The Orthodox, the Anglican Communion Network and the 'Ordination' of Women

The Letter of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad to Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, Bishop Edward Salmon of South Carolina and Bishop John-David Schofield of San Joaquin, Episcopal Church in the USA:

'Dear Brothers in Christ, We have learnt from the mass media that you have decided to refrain from recognizing the Presiding Bishop Elect of the Episcopal Church in the USA, Ms. Catherine Jefferts-Shori. It follows from the released letter you signed that this step was motivated by your refusal to accept the election of a woman to the post of the head of a Church as a gross violation of the old church Tradition. I would like to assure you that I fully share the stand you have taken. In due time, the Russian Orthodox Church also took not an easy step by ceasing on December 26, 2003, her contacts with the Episcopal Church in the USA because of the "consecration" of Gene Robinson, an open homosexual, as bishop. Through this act, the sinful way of life strictly condemned by Holy Scriptures has been supported by church leaders - the fact that defies any reasonable explanation. It is my profound conviction that secular liberal political and philosophical ideas, however we may treat them, cannot and must not adjust the Apostolic Tradition and the understanding of New Testament texts guarded by this Tradition. Any attempt to adjust Christian morality and especially the church order to the political tastes of an external environment is dangerous as it threatens with a loss of Christian identity. There must be no fear in the efforts to keep faithful to Christ. Indeed, the Gospel calls us to take the narrow path that many believed to be impossible even during the earthly life of the Saviour: "When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"". The example of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet period is a vivid proof that Christians can stay faithful to Christ even in the hardest conditions. Despite the severe persecution and pressure from the Soviet power, our Church did not compromise with the spirit of this world. We continue to follow the situation in the Episcopal Church in the USA because we have always cherished good relations with her faithful. Dialogue between our two Churches was established over one hundred years ago, St. Tikhon the Patriarch of All Russia being one of its initiators. Since that time, our relations have been marked by sincerity, warmth, willingness to cooperate and mutual interest. Now we, regrettably, have been actually deprived of this rich heritage. However, as the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed in its decision to break relations with the Episcopal Church in the USA, we are open to "contacts and cooperation with those American Episcopalians who remain faithful to the gospel's moral teaching". In this connection, I would like to inform you that the Russian Orthodox Church supports your act and expresses willingness to restore relations with your diocese. Using this opportunity, I wish you good health, God's help in your work, peace and prosperity.'

This truly remarkable, history-making epistle received the following unfortunate but necessary response:

'There is one matter, about which I must humbly advise you, that may impede the recognition you so graciously propose. Among the dioceses that Pittsburgh leads are dioceses that do ordain women to the diaconate and presbyterate, just as do many of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion. Under these circumstances would the Russian Orthodox Church still be willing to recognize those dioceses in our fellowship that share this practice, Pittsburgh being among them?'

- Bishop Robert Duncan in his reply letter, 25 August 2006

With all due and charitable respect to our beloved friends in the Anglican Communion Network and the Common Cause Federation, one must ask simply: can the Eastern Orthodox Churches realistically or honestly restore progressive ecumenical relations with ecclesial bodies, in this case several provinces and dioceses of the Canterbury Communion, or even go so far as to achieve theological consensus with such bodies, if the latter affirm and maintain doctrines and practices which are adjudged blatantly heterodox by historic Orthodoxy? Hasn't the purported ordination of women error ultimately imperiled or destroyed the official Anglican Communion-Eastern Orthodox dialogue?

The above-cited correspondence is to my mind proof positive that the Apostolic Churches of East and West, the Roman and the Eastern, should prophetically turn their ecumenical interests and investments toward the orthodox catholic Anglicans of the Continuing Church. Pope Benedict and Patriarch Bartholomew have been taking their official dialogues in a misplaced direction for a very long time now. When will they finally realise that the orthodox Anglicanism they seek to engage is utterly real, alive and well in places where they have yet refused to look? Let us pray for the restoration of authentic catholic ecumenism in our day, and let us pray for the restoration of catholic orthodoxy in those branches of the Church where such truth has been tragically neglected or abandoned. May we all come to see that the heart of genuine ecumenicity is the truth, the Apostolic Tradition.