A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 14 - Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Editor: I recently read Gregory Orloff’s letter to the editor (“Regarding Gaspar and Parsells Letters”) and feel it necessary to comment. I do not fully understand the rantings and ravings against “ecumenism.” The Church has always been ecumenical. What do we call the first seven great councils of the Church? Ecumenical councils! The function of these councils was to dialogue with “heretics,” correct their error, and restore the unity of the Christian Church. Even today, the only way we can correct heresy and restore the unity of the faith is to dialogue; throwing rocks with fancy philosophical words like “humanocentric” bears no fruit. By the way, isn’t Orthodox Christianity “humanocentric” in the sense that Jesus is the Word of God incarnate as a human being who came into the world to restore the image and likeness of God to humanity and commanded us (in Matthew 25) to love and care for humanity? Concerning sainthood, I remember learning in seminary that St. Isaac of Ninevah was a Nestorian bishop. Despite his heretical Christology, his other writings were orthodox enough to earn him the title of “saint”/”agios.” If a 6th century Nestorian bishop can be venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church, can’t the same be said of St. Francis of Assisi? Mr. Orloff’s statement “…there is no sainthood outside of the Church.” is simply incorrect. St. Isaac of Ninevah demonstrates that sainthood – even sainthood liturgically commemorated by the Orthodox Church – can be obtained “outside” the Church. By the way, I have attended services at an Orthodox monastery where, with the permission of their bishop, the monks have an icon of St. Francis that they cense and venerate. They even have his relics in the church. One other thing to remember in all of this “anti-ecumenist” talk, Luke’s Gospel tells us that when Jesus was crucified, he was crucified along with two criminals. One thief acknowledged Jesus as Lord and asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” To this Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” The thief found salvation there on the cross – before the birth of the Church at Pentecost, before valid trinitarian baptisms, before ecclesiology, before debates over the use of yeast in the eucharistic bread, before the name “Orthodox Church,” and, most importantly, even before the “glow in the snow” spiritual writings of Orthodox mystics and the sinful “narcissistic mysticism” that they quite evidently inspire in so many Orthodox Christians. I don’t know, maybe I’m just another one of those ecumenists…or maybe I just read my Bible. Fr. Steven C. Salaris
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