ORTHODIXIE ... Southern, Orthodox, Convert, Etc.

UPDATE: I am away this week for our annual Clergy Brotherhood Retreat - Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America; blog updates and comment approval may be nonexistent.
Prayers coveted.

I have a suspicion that many AFR listeners may not understand this week’s podcast.

Why?

Because I know for a fact there’s folks out there in AFR land who are non-Orthodox -- Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans -- and, yes, even nominal Christians and secular types.

Some people will definitely be offended.

But, I also suspect that many of those same people are, like me …

come closer …

WHITE.

Typical signs of Orthodox White People are exposed by the following questions:

Have you written a book about your conversion to Orthodoxy?
-- With the exception of Fr James Bernstein, you are white.

Have you read a book about someone’s conversion to Orthodoxy?
-- No doubt, you are white.

What’s that, you say? You are an Orthodox blogger?
-- Whitey, whitey, whitey.

OH! You are an African-American convert?
-- Yes, well, welcome to the club -- and, in this club, you may as well be white, too, buddy.

By now there are some of you thinking: “Hey! You can’t talk that way!”

Well, I don’t.

But plenty of so-called ethnic Orthodox ...


The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Or, just listen right here.

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FYI - I will be speaking at St Nicholas Cathedral, Brooklyn, this weekend, January 31st, at their annual Winter Retreat -- and in Chicago, February 13-14th, for the 26th Annual Young Adult (YAL) Ministries Conference sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago.

If you're in the area, join us! Click the links for details.

Fr Joseph,

I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that I finished One Flew Over the Onion Dome last night and really enjoyed it. A lot of what I read really resonated with me, especially the part about the vulnerability required by love. When my girlfriend and I broke up it took me a long time to move on. Of course this is an incomparable matter to the vulnerability experienced by Christ on the cross, but it made me realize that in order to love as He does I have to be willing to be vulnerable, which is tough.

I loved the part about Orthodoxy in the South too ... your descriptions of us Southern folk were on target. Your commentary on the convert/revert struggle with the burden of their own sin and lack of progress in the faith as a result of such weight really hit home. It's been something I think I've been struggling with lately ... the more I learn the more I realize how unworthy I am of Christ. I have to keep trying though and commit myself to do so.

I just really enjoyed the book and wanted to thank you for the time you spent writing it. I hope to start your second one soon.

Thank you!

XXXX

One Flew & Defeating Sin ... here.

One thing we must not forget: Orthodoxy is Christianity. You cannot add Orthodoxy to Christianity. Rather it is Christianity. We shouldn’t beat others over the head with this fact but we should never shy away from it.

-- taken from One Flew Over the Onion Dome as cited in the Report on Evangelism for the year 2008 for St. Luke Orthodox Church, Palos Hills, IL, by Lee Kopulos.
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While blessing homes as a Mission priest in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee … I was younger, a good bit hairier, about 40 pounds heavier, and still as foolish.

In those days I would often read other church bulletins where there was, invariably, a note announcing house blessings which ended with the words:

DO NOT FEED THE PRIEST!

Back then I always found that admonition odd … after all, in a small parish or mission setting, a priest may only have 10, 20, or 30 homes to bless over a two month period (from Theophany to the Great Fast) – and many times the families want the priest’s whole family to enjoy a meal. Believe me, it can be done!

And, hey … ya gotta eat … so why not feed the priest?

If you are a priest or parishioner in such a smaller setting, you know it can be a blessing.

But, I currently live in Houston.

Ladies and gentlemen, enter the Dynamic Duo …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Or, just listen right here.

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The following is lifted from the most recent issue of TOUCHSTONE magazine (the only mag you really need these days):

Through a resolution adopted at its Lambeth Conference in 1930, the Anglican Church became the first Christian body to formally approve the use of contraceptives. In an editorial published on March 22, 1931, the Washington Post had this to say in response:

It is impossible to reconcile the doctrine of the divine institution of marriage with any modernistic plan for the mechanical regulation or suppression of human birth. The church must either reject the plain teachings of the Bible or reject schemes for the "scientific" production of human souls. Carried to its logical conclusion, the committee's report, if carried into effect, would sound the death-knell of marriage as a holy institution, by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality. The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be "careful and restrained" is preposterous.

* * *

That was less than 80 years ago. My, we've sure come sunk a long way.

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Rarely do I link to Fr Stephen Freeman's Glory to God for All Things, though I try to keep up with him (no small task), because I assume most of you read him already. The following entry, however, deserves a read (tell your non-Orthodox friends -- even your pastor) ...

The Bible is not God’s revelation to man: Jesus Christ is God’s revelation to man. The Scriptures bear witness to Him and are thus “true” as a true witness to the God/Man Jesus Christ.

Thus the import of Noah’s flood is to be found in Holy Baptism and not the other way around. Creation as shared in the first chapter of Genesis is an unfolding of the Paschal mystery and it is from that mystery that it derives its value. I could multiply such examples. When this principle is forgotten, Christians find themselves arguing over points of geology or archaeology and not over the triumphant resurrection of Christ. If Christ is risen from the dead, everything else becomes moot. If Christ is not risen from the dead, then all Christian statements become moot.

Christ is risen from the dead.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and read it all.

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With help from my daughter, I try to stay on pitch while singing Dan Idzikowski's "Superchristological and Homoousiosis" -- here's the lyrics (below); tune in and sing along!

(Might wanna turn my part down, however.)

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Or, just listen right here.




To the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius"

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

Now Origen and Arius were quite a clever pair.
Immutable divinity make Logos out of air.
But then one day Saint Nicholas gave Arius a slap--
and told them if they can't recant, they ought to shut their trap!

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

One Prosopon, two Ousia are in one Hypostasis.
At Chalcedon this formula gave our faith its basis.
You can argue that you don't know what this means,
But don't you go and try to say there's a "Physis" in between!

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Urn diddle diddle um diddle ay

Now freedom and autonomy are something to be praised,
But when it comes to human sin, these words must be rephrased,
For Pelagius was too confident that we could work it out--
And Augustine said *massa damnata* is what it's all about.

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

Um diddle diddle um diddle ay
Um diddle diddle um diddle ay

Heresies are arguments that you might find attractive,
But just remember in this case the Church is quite reactive.
So play it safe and memorize these words we sing together,
'Cause in the end you'll find, my friend, that we may live forever.

Superchristological and Homoousiosis
Even though the sound of them is something quite atrocious
You can always count on them to anathemize your Gnosis
Superchristological and Homoousiosis

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When you come to Scripture, you can't just find some text and come up with some interpretation that no one has ever thought of before and have a plausible argument that it's true. There's a saying that I like to quote: "All that's old might not be gold, but if it's new it can't be true" -- and when it comes to Scripture that's certainly true.

If you read Scripture and you find something that after 2,000 years no one has ever thought of until you came along, you know it's wrong.

-- Fr John Whiteford

Father John Whiteford, my son's Godfather (pictured here from 2001) has an excellent -- a must hear! -- interview with Kevin Allen of The Illumined Heart on Sola Scriptura (the Protestant belief in "Scripture Alone").

Listen here ... or here.

Excellent, excellent, excellent!

Incidentally, the pic is from a post titled Иоанн Whiteford & the Pips -- just before Fr John left for Russia for the Reconciliation of the Russian Church.
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If posting poetry is, forgive me this, like posing nude -- Seminarian Michael goes streaking.

Perhaps he should see a priest -- like Fr John Hainsworth -- who is nuts (about poetry).

Or, a good confession (ala Patrick Kavanagh) might be in order ...

Having confessed he feels
That he should go down on his knees and pray
For forgiveness for his pride, for having
Dared to view his soul from the outside.
Lie at the heart of the emotion, time
Has its own work to do. We must not anticipate
Or awaken for a moment. God cannot catch us
Unless we stay in the unconscious room
Of our hearts. We must be nothing,
Nothing that God may make us something.
We must not touch the immortal material
We must not daydream to-morrow's judgment—
God must be allowed to surprise us.
We have sinned, sinned like Lucifer
By this anticipation. Let us lie down again
Deep in anonymous humility and God
May find us worthy material for His hand.

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Finally, there's lots of good verse in the Bible ... and you can read it this year with a little help.

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CONCORD, N.H. – The first openly gay Episcopal bishop will offer a prayer at the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural event for President-elect Barack Obama ...

"It's important for any minority to see themselves represented in some way," Robinson told the newspaper for a story in Monday's editions. "Whether it be a racial minority, an ethnic minority, or in our case, a sexual minority. Just seeing someone like you up front matters."

Clark Stevens, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, said Robinson was invited because he had offered his advice to Obama during the campaign and because of his church work. When asked whether Robinson was included to calm the Warren complaints, he said Robinson is "an important figure in the religious community. We are excited that he will be involved."

Robinson, 61, said both Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will attend the event, and Obama is expected to speak. As for himself, Robinson said he doesn't yet know what he'll say, but he knows he won't use a Bible.

"While that is a holy and sacred text to me, it is not for many Americans," Robinson said. "I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer. This is a prayer for the whole nation."

Robinson said his prayer will be reflective of the times.

"I think these are sober and difficult times that we are facing," he said. "It won't be a happy, clappy prayer."

Full article here.

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When I come before the judgment throne, I will plead the promise of God in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I will not plead any work I have done, although I will thank God that he has enabled me to do some good. I will plead no merits other than the merits of Christ, knowing that the merits of Mary and the saints are all from him; and for their company, their example, and their prayers through my earthly life I will give everlasting thanks. I will not plead that I had faith, for sometimes I was unsure of my faith, and in any event that would be to turn faith into a meritorious work of my own. I will not plead that I held the correct understanding of ‘justification by faith alone,’ although I will thank God that that he led me to know ever more fully the great truth that much misunderstood doctrine was intended to protect. Whatever little growth in holiness I have experienced, whatever strength I have received from the company of the saints, whatever understanding I have attained of God and his ways…these and all other gifts I will bring gratefully to the throne. But in seeking entry to that heavenly kingdom, I will, with Dysmas, look to Christ and Christ alone.

Richard John Neuhaus (May 14, 1936 — January 8, 2009)

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Face it. Orthodox Christians can be just plain lazy -- from Middle-Aged Cradles endlessly touting the glories of a bygone or foreign culture …

to the Young American Converts sporting ponytails and practicing really deep breathing with wool knots out by the Vegan food co-op.

As if there was no other way to live out one’s Orthodoxy.

There’s certainly value in preservation of the good in one’s culture – I mean, hello, I’m a Southerner!

And, yes, I fast and practice the Jesus Prayer with the Prayer Rope (even have a dwindling ponytail!).

But, the dichotomy of:

This is the way we did it in the Old Country ...

versus

This is the way they do it on the Holy Mountain …

can be tiring.

It’s like one bishop once said, when commenting on why it is so hard for Orthodox to work together on social and ethical issues with Evangelicals:

“They keep saying – 'Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord' – Okay! We know already! Now can we get on with it?!!”

It does get old.

But, for many Orthodox, old is a good thing!

OLD, for some, equals TRADITION.

From my seminary days, I remember my Liturgics professor saying:

“In the local parish, TRADITION is whatever that parish has done for the past three years.”

And, believe me; some parishes have done boring for so long it has become Tradition.

Many groups, from small Missions in store-fronts, to Cathedrals-in-the-doldrums have fallen into a spiritual stupor …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

(Or, just listen right here.)

Image Source - The Small Town Heroes.
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Moscow, December 29, Interfax -

There will be no reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church when a new Patriarch takes office, Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Kirill told the media in Moscow on Monday.

"I strongly oppose any church reforms. Besides, I do not think that any of the 145 archbishops that may be nominated for Patriarch have reform aspirations," he said.

Russia has twice learned "the necessity of careful attitude to traditions, especially church traditions," the Metropolitan said.

"The first lesson we learned was the church split by Old Believers. Our second lesson was the notorious innovations of the 1920s. Both processes caused agitation and divided people but neither of them reached the goals set by the reformers," he told.

"Church reforms cannot attain their goals unless these goals are rooted in people's life," Metropolitan Kirill remarked.

"Our Church is strong with its ability to preserve the belief and the flawless moral paradigm and to pass them over from one generation to another," the Metropolitan said.

"The Church is conservative by nature, as it maintains the apostolic belief," he added.

"If we want to pass the belief from one generation to another for centuries, the belief must be intact. Any reform damaging the belief, traditions and values is called heresy," he said.

Meanwhile, secular reforms that undermine traditions of "theological and moral values" are dangerous for the country, Metropolitan Kirill said.

"Life has shown that Russia accepts ideas that do not break its backbone. People rejected everything suggested in the 1990s as kind of an intellectual project," he said.

Source (links added)

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How is it that my Creator comes to me?I'm not worthy.
To quench is my fate.
THIRST
All can relate.
Before Eden thou wast; even before the flood.
I parted for Thy people at the behest of Moses, Thy chosen one.
I’ve whetted e’ery path man’s trod; every field he’s plo’d.
At Thy command I came to be; my rest shall be in Thee.
Tell me Lord, what brings Thee to me? I’m not worthy,
I must confess.
Me? I cleanse from sweat, dirt, sand, and disease.
Washed away are cares and burdens -- the soot of the day --
in my waves.
John calls forth the people.
In their salvation I participate.
Yet, to Thee, how can I relate?
For without, I’d not be.
Jest it seems!
(Agent of cleansing feels dirty in the presence of the King.)
Cleanse me, O Lord, that I may be worthy of Thee.
THIRST
I am water.
I lack nothing but Thee.
At Thy baptism, O Lord, Thou hast found me worthy.
Quenching, cleansing:
paths, fields, people,
salvation;
I
shall ne’er be the same.

Come Lord Jesus,
cleanse Thou me!

Published in 2005 on the Antiochian Webpage - click the link for other Epiphany offerings.

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In my opinion, this video should be required viewing for Orthodox Christians in America.
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In cleaning out last year's "draft blog files" I came upon the following letter by the late Patriarch of Russia, published in the spring of 2008. (A very worthy read.)

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia:
Response to the open letter of 138 Muslim theologians

I would like to thank all the Muslim religious leaders and scholars who sent an open letter to representatives of Christian Churches and organizations including the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Christians and Muslims have many similar aims, and we can unite our efforts to achieve them. However, this unity will not occur if we fail to clarify our understanding of each other’s religious values. In this connection, I welcome the desire of the Muslim community to begin a sincere and open dialogue with representatives of Christians Churches on a serious scholarly and intellectual level.

Christianity and Islam are engaged today in a very important task in the world. They seek to remind humanity of the existence of God and of the spiritual dimension present both in man and the world. We bear witness to the interdependence of peace and justice, morality and law, truth and love.

As you rightly put in your letter, Christians and Muslims are drawn together first of all by the commandment of the love of God and the love of one’s neighbor. At the same time, I do not think it is worthwhile for us to identify a certain minimum that seems to fix our convergences in faith and to be theologically sufficient for the individual’s religious life. Any doctrinal affirmation in Christianity or Islam cannot be viewed in isolation from its unique place in the integral theological system. Otherwise, one’s religious identity will be obliterated to give rise to a danger of moving along the path of blending the faiths. It seems to be more fruitful, therefore, to study the integral faith of each side and to compare them.

In Christianity, a discourse about love of God and love of one’s neighbor is impossible without a discourse about God. According to the New Testament revelation, God is revealed to human beings as Love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John. 4, 8). “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John. 4, 16). One cannot help seeing in this an indication that the Divine nature itself also has love as its most essential, characteristic and important property.

A lonely isolated essence can love only itself: self-love is not love. Love always presupposes the existence of the other. Just as an individual cannot be aware of himself as personality but only through his communication with other personalities, there cannot be personal being in God but through love of another personal being. That is why the New Testament speaks of God as one Being in three Persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is the unity of three Persons who have the same divine nature, which belongs to each of them in its fullness so that they are not three but one God. God the Trinity is the fullness of love with each hypostatic Person bespeaking love towards the other two hypostatic Persons. The Persons of the Trinity are aware of themselves as “I and you”: “just as you are in me and I am in you” (John. 17, 21), Christ says to the Father. “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you”, Christ says about the Holy Spirit (John. 16, 14). Therefore, every Hypostasis in the Trinity refers to the other Hypostasis, and, according to St. Maxim the Confessor, it is “eternal movement [of the Trinity] in love”.

It is only through the knowledge of God as love that the individual can come to the true knowledge of His being and His other properties. The love of God, not any other property of the Divine nature, is the main principle and the main driving force of Divine Providence for humanity in the cause of its salvation: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John. 3, 16).

The Christian teaching on the incarnation of God the Word in Jesus Christ is also a natural manifestation of God’s love of human beings. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John. 4, 9-10).

Man, created in the image and after the likeness of God (Gen. 1, 26), is able to experience Him in himself and, thus, come to know the love that God has for him. God’s love is communicated to human beings to become their inner property, their living force that determines, penetrates and forms their whole lives. Love in man arises in response to God’s love. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John. 3, 1). God expects from man not so much a slave’s devotion as filial feeling of love. Therefore, in the main prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ has taught Christians to say (Luke. 11, 2), man appeals to God as his Heavenly Father.

The manifestation of man’s true love of God is possible only if man is free. This freedom makes it possible to do good by fulfilling the will of God by choice, not only out of fear or for the sake of reward. The love of God inspires in man the selfless desire to fulfill His commandments. For, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, “Because of His great love, God was not pleased to restrict our freedom but was pleased to draw us near Him through the love of our own heart”. Therefore, human freedom increases, extends and grows stronger as human beings grow in love of God, which is the core of human religious and moral perfection. Those who love God seek to emulate their Creator in their actions: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5, 48).

My letter does not have the aim of setting forth the entire Christian theology. I only offer an example of reflection on God’s love of man and man’s love of God, which underlie the whole theological system of Christianity and which cannot be reduced to a few laconic formulations. It is my conviction that Christian and Muslim thinkers would benefit from regular studies of each other’s doctrines in their fullness. In this connection, it seems desirable to develop a doctrinal Christian-Islamic dialogue to broaden academic and research cooperation, to study doctrinal affirmations, to create an in-depth basis for developing multifaceted cooperation between our two religious communities.

The doctrinal dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Islam has considerably intensified recently. This happened not only because we have to communicate more intensively and to build societal life together, but also because Christians and Muslims have come to face the same challenges which are impossible to meet on one’s own. We have together encountered a pressure from the anti-religious worldview that claims universality and seeks to subject all the spheres of life in society. We are also witnesses to attempts to assert a ‘new morality’ that contradicts the moral norms supported by traditional religions. We should be together to face these challenges.

Some people among both Christians and Muslims have expressed fears that the development of interreligious dialogue may lead to religious syncretism, a review of the doctrines and obliterated borders between religious traditions. Time has shown however that a reasonable system of cooperation between religions helps to preserve and emphasize the unique nature and identity of each of them. Moreover, the development of appropriate forms of interreligious dialogue in itself has proved to be a serious obstacle for manipulations aimed to establish a kind of universal super-religion.

Unfortunately, I have to state that our religions do have enemies who would like to see Christians and Muslims clash, on the one hand, or to bring them to a false ‘unity’ based on religious and moral indifference, thus giving priority to purely secular concerns, on the other. Therefore we as religious leaders need each other, so that our faithful may preserve their identity in the changing world.

Noteworthy in this connection is the experience of co-existence between Christianity and Islam in Russia. The traditional religions in our country have never come into conflict while preserving their identity for a thousand years. Russia is one of those rare multi-religious and multinational states whose history has not known the religious wars that have plagued various regions of the world.

The basic religious and ethical principles held by the traditional faiths in Russia invariably guided their followers toward cooperation with people of other religions and beliefs in the spirit of peace and harmony. Various religious communities lived side-by-side, working together and defending together their common Motherland. Nevertheless, they stood firm in the faith of their own forefathers, safeguarding it against encroachments from outside and often doing so together in face of invaders from other countries. To this day, our compatriots have not come into any real conflict between them based on religious grounds. In this way, an affective system of interreligious relations based on mutual respect and good-neighborliness was established in Russia.

In today’s Russia, there is an important mechanism for interreligious dialogue, namely, the Interreligious Council in Russia, which has been working fruitfully and successfully for over ten years now. Its example and experience have proved to be attractive for the independent states, which have been formed in the post-Soviet space. Religious leaders in these countries have formed a CIS Inter-religious Council. Through these two bodies, together we seek to meet the various challenges of today and to show to the whole world a positive experience of peaceful coexistence and cooperation between Orthodox Christians and Muslims who have lived in the same society for centuries. As is known, in other Christian countries, too, Muslims have had opportunities for developing their religious life freely.

In many Muslim countries, Christians have enjoyed invariable support and have the freedom to live according to their own religious rules. But in some Islamic countries, the legislation prohibits the construction of churches, worship services and free Christian preaching. I hope that the letter of Islamic religious leaders and scholars proposing to intensify dialogue between our two religions will contribute to establishing better conditions for Christian minorities in such countries.

Doctrinally our dialogue could deal with such important themes as the teaching on God, man and the world. At the same time, on the practical plane the Christian-Muslim cooperation could be aimed at safeguarding the role of religion in public life, struggling with the defamation of religion, overcoming intolerance and xenophobia, protecting holy places, preserving places of worship and promoting joint peace initiatives.

It is my conviction that it is precisely the Christians and the Muslims that should initiate inter-religious dialogue on regional and global levels. Therefore, in the framework of international organizations, it seems useful to create mechanisms that make it possible to be more sensitive to the spiritual and cultural traditions of various peoples.

Once again I would like to thank all the Muslim scholars and religious leaders for their open letter. I hope for further fruitful cooperation both in theological dialogue and social sphere.

English translation: DECR Moscow Patriarchate

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See also response to this initiative.
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