It's interesting to me that there's a great conversation going on over at Karl's blog, and though I've posted a couple of comments, I found I really didn't have the passion in me to do much else than read the further comments. Was a time, I'd be in the thick of it. It may be due to the fact that Tripp, with whom I have been "working out my issues" online these past few months (insert big grin), has been KO'ed by CPE.
Or it may be something that occurred to me during Sunday's Divine Liturgy.
I believe. I've worked out my questions. I've found that what I've worked out has stood up well to all the challenges and questions. But it's more than just a "head trip." Great Lent taught me that not only does this Faith "think well" it also "lives well." I was discussing this with a fellow inquirer at lunch with Father and Khouria after worship. Orthodoxy has given answers to my questions that satisfied in ways Protestantism didn't (thus the questions) and Rome couldn't (because it was the flip side, in a way, of Protestantism). Those Orthodox answers have been put to historical, doctrinal, and philosophical tests, and have fared better than any other contender. Where Rome gives administrative unity in one person (or his office), Orthodoxy gives participation in the energies of God through the one Body, the Church, in whom is the fullness of Christ. Where Protestantism attempts to give only the Scriptures but accomplishes confusion and contradiction, Orthodoxy gives the Tradition in which the Scriptures were written, and guards and guarantees the one Faith once for all delivered to all the saints.
I'm sorry to sound so "triumphalistic" and uncharitable. I really only mean to communicate my experience.
I look out on my most recent one-time church home, the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism, and I am deeply saddened. I have no desire to engage in the controversies that are dividing the Anglican Communion--and make no mistake, there will be schism over these controversies; there already is and it will only get worse. I have enough love for these venerable bodies of faith, who taught me the importance of historical connection, the liturgy, the sacraments, that what I see happening both angers me and depresses me. But it is not my fight anymore. That is to say, it is not my fight to preserve the institution. It is certainly mine to wrestle with my faithful Anglican brothers and sisters against this great darkness that has overtaken the whole communion, this enforcement of the will of an unrelenting minority on the vast majority of the churches.
There are some who say that all these things will happen to the Orthodox in America, too. It's only a matter of time. It's only been delayed because the Orthodox have been so "stuck in the past." Well, truly, if the Orthodox would become smug and think to themselves, "Ah, but that will never happen to us!" then their fall is sure to come and that swiftly.
But I have a different view. The Orthodox are certainly full of the same sort of sinners that all churches are full of. And there are certainly Orthodox who appear to be so in name only, their religion apparently running only as deep as their ethnic heritage. But I have reason to believe that there is one advantage that Orthodoxy has--despite its sharing in all the disadvantages: it really and truly is the hypostatic union of humans with God in Christ. This union is not some mere forensic declaration of forgiveness. It is not some mere charismatic experience of the Spirit. Though it is indeed both of these things as well. Rather it is the ontological union of God with humanity in Christ.
In my experience, and based on my reading, it is this single factor (among many) that gives life and vitality to all the Tradition. Yes, Orthodoxy has its dogma. And yes its dogma, in some ways, is as vulnerable as is the most conservative Protestant doctrine to the spirit of the age. But whereas many Protestants view doctrine from the vantage point of the head, Orthodoxy unites them to the heart. Or, perhaps it is better to say, in Orthodoxy they arise in the head from the heart. And they do so precisely because, for this dogma to have life it must arise from the union with God. If it is in Christ in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid, if the Church is the pillar and ground of the Truth, then the dogma is the life. Orthodox do not believe in the male-only priesthood simply because it is what has been believed always, everywhere by all. Though they do believe it for that reason. But rather they believe it because the dogma of male-only priesthood arises from the person of the Trinity and we come to that dogma through the sharing in the life of God. The disciples said to Jesus, "To whom else will we go? You have the words of life." And both Moses and Jesus said, "Man will live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
So, though I recently wrote a few lines of a blog to disprove the Protestant understanding of sola scriptura, I left it unfinished. It's not in me anymore. I know what I believe about Scripture. And I've not been asked to defend it. I know what I believe about the Church, about women's ordination, about human sexuality. I know what I believe about the structure of the Christian home and the roles men and women play in it. It is the belief the Church has held for 2000 years. The Church does not need me to defend her against those who would contradict her. Others are better able and more articulate. Sure, if I'm asked, I must be prepared to give a defense.
So, I feel no real need any longer to enter into controversy. Doesn't mean I won't give my two cents now and then. (Goodness knows, I wouldn't be me, if I didn't, right? [wink]) But it does mean I am focusing on other matters. Like living the Orthodox faith in such a way so as not to cause the least of these to be scandalized. I don't need any millstone jewelry anytime soon.
Pray for me a sinner.
Posted by Clifton at July 1, 2003 01:02 PM | TrackBack