Christ is in our midst!
I took quite some time away from to blog due to life circumstances, but alas I return. For a while, I was posting on another blog to reflect on some important personal lessons (which I intend to also return to), which can be found at "thethingaboutforgiveness.blogspot.ca."
Where did I leave off? Right....I was working on a hybrid of the Agpeya. Sadly, this has not progressed since I last posted. I actually need to find the files I was working on, but I will and I hope to post a portion as a sample. In the meantime, a little news on the home front...
Many of the few of you who were (and maybe are?) following this blog know of the upcoming "Great and Holy Council" that has been of great interest to clergy and layperson alike. Status? The Chalcedonian Orthodox jurisdictions in North America, South America, Australia, and Europe have been told by their mother Churches to 'get your house in order.' This is because of the multi-jurisdictional and canonical anomalies that exist in these regions. In North America alone, there exist almost every national church (Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Serbian, etc.), which overlapping dioceses, episcopal thrones, pastoral divergences, etc. This prompted the formation of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in each of the regions of the diaspora. They are working out how to approach these irregularities and find resolutions for them. Once this is complete, work will likely begin toward dissolving the jurisdictions in the diaspora into local Autonomous or Autocephalous churches.
Two problems I forsee in holding a "Great and Holy Council": the Pope of Rome is still given to heresy and the Holy Church has not installed another Pope for the Orthodox there, unless they decide to leave that Seat as lost (can they do that?).
The second problem is the non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches are not yet back in full communion with us. This problem is something that can be solved within this generation, but it will take mutual humility and repentance of both sides. The Chalcedonian Church will need to repent of the blood spilled on account of the misunderstanding in 451 AD, and admit there has not been adequate effort to seek mutual forgiveness and understanding. The Patriarchate of Antioch has been proactive over the last hundred years in seeking to heal this division with the See of Alexandria, but has come under heavy criticism for it. The non-Chalcedonian churches will need to repent of rejecting and vehemently opposing the Holy Fourth Council. Both sides will need to reexamine some anathemas issued against certain saints of the "other" side. And before the Chalcedonians get all up in arms about this and how impossible it may seem, I bring you back not even ten years ago when the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR reconciled. Perhaps a similar model could be followed.
In the meantime, we as lay people need to pray for and show our support to our hierarchs as they head down the road toward becoming canonically clean. We cannot criticize them, as we have enough on our own plates: our own sins, our own 'churches' (our families and homes), our neighbours who do not know The Lord, and our own hypocrisies that soil any virtues we have. Our Saviour has chosen each of the bishops for His Church through his Church to govern his Church, and we must remember to submit to them and support them.
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