New official OCA blog questions Holy Tradition & the Bible

[Maria]

Never Changing Gospel; Ever Changing Culture

Fr. Robert M. Arida

[some excerpts]

• The title of this essay can be misleading for a few reasons. First, there is among Orthodox Christians the idea that nothing changes in the Church. In fact, we know that many adult converts have been lured to Orthodoxy by this misconception. Second, there is the idea that the gospel is a text. As will be stressed in what follows, the Gospel is first and foremost Jesus Christ – the pre eternal Word and incarnate Son of God. By no means does this presuppose disregarding the written text of the bible. It does, however, challenge the Orthodox Christian to be engaged with the text i.e. to wrestle with it by being in dialog with it. The biblical text is alive and inexhaustible. Its content demands ongoing interpretation. Third, the title might suggest to some readers that a clear i.e. black and white answer can be given to the interaction of Gospel and culture. The relationship of Gospel vis-à-vis the culture is the relationship of Christ and every person. To diminish this most fundamental aspect of Orthodox thought and life is nothing less than a distortion of the Gospel. Yet, as will be pointed out, this is precisely what is occurring in the Orthodox Church here and abroad. A “new and alien spirit” is displacing the authentic voice of the Gospel. The voice of Christ is being weakened by the voice of philosophical and ethical systems. The human person is being superseded by ideologies. Lastly, I want to stress that this essay has one goal – to encourage the reader to raise questions and not to fall prey to the fiction that all questions pertaining to God, human life and culture have been already raised and answered in the past.

...

• If the never changing Gospel who is Jesus Christ is to have a credible presence and role in our culture then the Church can no longer ignore or condemn questions and issues that are presumed to contradict or challenge its living Tradition. Among the most controversial of these issues are those related to human sexuality, the configuration of the family, the beginning and ending of human life, the economy and the care and utilization of the environment including the care, dignity and quality of all human life. If the unchanging Gospel is to be offered to the culture then the Church, in and through the Holy Spirit will have to expand the understanding of itself and the world it is called to save.

http://wonder.oca.org/2014/11/01/never- ... g-culture/

This is an OFFICIAL OCA Website promoted by the OCA SYNOD ever since Met. Jonah was forced to resign.
Now we know one of the motives behind the OCA Synod ouster of Met. Jonah.

Note how this article encourages dissent and questioning in the name of academic freedom. This is opening Pandora's box and could very well lead our Orthodox youth into immorality.

[Barbara]

Who is this priest ? I have never heard of him, as he is not one of the big "stars" of the OCA [apparently].

The bolded part of the last paragraph is particularly dangerous. One can see he is paving the way for
"a new openness" in the OCA. Especially since this is officially an OCA blog, as you said, Maria.

Well, I think the OCA was headed that way anyway, Met Jonah or not. It would have ended up at this point,
extremely liberal. Met Jonah himself was not adverse to dealing with - and elevating or endorsing --- highly questionable clergy from this standpoint.
He was seemingly no conservative on moral topics.

[Maria]

Interestingly, Metropolitan Tikhon has replaced the article originally written by Fr. Robert Arida with his own reflections.No doubt, the OCA cannot afford to lose any more members with yet another scandal.

http://wonder.oca.org/2014/11/01/never- ... g-culture/

Although the original article has been removed, it can still be found here.

The original comments remain below the double line break at wonder.oca.org. There one can read the shock with which the original article was received.

[Maria]

Priests, hieromonks, and deacons from the Antiochian, Greek, OCA, ROCOR, and Serbian World Orthodox jurisdictions have signed a letter of protest against Fr. Robert Arida:

I have only posted an excerpt below. To view the entire letter, please visit: http://orthodoxhouston.org/arida_response.html

Statement of the Brotherhood of the Orthodox Clergy Association of Houston and Southeast Texas
on the Comments of Fr. Robert Arida on Homosexuality

• We find it unacceptable for Orthodox Clergy, who have been given the charge to instruct and guide the laity, to suggest that the moral Tradition of the Orthodox Church needs to change with the times or with the prevalent culture. St. Paul admonishes us to "be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2). And it should be noted that the word translated "world" is not "kosmos" (the material world, world order, or people of the world), but "tō aiōni" which refers to the age (or generation, or time) in which we live. And we have no better guide as to what the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God is than we find in the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church.

  It is also contrary to our Tradition to write about matters of faith or piety in ways that are intentionally ambiguous – this is rather the approach of liberal Protestantism. As Sergey Khudiev wrote, in response to a previous statement by Fr. Robert Arida, which was likewise replete with studied ambiguity, liberal Protestants have “a particularity which entails a tendency to explain themselves with rhetorical questions, vague allusions and highly mysterious phrases from which you can with more or less justification guess at their positions, but are unable to explain clearly.”1

Here is the list of those who have signed this document: (Note: only one brave soul from the OCA has signed this letter)

V. Rev. Fr. Joseph Shahda, St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
V. Rev. Fr. Serge Veselinovich, Ss. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church, Galveston, Texas
V. Rev. Fr. Dejan Tiosavljevic, St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, Cypress, Texas
V. Rev. Fr. Gabriel Karam, Holy Forty Martyrs Antiochian Orthodox Church, Sugarland, Texas
V. Rev. Fr. Joseph Huneycutt, St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
V. Rev, Fr. Anstasios Raptis, St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
V. Rev. Fr. John Whiteford, St. Jonah Orthodox Church (ROCOR), Spring Texas
Hieromonk John (Anderson), St. Cyril Orthodox Church (OCA), The Woodlands, Texas
Rev. Fr. Lubomir Kupec, St. Vladimir Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR), Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. George Dahdouh, St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Cassian Sibley, Life-Giving Spring Orthodox Church (ROCOR), Bryan, Texas
Rev. Fr. Michael J. Lambakis, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. James Shadid, St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Richard Petranek, St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church, Katy, Texas
Rev. Fr. James Early, St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Stelios N. Sitaras, Holy Dormition Greek Orthodox Church, Galveston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Demetrios Tagaropulos. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Anthony Baba, St. Anthony Antiochian Orthodox Church, Spring, Texas
Rev. Fr. Symeon Kees, St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
Rev. Fr. Beningo Pardo, St. Jonah Orthodox Church (ROCOR), Spring, Texas
Rev. Archdn. Meletios Marx, St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas
Rev. Dn. David Companik, St. Jonah Orthodox Church (ROCOR), Spring, Texas
Rev. Dn. Juvenaly Hale, St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas

We must reach out in Christian love to these brave priests who possibly might be open to True Orthodoxy.

[Barbara]

What ? Only ONE OCA priest ? Unbelievable !!!
Lots of Antiochian and GOA clergy, whom one might otherwise expect to be liberal.
Whether more liberal than the OCA< I am not qualified to judge.
That is amazing !

Interesting to read over the list overall. I didn't know that Fr John Whiteford of Rocor-MP has a second priest now in what I thought was a small parish.

Not to sidetrack, but I was going to suggest that actual overtures could be made to some clergy and laity.
We want to discuss that elsewhere, of course. I was thinking that the direct approach may be needed. For, we can't assume people are going to somehow appear without having overtures made to them. I wonder whether there should be a committee to organize such efforts ?