Month: December 2007

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In communion

Christians have a relationship of direct and personal familiarity with the Church and the saints. The relationship involves our entire being. Yet when someone lights a candle or makes an offering, you will often hear the remark that such an action is meaningless if that person is not thinking the right set of thoughts. But we must be clear that it is not our thoughts that make everything what it is: what is significant is that we have left home and come to Church to meet with the saints. The liturgy is simply the realization of our relationship to God, to the whole communion of his saints and to the entire world. Its purpose is not simply to grasp something intellectually or arrive at some state of mind, for the mind will follow in its own time.

When the congregation signs themselves with the Cross each time a saint is mentioned this shows that, even if they are not keeping up with the sermon, they enjoy a living relationship with that saint. But while the Christian is in church to keep up their relationship with the saints, the preacher, always searching around for the identity of the Church, is unable to resist telling others what they should be thinking. The Church can judge and teach the world, but it also needs to clear away the confusion that hides its own truth.

John Zizioulas Lectures in Christian Dogmatics

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The displacement of ancient and established communities

I have been particularly concerned at reports of the decline in the proportion of Christians in the [Middle East] region and the displacement of ancient and established communities. The effects of this tragic situation, about which I have spoken here in the UK as well as in the region on several occasions, are felt not only in the individual lives so deeply affected but also in the threat to some of the core values that underpin healthy societies. Not only will individual nations in the Middle and Near East be immeasurably poorer should they lose viable Christian communities, but the wider international community is likely to suffer as a consequence too.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s message to the General Assembly of the Middle East Council of Churches

Core values? Like civil society and rule of law, perhaps? Only the presence of Christian communities prevents these countries from becoming Islamic totalitarianisms, perhaps?

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Saint Nicholas

Each version of the modern day Santa Claus derives in fact from the same historic person: the Bishop Nicholas from the city of Myra (an ancient city of modern day Turkey), who lived in Asia Minor between the III and IV century, during the Emperor Constantineâ??s reign who is said to have regularly given gifts to the poor.

Now it seems that the Saint, who distinguishes himself from the others by his generosity, justice, and capacity to intervene decisively and fairly, has performed a â??miracleâ??. With great joy and satisfaction on behalf of the entire Orthodox church, the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I, after five years of patience and insisting determination towards the authorities of Ankara has now been granted permission to celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy in the church of the Saint.

The meeting last year in Ankara between the patriarch and the new Minster of Culture was the turning point. The Minister said, â??I earnestly want every citizen in this country to be able to freely celebrate their own religion in the place seen as most important for worship.â?? And the proof that he did not want to go back on his word was that not only did he allow the mass to be celebrated in Saint Nicholas in Demre, but he also gave forty-thousand Turkish Lira (twenty-five thousand euros) for the completion of the basilicaâ??s makeover. Especially in the winter and in the spring, the basilica is submerged under rain water because it is three meters under the street level damaging the mosaics and the frescos found in the crypt of the sarcophagus of the Bishop Nicholas.

A mass for Saint Nicholas

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If we give up talking of truth power has the last word

In our own country, it seems to be assumed by many that if we could only get the relation between ‘faith communities’ right, social harmony would inevitably follow. And conversely, any expression of a belief that one’s own religious loyalty is absolute, any statement of the belief that I, as a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist or whatever, am speaking the truth, is regarded as threatening and unacceptable. Surely the problem lies with this contest over the truth; surely, if religious people would stop speaking about truth and acknowledge that they were only expressing opinions and conditional loyalties, we should be spared the risk of continuing social conflict and even violence.

But what this hopeful fantasy conceals is an assumption that talking about truth is always less important than talking about social harmony; and, since social harmony doesn’t seem to have any universal self-evident definition, it is bound to be defined by those who happen to hold power at any given time – which, uncomfortably, implies that power itself is more important than truth. To be concerned about truth is at least to recognise that there are things about humanity and the world that cannot be destroyed by oppression and injustice, that no power can dismantle. The cost of giving up talking of truth is high: it means admitting that power has the last word. And ever since Plato’s Republic political thinkers have sought to avoid this conclusion, because it means that there is no significance at all in the witness of someone who stands against the powers that prevail at any given time; somehow, political philosophy needs to give an account of suffering for the sake of conscience, and without a notion of truth that is more than simply a list of the various things people prefer to believe, no such account can be given.

Archbishop of Canterbury Lecture given at the Building Bridges Conference in Singapore

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There can never be sufficient appeasement

How does this dual psychology – of victimhood, but also the desire for domination – come to infect so many young Muslims in Britain? In the late 1980s, the situation had changed radically. The change occurred because successive governments were unaware that the numerous mosques being established across the length and breadth of this country were being staffed, more and more, with clerics who belonged to various fundamentalist movements.

Finally, there are the grievances. Some of these are genuine enough, but the complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene where Muslims are victims (as in Bosnia or Kosovo), and always wrong when they may be the oppressors or terrorists (as with the Taliban or in Iraq), even when their victims are also mainly Muslims.

Given the world view that has given rise to such grievances, there can never be sufficient appeasement, and new demands will continue to be made. It is clear, therefore, that the multiculturalism beloved of our political and civic bureaucracies has not only failed to deliver peace, but is the partial cause of the present alienation of so many Muslim young people from the society in which they were born, where they have been educated and where they have lived most of their lives.

Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester Multiculturalism and young Muslims

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Bible and justice

Conference on Bible and Justice
29 May – 1 June, 2008

Stanley Hauerwas
Timothy Gorringe
John Rogerson

The 2008 Conference on Bible and Justice will bring together scholars from around the world to explore how the ancient texts of the Bible can play an active role in addressing twenty-first century social concerns. The purpose of the conference is to foster discussion about the relevance of the Bible to modern social issues, and promote bridges between the academic field of biblical studies and the various endeavours for a just world.

And cut out the many centuries of the Church’s experience on this subject, I suppose? Don’t we need the Church to open the bible up to us? Is biblical studies premised on denial of this?

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Another law

The Church — the communion of faith and love (as St. Ignatius of Antioch defined it: henosis agapis kai pisteos), the community of saints who are Christ’s own very “members” as his body and bride – is essential to our human being and life. We cannot be human beings – still less, Christians and saints – by ourselves. We need God and his wise and faithful servants. We need God’s commandments and living examples of their fulfillment. We need the Church’s scriptures, sacraments, services and saints. And we need one another. As Tertullian said centuries ago, “One Christian is no Christian.” And as the Russian proverb puts it, “The only thing that a person can do alone is perish.” Like it or not, we are “members of one another” in God. If we like it, it is life and paradise. If we reject it, it is death and hell.

If we have become convinced of anything at all as Orthodox Christians, we are convinced that human beings are not autonomous. The proclamation and defense of human autonomy is the most insidious lie of our day, especially here in North America, and in the Western and Westernized worlds generally. Humans beings are by nature heteronomous. Another law (heteros nomos) is always working in our minds and members.

This “other law” is either the law of God, the law of Christ, the law of the Holy Spirit, the law of liberty and life that can only be recognized, received and realized by holy humility, or it is the law of sin and death. (cf. Romans 7-8) When the law within us is God’s law, then we are who we really are, and we are sane and free. But when that law is the law of sin and death, then we are not ourselves, and we are insane, enslaved and sold to sin.

I am convinced that what C.S. Lewis foresaw has happened, and is still happening with ever more catastrophic consequences, in our Western and Westernized worlds. It happens that men and women who once were human are simply no longer so. They have become nothing but minds and matter, brains and bodies, computers and consumers, calculators and copulators, constructers and cloners who believe that they are free and powerful but who are in fact being destroyed by the very “Nature” that they wish to conquer as they are enslaved to an oligarchy of “Conditioners” who are themselves enslaved and destroyed by their insane strivings to define, design, manage and manipulate a world and a humanity bereft of the God who boundlessly loves them.

Father Thomas Hopko St Vladimir Seminary Commencement address

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How to write a Pastoral Letter

To the priests and deacons of the Diocese who share with fraternal compassion my concern for the poor;to the religious men and women, whose service to the poor has strengthened Christâ??s presence in Oklahoma for more than its hundred years; to the lay faithful who strive with unwavering dedication to live the Gospel that gives us life through faith in Godâ??s promise, hope in the gift of His Holy Spirit, and love for his people;and finally, with affection and esteem, to all men and women of good will who seek to do the good and follow Godâ??s will for them, to you.

I send my greetings and bless you in the name of the Lord.

By the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See, I am the Catholic Bishop of Tulsa.

As a bishop, I speak with the voice of one who has been consecrated to proclaim the truth of the Gospel here in Eastern Oklahoma, and I do so with the authority and in the name of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

I do not deem it necessary to enter into a detailing of all that this entails, but I do wish to make it clear that I am writing this pastoral letter in the exercise of my pastoral mission for you, the People of God who have been confided to my care, for you are that community which I must teach, sanctify and govern with the authority and responsibility that I exercise in communion with the whole college of Bishops and under the guidance of His Holiness, Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the Universal Church.

Of the office I have received to preach and to teach, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council gathered from every country, nation, people and revealing in their unity Godâ??s plan to restore to us the unity we lost through the sin of Adam, wrote:

Among the principal duties of bishops, the preaching of the gospel occupies an eminent place. For bishops are preachers of the faith who lead new disciples to Christ. They are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice. By the light of the Holy Spirit they make that faith clear, bringing forth from the treasury of revelation new things and old (cf. Mt. 13:52) making faith bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors which threaten their flock. (cf. 2 Tim. 4:1-4) (Lumen Gentium, §25)

Thus it is, I wish to make known that when I preach the truth of the Gospel – independent of whether or not what I say corresponds with the laws of men and of civil societies – my words are guarded by that same Spirit Who anointed the Lord Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth and filled Him with the power to â??preach good news to the poor â?¦ to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.â?? (Luke 4:18-19)

Consecrated a bishop in service to the Lord Jesus Christ, I am as well a disciple and missionary of His Gospel. Hence my governance of our community of faith is always in service to Christâ??s Kingdom, that it might be constantly built up and strengthened here in Oklahoma.

Of my responsibility to exercise prudent governance as the Bishop of Tulsa, the Fathers of the Council wrote:

Bishops govern the particular churches entrusted to them as the vicars and ambassadors of Christ. This they do by their counsel, exhortations and example, as indeed, by their authority and sacred power. This power they use only for the
edification of their flock in truth and holinessâ?¦ This power, which they personally exercise in Christâ??s name, is proper, ordinary and immediate â?¦ (Lumen Gentium, §27)

In this way, I wish to make it clear that I do not speak as an elected official, whose service to the public proceeds from the will of those who elected him or her to office. Nor do I speak as a civil servant, appointed to the task and accountable to those by whom he or she has been appointed. Rather, I speak as the Catholic Bishop of this Diocese and I speak with the authority of Jesus Christ, Who in His life here on earth always showed his predilection for the poor and the oppressed.

Encouraged, then, by the certainty that you will listen to me as you would listen to Christ Himself (Luke 10:16), I want to express myself in this letter with the wisdom and the prudence of a man of God, called by the Lord â??to serve and not be servedâ?? (Mark 10:45) and â??to give his life for his sheepâ?? (cf. John 10:15) and I want to present to you who love the Lord, the certainty that in the suffering faces of the poor, we see the suffering face of Christ.

The Suffering Face of Christ

This idea is not my own, nor is it new. The conviction that Christ is present in the poor and reveals in their suffering His wondrous
Passion can be traced in an unbroken line of charity from the Apostles down to our own day, and to my brother bishops who met last May with Pope Benedict XVI at the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil to reflect upon the various ways in which the Church must respond to this revelation.

In this letter, I wish to make my own the statements they expressed concerning the fundamental stance which the Church must take in the world, a stance of hope in Christâ??s victory over sin and death. This hope which we have in Christ expresses itself in solidarity with the poor and as advocacy for those who suffer injustice.

It is to Christâ??s Suffering Face, seen in the faces of Oklahomaâ??s immigrant population, that I would draw the gaze of all those who – in whatever manner – find themselves responsible for the passing, the enforcement, or in support of Oklahomaâ??s House Bill 1804.
The basic intention of this law is to deny those who have entered our country illegally the right to work in Oklahoma and the right to find shelter for their families in our communities. Thus they are forced to flee our state. I believe that the right to earn oneâ??s living and the right to shelter oneâ??s family securely are basic human rights, the fundamental building blocks of a just society, and to deny these rights is immoral and unjust. I also believe that since the intention of HB 1804 is immoral, when it is implemented, the effects will be an intolerable increase in the suffering endured by the families of illegal immigrants, plus the spiritual suffering of those who must enforce it.

Bishop Slattery of Tulsa Pastoral Letter

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Self-giving

It was in this classical tradition of the Early Church that Karl Barth took his position early in his theological career. His road into it was through his struggle, begun in his Swiss parish, over the nature and content of divine Revelation, as he sought to expound the Scriptures and proclaim the Word of God. He soon realised that his own struggle was very much like that of both the Nicene Fathers and the Reformers, over the identity and primacy of God’s Revelation in Jesus Christ. In the fourth century the question at issue was the supreme truth of the Deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, for if they were divided in being and act from God the Father, the Gospel would be empty of any divine content, and there would be no substance to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

In the sixteenth century the very same issue arose in another form over the doctrine of Grace, for if the gift of God were not identical with the Giver, then there could be no real Self-giving of God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, and the Word of the Gospel would be empty of any divine reality. Here too the doctrine of the Trinity was at stake, and with it the very foundation of Christian theology. Thus Karl Barth found himself compelled to contend once again for the truth of the Nicene Creed that the incarnate Son is of one and the same being as God the Father and that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and the Giver of life. This was the essential import of the homoousion which gave dogmatic expression to the indivisible oneness in being and agency between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and thus to the fact that precisely by believing in divine Revelation the Church believes in God himself. As Barth liked to express it: ‘God reveals himself as Lord’, ‘God is the content of his Revelation.’

Thomas Forsyth Torrance ‘Karl Barth and the Latin Heresy’ Scottish Journal of Theology 39 (1986)