As it is fast approaching, I feel compelled to make a few remarks about the upcoming Orthodox Council. Much ink has been spilled on the subject, and i'm sure that much more ink will be spilled before the event is over. I don't claim that this post will get at the depth of what is happening, or how I or anyone else feels about it. Since I'm sort of writing on the fly, I also can't claim that I consulted the Church Founders thoroughly on ecumenism, tradition or anything else. But I hope that this post will be able to consolidate some of my thoughts and feelings as an incoming Orthodox Christian layman on this important happening in the Christian world.
It's clear that what's happening is significant. Today in Crete, many patriarchs and bishops will gather together whose Sees have not been in dialogue for years. It's hard to say whether this Council will be truly "ecumenical" (and even harder in a global society to determine what "ecumenical" even means), but it is an undeniably historic event.
Given the magnitude of things, I'm at a bit of a loss for what more to say about it. I will try to speak honestly. I am glad that this is finally happening. Even with an incomplete meeting (Antioch and Russia are absent), this kind of dialogue within the Orthodox Church is something that needs to happen more often. I've often remarked to my friends that if we could just get the churches talking every couple years or so, Orthodoxy would have a greater chance of finding its emergent identity in the modern world (OK, that last part I came up with on the spot, but I've said similar things before).
I am also concerned that nothing will get done. That this council will be a formality, applauded for its historicity but lacking in any real substance. I know that change moves slowly in the Orthodox Church, but I also feel there are many problems in the church that, through prayer and God-given ingenuity, might be solved if bishops and patriarchs could talk to each other.
The items on the agenda are not insignificant: jurisdiction, Orthodoxy in the diaspora, marriage and the family, war and peace. At times it seems to me that much of the discussion has already been decided beforehand. That's not to say that meaningful change might not take place. It is Pentecost, after all, and the Holy Spirit is full of surprises. Let us hope and pray that, as on that day when power and wisdom descended on the Apostles, that God would breathe new life into the Orthodox churches and enlighten us all by the Spirit
No comments:
Post a Comment