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The American Orthodox Church: The Unity We Yearn For
George Strickland, Editor
The American Orthodox Church: The Unity We Yearn For
(Final in a series of four articles)
George Strickland, Editor
In the Credo, we affirm that the Church is “One.” We understand that the life of faith is inseparably welded to organic unity. As St. Paul writes, “There one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-7).
The visible unity of the Orthodox Church in America is not a pipe dream, but a permanent and central aspect of Church dogmatics. It exists theoretically by virtue of our common faith which unites us in a single Savior. We are called to work for it beyond the historical accident of the Diaspora. This affirmation of unity arises from the conviction that Orthodox Christians belong together in one ecclesial body; this unity will make credible our common witness of the Gospel of Christ.
Orthodox unity in America is a future prospect that will happen in God’s time. The hope for Orthodox unity will empower an effective program of re-evangelization and mission at a time when culture formed by the Christian patrimony is under assault by secularist, relativistic, and nihilistic post-modern ideologies. The ideologues of our time seek to push the Church out of the public space of civil discourse and thought. This has to be resisted with all of the power and courage the Church can muster. (I would like to pursue this line of thinking, but I will reserve it for a future essay.)
Directions to Orthodoxy, a ministry of evangelization and mission, does not offer a plan for structural change and institutional realignment. But we do support sustained attention to the structures of ecclesial unification in America. It has become taken-for-granted that disparate Orthodox jurisdictions are normal. Yet, this taken-for-grantedness is a grave threat to the integrity of Orthodoxy in this country. To work vigorously for real ecclesial unity is an imperative. The movement from our diverse social and ethnic locations to a new location in Christ is described and reflected throughout the New Testament and the writings of the Church Fathers.
It is easy to lose sight of this fundamental Orthodox truth. While we may rightly celebrate the diversity of ethnic and national subcultures, this diversity is easily enlisted to sinful purposes of division. There is a clear distinction between the diversity that is part of our cherished heritage and a diversity that must be deplored. Cherished traditions and rich memories of righteousness and courage can be preserved in a unified Church without reliving the old tensions and resentments. The shift from the truth of the Gospel to ethnic and national identities has resulted in the tribalization of Orthodox in America and makes our witness to the faith ineffective and marginalized. There exists in America the perception that Orthodoxy has a very weak institutionalized presence in America, and this perception does great harm to our visibility and witness. The very fact of institutional division from a sociological perspective gives the impression that the jurisdictions are more interested in institutional maintenance rather than a clear discernment of the Gospel.
From the earliest times, witness and mission were seen as the foundational impulses of the Church, and it continues to mark an important area of the success of the Church through the coordinated efforts of the Standing Council of Orthodox Bishops (SCOBA). The joint efforts of SCOBA have produced great results in the formation of the International Orthodox Christian Charities, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, the Orthodox Christian Network, and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. These organizations have done a remarkable job in fostering evangelization both here and internationally.
But more must be accomplished. Opportunities for coordinated mission development and outreach are required by the Orthodox churches in America. Common mission strategies should be developed in every metropolis and diocese, so that church growth can be accomplished by evangelizing the unchurched and the re-evangelization of the lapsed.
Furthermore, the Orthodox churches participation in the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches is damaging the integrity of the faith. These ecumenical bodies have become largely irrelevant, and do not foster the kind of ecclesial unity we seek. These organizations, for a very long time, are in pursuit of questionable social and political agendas that give the impression to Orthodox believers and other Christian observers in thinking that the Orthodox churches are primarily denominations and are not first and foremost interested in the integrity of the confession of the faith and the sacramental life. Following the lead of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America which voted last year to courageously withdraw its membership from the National Council of Churches, the other Orthodox participants should desist from membership in order to preserve the integrity of the faith that has been the cherished possession of Orthodoxy.
To counter the current trends of watering down of the faith and to build the unity of the Church, bishops and priests should exhibit the following qualities:
Radical discipleship in life and ministry, manifesting personal conversion to Jesus Christ and the abandonment of everything to follow Christ.
Bishops and priests must preach the Gospel with conviction and clarity. Are they witnessing the Gospel to non-believers? Are they instructing and, if necessary, admonishing Orthodox who have embraced teachings contrary to the Gospel and the tradition of the Church.
Under the leadership of bishops and pastors, are parishes growing? Are their liturgical ministries leading people into a deeper experience of the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen?
Do bishops and priests foster the development of Orthodox renewal and the development of piety among the faithful? In sum, bishops and priest are those who call others to holiness of life because they manifest holiness in their own life.
Bishops and priest have to be intentionally countercultural. They must have the strength of character to make decisions that will no doubt be unpopular with others, because those decisions are faithful to the Church’s teachings.
Bishops and priests have to be theologically literate. Are they well read theologically? Do they regard theology as an essential part of their vocation? Theological literacy, additionally, requires that they are capable to translate the best of the Church’s theology, ancient and contemporary, into an idiom accessible to their people.
All of these qualities have the positive effect of bringing about true ecclesial renewal and unity.
I would like to end this essay on a positive note. The one prelate who has done more to foster the unity of the Church is Metropolitan PHILIP of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. Metropolitan Philip has written:
"I do realize that we are dealing here with a very complex problem. This multiplicity of jurisdictions is deeply connected to the self-evident reality of our various ethnic cultures. Such cultures cannot be eliminated by a statement from SCOBA or by an edict from some patriarch somewhere. Only time can take of this problem. Despite this reality, however we cannot consider this present Orthodox situation in America as final because, by so doing, we will betray Orthodoxy and her basic principles. "
Finally, I firmly believe that Orthodox unity in North America is inevitable and such unity will strengthen the mother churches, spiritually and otherwise. No one stop the wheels of history and no one can reverse the course of a mighty river. "
Such a ‘mighty river' is the true metaphor of Orthodox missiology! "
See more of Metropolitan PHILIP’s thoughts in the attached PDF file found at the bottom of this web page.
© George Strickland, Ph.D.
Article Attachments
The Thoughts of Metropolitan PHILIP on Missiology (2145494 bytes)