Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

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It is interesting to reflect that the issues debated at the Council of Florence have still not been fully resolved by the Orthodox and Catholic churches, to this day. In 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks. It has never been in „Christian‟ hands since. The southern Mediterranean lands of North Africa, Turkey, and Mesopotamia, once areas of strong Christian influence, all fell under Islamic rule. Christians were allowed to be a „protected people‟ (dhimmis) with an inferior status in society. The magnificent church building of Hagia Sophia (St Sophia, Holy Wisdom) stands today in Constantinople as a forlorn symbol of Constantinople‟s Christian past. 27 The bishop of Rome is regarded with reverence by Orthodoxy, but not in any way with the submission required by Catholics. So while Orthodoxy is „Catholic‟ in its understanding of salvation, with its stress on the supreme importance of the sacrament of the „divine liturgy‟, 28 it is not Roman Catholic and refuses to recognise the Pope‟s infallibility as teacher of all Christians. This position is illustrated in the way the two sides view the Eucharist. Catholics hold to a dogma of transubstantiation, while the Orthodox, strongly believing in a „real Presence‟ in the bread and the wine, do not have a dogma to adhere to in order to explain or describe it. Some critics of Orthodoxy have drawn attention to nationalism in Orthodoxy, which has sometimes fostered ethnic conflict. This may well be because of the State and Church unions and the desire to be the only religion of a particular area, rather as Islam sees itself as destined to control the lives of all within its orbit. This is alien to the spirit of Protestantism and modern Catholicism. The aversion to intercommunion is deep-seated in many Orthodox people. To have a common celebration of the Eucharist would, to Orthodoxy, be an assault on its claim to be the one true Church. But if Christian Unity is not just to be a hollow phrase intercommunion must come about and it may well have to start at „grassroots‟ level. For many Catholics also there is difficulty in grasping the prospect of intercommunion, but at least, at present, the official Catholic view of „separated‟ Christians is that they are part of the Church Invisible and genuinely fellow-believers. An article in a religious newspaper in November 2005 reported that: „The “Vatican opens the ecumenical door on Communion” by allowing non-Catholics to receive Communion on special occasions, but still forbids its own communicants from receiving Communion in non-Catholic congregations and gatherings.‟ 29 27 Hagia Sophia, (St Sophia). This beautiful and gracious Church, built in 537 AD by the Emperor Justinian I, should have been a perpetual monument to the goodness of the Gospel; it became a mosque at the capture of Constantinople in 1453, and since 1935, under secular governments, has been a museum. 28 Divine liturgy. The term used in Orthodoxy for the central ceremony of their Holy Communion (Eucharist or Mass). 29 Church of England Newspaper, 11 November 2005. Page 33
There is so much that Orthodoxy shares with both Catholicism and Conservative Protestantism, especially in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, with its commitment to the doctrines of the Trinity, the real humanity and deity of Jesus, and Jesus as sole Saviour and Lord. It has much to offer the West in its „apophatic theology‟, 30 its truth of theosis, its freedom from a central overpowering authority and in its sense of the majesty and mystery of the Godhead in the Divine Liturgy. In September 2006, the Russian Orthodox Church called for „traditionalist‟ Christian churches to join to meet the threats of secularism and liberal theologies. An appeal was made by Bishop Hilarion of Vienna, the Moscow Patriarchate‟s representative to ecumenical organisations, during the Dialogue of Civilisations forum in Rhodes. His appeal for an alliance was not just to Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox and traditionalist Anglicans, but also to traditionalist Protestants, which in effect meant Conservative Evangelicals. Earlier, in August of the same year, Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the Russian Church‟s chief of external relations, contacted Pittsburgh‟s Bishop Robert Duncan, seeking to restore relations between Moscow and the traditionalist dioceses in the Episcopal Church. 31 This is surely evidence of something new happening in the Church, which ought not to be ignored by any of the three traditions. Orthodoxy does challenge some Western theology, in particular its doctrine of original sin seen as original guilt. In Orthodoxy man is seen to inherit Adam‟s fallen corruption and mortality but not his guilt, and consequently in Orthodox teaching an unbaptised baby is not in danger. Recent theological developments in the Roman Catholic Church on the question of limbo, an intermediate, eternal place for unbaptised babies outside heaven, are pointing in the direction of the doctrine being dropped, which would bring Catholicism closer to Orthodoxy and Protestantism. All three traditions agree, however, that mankind is fallen and cannot bring itself back to God without the Incarnation and the Atonement. While Orthodoxy and Catholicism share much in common – sacramental worship, „sacerdotalism‟, 32 veneration of Mary, and belief in the efficacy of the prayers of the departed – yet Orthodoxy can be quite close to Protestantism, especially in its Evangelical form. For instance, on the question of purgatory Orthodoxy parts company with Catholicism: 30 Apophatic theology, also known as „Negative theology‟. A theology that attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. In brief, negative theology is an attempt to achieve unity with the Divine Good through discernment, gaining knowledge of what God is not (apophasis), rather than by describing what God is. 31 Church of England Newspaper, 6 October 06. 32 Sacerdotalism. The idea that a propitiatory sacrifice for sin must be offered by the intervention of an order of men separated to the priesthood. Page 34
Page 1 and 2: Digging Out the Embedded Church Dis
Page 3 and 4: The Maranatha Community comprises t
Page 5 and 6: Introduction CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chr
Page 7 and 8: ead, nicely browned on top. He plac
Page 9 and 10: HOW DO WE DIG OUT THE EMBEDDED CHUR
Page 11 and 12: That the Church should express this
Page 13 and 14: For Alfeyev, „Faith is a gift, th
Page 15 and 16: „heresies„ of the Early Church
Page 17 and 18: Traditionally, the Church has made
Page 19 and 20: CHAPTER 1 CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EA
Page 21 and 22: A certain Docetic teacher, often id
Page 23 and 24: Novatianism When the persecutions o
Page 25 and 26: The fortunes of the Arian party in
Page 27 and 28: An attempt was made in 482 AD (29 y
Page 29 and 30: was development in the interpretati
Page 31 and 32: CYPRIAN AND AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO The
Page 33 and 34: position would see baptism as not t
Page 35 and 36: The Eastern Church‟s relationship
Page 37: insisted from the second Lateran Co
Page 41 and 42: we do not talk to each other. Our t
Page 43 and 44: The question of heresy does not com
Page 45 and 46: They were missionary-minded and the
Page 47 and 48: Lollard ideas lingered in English r
Page 49 and 50: CHAPTER 4 THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: W
Page 51 and 52: unity‟s sake in subsequent centur
Page 53 and 54: Erasmus wrote he asserts, through o
Page 55 and 56: attle-cry, is perhaps the most famo
Page 57 and 58: Regulations for the good ordering o
Page 59 and 60: Eucharist was not just a commemorat
Page 61 and 62: CHAPTER 5 QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME O
Page 63 and 64: How rare then it is to meet a man w
Page 65 and 66: are often much bigger divisions bet
Page 67 and 68: St Germanus of Constantinople - 8 t
Page 69 and 70: manner. He declared that men could
Page 71 and 72: S L Greenslade - 20 th Century: „
Page 73 and 74: CHAPTER 6 HOPES FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
Page 75 and 76: imminent return of Christ (Komensky
Page 77 and 78: a concern that merchant adventurers
Page 79 and 80: also anti-Socinian. Calixtus himsel
Page 81 and 82: The Eastern Churches were not rent
Page 83 and 84: everyone - from outward forms to in
Page 85 and 86: Women were not usually members of t
Page 87 and 88: work in America, shows him, though
Page 89 and 90:
The aim of the conference was to br
Page 91 and 92:
From 1768 Harris‟s home at Talgar
Page 93 and 94:
twice more to congregations of Whit
Page 95 and 96:
denominations was not their distinc
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It was from the overseas Protestant
Page 99 and 100:
THE OXFORD TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT Anot
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the Church of England‟s doctrinal
Page 103 and 104:
„We pray that… all who desire t
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thereof, in prayer, in the remembra
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honours the Lord and his Word; the
Page 109 and 110:
apostolic church enjoyed, and that
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episcopate were too radical for mos
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Denominations began to form their o
Page 115 and 116:
In this Shanghai Conference‟s Rep
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With so much talk of unity and coop
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„The liturgical movement in weste
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• Sharing a corporate life of wit
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• Our acknowledgement of the Apos
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(h) The Evangelical Church in Germa
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It changed nothing in respect of do
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Some Evangelical Protestants want t
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• It is in continuity with the
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But things have changed. Richard Ma
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evangelism - (and) state what the r
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Repentance and faith are at the hea
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outcome of being justified. Agreeme
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Virgin‟s salutary influence on me
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h) Confession The sacrament of pena
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demanding way would be sin. The que
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If the opportunity for the Church t
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Ministers, priests and laypeople in
Page 151 and 152:
West Kirby, near to my home, the Si
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n) Shared Study Courses There is a
Page 155 and 156:
Even some Protestant churches today
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Vincent de Lérins spoke of a „pr
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It is not likely, in the foreseeabl
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Christ and are trying their best to
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upon the name of our Lord Jesus Chr
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Perhaps this dying process is now b
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economic factors giving rise to suc
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deeper ecumenism, one that does not
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APPENDIX 1 THE NICENO-CONSTANTINOPO
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APPENDIX 2 FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON T
Page 175 and 176:
The „apostles and elders‟ of th
Page 177 and 178:
„The purpose of the Reformation C
Page 179 and 180:
What all three traditions have in c
Page 181 and 182:
Cromwellian period, in a treatise o
Page 183 and 184:
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
Page 185 and 186:
Cullman, Oscar, The Earliest Christ
Page 187 and 188:
McCarthy, Tim, The Catholic Traditi
Page 189 and 190:
Letter concerning the civil princip
Page 191 and 192:
Coptic Orthodox Church, 10 Council
Page 193 and 194:
Parousia, 24, 68, 93 Paul VI, 10, 1
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