Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy

Pope Benedict XVI has certainly given orthodox Anglo-Catholics mixed signals in recent years, but his very recent pronouncements, in which he has recommitted himself and the Church of Rome irrevocably to the work of ecumenism, should give us great hope. For example, in 1998 Cardinal Ratzinger promulgated the official commentary of Pope John Paul II's revision of canonical principles entitled Ad Tuendam Fidem, in which it is expressly asserted that Pope Leo XIII's condemnation of the validity of Anglican Orders is a judgement to be believed as supernaturally revealed by God. Roman Catholic theologians who contend for the validity of Anglican Orders, even as private opinion, are thus adjudged heretics by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that respect, Benedict XVI could not be more anti-Anglican. But, more recently, in several essays and books, he has expressed a more genteel approach to the Anglican question, remarking that 'Anglicanism retains many essential elements of the Catholic Tradition,' and that 'Catholic Anglicanism' as he happily calls it, continues to persevere in preserving important aspects of catholic faith and life. It would appear that Ratzinger is quite tolerant of orthodox Anglo-Catholicism on a personal level, and sees it as tending towards reconciliation with Rome, which he, of course, heartily approves. I believe he will be quite firm with +Rowan Williams and other heretical Anglican bishops regarding the question of women's ordination, and that he will also reach out, in a way more decidedly than his predecessor, to real bona fide Catholic Anglicans like ourselves. Time will tell, but it seems the new Pope may be willing to move a bit closer to the creation of Anglican uniatism. We shall see indeed.

You raise a wonderful question regarding the recognition of Anglican Orders by the Orthodox Churches of the East. Amen, amen - the Orthodox Church provisionally recognised the validity of Anglican Orders beginning in 1922 with an official pronouncement by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Ecumenical Patriarchate declared in that year that the Anglican Church had retained the Apostolic Succession and the requisite elements necessary for valid episcopal consecration, laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Ghost. Constantinople also declared that the line of episcopal succession had never been broken in the Church of England and that Archbishop Matthew Parker was made a true bishop in 1559. The Orthodox definitely stated that the Priesthood of the Anglican Church was a musterion, the true Sacrament of Holy Orders. In 1923, the Churches of Jerusalem and Cyprus affirmed the validity of Anglican Orders. The Patriarch of Alexandria declared the validity of the Anglican Priesthood in 1930. In 1936, the Church of Romania affirmed not only the validity of Anglican Orders but also the Anglican doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Real Presence. Finally, in 1939, the Church of Greece declared the validity of Anglican Orders. All these Churches at the time stated that Anglicans should never be rebaptised, and that Anglican Priests should not be reordained, if admitted to Orthodoxy. In effect, the Orthodox accepted the validity of all Anglican Sacraments, and in particular Baptism and Orders. From the time the members of Orthodox Churches began to immigrate to North America in the 19th century until well after the First World War, the Orthodox episcopate directly instructed its people to receive the Sacraments in Anglican Churches if Orthodox Churches could not be found. For decades, the new immigrant Orthodox were baptised, confirmed, shriven, communicated, married, and buried in Anglican Churches. They frequented the Blessed Sacrament at Anglican Altars without hesitation. More rarely, Anglicans were afforded the same courtesy from Orthodox Churches in Europe when away from English chaplaincies. Sadly, before the Orthodox Church could act upon the decision of the Bishop of New Rome and his colleagues concerning the validity of Anglican Orders, World War II erupted and the opportunity for complete restoration of full communion was lost indefinitely. After WWII, the cultural climate had changed too dramatically - the Russian Church turned against the Anglican Communion, while the Anglican world pursued its cataclysmic course into modernism - and the rest is, as they say, history. Theoretically, the earlier Orthodox rulings on Anglican Orders have never been rescinded, but with the introduction of the priestess heresy, they have severed any real relationship with Anglicanism for the foreseeable future. I hope this information will be useful.