Checking it Twice
Traveling to Bethlehem (29 November 2010)
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Category: Contemporary Orthodox Thought
Ecumenical Patriarch Talks Candidly
The Great Church in Captivity
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml
ISTANBUL – There are two front gates into the walled compound that protects the home of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians. Visitors enter through a door secured by a guardhouse, locks and a metal-screening device. They cannot enter the Phanar’s main gate because it was welded shut in 1821 after the Ottoman Turks hanged Patriarch Gregory V from its lintel. The black doors have remained sealed ever since. A decade ago, bombers who tried to open this gate left a note: “We will fight until the Chief Devil and all the occupiers are chased off; until this place, which for years has contrived Byzantine intrigues against the Muslim people of the East is exterminated. … Patriarch you will perish!” The capital of Byzantium fell to the Turks in 1453. Yet 400,000 Orthodox Christians remained in greater Istanbul early in the 20th century. That number fell to 150,000 in 1960. Today fewer than 2,000 remain, the most symbolic minority in a land that is 99 percent Turkish. They worship in 86 churches served by 32 priests and deacons, most 60 or older. What the Orthodox urgently need is an active seminary and patriarchate officials are convinced the European Union will help them get one, as Turkey races to begin the formal application process
The Door of Tears
Pray for the Patriarchate !!!
Christ is Born!
Glorify Him!
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The Hidden Angel
The Great Church in Captivity
“A Turkish official says restoration workers have uncovered the never-before-seen mosaic face of an angel at Istanbul’s Haghia Sophia – a former Byzantine cathedral.”
This was a headline on the Fox News website. This really disturbed me, as it should all Orthodox Christians. “Never before seen,” what about those countless Christians who worshipped in the Church of the Holy Wisdom from the time of Justinian, until the fall of Constantinople. Don’t they count? This is revisionist history at it finest! The angel was not seen since the Ottomans plastered them over to hide the Truth. So, those Orthodox Christians who prayed in the Cathedral, who placed the mosaic are not to be heard. How sad! Where are the voices telling the world how false these assertions are? Who speaks for the Church in captivity, forced to keep it mouth shut to endure? Where is St. Maximos, St. Mark of Ephesus, the voice of the Church? We are a Church in captivity, a Church muzzled for the sake of political expediency. But, where are the voices in the West? Cannot we speak with a loud voice? The sad thing is the only time we scream with our voices is to criticise the Church and her leaders. The Patriarch did this, the Archbishop didn’t do this, our Metropolitan said the wrong thing. How very sad. Why can’t we speak with a loud voice to decry injustice and to say, this is not a dead Church. It was, is and always will be, at its heart a Church built to the Glory of God. That angel’s image should reminds us of the Seraphim that surrounds the throne God. “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of Your Glory!”
Can We Rejoice?
The Holy Theological School of Halki
In the last few weeks, we have heard from various sources that the secular government in Turkey is planning to allow the historic Holy Theological School of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, located on the island of Halki, to open, again. The Monastery of the Holy Trinity on Halki was founded during Byzantine period. The establishment of the monastery can be traced back to St. Photios the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople, (858–861 and 878–886). The Halki seminary was founded by Patriarch Germanos IV in 1844 at the monastery. It was intended to supply priests for the Ottoman Empire’s Greek minority, it expanded and grew in size and facilities. Set amid cool pines and palm trees, the seminary has the high ceilings, wide halls and well-worn wooden desks of schools built before computers and air conditioning; but this celebrated school has trained generations of scholars, priests and its graduates became bishops and future patriarchs. As a reaction to the Cypriot/Turkish/Greek crisis, the School was closed by the Turkish officials in 1971. For over thirty-five years, this violation of international law has caused great distress and generated calls for the reopening of the School by government, religious, academic and civic leaders across the world. In a past Reuters’ article, this comment was made on the closure: “We have not lost hope, despite the broken promises, because a person only lives as long as he has hope. Even on his deathbed, he resists the end,” His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos (Daniilidis) of Moschonissia, Halki’s abbot, said from his office atop the “Hill of Hope” on Heybeliada (Halki). Perhaps, the moment we have hoped for has arrived! Hope for the historic step was generated by statements from Turkish officials. “The Halki seminary on the island of Heybeliada is to be reopened,” Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay said, and adding that they are searching for a formula to integrate the Orthodox theological school into Turkey’s university system. “Although we have not finalized a decision in the Cabinet, my personal impression is that we are going to open the seminary,” said Günay, speaking on Kanal 24 television over [last] the weekend. This was not the first time a statement with the same tenor has been made by Turkish officials in the last few weeks.
The Holy Trinity Chapel and the School
The need for Halki is beyond question. Yes, there are good Orthodox Theological schools elsewhere in the world. Students will attend these schools and get a good education to serve their local churches. In my opinion, the need for Halki centres on two loci. One, the Patriarchate needs trained clergy and scholars. These men and women, (yes, I believe Halki should train women theologians) should be prepared and educated, at the very highest level, with an international vision, which focuses on the needs of an international Orthodoxy for the future. In this world of mass media, global communications, and instantaneous change; the Phanar needs to train its own “specialists” in an academic environment that it designs and controls. This prerequisite makes the design of the curriculum critical. Yes, students should receive the treasury (parakatatheki) of Tradition, but this must be transmitted with the tools of the twenty-first century. Additionally, the perspective of the “needs” of the Patriarchate are not the focus of any institution; Halki would provide this frame of reference. The School would also be a fount of post graduate and exchange student training. These students would come to Turkey from all over the world. Furthermore, the requirements of Turkish law make the training of clergy in Turkey imperative. Without this source of clergy and future hierarchy, the Patriarchate is slowly strangled, it withers and dies.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Redone needs to be encouraged and thanked for his courageous stance. We pray that this step occurs quickly. The world community would, no doubt, look favourably on a government which corrects the errors of the past and looks to the future.
]]>IV Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference
Representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches were called to meet by his All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. They met the 6th – 12th June 2009 at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Geneva, Switzerland to discuss one topic, the Orthodox Churches of the Diaspora. We are the Diaspora. The definition of what the “Diaspora” can be found below (see the underlined text) in the portions of the communiqué that was issued at the conference. The reason that this whole process has started is because our Church structure is, quite frankly, uncanonical. Why you ask? Well, the canons of the Church state: that there is One Orthodox Bishop in a city for all Orthodox in that geographical area. Here in the States, for example, you can have a Greek Orthodox bishop, an Antiochian Orthodox bishop, an OCA bishop, a Serbian bishop and more in the same city. THIS IS NOT THE WAY THE SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED. Our history is quite complex and the reality is that the Orthodox in America, Western Europe and Australia are organised ethnically. This is not an acceptable situation. His All Holiness and the other Church leaders realise this and are starting to begin a process that will remedy this situation. The representatives met under the president-ship of Metropolitan John of Pergamon,
Metropolitan John of Pergamon
who was appointed by the Patriarch. This is part of their statement.
“The Conference expressed the willingness of Orthodox Churches to solve the problem of the canonical organisation of the Orthodox Diaspora, conforming to ecclesiology, tradition and canonical practice of the Orthodox Church. The Conference decided to create new episcopal assemblies in some regions of the world to order the question of the Diaspora, i.e. the Orthodox faithful installed in areas beyond The traditional boundaries of the local Orthodox Churches. The presidents of the Assemblies are bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the given region, and in their absence, the bishops in accordance with the order of the Diptichs of the Churches. All the bishops of the Orthodox Churches who exercise their pastoral ministry in the communities existing in each of these regions are members of these Assemblies. The Episcopal Assemblies are for the mission to manifest and promote the unity of the Orthodox Church, to exercise pastoral diakonia to the faithful of the region and to render to the world their common witness. The decisions of the Episcopal Assemblies are taken in accordance with the principle of unanimity of the Churches represented within these Assemblies by bishops.
…The remaining topics of the holy and great Council, i.e. the method of proclaiming of autocephaly and autonomy, and the order of Diptichs, will be discussed in future meetings of the preparatory inter-orthodox commission and will be submitted for approval to the following Pre-conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conferences.”
These representative will meet again, in the mean time we PRAY!
]]>Great and Holy Council
Last Sunday, we commemorated the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council who met in Niceae in the early fourth century (325 AD). When I got home I started to think about why we haven’t had an ecumenical council since the eighth century. Historically, we should review some facts about all the councils. All these gatherings had some common denominators.
The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council
- The were never called as “ecumenical” councils.
- They were later recognised as such.
- They were called to decide specific questions, which had arisen and troubled the Church.
- These included : “Who was Jesus?” and “What is the nature of the Holy Trinity”?
- They also settled issues that were derived from the above questions such as: “Who was Mary?”
- They were convened by Imperial Decree.
OK, what is the hold up, it’s been since 787AD. Haven’t we had burning issues in the Church since the eighth century? What about the Great Schism? Didn’t this issue warrant a great conclave to settle the dispute? It seems to me (just personal speculation) that two related reasons may have disturbed the accustomed polity of the Church. One was the person and influence of the imperial house. Namely, the emperor who, following the example of St. Constantine, always convened the councils. What happened after the eighth century was Islam. The Byzantine Empire was confronted by the peril of Islam and the Church’s regular relationships between all the five ancient patriarchates was disturbed. Later, the emperor was literally fighting for the life of the empire. We all know about the estrangement of the western church through political issues and ego. Then came the crusades and the relationships between the East and West deteriorated. There were several attempted councils of “reunion”; but they were, quite frankly, coerced in the face of the eminent fall of Constantinople and the Islamic threats. The works of St. Mark Eugenics detail the difficulties for the Orthodox at Council of Ferrara-Florence in the mid 15th century. Then came the times of captivity, both the Ottoman and the Communist eras.
Now times have changed, but one thing that has not changed is the great need for the Church to come together and discuss things that need attention. I, for one applaud, His All Holiness for moving in the direction of calling a great council of the Church. Let’s not be so cynical by immediately thinking of “evil agendas” and “egos”. This week as we prepare for Pentecost, don’t we, as Orthodox Christians, still believe that the Holy Spirit lives in the Church? The council will convene and the Spirit will assure the outcome, not the machinations of politics and human desires. What should you and I do to guarantee the outcome? PRAY, start from now and fervently pray for the council. Then and only then can we as the faithful influence the conclave.
]]>Discerning the Signs of the Times (part 4)
Chapters 7 and 8 of Behr-Sigel’s essays centre on the central theme of Mme. Sigel’s life, the issue of women and men in the Church. As these chapters are read, it must be pointed out that the essays were written for the most part in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The reason I call this to the mind of readers is that at that time this topic was being encouraged by the general trends in ecumenical and theological scenes world-wide. Unfortunately, the extension of this movement, a more significant role for women in the Church, led to a relativism that opened the door for the current and more difficult issue within the contemporary ecumenical setting. The newest difficulty for the Orthodox is the problem of the role of practicing homosexuals, be it their “marriage” or ordination.
Some Women Saints of the Church
The beginning point is, of course, the example of Jesus and His relationship with women. The essay points out correctly Our Lord dealt with the person, not with groups. He encountered individual humans, not men or women, not colours or nationalities, nothing but a personal encounter with God was the reality of coming face to face with the Messiah. Behr-Sigel rightly calls to our attention that Jesus shattered the “tradition” of His time concerning with whom he “should” associate. Women, tax collectors, adulterers, prostitutes, Samaritans, lepers, those possessed by demons; none were taboo for the touch of the Master. These examples are telling us what is important is the person relationship with Christ, the encounter not the convention of society. Is this example borne out in the life of Church? What is the Tradition and what is tradition?
]]>Discerning the Signs of the Times (Part 2)
Orthodoxy and Peace. Rightly, the beginning of this chapter deals with the liturgical aspect of peace. Even though it is not always emphasized, this should be the crux of any discussion of the theology of the Church. I once read a statement from a well known Orthodox theologian who endured the Communist repression of the Church in the last century. He said that Church was striped of all her riches, schools, and influence; as long as the Liturgy was served, the Church would survive. This was the reality of persecuted Orthodoxy; liturgy is the heart of the Church and fed the soul of the faithful. Behr-Sigel chose to begin her essay with this observation. She points out the central place of peace within the Divine Liturgy. The deacon begins the Great Litany asking that “peace” be the entire bearing of the participants in the liturgy.
[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Peace Unto All"]
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The priest blesses and calls for “peace for the congregants and they respond asking for his spirit to be peaceful. Clergy exchange the Kiss of Peace. With the exception of the personal pronouns “we and us,” peace is the single most often used word in our liturgy. After focusing on the centrality of peace in the liturgy, Elisabeth then discusses the effect that nationalism and national identity influence the Church and its mission to strive for peace among nations. No doubt, complex geopolitical issues affect the closely knit church-state relations in many Orthodox countries. Behr-Sigel points out areas of concern to Orthodox peoples; Serbia (note the date of the article), Palestine, and the cooperation of Constantinople, Russia and the WCC and peace efforts. Never the less, the increased presence of Orthodoxy in the west should help provide a catalyst for a pan-orthodox peace movement. For further information link to the Orthodox Peace Fellowship (http://www.incommunion.org)
Chapter Four discusses a theological theme which is dear to my heart. The topic is the concept of kenosis.(see post Standing by) The scriptural heart of this principle is not only Philippians 2, 5-7 as pointed out in the essay, but also all of salvation history.
[caption id="attachment_319" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Extreme Humility"]
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The kenosis of Our Lord is at the center of Orthodox theology. God humbling Himself to take on flesh, so that He could identify with us His creation is the essence of His salvific mission in obedience to the will of the Father. The hymns, poetry and art of the Church bear witness to this tenet. Behr-Sigel describes the prevalence of this concept in Russian theological thought and literature. The monastic vocation is a true reflection of this theological concept and has been since its inception in the Egyptian and Palestinian deserts. Modern Greek theologians Zizioulas, Nellas, and Vlachos; in addition to many familiar Russian theologians have written about this aspect of Orthodox theology. Dr. Behr-Sigel masterfully weaves the theme of kenosis and its imprint on the soul of Russia and her people.]]>
Discerning the Signs of the Times ( Part 1)
Continuing this introduction to Mme. Behr-Sigel in chapter one she relates her journey to embrace the faith. I was struck how very similar her story was to so many of our fellow Orthodox in this country. Marriage to a member of the Church combined with study and the influence of church members all contributed to bring Dr. Behr-Sigel to Orthodoxy. As a noted member of the academy in France, Mme. Behr-Sigel brought a wealth experiences to the Church family. Additionally, she lived during the critical times of the two world wars and the turmoil within the Christian communities of Europe and the world as the result of the wars. The two great issues which incited fervor in Dr. Behr-Sigel were questions that, in my opinion, remain to be fully explored and more completely resolved. These concerns are the subject of the full participation of the royal priesthood, most especially women, in the Church and the question of how the Church responds to the challenges of modernity and its impact on the Church. These two great trials continue to confront us as the Church. It will be a voyage of discovery as we read this book. I read with great personal interest the second chapter of the book. These pages contain a reprint of an address Behr-Sigel gave at the Orthodox Theological Institute at Cambridge in 1998. The topic of Dr. Elizabeth’s lecture discussed the task of Orthodox Theological Formation. This talk was an opportunity to once again return to the two themes which animated Behr-Sigel, the role of women in the Church and modernity and the Church. If one reads the speech closely the call for Orthodox theological formation at a center of western learning was essential to equip future Church leaders to address issues facing us in this age. The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies at Cambridge (http://www.iocs.cam.ac.uk/) has provided a fertile environment for teaching theology to the lay, academic, and pan-Orthodox peoples of Great Britain for over ten years. Ria and I have been privileged to benefit from many of the Institutes programs during our years in Britain. The vision of Dr. Behr-Sigel, expressed in her address, that the centre at Cambridge becomes a source of teaching Orthodox Tradition has been realized. Dn. George]]>