Orthodixie

Published by Orthodox Christian Laity, October 8, 2004

Are we still a lonely voice crying out in the wilderness or a disciple-maker of all nations?

By Paul Fuller

The holy prophet Isaiah spoke saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight (Matthew 3:3).'” Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ gave us this command saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” Is the Orthodox Church still a lonely voice crying out in the wilderness or are we a disciple-maker of all nations? The Holy Orthodox Faith was established by God as Christ during His death and resurrection. In 33 A.D. the disciples of Jesus gathered at Pentecost and they all received the promise from Jesus of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them. On that day, 3,000 converts were baptized into the Holy Church.

The disciples of Christ didn’t stop there; they pushed further and farther enduring much pain and suffering, yet much beauty as witnessing the conversions of many into the Holy Church. Christ’s disciples baptized the people in the name of the Trinitarian God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early leaders of the Church were visionaries, realizing their important task on this earth. They were instructed by Jesus Christ to go and preach the Word of God, not just by word of mouth, but also most importantly by example. For by living the Orthodox Faith, you make believers out of many.

The world is full of people of all kinds of cultures, languages, governments, and even religions. However, Christ tells us: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16).”

America is a unique environment for Orthodox Christianity. The light of Orthodoxy reached this land, first through Orthodox missionaries in Alaska, then later through the travel of Orthodox immigrants from all parts of the world. Many Orthodox Christians came to America in the hope of a “better life.” These people gathered together in ethnic communities, thus preserving strongly their unique cultures and languages. The strong ethnic ties were imperative for their survival in this new land, for times weren’t as easy as these immigrants had hoped. These Orthodox Christians struggled vigorously to produce a comfortable way of living for their families. Orthodox Christianity arrived on this continent in 1794, and has remained and prospered to this very day.

Unlike other Christian religions, who have divided and broken up numerous times throughout history, Orthodox Christianity has remained true to the Apostolic and Catholic Faith. The same Apostolic and Catholic Faith founded by Christ and organized by the early disciples of Christ. Orthodox Christianity is called “best kept secret.” Yet this was not Christ’s intention for His Church. Many people around the world have a terrible misconception about Orthodox Christianity, but their ignorance is our fault, all Orthodox Christians. Why are Orthodox Christians still only known for their ethnic cultures, which one sees in front of that church’s name? Why do people believe that Greek, Russian, Antiochian, Romanian, Bulgarian, etc. Orthodox Churches are different in theology and practice?

Orthodox Christians living in America are faced with a great challenge in this day and age. We have an opportunity, living in the most powerful, influential, and world-leading country this earth has even known, to allow this “best kept secret” become the “light of the world.” American policy weighs heavily in the minds, hearts, and souls of all who exist in this world. Issues, such as, sexual abuse, child abuse, abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, homosexuality, and injustices of all kinds, are important topics in today’s American society. Yet, when faced with these issues, the Orthodox jurisdictions in America individually express their concerns. Do our concerns on such topics differ? I pray that our reply is a strong and vibrant: NO! All Orthodox Christians have the same teachings of Christ, writings of the Church Fathers, and canons of the Orthodox Faith. But where is the Orthodox Voice in America? The Orthodox Voice in America is divided up into numerous jurisdictions in this land, which is against the canons of the Church. Orthodox Christian hierarchs due to the delicate situations faced by the Orthodox Christian immigrants into this land has overlooked this canon-breaking set-up. No longer are we immigrants, foreigners, and strangers in America! The Orthodox jurisdictions in this land are no longer guests, but hosts in America. Orthodox Christians are Americans and Americans are Orthodox Christians!

Currently, the only somewhat unified Orthodox Voice in America is SCOBA (Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas), established in 1960, which brings together the canonical hierarchs of the Orthodox jurisdictions in America. SCOBA is made up of nine member Churches. The purpose of the Conference is to make the ties of unity among the canonical Orthodox Churches and their administrations stronger and more visible. The hierarchs meet twice annually for discussions and decisions on matters of common concern. Various commissions and committees have been established to implement the decisions of SCOBA.

SCOBA, however, is simply a small step to what is needed for the Orthodox Christians in America. What is not needed for Orthodox Christians in America is Patriarchal leadership thousands of miles away. The physical distance is not what hinders the Orthodox Christians in America; the hindrances are the non-Orthodox influences upon these Patriarchal leaders. Prime examples include the lack of recognition of the Patriarch of Jerusalem by the Israeli government and the Turkish stronghold over the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Orthodox Christians living in America need Orthodox Christian leadership in and from America. Few Orthodox jurisdictions are taking the necessary steps for accomplishing the goal of a united and unified American Orthodox Church, but most continue to back-step this process. What are the reasons for not following in the footsteps of our early Church leaders? We must be visionaries, much like the apostolic fathers of the early Church. They realized the needs of the Orthodox communities abroad and allowed zealous and pious inhabitants to become Church leaders.

Christ commanded His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations! When saying His disciples, it is not meant only the people who knew Him. Are we not Christ’s disciples also, much like them more than 2000 years ago? This command, then, isn’t just for them, but for all of us, Orthodox Christians, especially in America for we are faced with the same important task. Christ is alive in us, for we are still walking with Christ this very day. His command is clear, it is not subject for interpretation: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).'” Then where is the Orthodox Voice in America: are we still just a voice crying out in the wilderness or a disciple-maker of all nations?

Paul Fuller is the President of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) at the University of Kentucky and also serves as a National OCF Student Advisor Board member. (Again, thanks to Fr Victor Potapov for FWD.)

Haaretz Daily Newspaper, Tel Aviv, Israel

Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them

By Amiram Barkat

A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face.

The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.

On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop’s 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.

Both were questioned by police and the yeshiva student will be brought to trial. The Jerusalem District Court has meanwhile banned the student from approaching the Old City for 75 days.

But the Armenians are far from satisfied by the police action and say this sort of thing has been going on for years. Archbishop Nourhan Manougian says he expects the education minister to say something.

“When there is an attack against Jews anywhere in the world, the Israeli government is incensed, so why when our religion and pride are hurt, don’t they take harsher measures?” he asks.

According to Daniel Rossing, former adviser to the Religious Affairs Ministry on Christian affairs and director of a Jerusalem center for Christian-Jewish dialogue, there has been an increase in the number of such incidents recently, “as part of a general atmosphere of lack of tolerance in the country.”

Rossing says there are certain common characeristics from the point of view of time and location to the incidents. He points to the fact that there are more incidents in areas where Jews and Christians mingle, such as the Jewish and Armenian quarters of the Old City and the Jaffa Gate.

There are an increased number at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday.”I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday,” he says.

Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as “a huge disgrace.” He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.

“I’m sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it,” he says.

Evyatar says he himself was spat at while walking with a Serbian bishop in the Jewish quarter, near his home. “A group of yeshiva students spat at us and their teacher just stood by and watched.”

Jerusalem municipal officials said they are aware of the problem but it has to be dealt with by the police. Shmuel Ben-Ruby, the police spokesman, said they had only two complaints from Christians in the past two years. He said that, in both cases, the culprits were caught and punished.

He said the police deploy an inordinately high number of patrols and special technology in the Old City and its surroundings in an attempt to keep order.

Thanks to FWD from Fr Victor Potapov.

The Islamic Sates of America? Patrick, at the Orthodox Christian Information Center (OCIC), points to a chilling read.

As any father of daughters knows, “Sometimes a girl’s just gotta cry.” Well … Dawn just needed to rant.

Can you really get KICKED OUT of the Anglican Communion?

Bill Cosby for President! You heard it here first!

A Matushka does the Hopko dance.

Thanks to James at Paradosis, here’s a Map that shows where American Orthodox live.

You can also flag where the Heterodox reside.

Finally, for levity’s sake, please visit Slobbovia (Caveat Lector & B.Y.O.F.)

Inter-Orthodox Conference: “Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment” … Press Release

“In love, we reject Ecumenism, because we desire to offer to the heterodox precisely that which the Lord richly bestowed upon all of us within His Holy Orthodox Church: the opportunity to become members of His Body.”

This, among other things, was stressed at the Inter-Orthodox Conference: “Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment”, which was successfully co-sponsored by the Department of Pastoral Theology of the Theological School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the “Society of Orthodox Studies” in the midst of large crowds who filled Ceremony Hall at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The conference took place from September 20-24, 2004. His All-holiness Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki declared the commencement of the conference. Other Metropolitans and Bishops, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Mr. Panagiotis Psomiadis, Parliament representatives, and university professors were all on hand to offer greetings to the conference and its attendees. Before a packed audience composed of the Abbots of holy monasteries, clergy, monks, and laity, among which were many theologians and students of the Theological School, over a five day period roughly sixty speakers, including Hierarchs, from nearly all of the Local Orthodox Churches, analyzed thoroughly the phenomenon of Ecumenism.

At the conference it was noted that the roughly one hundred year old movement of Ecumenism — the organized efforts to unite divided Christians — even if it was, in the beginning of its development, animated by good intentions, has today reached a total dead end — a truth which is confessed by even the most fervent supporters of inter-Christian dialogue. This is due to the way in which these dialogues were established and directed, and are conducted even today.

Inter-Christian dialogues, with their unacceptable joint prayers and their syncretism, quickly led to inter-religious syncretism, the underpinning of which is the new age theory which proclaims that all of the religions are paths which lead to the same God.

Ecumenism, with these dialogues, gatherings and joint prayers, is placed among the so-called New Age, the New Order, and Globalization and serves political and geo-strategic aims, which are especially visible, even to the most uninformed observer, after the eleventh of September, 2001.

The ultimate conclusion of the conference is that the conditions have matured and been met and now render imperative the re-examination of the Orthodox Church’s participation in the “World Council of Churches”, and the so-called Ecumenical Movement more generally, as well as inter-religious gatherings.

Joint prayer must be flatly condemned and the Local Orthodox Churches must undertake their heroic exodus from these assemblies. For this aim to be attained a pan-Orthodox decision is not required, given that the Local Orthodox Churches were incorporated into the W.C.C. and ecumenical movement separately.

(For this news item and the one below — thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham.)

A Matter of Faith, By Dale Hurd, CBN News Sr. Reporter, October 12, 2004

CBN.com – BORGHOLM, SWEDEN – Inside a small Pentecostal church in southern Sweden, worshippers pray for their pastor, that somehow he won’t have to go to prison for the crime of preaching against homosexuality.

Sweden was at the forefront of the sexual revolution, and today is at the forefront of the gay agenda. As in many European nations, homosexuality has been embraced by society as a human right, and glorified in the media. One pastor decided to stand up to what he saw as the growing acceptance of homosexuality here. But because of the way he said it, he has been sentenced to jail.

Green said, “I was watching television, reading the newspaper, listening to high-profile people, actors, singers, glorifying the homosexual lifestyle. And I was worried, and I was concerned, and I felt a deep burden in my heart to speak on that particular topic.”

Green prepared the sermon last year, on what the Bible says about homosexuality, with the intention that the townspeople of Borgholm come to hear him. But attendance was disappointing. So Åke Green had his sermon published in the local newspaper. In it, he compared the sin of Sweden to the sin of Sodom. And he warned, “…our country is facing a disaster of great proportions! Of that we can be sure. God said the land would vomit out its inhabitants…Our country is facing a disaster.”

But it was how he described sexual practices like homosexuality that brought the charge against him: Green said, “What I said was that sexual abnormality was like a cancer of the society.”

Or more precisely in English, a “cancerous tumor.” He ended his sermon with grace, and with respect for those living in sexual sin, saying, “What these people need, who live under the slavery of sexual immorality, is an abundant grace. It exists. Therefore we will encourage those who live in this manner to look at the grace of Jesus Christ. We cannot condemn these people. Jesus never belittled anyone. He offered them grace.”

But his ending did not matter. The sermon was seen by local gays and the district prosecutor, and Green was convicted in a district court and given a month in jail, a sentence not yet served because he is appealing the conviction. Green’s defense attorney is also the chairman of the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Percy Bratt. He said, “The very basic question that is raised in this matter is to what extent it is criminal to teach from the words in the Bible, so to say?” The hate speech law used to convict Green was first intended to protect Jews and other ethnic minorities from Nazi sympathizers. But in more recent times, the law was amended to also protect sexual orientation.

Bratt remarked that “The wording of this provision is (SIC) very general, so the area that shall be criminalized is up to the court.”

The district prosecutor in the case refused to speak with CBN News, but we were able to speak with Sweden’s national gay and lesbian organization in Stockholm, the RFSL, which supports Green’s conviction.

A spokesman for the group, Robert Karlsson Svärd, said, “Hatred and defamation is not to be accepted, just because it’s based on religious beliefs or religious scriptures. It’s – you have some limits when it comes to freedom of speech.”

But the Åke Green case is becoming an embarrassment for a nation that prides itself on its tolerance. It may also be a catalyst. Prominent Swedish pastor Ulf Ekman was almost charged with the same offense, but the prosecutor dropped the case. Ekman says most pastors ignored his call for a nationwide campaign to challenge the law, by preaching against homosexuality: “As far as I know,” said Ekman, “he and I are the only ones who have said anything about this… I think that in this case, Pastor Green is very isolated. Many, many pastors have backed off, and even those that agree with him are very silent.”

Josef Östby, a noted missionary and pastor in Sweden’s Pentecostal movement, hopes God is using an unknown preacher from a small town to awaken a nation. Östby said, “I felt it like a prophetic message for our time in Sweden.”

Östby added, “A kind person like Green, silent, is working in a small church and today, the whole country are talking about it, and countries are touched by his simple message.”

But support for Green among some Swedish evangelical leaders has been surprisingly lukewarm. Green blames them for acquiescing to the homosexual agenda. He said he draws his inspiration from the Old Testament prophets: “We have read about Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and Amos. They were living in times of spiritual decline. I believe we are dealing with a spiritual dimension here. The evangelical churches don’t want a confrontation with what’s going on in the Swedish society, and that makes them silent.”

Green’s attorney says the case will now go to an appeals court, and if needed, to Sweden’s Supreme Court, and even to the European Court, if necessary. He says the district judge misapplied the law.

Bratt said, “The court must, when applying this provision, make a balancing act between the right of homosexuals and the right of the freedom of religion and the right of the freedom of expression, and we say that the court has not made proper such balancing.”

But other nations are moving in the same direction, or already have similar laws, including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Östby calls Green’s conviction a tragedy for democracy in Sweden: “We cannot in Sweden be known for things like putting a pastor in jail for a sermon. This is impossible.”

But RFSL spokesman Svärd said that one month in jail is not long enough for Green. He hopes that a higher court will impose a longer sentence.

The district attorney has said that six to eight months would be more appropriate when it comes to this crime, and we cannot do anything else but to agree with that.

Pastor Green said he was not afraid to go to prison for this. Green said, “I am not a criminal, I don’t feel like a criminal, but this new law makes us preachers as criminals if we speak up.”

Some say Pastor Green has awakened Swedish evangelicals on the issue of homosexuality. He has certainly created an uncomfortable dividing line for church leaders, whether to speak boldly about what the Bible says about homosexuality,

or not.

An otherwise overlooked pastor has done something to grab the attention of a nation. Åke Green says he was just obeying God.