From: "Fr. Gregory Williams"
Subject: Re: your concerns
Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 15:47:04 -0500
To: "Joanna Higginbotham"
Blessings in the Risen Christ!
...
... First -- the Church has always had some ambiguity in its dealings with "ailing" members, even outright heretical ones. Even after the departure of Rome into heresy, there were periods of time when there was de facto communion between Rome and some part of the Orthodox Church (I'm a rotten historian, but "you could look it up"). Same thing with the other major heresies -- until a final conciliar declaration put an end to the ambiguity.
While I would hesitate to use the word, "heresy" might more aptly be applied to the notion (as seen by humans; God is a different matter!) that someone, or some hierarchy, is either "in" or "out". That kind of thinking characterizes both Matthewites and Old Believers -- and goes hand in glove (or finger in hand) with notions such as that one is either saved or damned by how many fingers are put where when making the sign of the Cross.
To play with the "cut-off branch" metaphor (even though you distrust metaphors) a bit: certainly, a cut-off branch may show signs of life for a long time. (Undoubtedly I sometimes preached about the big old walnut up by the house I had to cut down decades ago. It put up leafy branches for quite a number of years before finally giving up, even though it was completely hollow.) Perhaps more important (given the right conditions and the right kind of tree), such a cut-off branch may very well take root and spring up anew. Is that what happens when there is a wholesale (or retail) return of heretics to the Church?
I don't much like the "mother" metaphor either but, be that as it may, if my mother is a whore and a drunkard (thankfully, neither) and a heretic as well (she is), she is still my mother; no point in denying it. The real issue is whether and to what extent the present-day MP is a continuation of our undisputed mother, the pre-revolutionary Orthodox Church of Russia (which had plenty of its own problems; no point in denying it). I would not anticipate much likelihood of successfully banning the terminology -- for Russians. No matter how ecclesiologically clear-headed they may be (and I'm convinced Vl. Agafangel is), there is still a very powerful emotional component, which has relatively little impact on folks like us.
...
ROCiE is, and I think has always been, a dead letter. It was spawned more of ambition than any kind of principle, though of course it swept a number of well-intentioned folk along. I'm afraid the same thing has to be said of ROAC (the "Valentinians" if I've got my acronyms straight), with the added complication there is altogether too much evidence of tolerance for sexual deviants. Of Abp. Tikhon and his followers I'm much less clear, though it seems obvious that at best this was a schism in anticipation of something which might happen, rather than a measured response to present reality.
I'm afraid I must object to the notion that there's such a thing as "Cyprianism" at all. FWIW, I was from the very beginning (1980, long before there was any meaningful contact with Fili) taught that our position was that (1) the "modernist" jurisdictions were at best badly infected parts of the Body, and that (2) we should therefore refrain from sacramental contact with them, and that (3) we were not competent at this point to make any final judgement as to whether they were or were not legitimately part of the Church. To the best of my knowledge, this is about as close as you can get to what the SIR seems to be saying; and so declared our bishops upon entering into communion with them.
...
It's in God's hands.
In Christ Jesus,
Fr. Gregory Williams
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1 comment:
"While I would hesitate to use the word, "heresy" might more aptly be applied to the notion (as seen by humans; God is a different matter!) that someone, or some hierarchy, is either "in" or "out". That kind of thinking characterizes both Matthewites and Old Believers -- and goes hand in glove (or finger in hand) with notions such as that one is either saved or damned by how many fingers are put where when making the sign of the Cross."
Nobody can say that Fr. Gregory does not have a sense of humor.
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