A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 34 - Tuesday, August 24th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Response to Rentas letter defending canonization of Patriarch Athenagoras Dear Editor, This is in regard to Jim Rentas' letter to the editor in defense of the canonization of Patriarch Athenagoras. The reason why so many find problematic the proposition to "canonize" the late Patriarch might be his ideas about the Church, about heresy, about Truth. Comments like the following place the late Patriarch in closer proximity to heresy than to sanctity: "The Age of Dogma has passed." (June, 1963) "We see no obstacle on the path leading to union between the Church of Rome and the Church of the East... We do not see an obstacle, for the very simple reason that such obstacles do not exist." (October, 1967) "All of the Christian Churches are journeying, today, towards Church unity. Christian peoples have grown weary of looking at the darkness of the past. The interminable quarrels of nine whole centuries have led to nothing other than the spiritual coldness of many people and an obfuscation of their awareness that the Church is one." (November, 1967) "We Churches are all emerging from ourselves. We are awakening the consciences of Christians to the fact that we belong to the same religion. We are making the longing for union the predominant demand of our age. We are lowering the banners of hatred and, in their place, we are raising the Cross of love and sacrifice. And finally, we are exchanging Holy Cups with each other, praying that we may, one day, commune from the same Cup, as we used to live during the first millennium of Christianity, in spite of the differences that existed then." (November, 1967) "In the movement for union, it is not a question of one Church moving towards the other, but let us all together re-found the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, coexisting in the East and the West, as we lived up until 1054, in spite of the theological differences that existed then." (December, 1967) "We are deceived and we sin, if we think that the Orthodox faith came down from Heaven and that all [other] creeds are unworthy. Three hundred million people have chosen Islam in order to reach their god, and other hundreds of millions are Protestants, Catholics, and Buddhists. The goal of every religion is to improve mankind." (December, 1968) Does one need to add anything to these comments to show the impossibility of the late Patriarch to be considered as one who has been enlightened and deified and an example for all to follow in order to be counted worthy of the same? Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Joseph Hostetler |
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