Official OCA position

Waldemar · Post by **Waldemar** » Fri 5 December 2003 11:18 pm

Dean Erickson observed: "Traditionalist rhetoric has been affecting the mainstream."

Keep fighting the good fight, Euphrosynosites!

Savva24 · Post by **Savva24** » Sat 6 December 2003 2:39 am

Waldemar wrote:
Dean Erickson observed: "Traditionalist rhetoric has been affecting the mainstream."

Keep fighting the good fight, Euphrosynosites!

Oh good! I almost thought you beleived this nonsense.

Of course the Orthodox Church has always thought of itself as the One True Church. Though I think that Erickson is misrepresenting us traditionalists by saying we think that there is nothing but absolute darkness outside of Orthodoxy; for the sake of making his polemic work he has to make us look closedminded and coldhearted. I am surprized that anyone would believe this guy, just read any of the saints, well before the 1800, and see what they have to say about the non-Orthodox and how different it is from Erickson.

In Christ,

Nicholas

Seraphim Reeves · Post by **Seraphim Reeves** » Sat 6 December 2003 7:08 am

Rarely will I speak this categorically about an individual. However, after reading Erickson's critique of "traditionalists", I can only conclude he is either profoundly ignorant, or issuing a series of malicious lies...bearing in mind, the man is a well informed academic, and hardly a person I would ordinarily call "ignorant."

Seraphim

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Sat 6 December 2003 9:09 am

Notice that throughout Erickson's paper, there are very little references or examples of the fathers, if any at all. For the most part it is, very plainly, nothing but opinion and speculation. This is all I have ever seen written by the ecumenists about us - opinion and "feelings".

Does anyone know if Erickson is a new-calendarist or a Protestant?

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Sat 6 December 2003 10:22 am

"I am surprized that anyone would believe this guy, just read any of the saints, well before the 1800, and see what they have to say about the non-Orthodox and how different it is from Erickson."

That's why it is really scary that he is the DEAN of St. Vlad's. :ohvey: I don't know what goes on there these days, awhile back I met a woman who works there and she started talking to me about how women should take a greater role in the Church (like the priesthood issue!) and I just stood there, completely speechless, because I couldn't believe that this conversation was even occurring. Luckily, a friend spoke up & ended the conversation quick by saying that she was perfectly happy with the way things were.
Makes you wonder, you know?

Gregory2 · Post by **Gregory2** » Sat 6 December 2003 6:18 pm

can anyone give any sort of bio on Dean John Erickson? I know he's Dean of St Vladimir's Seminary, and when I heard that I found it really bizarre because he is not a priest (I thought deans of seminaries had to be priests). thanks

Waldemar · Post by **Waldemar** » Sat 6 December 2003 10:07 pm

SVOTS bio: http://www.svots.edu/Faculty/John-Erickson/index.html

Here's an excerpt from:

Fidelity to Living Tradition: An Interview with Dean John Erickson
by Fr. John Shimchick
http://www.jacwell.org/Fall_2003/fideli ... dition.htm

“One temptation in the history of Orthodoxy has been to identify this or that system of this world, this or that empire, with the Kingdom of God . And along with this have come the temptation of ethnicism and the tendency to emphasize our particularities. Another temptation common enough today is a relatively recent one - the tendency to dichotomize, the tendency to emphasize how different we are from everyone else, how different we are especially from the West. This tendency to dichotomize very often leads to triumphalism – the idea that with us everything is right, with us everything is good, and that with everyone else everything is bad. This triumphalism, on the one hand, is spiritually dangerous. It creates pride where maybe we should have more humility; we should recognize the dark aspects of our own past as well as its glorious moments. This triumphalism also undermines any evangelical message that we have to the world. Very easily and all too often, we create stereotypes of others; we spend our time denouncing ‘straw men.’ This makes our witness to the world much less persuasive than it would be if we were a little more honest about ourselves and more willing to see others as they are rather than as we think they are.”

Finally, is there one thing that Professor Erickson could identify now that, in his eventual retirement speech, he would like to say was accomplished during his tenure as Dean?

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 “I would like to be able to say that, in my term as Dean, the Seminary remained true to its most basic principles, true to the vision that has guided the Seminary through so much of its history.  I would identify at least three areas here.  First of all, I would emphasize the Pan-Orthodox character of the seminary - the concern for Orthodox unity that the Seminary has had through so much of its history.  [b]Second, I would emphasize the importance of Tradition – of living Tradition - and therefore the need for critical appropriation of this Tradition on the part of our students.[/b]  They must be familiar with the Fathers of the Church, with Scripture, with church history, etc., but they also must be able to relate all this learning to our contemporary situation.  Finally, a third area - something that for me and for the Seminary has always been very important – would be an emphasis on the holistic nature of Orthodox theology and Orthodox theological education.  Seminary education is not just a matter of accumulating a certain number of credits.  It involves formation in virtually every aspect of life, in all of our reactions.  For this reason participation in the worship life of the seminary community has been an integral part of seminary education.  This is also why community service, expressed in such humble things as work on the breakfast crew, has been an important and continuing part of seminary education.  This is why we have always tried to maintain the residential character of the seminary, with single students with us, married students, their families, the faculty and their families, living in close proximity.” 

“I would hope, at the end of my time as Dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, to say that we have remained faithful to this animating vision of the Seminary:  faithful to its concern for Orthodox unity, faithful to its concern for appropriation of our Tradition, and faithful to its emphasis on community, all of which have provided the context for theological education.”