Orthodoxy in a Nutshell

Thanks to Demetrios1 for this quote:

"This is the Church that began with the dudes that hung out with Christ. I figure any other church is going to be more 'dude like' and less 'Christ like.'"

What's Bringing People to Orthodoxy?

Recently I've been getting acquainted with the podcast "Journeys to Orthodoxy" on the OCN. As is the case with the conversion stories I've heard on Ancient Faith Radio, the most often repeated reason for joining the Orthodox Church is AUTHENTICITY.

Now, I was born in the Church, so my take is admittedly a bit different. But what I thought would be the most attractive part of Orthodoxy would be CONTINUITY, in that over time and space the Church has consistently taught the same thing as Christ did to the Apostles; it's not just antiguity, it's accuracy.

There is so much depth to Orthodoxy that many people will come to this Faith by many different roads, whether it's through the beauty of our services, the mystical experience of asceticism, or even our social outreach. The problem is that anecdotally, in the Malankara Church, none of this is being communicated!

So, from the twitter and facebook readers, I would like to know what draws you to, or keeps you in this Church and how that will continue to sustain you. That's the homework for tonight. Thanks :)

-Steve K.

Swine Flu & Holy Communion

In response to some of the replies to the twitter posting regarding the above, I only ask because I recalled it being a serious consideration during the SARS (is that still around) scare a few years back, see here.

In fact, I did a quick google search, Catholic Churches in America are receiving permission to take precautions.

I think that we can have this discussion without debating the efficacy of the Communion. We all share the same spoon (if that is what the priest has decided to use) every Sunday. Is it not unreasonable then to consider whether a Swine Flu infected person would be able to spread infection? I'm not saying that this would change the Holy Communion, but the vessels carrying it should be sanitary and sterile for sure (we certainly clean them weekly).

I'm no epidemiologist, I don't know the specific risks. I will say though that some discussion and guidance on the issue would be appreciated.

-Steve K.

Why Are Sheep Leaving the Church?

Dear all:

Of the reasons usually submitted on this subject, I don’t think any are particularly new. St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians clearly deals with factionalism, immorality, and disunity within the fledgling Church. The people who make up the Church have never been perfect, and they never will be. The First Century Church was able to grow in a world without religious freedom. We have religious freedom but can’t even fathom anything resembling growth. Instead the best we can do is “slow” the exodus. I for one believe the teachings of the Orthodox Church are objectively true; we are the Church that Christ established. That being said, what good is having the fullness of the Gospel in theory when in practice we are either ignorant of or simply don’t care about the real content of our Faith?

In my own spiritual journey I can honestly say I had no idea about my Faith until I made a concerted effort to learn about it on my own. I never learned about our Patristic mindset or monastic heritage until I encountered it in books first and then within my college Orthodox Christian Fellowship. I learned that there is an unbelievable depth to our Faith which spends most of the time sitting on the shelf. For example, within Orthodoxy we have innumerable Saints, Fathers, and Mothers of the Church who have had a hand in forming our Tradition. In actual liturgical practice though, we venerate about five. And while I’ve heard countless references to Gandhi from the pulpit; not once have I heard a mention of the venerable saints who really exist within our tradition such as St. John Chrysostom or the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.

There is much to be offered within Orthodoxy that simply does not get taught or actualized within our daily experience of the Church. How much have we emasculated the Sacrament of Confession by giving no-questions-asked absolution? We have neither interest in iconography nor any theological reasoning behind our Church art and layout. We don’t preach that each and every person can truly pursue a profound personal relationship with Christ within the corporate body of the Church. We have no catechesis program for new converts into the faith (especially by marriage), and we have rationalized our way out of doing any meaningful evangelism work. Therefore, I ask the question: Are people really leaving the Orthodox Church, or are they leaving a shell organization with the word “Orthodox” written on the sign outside?

I realize that I am, of course, painting with broad brush strokes and there are very many reasons to be optimistic. My point though remains the same: people don’t leave the Church because we are “too Orthodox.” They leave because we aren’t “Orthodox” enough and they get a stronger, clearer message elsewhere which gives them a better feeling of fulfillment. We have the tools within the Church, yet we need the resolve to act accordingly. Overcoming the language barrier is but the first step in the process. We can no longer be simply carriers of the Faith, but rather proclaimers of the Gospel as we believe it was really intended to be.

St. Basil on "In the Beginning"

"Thus the writer who wisely tells us of the birth of the Universe does not fail to put these words at the head of the narrative. "In the beginning God created;" that is to say, in the beginning of time. Therefore, if he makes the world appear in the beginning, it is not a proof that its birth has preceded that of all other things that were made. He only wishes to tell us that, after the invisible and intellectual world, the visible world, the world of the senses, began to exist."
-St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron, Homily I

If "In the beginning God created," the presupposition must necessarily be that God existed even before time itself, in a manner of existence which must be beyond our understanding. This means that God does not "change" nor is subject to change, but works within the universe of time from outside of it.

We perceive God in time because we are created beings, but God Himself is beyond the beginning and end of things; He knew exactly that Adam would sin, and when he did sin God knew exactly how He would redeem humanity. He knows exactly what will become of each and everyone of us because all of time and space are held in His hand.

-Steve K.

Hooray For Cardinal Dolan, let us pray he does a good job!

After reading Dolan to fight anti-Catholic bias , it was inspiring to hear Cardinal Dolan reach out to his lost sheep and express that the church misses them and asked them to forgive him and Catholicism on the recent mistakes by particular clergymen of the Catholic faith.

Anil George
St. Mary's Malankara Orthodox Syrian Cathedral of Philadelphia

Christianity's Loss or Seclarism's Gain?

Newsweek's cover story this week is entitled "The End of Christianity"

The article itself is not really about the end of Christianity in America. That was simply an attention grab. It's more about Christianity losing ground and prestige to the modern Secular Progressive ideology.

Now, my contention would be that this isn't a move from dark to light, from superstition to science. I find activist Atheism itself to be a comprehensive religion itself. It has dogmas, morals, and an eschatology. Simply through science and education, mankind will be able to build for itself a better and more "just" society, if only the unenlightened and uninitiated wouldn't interfere. If American Christianity is in decline, it's because of the evangelistic model of modern atheism which may simply be a Christian heresy.

Only within the Christian West has pluralism been tried and sustained. In the Islamic world, religious minorities were to be contained within a certain sphere. In the far East, cultures were more or less homogeneous and closed to outside interference. Only in the West, where Christianity has directly led to democratization and expansion of personal freedoms has atheism been given a chance to prosper.

In practice, what has the Secular Progressive ideology embraced? "Social justice," radical egalitarianism, extreme environmentalism, extension of rights to the animal world, and sexual liberation have all been causes directly aligned with atheistic,secular forces. Tangentially, every one of these ideologies has a basis in Christianity, but stripped of traditional "God-inspired" context. God, then, has been replaced with scientific order (extending of course into the social sphere), and salvation has been replaced with the utopian just and harmonious society.

Are we headed for post-Christianity? Europe seems much further down that road. However, heresies have also waxed and waned throughout history as well. An orthodox understanding of Christianity, even from the wilderness, has always and can always come back from virtual death.

-Steve K.