Dear Brother and Lord Bishop,
I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 7th century.
You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit. 1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37).
The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 15th century. For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brotherly relations encouraged both by frequent mutual visits and established theological dialogue and certainly by a spirit of respect and love which used to accompany the meetings of our hierarchs, clergy and ordinary believers.
Regrettably, the late 20th century and the beginning of the third millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and ‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.
We hope that the voice of the Orthodox Church will be heard by the Church of England and Churches of the Anglican Communion, and good fraternal relationships between us will revive.
I wish you God’s help in your important work.
“May the God of love and peace be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).
+Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk
Hmmmm... some may think it a bit harsh and, well, indelicate, given that the man is only newly appointed.... but I think it is the best of friendship to tell the truth to your friends. What think you?
They certainly don't need the divinely rejected darkness of the Eastern Orthodox. Runner-up next to the supreme darkness of the Roman Catholic, to tell them what is evident and a conscientious doing on behalf of the postmodern.
ReplyDeleteWhich was/is to transform Protestantantism into what it is now. Your denomination may look good on paper but the majority of its members are just as lost. Or else you'd be utterly fringe. Still the three issues the Orthodox bishop states are not much yours. So with that you all should be commended.
Look at the Methodists. They have women clergy and they claim that they will not allow homosexual marriage or clergy. But they are still postmodern in their piety, and thus at a loss. All the while trying to keep-up with a society (vast majority) that will eradicate the Mainline further into a second class Emergent church.
"Hmmmm... some may think it a bit harsh and, well, indelicate."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of harsh and indelicate... but true... In its June 2012 Response to the XXXA HSGT document, the CTCR states: “The ELCA has now taken this step, embodying apostasy from the faith once delivered to the saints.”
While there may be people who still hold onto their Christian faith within the XXXA, the CTCR statement means that the XXXA is no longer considered to be part of the visible church.
Furthermore, if the 2013 LCMS convention accepts this CTCR conclusion that the XXXA is now “embodying apostasy,” those people, especially young children in families, who leave the XXXA to join a LCMS congregation would need to be baptized by the pastor prior to being accepted as members. Their XXXA “baptisms”, like those performed by the Mormons, would be spiritually worthless.
It is not known if the CTCR has designated any other so-called Christian church bodies (including one headed by the Antichrist) as "embodying apostasy."
We need more friends like the Orthodox, and less like the revisionist Mainline.
ReplyDeleteFr. D+
Anglican Priest
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ReplyDeleteThat was not harsh at all.
Very friendly, encouraging and helpful.