Posted by Dean Calvert
on 5/24/2011, 11:21 am, in reply to "Re: OCL Letter to Episcopal Assembly Hierarchs"
Dear Tom,
Christ is Risen!
I think the point of the letter is to encourage our hierarchs to move forward from the bastardization of Orthodoxy which we confront on this continent, to a normal situation posthaste. Of course, Bill Souvall is much too polite to phrase it that way.
I'm thrilled that you have periodic Pan Orthodox events in Chicago. We do the same in Detroit (mostly without the local Greek bishop) and in other cities.
But the point is that we should not pretend this is normal, nor pat ourselves on the back for these periodic and all too infrequent activities - this is NOT Orthodoxy..Orthodoxy is ALL of the various ethnic groups worshipping together under one ecclesial structure - a structure composed of locally elected bishops, sitting in synod.
Finally, I would just remind you - Just because you are satisfied with the glacial pace of progress, please do not expect the rest of us to abandon Orthodox practices of the past 2000 years, nor to stop reminding our hierarchs that their pace of progress is unsatisfactory.
That is our responsibility as laity. That's what we've been doing since the beginning.
On the other hand, I'm sure there were laity satisfied with what Arius was doing in the 3rd century, with what the iconoclasts were doing during the 8th century, and with Union with Rome in the fifteenth. And in all three cases, just to name a very few, I'm sure there were people saying, "Don't criticize our hierarchs...it is not your place."
...and we can thank God they were likewise ignored.
Best Regards
Dean
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