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"We have concluded that when the principle of racial division (i.e. phyletism) is juxtaposed with the teaching of the Gospel and the constant practice of the Church, it is not only foreign to it, but also completely opposed, to it. We decree the following in the Holy Spirit: 1. We reject and condemn racial division, that is, racial differences, national quarrels and disagreements in the Church of Christ, as being contrary to the teaching of the Gospel and the holy canons of our blessed fathers, on which the holy Church is established and which adorn human society and lead it to Divine piety. 2. In accordance with the holy canons, we proclaim that those who accept such division according to races and who dare to base on it hitherto unheard-of racial assemblies are foreign to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are real schismatics." Constantinople...1872 * Pray and Work for Orthodox Unity in North America!!! * St. Andrew House announces Agreement to fund Orthodox Unity effort for years to come - see www.orthodoxdetroit.com * Welcome to the St. Andrew House Discussion Forum * Coming Soon - Orthodox Business Directory * Visit our Home Page at www.orthodoxdetroit.com

    Mass conversion in Philippines; What happened in Indonesia; A Unity idea

    Posted by Leo on 3/29/2008, 11:35 pm
    Message modified by user Leo 3/30/2008, 12:16 am

    1. The Antiochian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and now apparently the Philippines also ... announces "agreement in principles" to receive approx. 6,000 people from two denominations in the Philippines, one "Evangelical" and the other sounds to me 'independent Catholic.' Looks like this will about double their number of parishes/missions. I wonder if they have a Gillquist coming in too?! (I can't wait for the book!) Speaking of which, for comparative purposes, the original wave of Evangelical Orthodox into the Antiochian Archd. of North America consisted of 'just' 2,000 people in 17 parishes; if this one goes through, it'll be three times the people and twice the parishes! In 1987 our AOA had 117 parishes; today Australia's AOA has about 35! It's taken our AOA 20 years to double its parishes; these guys have done it with the stroke of a pen!!!

    Of course, C'ople claims the Philippines as part of its "Southeast Asia" mission....

    2. In case anyone besides myself was wondering how Indonesia ended up with two jurisdictions - EP and ROCOR - this rather gossipy notice is the only info I can find on it: 'the language issue.' (NB: The article presumes a ROCOR still marginalized from "canonical" Orthodoxy, back then in 2005, which of course was remedied last May when ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate reconciled. Also, speaking of language and other "incarnational missiology" issues, I really recommend the interview linked from that page at http://www.orthodox.cn/news/050331indonesia_en.htm.)

    3. Here's an Orthodox Unity idea for mission lands (not ours though, not right away anyway!) AND the too-high walls among the Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches "back east": A Joint Mission Board. Among U.S. Protestants, cooperation in missions was often a first or second step (along with joint Sunday-School curriculum boards) towards denominational mergers/unity - not catch-as-catch-can like our OCMC or SCOBA, but Mission Boards consisting of leaders from each denomination, ie, different Baptist groups, or different Methodist groups, or different Lutheran groups, etc. What I thought of was placing nearly all missions in south and east Asia and the Pacific Islands under a Ruling 'quasi-synod' of the Patriarchs and Autocephalous Primates (or their representatives), as well as the Ruling Hierarchs in these mission lands, in a Cooperative Model rather than the classic Competition Model. This could accomplish a few things:
    • unite the Orthodox Church in mission lands largely outside the "Diaspora" and still relatively sparsely populated with Orthodox and with OC structures
    • bring representatives of the Patriarchates and Autoceph. Churches together for something that isn't an Orthodox 'crisis,' or ecumenical dialogue with some other group, but a joint positive Orthodox endeavor, evangelization, and help, like I said, lower the high walls of separation between them that cause so much conflict
    • take the role of the First Among Equals out of the realm of theory, ie, blood sport among Orthodox(!), and make that system have to work in person, face-to-face, with true conciliarity, with primates who don't depend on him so to speak, just like Ecumenical Councils used to do
    • share the burden/opportunity of mission. Let's face it, most of our Churches are in a bad way just now, short on money and/or personnel, whether because they're still emerging from Communism, shrinking because of Islam / Israel / proselytism, or in the Diaspora where most of us aren't making alot of money or sending enough people to seminaries, monasteries, etc. Ideally one Church could take on Mission to each country, but today, maybe we need to pool resources, personnel, etc., to make it happen. Also, bring together sufficient numbers of people simply interested in mission, vs. the widespread lack of interest / experience / enthusiasm for it! Sure, everybody should be, but I think we need a critical mass of people and efforts, in order to enthuse others. *I* sure get more interested when I read about ongoing successes, than when, again, it's just "theory."
    • maybe even pose as a 'dry run' for the next Ecumenical Council
    • ...and/or a dry run for addressing jurisdictional issues here in the Western world, by, as I said, lowering the high walls that separate them "over there" and thus also over here. Also, with different countries' and ethnicities' people working in the missions side-by-side, we'll develop a pool of people to come back and tell us how it's possible for the rest of us to come together in Christlike love and civility(!).
    • But let's not make it 'optional' like SCOBA; they've GOT to work together.

    By evoking Protestant mission boards I'm not aiming at some new permanent worldwide OC structure higher than the Patriarchate or Auto. Church ... just bringing us all back a little closer together in practical terms. We sure don't need a Western-style pope, or even a committee of 15 popes disenfranchising the rest of the Orthodox Episcopate!

    Also, ISTM that countries to exclude from this model would be those where, at least for now, mission depends very much on a particular single government-to-government relationship, like the Russian Federation with Mainland China or with North Korea. Also Japan, which already has a sizeable Orthodox Church of its own.

    Sincerely,
    Leo

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