight

BAGHDAD —
Despite the chaos and sectarian violence raging across Baghdad, Farouq Mansour felt relatively safe as a Christian living in a multiethnic neighborhood in the capital.

Then, two months ago, Al Qaeda gunmen kidnapped him and demanded that his family convert to Islam or pay a $30,000 ransom. Two weeks later, he paid up, was released and immediately fled to Syria, joining a mass exodus of Iraq's increasingly threatened Christian minority.

"There is no future for us in Iraq," Mansour said.

Although Islamic extremists have targeted Iraqi Christians before, bombing churches and threatening religious leaders, the latest attacks have taken on a far more personal tone. Many Christians are being expelled from their homes and forced to leave their possessions behind, police, human rights groups and residents said.

The Christian community here, about 3 percent of the country's 26 million people, has little political or military clout to defend itself, and some Islamic insurgents call Christians "crusaders" whose real loyalty lies with U.S. troops.

Many churches are now nearly empty, with many of their faithful either gone or too scared to attend. Only about 30 people attended this Sunday's mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, and only two dozen took communion in the barren St. Mary's Church in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday.

As many as 50 percent of Iraq's Christians may already have left the country, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal monitoring and advisory group in Washington D.C.

Read the rest here

Is greed still good?

"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."-Gordon Gekko

I am not a big movie goer. But I do like to watch them now and then on TV, usually the classics. One of the better ones that came out of the 1980's was the movie Wall Street. It was supposed to be something of a morality play with the devil and an angel fighting over the soul of the hitherto innocent Bud Fox played by Charlie Sheen. The only problem is that in the movie the devil stole the show.

In the plot young Bud is a fresh out of business school guy, new in the big city (New York) looking to make his way in the world as a stock broker. He takes a chance and makes a cold call to one of the great financial wizards Gordon Gekko (brilliantly played by Michael Douglas). Enter the devil. The rest of the movie is about how Gekko corrupts young Bud and turns him into a soulless greedy... "Republican" for want of a better PC epithet. The counter to Gekko is Bud's conscience or angel in the form of his honest hardworking blue collar (presumably Democrat) father, played a bit weakly by Martin Sheen.

Alas most people (including me) who saw the movie seemed to fall for the suave devil. Gekko is a completely and utterly amoral character totally devoid of anything resembling a conscience. But he was a brilliant devil and a charismatic one. I can't count the number of lines from Gekko that became national catch phrases. In short he was the perfect villain. So why did so many people wind up quietly rooting for him?

I suspect that its because deep down there is a little bit of greed or avarice in all of us. That desire to live like a king and play with vast fortunes and the lives of others as though they were pieces on a chessboard. We wonder what it would be like to live in house with more rooms than the local Motel 6 and a staff of liveried servants. What it would be like to summer on the Riviera and winter in Aspen and travel between the two on a private jet. But more than that it is about the power that comes from money. Power is a fantastic addiction as almost anyone who has ever held a serious elective office can attest to.

A fascinating statistic I recall reading somewhere (I have forgotten the source) indicated that a solid majority of those who win the lottery, wind up broke. Why? How could you end up flat broke if you have just won a cool several million dollars after taxes? There are a couple of reasons. One obvious one is that many people who play the lottery are people who come from a socio-economic background where they have no concept of money or how to deal with it. And therefor they don't understand that it can disappear as quickly as it appeared. Even several millions of dollars is after all not a fortune anymore and can be squandered quickly by those who don't grasp that money is finite. Adding to this is the low regard people have for that which is not earned. This might be why inherited fortunes also seem to go rather quickly.

But I think one of the major issues with money is its power to play on and aggravate or exacerbate whatever vices you have. Money, in large amounts, permits the owner to indulge in things that would be difficult or impossible for those of us who have to work for a living. Think about some of the most common vices out there, drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, and any number of others you could add. Money can be a facilitator for almost all of them. A man who has 20 million does not need to worry about being sober in the morning to go to work. He doesn't need to worry about work at all. At least until the money runs out. And depending on your vices, they can eventually take over and destroy your life.

Oh by the way, the devil is coming back. "Money Never Sleeps"

"I create nothing. I own." - Gordon Gekko

White Tie and hold the snobbery please

President Ford (in tails) with HM the Queen

The New York Times has put up an article noting that President and Mrs. Bush will be hosting the Queen of England for dinner on Monday evening. (For any royal watchers it will be live on C-Span.) All well and fine but of note to the Times were the two words in the lower left of the fancy invitations. "White Tie"

For those who just got their invitation and were wondering what that means, it defines the dress code for dinner. White tie (that's tail coats) is the most formal dress for a social function and is considered to be more formal than the tuxedo (black tie). The Times was practically giggling when they observed that this is Mr. Bush's first white tie function in his seven years in office. They then went on to intimate that the President of the United States is a Texas hick in urgent need of etiquette lessons to get him through this.

Somehow I suspect that the son of George Herbert Walker (and more importantly Barbara) Bush knows which fork to use for the celery and which for the fish. His family, although low key in their personal lives are actually from east coast society and he did after all manage to get through Yale. OK, so he is not all that fond of tails for dinner dress. How many white tie functions have you hosted lately?

I think our friends at the NY Times might do well to remember that outside of Manhattan Society probably 70+% of Americans would not even know what white tie meant on a dinner invitation. We as a nation are just not that formal anymore. West of the Mississippi there are a lot of places where the definition of formal means you wear a sport coat with your jeans and a nice collared shirt.

That said there are moments when a little formality is tasteful. I am on record complaining about just how low our standards have sunk in dress in some situations. And yea I happen to think doing white tie for the Queen of England shows a little class. I still miss morning coats and top hats for presidential inaugurals too. But seriously. Just because the man has been seen drinking water from a bottle (oh the horror!) and is almost certainly more comfortable wearing boots and jeans clearing brush at his ranch than wearing a tux at the opera does not mean he is the rube the Times made him out to be.

My closing thought on this subject is that the Times might have done well to recall that it is generally considered rather bad form to point out the social faux pas of others.