http://www.pgh.anglican.org/news/local/orthodoxresponse103006
In a truly astonishing and encouraging letter, the official ecumenical representative of the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate has responded to the letter of Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh in which the latter expressed his concern that the Orthodox Churches might not be willing to pursue dialogue with the ACN because of the purported ordination of women.
In a gracious and remarkable reply, Bishop Kirill has expressed the desire of the Orthodox Churches to continue dialogue with Anglicans in order that they might be led to restore their full catholicity in the Apostolic Tradition regarding the male character of Holy Orders and the Catholic sacramental priesthood:
'The Russian Orthodox Church however has not discontinued dialogue with Protestant and Anglican Churches after they adopted female priesthood, in the hope that mutual contacts and talks will help persuade the Protestant and Anglican sides into returning to the apostolic tradition in their view of female ordination.'
Let us thank God for the powerful witness of the Orthodox Church towards the Anglican world and let us pray for the restoration of the Catholic Faith amongst those Anglicans who once possessed it in its fullness and then rejected it in the strife created by the modernist onslaught of our own age. Note that the Orthodox are not calling Anglicans to introduce a new position, but rather to re-establish their own integral life, a life shared with the Orthodox Churches of the East. The Orthodox Church historically recognised the validity of Anglican Orders and now serves to remind us, in a loving and pastoral manner, of our own profound inheritance in the Apostolic Tradition. Would it not be a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit if our dearly beloved sister, the Eastern Communion, could lead us all back to our own proper Faith and Order?
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3 comments:
This is so awesome to read! I love the Eastern Church but I have also come to have a deep affection for Western Christianity which is trully Anglican and Orthodox.
As an Orthodox Christian and convert from Anglicanism, I would like to comment that the Orthodox Church has never accepted the 'validity' of Anglican orders!
Only one Patriarch of Constantinople, Meletios Metaxaxis, back in the 1920s or '30s, 'accepted' Anglican orders, and his decision was never ratified by any synod of Orthodox bishops. (In fact, the very concept of 'validity' is not an Orthodox concept at all!)
Any Anglican clergyman coming to Orthodoxy is ordained (not 're-ordained). Some of our jurisdictions rebaptize converts, some receive them by Chrismation, but none 'accept' them as coming from an equivalent denomination.
I have a great sympathy for 'catholic-minded' Anglicans having been one myself for over 30 years, but from the Orthodox POV Anglicans are not in the same boat as we are.
Thank you for your post! In reference to the question of the provisional recognition of the grace of Anglican Orders by the Orthodox Churches, please consult the following:
The Patriarch of Constantinople's Encyclical on Anglican Orders, 1922, which says:
1. That the ordination of Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury by four bishops is a fact established by history.
2. That in this and subsequent ordinations there are found in their fullness those orthodox and indispensable, visible and sensible elements of valid episcopal ordination - viz. the laying on of hands, the Epiclesis of the All-Holy Spirit and also the purpose to transmit the charisma of the Episcopal ministry.
3. That the Orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders.
4. That the practice in the Church affords no indication that the Orthodox Church has ever officially treated the validity of Anglican Orders as in doubt, in such a way as would point to the re-ordination of the Anglican clergy as required in the case of the union of the two Churches.
See also:
The Letter of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, 1923, which says:
'We have the pleasure to inform Your Grace that Holy Synod of our Patriarchate after studying in several meetings the question Anglican Orders from the Orthodox point view resolved their validity. Today, We inform Your Grace that the Holy Synod, having as a motive the resolution passed some time ago by the Church of Constantinople, which is the church having the First Throne between the Orthodox Churches, resolved that the consecrations of bishops and ordinations of priests and deacons of the Anglican Episcopal Church are considered by the Orthodox Church as having the same validity which the Orders of the Roman Church have, because there exist all the elements which are considered necessary from an Orthodox point of view for the recognition of the grace of the Holy Orders from Apostolic Succession.'
See also these as well:
The Letter of the Archbishop of Cyprus, 1923.
The Statement of the Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, 1930.
The Statement of the Sacred Synod of the Orthodox Church of Romania, 1936.
and
The Statement of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, 1939.
God bless you!
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