St Nicholas Cathedral in DC

Mission Choir, originally uploaded by A Whistling Train.

This is quite a photograph.

St Alexander Nevsky

This is St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (OCA) in Allison Park, PA. In my opinion, it’s a bit close to unfortunate on the outside. The architecture is rather difficult to describe. Neo-traditional, perhaps?

Originally uploaded by Shane Henderson.

 

However, inside, it’s glorious.

Great Vespers, originally uploaded by A Whistling Train.

Divine Liturgy, also from the cathedral. Note the carved seraphim over the Royal Doors.

Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, originally uploaded by A Whistling Train.

Here’s a full-width picture taken from the loft (click to enlargen). And yes, I see the pews. Glorious, I said, not perfect.

Bishop Melchisedek!

Yesterday, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah and the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America consecrated Archimandrite Melchisedek (Pleska) Bishop of Pittsburgh and the Diocese of Western Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I was not there, as I had intended. The consecration began at 8:30, and Pittsburgh is 170 miles away. A bus would have had to have left at 4 am at the latest, and there just wasn’t enough interest in the parish, so none was chartered. And there was just no way I was going to drive by myself.

Nothing has been posted on either the OCA site or the Western Pennsylvania Diocese site. I’m hoping there will be pictures later, and if so, I will post them. Also, there may very well be pictures from those here who did go. If I can find any, I will at least link to them.

Axios! Axios! Axios!

Honestly

Just a couple of days ago, +Jonah spoke at the ACNA conference and severed ties with the Episcopal Church. Today, Deacon Greg points to this letter to Episcopal Life Online, which I will reproduce in its entirety just in case TEC takes it offline (as the similar “Abortion is a blessing” sermon was taken offline — see below).

Pregnancy-loss prayers, new church calendar proposed
From The Rev. Nina Churchman • Denver, Colorado, Jun 20, 2009

After reading the 3 June article, “Pregnancy-loss Prayers”, I found the text for Rachel’s Tears online and was sickened to discover that the rite for abortion is couched wholly in terms of sin and transgression. The Episcopal Church, by resolution, has long held that women have the freedom to choose an abortion. It is not considered a sin. That this new rite begins with the words, “I seek God’s forgiveness…” and includes “God rejoices that you have come seeking God’s merciful forgiveness…” is contrary to the resolution. Women should be able to mourn the loss of an aborted fetus without having to confess anything. God, unlike what the liturgy states, also rejoices that women facing unplanned pregnancies have the freedom to carefully choose the best option – birth, adoption or abortion – for themselves and their families. No woman makes this decision lightly or frivolously. But each needs the non-judgmental and non-coercive support of her faith community to make the best decision for her circumstances.

The wording of this liturgy focuses solely on guilt and sin instead of the grief and healing that may accompany a very difficult but appropriate decision to terminate a pregnancy. If anyone is paying attention at the General Convention, this rite should not be approved.

No moral compass whatsoever, and she’s a priest-ess. Course I suppose that if she did have a moral compass, she never would have sought to become a priest-ess. It’s reminiscent of the “Rev.” Katherine Ragsdale, now the President of the Episcopal Divinity School, who gave this sermon, which she removed from her site (see here and here).

Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale
July 21, 2007

Well Operation Save America came, they saw, they harassed, and they annoyed; but they did not close the clinic. The clinic stayed open, no patients were turned away, and the doors never closed. We remain victorious. And that victory is a good thing – but, make no mistake, even though OSA has gone home; our work is not done.

If we were to leave this park and discover that clinic violence had become a thing of the past, never to plague us again, that would be a very good thing, indeed; but, still, our work would not be done.

If we were to find that, while we were here, Congress had acted to insure that abortion would always be legal, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.

If we were suddenly to find a host of trained providers, insuring access in every city, town, village, and military base throughout the world, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.

When every woman has everything she needs to make an informed, thoughtful choice, and to act upon it, we will be very close; but, still, our work will not be done.

As long as women, acting as responsible moral agents, taking responsibility for their own lives and for those who depend on them, have to contend with guilt and shame, have judgment and contempt heaped upon them, rather than the support and respect they deserve, our work is not done.

How will we know when our work is done? I suspect we’ll know it when we see it. But let me give you some sure indicators that it isn’t done yet:

- When doctors and pharmacists try to opt out of providing medical care, claiming it’s an act of conscience, our work is not done.

Let me say a bit more about that, because the religious community has long been an advocate of taking principled stands of conscience – even when such stands require civil disobedience. We’ve supported conscientious objectors, the Underground Railroad, freedom riders, sanctuary seekers, and anti-apartheid protestors. We support people who put their freedom and safety at risk for principles they believe in.

But let’s be clear, there’s a world of difference between those who engage in such civil disobedience, and pay the price, and doctors and pharmacists who insist that the rest of the world reorder itself to protect their consciences – that others pay the price for their principles.

This isn’t particularly complicated. If your conscience forbids you to carry arms, don’t join the military or become a police officer. If you have qualms about animal experimentation, think hard before choosing to go into medical research. And, if you’re not prepared to provide the full range of reproductive health care (or prescriptions) to any woman who needs it then don’t go into obstetrics and gynecology, or internal or emergency medicine, or pharmacology. Choose another field! We’ll respect your consciences when you begin to take responsibility for them.

- Here’s another sign. Did you notice the arguments that were being shouted at us in front of the clinic? They’ve been trying for years, and seem to be pushing especially hard now, to position themselves as feminists – supporters of women. You heard them – yelling that they understand that it’s all men’s fault. That men must do better at supporting women and children so that women, presumably, won’t feel the need to abort. They yelled that they understood that the women going into the clinic had been hurt by men and were reacting to that pain and betrayal. They pledged to help men be more responsible so that women wouldn’t want abortions.

Let me tell you something. Any argument that puts men alone at the center – for good or for bad — any discussion of women’s reproductive health that ends up being all about men, is not feminism. Nor, for that matter, is it Christian, or reflective of any God I recognize. And as long as anyone can even imagine such an argument, our work is not done.

- And while we’re at it, as long as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States can argue, as Justice Kennedy recently did, that women are not capable of making our own informed moral decisions, that we need men to help us so that we won’t make mistakes that we later regret; as long as a Supreme Court Justice can deny the moral agency of women simply because we are women – and can do it without being laughed off the public stage forever – our work is not done. What has happened to us that he could even think he could get away with publishing such an opinion? Our work most certainly is not done.

- Finally, the last sign I want to identify relates to my fellow clergy. Too often even those who support us can be heard talking about abortion as a tragedy. Let’s be very clear about this:

When a woman finds herself pregnant due to violence and chooses an abortion, it is the violence that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies incompatible with life, that it will not live and that she requires an abortion – often a late-term abortion – to protect her life, her health, or her fertility, it is the shattering of her hopes and dreams for that pregnancy that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.

These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing – who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes — in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You’re engaged in holy work.

Thank you for allowing me to join you in that work for a few days here in Alabama. God bless you all.

Documented here just in case NARAL removes it from their site.

The dialogue has stopped

That’s that:

His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.

Josephus was there and reports. Numerous standing ovations, no less.

Come again?

Tom Hanks is Orthodox?

Hollywood actor Tom Hanks appreciates his membership in the Orthodox Church and intends to raise his four children in similar vein.

“I am aware that it is vitally important to come to church and contemplate those substantial questions put by Orthodoxy and the answers it offers,” Hanks said in an interview published by Argumenty i Fakty.

Ah wait, this explains everything.

“I consider Greek Orthodoxy my own spiritual heritage. I got married in the same church where my wife had been baptized. My children were baptized in the same baptismal font as my wife,” Tom Hanks said. According to Hanks, this makes his family “a part of the large universal Church”.

“We go to church on rare occasions, but when we do, we have dinner together and discuss our feelings after that,” he added.

Pascha Orthodox. So Tom Hanks is Orthodox like Doug Kmiec is Roman Catholic. Hat tip: Alex.

Oh Yeah!

Order yours here.

Synod Statement

From OCANews:

The meeting of the Synod of Antioch concluded Friday morning, June 19, with the issuance of a brief Statement regarding the situation in North America. Various reports from the meeting indicate that the gathering was very contentious and resulted in a decision that was not unanimous.

It is reported that those who voted against the Statement of the Synod were those normally aligned with Metropolitan Philip.

As soon as the official English language translation of the Statement is released, it will be posted on OCANews.org.

There is a rumor, reported on OCNet, that the Synod has reversed +Philip’s decision with regard to the AOCA bishops. The bolded sentence above would support that, but I’ll wait for the English translation to come out (as far as I can tell, the Arabic statement has not been made public).

Not Exactly Orthodox

Interesting Study

From the Orthodoxy Today Survey, some interesting nuggets.

90% of Orthodox parishioners are American born, not first generation immigrants.

29% of GOA respondents are converts; 51% of OCA respondents are converts.

41% of respondents described themselves as “traditional,” while 28% called themselves “conservative,” and 31%, “moderate-liberal.”

However, only 30% support female altar servers, and not even 10% support the ordination of women, so “moderate-liberal” is shifted less to the left than it would be for Western Christians. Further support for this is shown in the fact that over half of those self-identified moderate-liberals believe that when there is a conflict between the priest and the congregation, the priest should have the final word.

The survey asked some of the same questions asked in a Roman Catholic survey in 2005. In response to the question, “One cannot be a good Orthodox Christian/Roman Catholic . . .” Orthodox and Catholics responded in the following ways.

1. without believing that Jesus rose from the dead.

   Orthodox: 98%
   Catholic: 77%

2. without believing that in the Eucharist, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus.

   Orthodox: 97%
   Catholic: 64%

3. without going to Church every Sunday.

   Orthodox: 40%
   Catholic: 24%

4. without donating time or money to help the poor.

   Orthodox: 72%
   Catholic: 56%

The first two are theological, and unsurprising. The third, however, is somewhat unexpected, given that the Roman Catholics have a tradition of “social activism,” and the “social gospel” heresy has never established itself in Orthodoxy. The fourth is also intersting, since Catholicism has a weekly obligation to attend, but Orthodoxy does not.

Anyway, it’s an interesting study. I’m still perusing it. In general, the study bears out to some extent that converts are more conservative than cradle Orthodox, and while on many (but not all) questions, OCA priests are more conservative than GOA priests, laity in both jurisdictions seem mostly the same.

Excellent!

Catholic Answers is suing the IRS.

The apologetics organization Catholic Answers has filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service claiming the federal tax collection agency has “intimidated” churches and non-profit groups into silence on politically controversial moral issues.

Let’s hope other groups who have been harassed into silence by the IRS join the suit.

“Styli and wax tablets” old school

A Baptist minister discovers Orthodox worship.

Shelby and Lillian went with us. On the way we warned them that this was going to be different. “They might not have changed their worship service much in a thousand years or so,” I told the girls.

That was an understatement.

Saint Anthony the Great isn’t just old school. It’s “styli and wax tablets” old school. We arrived ten minutes early for worship and the room was already filled with people lighting candles and praying. There was one greeter. I said, “We don’t know what to do.” She handed me a liturgy book and waved us inside.

Pews? We don’t need no stinking pews! Providing seats for worshipers is SO 14th century. Gorgeous Byzantine art, commissioned from a famous artist in Bulgaria. Fully robed priests with censors (those swinging incense thingies). Long, complex readings and chants that went on and on and on. And every one of them packed full of complex, theological ideas. It was like they were ripping raw chunks of theology out of ancient creeds and throwing them by the handfuls into the congregation. And just to make sure it wasn’t too easy for us, everything was read in a monotone voice and at the speed of an auctioneer.

I heard words and phrases I had not heard since seminary. Theotokos, begotten not made, Cherubim and Seraphim borne on their pinions, supplications and oblations. It was an ADD kids nightmare. Robes, scary art, smoking incense, secret doors in the Iconostas popping open and little robed boys coming out with golden candlesticks, chants and singing from a small choir that rolled across the curved ceiling and emerged from the other side of the room where no one was singing. The acoustics were wild. No matter who was speaking, the sound came out of everywhere. There was so much going on I couldn’t keep up with all the things I couldn’t pay attention to.

[ . . . ]

Shelby tried to tough it out. We were following along in the 40 page liturgy book that was only an abbreviation of the service were were experiencing. I got lost no less than 10 times. After 50 minutes Shelby leaned over and asked how much longer the service would be. I was trying to keep from locking my knees because my thighs had gotten numb. I showed her the book. We were on page 15. I flipped through the remaining 25 pages to show her how much more there was. Her mouth fell open.

[ . . . ]

So what did I think about my experience at Saint Anthony the Great Orthodox Church?

I LOVED IT. Loved it loved it loved it loved it loved it.

In a day when user-friendly is the byword of everything from churches to software, here was worship that asked something of me. No, DEMANDED something of me.

“You don’t know what Theotokos means? Get a book and read about it. You have a hard time standing for 2 hours? Do some sit ups and get yourself into worship shape. It is the Lord our God we worship here, mortal. What made you think you could worship the Eternal One without pain?”

See, I get that. That makes sense to me. I had a hard time following the words of the chants and liturgy, but even my lack of understanding had something to teach me.

“There is so much for you to learn. There is more here than a person could master in a lifetime. THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOU ARE. Your understanding is not central here. These are ancient rites of the church. Stand with us, brother, and you will learn in time. Or go and find your way to an easier place if you must. God bless you on that journey. We understand, but this is the way we do church.”

I’m going back again on Sunday. I started to write, “I’m looking forward to it.” But that’s not right. I’m feeling right about it.

And feeling right is what I’m looking for.

And he went back.

Pray for the AOCA

Let me say up front that I have my own disagreements with +Philip. I am by no means a member of the Metropolitan Philip Fan Club. However, +Philip has built a forty year legacy of evangelizing the United States and building the foundation of an American Orthodox church, usually when no other Orthodox bishop had the courage to do so. One can admire the legacy even if he doesn’t always like the methods involved.

That was up until the latest scandal. Those who despise +Philip apparently find his actions transparent. I, however, do not see how undoing everything one has worked for for over forty years to be transparent, understandable, or rational, so I have avoided chiming in on this unfortunate chain of events (if you’re interested in details, OCA News posted links here).

And every event or statement serves to muddy the waters. The latest chapter saw His Beatitude Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, invite the Antiochian bishops with the notable exception of +Philip to Damascus, where they are now. Richard half-seriously questions whether the contrast between two pictures reflects what this may mean. Perhaps he’s onto something, or perhaps not.

We do not know whether all of this comes from +Philip, +Ignatius, or the Synod in Damascus (which isn’t necessarily the same thing as coming from the Patriarch). It would be slightly more rational if it had come from +Ignatius or the Synod, but His Beatitude does not have a history of Byzantine political plays, or if he does, it has been kept quiet. I have no reason to take such a cynical view of +Ignatius. Perhaps the visit of the bishops to Damascus will reveal what is going on here.

Ultimately, I find it sad that this will almost certainly overshadow everything +Philip has accomplished. He came to the United States to reunify a split and bleeding ethnic church, and built it into a truly American church. Let us hope and pray that nothing he accomplished is truly undone.

Upon this rock

If I were asked to identify one fundamental characteristic that separated the East from the West, I would not hesitate for even a second or two before answering.

Conservatism.

I do not mean political conservatism (although most Eastern Christians are politically conservative). I mean a fundamental, philosophical conservatism that is not apparent to an outsider,  a conservatism that is unknown in the West, a conservatism that is perhaps the primary roadblock to any ecumenical effort between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

As I put it in a comment on a traditionalist Roman Catholic blog some months ago, if we use politics as an analogy for theology, Roman Catholics are Joe Lieberman and we are Mike Pence. Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan. You get the idea.

Few Roman Catholics understand why the filioque is such an important issue to us, for example. The reason is that it is an innovation. It worked its way into the Western church, but critically, was not discussed, agreed upon, or added by the Church. That it changes the theology of the Trinity is almost a secondary issue. There are those who insist that it does not change the theology of the Godhead, but they are ignoring the primary issue, that the Church did not agree upon it, or put it in the Creed. It is, as such, the ultimate violation of that Eastern conservatism, and will never be acceptable.

But the filioque is only one issue of many, all of which can be reduced to Eastern conservatism vs. Western liberalism. Anything which was declared to be dogma after the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD — the last council at which all of the ancient patriarchates, and therefore, all of the Church was represented — will never be accepted as dogma by the East. The Orthodox see Roman Catholic dogma as an unwarranted extension because after the Great Schism, Rome kept declaring more and more beliefs to be dogma. Every such belief is unacceptable as dogma to the Orthodox.

To look at it from a different perspective, there has always been an almost obsessive drive to further define and specify belief in the West that has not existed in the East. In the East, dogma is not the whole of the faith; in the West, it is, and it is expanded, continually and unilaterally.

Let’s take as an example the assumption of the Theotokos. An Orthodox Christian may or may not believe that the Theotokos was bodily taken into heaven. It is not dogma. If a Catholic asks, “Do you believe in the assumption?” the answer is technically no, but only because it is not dogma. “No” doesn’t mean that no Orthodox believes that the Theotokos was taken into heaven; indeed, many do. “No” means that no Orthodox is required to believe that the Theotokos was taken into heaven.

Another example is transubstantiation. The Real Presence is absolutely Orthodox dogma. Transubstantiation is not. We do not know how or when the gifts become the Body and Blood of Our Lord, nor do we particularly care. We are far more comfortable with mystery than Western Christians.

Nothing that was not dogma by the last Ecumenical Council can be dogma now, no matter who declares it such, because dogma is what all Orthodox Christians have believed from the beginning. It does not grow or expand. It merely is.

We are extremely conservative, and eye innovation, or anything that vaguely looks like innovation, dubiously. Catholics see themselves as conservative, but what they do not understand is that to us, they look like innovators. Jimmy Carter, Pat Buchanan. And one sees this granite-like conservatism not only among the Orthodox, but also among Eastern Rite Catholics.

And for some reason, the West is very uncomfortable with leaving points of faith up to the individual. An Orthodox Christian may, for example, believe that the gifts are transformed at the Words of Institution, or the Epiklesis, where the key concept here is in the modal, “may.” When the transformation occurs is not dogma, and we feel no need to define it. Rome felt the need to add the when and how, and to us, this is an innovation. That we believe in the Real Presence does not make transubstantiation as dogma any more acceptable to us.

No innovation is acceptable. It makes no difference how logical or defensible it may be. The only “addition” to dogma that is acceptable is that which has been declared at an Ecumenical Council, at which the entire Church is represented, and which can be documented in the writings of the Church Fathers.

Western Christians who are interested in ecumenical discussions with us need to fully understand that rock of conservatism upon which our faith is built. Otherwise, their understanding will be at best partial and faulty.