A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 30 - Tuesday, July 27th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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Was Patriarch Athenagoras I Really A Saint? Editor: Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever! I must second Presbyter Bartholomew Wojcik's reservations over the campaign to canonize the late Patriarch Athenagoras I a saint launched by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America's retired clergy, as reported on your website on 13 July 2004. The stated motivation behind this campaigning, seeking to "venerate one of our own," smacks of phyletism (church-related nationalism or ethnocentrism), a heresy condemned by the 1872 Council of Constantinople as being incompatible with Orthodox Christianity, which teaches that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). In other words, our unity in the Lord Jesus Christ, as fellow members of His one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, overrides our nationality or ethnic background, because Orthodox Christianity is universal and meant for everyone in the world. Being part of a particular *ethnos* ("people" or "nation") according to our physical birth will not save us; being a faithful and practicing part of the *laos tou Theou* ("people of God") according to our spiritual rebirth through baptism, chrismation, the Eucharist and practice of the Gospel in the Church will save us. All Orthodox Christians in North America, be they of Albanian, Arab, Greek, Romanian, Slavic or other descent, already have a precious inheritance in the saints whom God has revealed in this land already: Saints Alexander Khotovitskiy, Alexis Toth, Herman of Alaska, Innocent of Alaska, Jacob Netsvetov, John Kochurov, John of San Francisco, Juvenal of Alaska, Nicholas of South Canaan, Peter the Aleut, Raphael of Brooklyn and Tikhon the New Confessor. One of these saints was Arab; one was Carpatho-Rusyn; two were Native American; seven were Russian; and one was Serbian -- but they belong to us all Orthodox Christian Americans, because they are role models of Orthodox belief and godly living who followed the Lord Jesus Christ and built up His Church on our continent. Their veneration crosses jurisdictional lines (their feast days are even featured in the synaxarion on the Greek Archdiocese's website), and many Orthodox Christian Americans venerate them, some even in churches and monastic communities named in their honor. But many others still do not know much about them. All of us must strive to learn more about them and from them, because they are God's handiwork in our land, the real roots and foundation of our Church here. Furthermore, we look to the saints as sterling examples of Orthodox Christian belief and practice whom we can imitate, so we do not stray from God's truth. Whatever positive personal qualities Patriarch Athenagoras had -- diplomacy, kindness, openness, love, patience, etc. -- he was a controversial figure who did some arguably un-Orthodox and uncanonical things. In 1964, he met with Pope Paul VI and unilaterally, without consulting his brother primates of the autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox churches throughout the world, "lifted" the anathemas of 1054, one of the defining historical events of Roman Catholicism's split from the Orthodox Church. He was not entitled to do so unilaterally, and his deed stirred up confusion among Orthodox Christians and Christendom at large, creating the false impression that communion was restored between Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism, and caused doubt about the Orthodox Church being "the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" of the Creed. Saints never create confusion and doubt about Orthodox Christianity, no matter how friendly they may be towards heterodox Christians. (Saints Raphael of Brooklyn and Tikhon the New Confessor were prime American examples of this delicate balance, because they never compromised the Orthodox Christian faith or created confusion about it in their contacts with others.) In short, saints are heroes of Orthodox Christian faith, virtue and godly living for the whole Church, not "poster children" for a particular ethnic group or cultural agenda. Let all of us Orthodox Christians in North America honor and imitate the Orthodox Christian integrity of those saints whom God has revealed on our soil -- regardless of what ethnic background they came from -- and leave the eternal fate of more controversial figures in our history in God's hands, where it belongs. Our belonging to the *laos tou Theou* is far more important than belonging to any particular *ethnos,* and it behooves us to break down manmade barriers and honor the universal God-given heritage of our Church in North America. With prayers and good will,
Gregory Orloff |
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