Two Seminaries Sign Historic Covenant in Unity Pledge
By Michael Heidt
VOL Special correspondent
www.Virtueonline.org
October 10, 2009
NASHOTAH HOUSE — A decade’s long impasse between Anglicanism and the Orthodox Church has been broken at an ecumenical conference at Nashotah House.
Signing an historic ‘covenant’ between Nashotah House and St. Vladimir’s Seminary, traditional Anglican leaders and their counterparts in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) have pledged themselves to work towards unity.
Speaking to an international audience of one hundred and seventy people, ACNA (Anglican Church in North America) Archbishop Robert Duncan stated that signing the conference’s inter-seminary covenant, committing Nashotah House and St. Vladimir’s seminaries to mutual prayer and fellowship, “lays the groundwork of something very much larger”, namely “serious dialogue” with the OCA and “the resumption of ecumenical discussion between two separated parts of the Church.”
After describing Anglicanism and Orthodoxy as “two streams of one very great river”, Archbishop Duncan outlined several “wonderful commonalities to build upon.” These include reverence for Scripture and the “Great Tradition”, liturgy, art, music, monasticism and veneration of the Saints. Likewise, both Churches are founded on conciliar, or autocephalous models of governance and, with ACNA’s rejection of “Western Anglicanism’s long embrace of democratic principles,” find common cause against secularist influences within and without the Church.
Despite this common ground, Duncan believes that there are still obstacles to overcome along the road to full communion of the two Churches. He listed three areas: The “filioque” clause, which was added to the Nicene Creed by the Western Church, stating the double procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, the ordination of women, which is strenuously objected to by Orthodoxy and permitted in parts of the ACNA and lastly, the Archbishop’s reference to the Calvinism of some of ACNA’s membership, prohibited by Orthodoxy and condemned as heresy.
Archbishop Duncan feels these are serious matters, but none-the-less believes they are not insurmountable. ACNA’s leader concluded with heartfelt thanks for the restarting of ecumenical dialogue, echoing Metropolitan Jonah’s statement at ACNA’s foundational meeting in Bedford, Texas, “I thank God (for) the offer to resume ecumenical discussions… I also come with arms wide open, speaking the truth in love.”
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, a former Anglican, took up this theme, speaking powerfully to the urgency of unity in the face of an increasingly aggressive secularism:
“We stand at a crisis which threatens to undermine the very basis of our culture… only by standing together, united by one Faith, one Heart one Church, will we be able to withstand the onslaught of licentiousness… and fight against it. There is in materialism, there is in secularism only despair.”
In the face of this, the OCA’s Metropolitan believes ecumenism to be essential, not just as an “institutional process” but as a “mutual discernment in one another of our common identity.” This is under-girded by faith, which is the “living knowledge of God implanted by the Holy Spirit, and the “common affirmation (of which) is a sign that we share that same vision of the truth.”
His Beatitude continued, addressing the “centrality” of Orthodoxy and it’s relevance to unity:
“The Orthodox Church has this central vision of being united in Christ by the Spirit to the Father and we cannot bear not to be united to one another. This is really about our identity as Christians, it’s not about labels, institutes, it’s about the living reality of our communion in Christ by the Holy Spirit… (this) must be made manifest by our communion in the Chalice… of our eternal life.”
This means that full union between Orthodoxy and traditional Anglicanism is imperative and goes beyond mutual projects and discussion. “That’s the goal of our dialogue, absolute unity,” said the Metropolitan, and this will be “actualized through repentance, a mutual striving towards God and the will of God.” For Jonah, unity will only be achieved by walking the way of the Cross, which means letting go of “our desire for power and control, personal agendas… nothing else matters.”
In the words of the leader of America’s autocephalous Orthodox Church, giving ourselves to this purely spiritual perspective will “align us with the energy of God.”
It is precisely this energy which moved the conference, marking the renewal of ecumenical relations between the Churches of the East, as represented by His beatitude Jonah, and Archbishop Duncan, of the Anglican Church in North America. Future ecumenical discussions have been set between the two ecclesial bodies.
— -Fr. Michael Heidt is a priest in the Diocese of Ft. Worth
Original article posted at:
{ 4 comments }
The great 17th century Orthodox Patriarch Cyril Lucaris was a Calvinist, and Calvinism wasn’t truly addressed among the Orthodox until after his death. This was, of course, long after the church had the ability to convene a truly ecumenical council to determine doctrine (a requirement of the Orthodox). So, does the Metropolitan or any Orthodox Christian by their own standard have the ability to say that Calvinism is a condemned heresy?
Cyril Lucaris was a godly, learned man, who sought to magnify the grace and glory of God in his ministry. I stand with him and affirm that we find the forgiveness of sins by grace alone through Jesus’ death and resurrection, apart from our good works or even ultimately our own sincerity, and by God’s choice.
Its not necessarily true that Lucaris was a Calvinsit as there is reason to think some of the documents attributed to him were fabricated.
Second there is no intrinsic reason why the Orthodox can’t have an ecumenical council.
Third, the errors of Calvinism were anticipated and refuted in the teaching of Maximus the Confessor and the Sixth Council’s teaching on the two wills of Christ and the theology of the gnomic will. Calvinism is inverted Origenism.
Thanks for the response Perry. I believe I started attending Calvary Chapel of Huntington Beach years ago either as you were leaving or shortly after you left. Anyway, that was many years ago, and of course I’ve moved on long since, as have you. I hope that you’re doing well!
I’m intrigued by Lucaris and his ministry. Here was the Patriarch of Constantinople, and I believe Alexandria too, and he’s known, at least, for espousing Calvinism…. I hadn’t heard that there was any real disupte about the authenticity of his documents until somewhat recently. I know that many Orthodox greatly dislike Calvinism, despite the lip service given to Augustine despite his similar teachings. Yet, it hasn’t really been proven that the Lucaris documents were forgeries, and if he did study among the Protestants, this would certainly account for accepting Protestant views on issues such as justification and a Reformed view of predestination.
I have to say that I was saddenned when I found that Metropolitan Jonah called Calvinism heretical when he addressed the Anglicans in Texas recently and urged that they abandon Calvinism to unite with the OCA. I wrote him a message that I posted on Virtue Online, as I wish that modern Orthodox Chrisitans would reconsider what we Calvinists call the “doctrines of grace.”
Anyway, take care, Perry, and God bless you.
John Peters
(Miserable Sinner, but Thankfully Forgiven)
John,
Man, that goes WAY back.
There are some good reasons for thinking that the documents were forged either by Jesuits or by Calvinists trying to make the Orthodox out to be PRotestant allies.
As a former Calvinist, I take it to be heterodox as well. One point of heterodoxy is tht Calvinist monergism is an effect of their Christological monoenergism and monothelitism. We explore this quite often on my blog, so pay us a visit. Calvinism is therefore inconsistent with Chalcedonian Christology. This is apparent even by Calvinist scholars like Muller’s Christ and the Decree.
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