Thoughts on Conversion

When people start talking about "converting" to Orthodoxy, I begin to wonder: "What does that really mean?" Most so-called "converts" to Orthodoxy are Christians, former Roman Catholics and Protestants. As such, they are merely returning to the true Church. Quite unlike pagans, Hindoos, Mohammedans, etc., who are embracing the revelation of Christ. Roman Catholics and Protestants already know Christ, even if nominally. I don't like it when all the non-Orthodox are thrown into one category: either Orthodox or not. There are degrees of Orthodoxy because the Roman Catholics and Protestants have their roots in Orthodoxy. These Christians have forgotten their roots, but the others had no Christian roots in the first place. Thus, I don't see that other Christians being received into the Orthodox Church have to undergo a process whereby they are converted to Christ (one can argue whether or not conversion in Orthodoxy is to Christ or to an idol of Orthodoxy), rather they simply come into the fullness of the Christian faith. I'm not sure that such a thing really calls for the inner change that conversion to Christ does.

Converting our hearts to Christ is, however, something which we all should be doing every moment of our lives. It is a process we go through as we recall God's love for us--all the things which He has done for us and given us because of the free gift of His love. God is the Lover of Mankind! What joy that simple thought should give us at even the darkest moments of our lives. How much sin and the fear of death cause us to forget God's love.

Joy at the rememberance of God is a choice we make. Yes, we choose to be joyful. Joy is not happiness. Happiness, as Mother Angelica says, is a happening--it comes and goes. But joy can stay with us at all times. Our joy at the rememberance of God is heaven itself, while having a lack of joy because we forget God or become bogged down in "problems"--which, like happiness, are here today and gone tomorrow--this lack of joy is an experience of hell.

So, how can you know if your heart is really "converted?" Well, do you experience joy when you call to remembrance God's existence, His creation, His work for your redemption, His promise that He would be with you always unto the end of the ages, His merciful love for you which will never end? Or have you set up idols to replace God? (Your insubstantial "problems," your passions, your "identity," or some kind of narrow relgiosity which neither saves nor brings joy to the heart?)

Any thing, material or immaterial, whether it be a burden or a blessing, an aid or a source of agony, can become an idol, something which preoccupies all our thoughts, actions, and worship instead of the living God. Idols enslave us, whereas God gives us true freedom. So, throw away the idols which keep you from choosing joy, and run to God Whose arms are open to embrace you and Whose love is freedom and everlasting life.

Error

Wow, my numerical dyslexia has caught up with me. It turns out I had the date wrong for the Benedictine Feast of the Holy Relics. It's really May 13, not May 3. May 3 is the Finding of the Holy Cross. To rectify matters, I'll post on the Holy Cross on May 13, and hopefully my picture-posting ability will be restored. Sorry for the error.

The Sublime Carthusians and Their Equally Sublime Chant

Here is a link to the English Carthusian (Roman Catholic) monastery of Parkminster. Turn up the volume on your computer and listen for a while to the wonderful chant of the monks--so peaceful, so poignant, so heavenly like all good ecclesiastical chant.

The Carthusian Order was founded by the monk Bruno in 1098. Their way of life is like that of the Desert Fathers in a medieval cloister. They cherish silence and anonymity as they seek communion with God.

Feast of the Holy Relics

St. John Maximovitch of Shanghai and San Francisco reposing in his coffin at his funeral.

Today on the Benedictine Calendar is the Feast of All the Holy Relics of the Saints which are preserved and venerated in the local church and, perhaps, one's home. As the Feast is placed in Paschaltide, it is a beautiful reminder of the General Resurrection, of which the Saints, in their incorrupt and wonderworking Holy Relics, serve as heralds. In honor of this feast, unique to the Orthodox West, we offer two Hymns, an Antiphon, a Collect, and several versicles.

V: Let the people tell of the wisdom of the Saints.
R: And let the Church show forth their praises, alleluia.

The incorrupt hand of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria and Sinai, the Patron Saint of the UW-Madison Orthodox Christian Fellowship.

V: The Lord forsaketh not His Saints, alleluia.
R: They are preserved forever, alleluia.

Hymn at Vespers
"Adeste, Sancti, plurimo"

Come, witness, O ye Saints on high
The incense-clouds of holy rite,
That circle round your relics nigh
And favor for our prayers excite.

The power of God doth not forsake
The bones reduced to helpless dust.
The while a mournful rest they take
God's might divine holds fast the trust.

For lo! a germ of life abides,
A hallowed presence in the tomb;
When passed these earthly times and tides
This dust will glory's robe assume.

These ashes buried, hidden here
Beneath our altars have the might
To heal the sick and crush with fear
The fiend and put his hordes to flight.

To Thee Who, dead, again dost live,
All glory, Lord Thy people give;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete. Amen.

V: I will comfort you, and your heart shall rejoice, alleluia.
R: And your bones shall flourish like an herb, alleluia.

Holy Relics of the Great Martyr St. Demetrios of Thessaloniki

V: God is glorious in His Saints, alleluia.
R: Grlorious in majesty, doing wonders, alleluia.

Antiphon on Benedictus Canticle

Let us present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body, alleluia.

Hymn at Lauds
"O vos unanimes"

United Christian choirs, extol
With joyful song ancestral shrines
And ashes, spoils in aureole
Of Sainthood, heavenly glory's signs.

The joys the blessed souls possess
In heaven is equal to their deeds;
Due praise and honor is no less
For bones that shared life's toils and needs.

Though scattered wide, God gathers each,
To promise true, that all these bones,
Preserved by Providence will reach
Their places midst His chosen stones.

Yea, relics true and sacred shrines
As altars God the Victim rates;
Himself as Head to limbs He joins;
Himself with them He immolates.

O ye, whose ashes men revere
For their defense, with pious kiss,
Be urged by your clients' prayer
And aid us to eternal bliss.

That, when our mortal flesh will rise
In glorious frame to join the choir
Of spirits blest, God One and Thrice
May be our one and last desire. Amen.

Collect

O God, Who hast deigned to adorn this [Thy] most holy Church with the relics of so many Saints: do Thou increase our faith in the Resurrection, and make us partakers of that immortal glory, a pledge of which we venerate in their remains. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, unto ages of ages. Amen.

Repose of Archimandrite Denis, First Orthodox Benedictine of Modern Times

Please visit this link at Ben Johnson's "Western Orthodoxy Blog" to learn more and pray for the eternal repose of this faithful and holy servant of God.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Among the Saints, give rest O Lord, to the soul of Thy departed servant where there is neither sickness nor sorrow nor sighing, but life everlasting.

May his memory be eternal!

Ecumenism, Modernism, Heresy, Schism, and Zeal Not According to Knowledge

Around the Internet, one often runs into comments, Web sites, and whole religious groups which warn of the "pan-heresy of Ecumenism." These anti-ecumenism pundits will often tout slogans such as "Orthodoxy or Death" and urge true believers to beware of "False Union" with other Christian but Non-Orthodox bodies.

The heresy of ecumenism, specifically defined, is the belief that either the Orthodox faith is not wholly sufficient for salvation or that all Christian communions believe basically the same things and should reunite sacramentally and in the fellowship of common prayer. The ecumenist heretic may not believe that the Orthodox Church is the true Church founded by Christ and His Apostles and preserving their teachings uncorrupted to the present day. The ecumenist heretic may also believe that every other expression of Christianity (or even Non-Christian religious faith) is equally valid and wholesome.

All these ideas have, obviously, been around for a long time outside and inside of the Orthodox communion. However, it is important to make some significant distinctions which those who most often claim to be the most hard-line anti-ecumenists many times fail to make.

1. Involvement in the Ecumenical Movement does not mean that one holds the beliefs of an ecumenist heretic. Simply belonging to and holding discussions with an inter-faith body is not strong enough evidence for one to be convicted of heresy. As far as I know, even in Orthodox ecclesiastical courts and synods, there is no guilt by association. A conviction for heresy requires an examination into the actual beliefs of the accused. Therefore, those who cry "ecumenist heretic" at a member of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Antioch, Jerusalem, or Constantinople, for example, are spreading gossip and bearing false witness. The accused must speak for himself and be examined by those who have the right to examine him. Hearsay, off-hand remarks, rumors, and the like are not solid, admissable evidence, especially when brought up by unqualified persons (for example, random laymen accusing a bishop).

2. Just because a particular hierarch is involved in the Ecumenical Movement or even happens to be an ecumenist heretic, God forbid, does not mean that all the faithful under him are heretics, too. This goes for bishops and priests as well. Therefore, those groups who claim to be True or Genuine Orthodox and keep the faith "pure" while separating from most or all of the Orthodox communion, are at best schismatics with zeal not according to knowledge and at worst rogues and ecclesiastical rebels pretending to be Orthodox and following after charlatans and quacks.

The purity of the Orthodox Faith does not, thank God, depend solely on her hierarchs. One, or even a series of mis-statements or even theological blunders does not mean that the people under that bishop are no longer Orthodox. It does not even mean that the bishop is no longer Orthodox.

Those who have separated themselves in little pockets of theological purity have followed after those who think more of their own opinions than of the Orthodox tradition. If a bishop errs in making a decision, he will have to answer to God. Those who are under him must still be obedient because, until a synod depose him, he is still the ruling bishop.

The ancient Orthodox Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Serbia, Russia, Romania, etc. continue to flourish despite oppression from Communists, Mohammedans, and secularists. Meanwhile, the groups which have broken off, each to their own, like the so-called Holy Orthodox Church of North America (HOCNA), the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC--now apparently split between an administration in Russia and one in America), the Russian Orthodox Church In Exile (ROCiE--a splinter from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which is in communion with the other ancient Churches of the Orthodox world), and the many Greek, Romanian, and Bulgarian Old Calendrists groups continue to fragment and develop narrower and narrower visions of Orthodox truth, without deference to tradition and history, let alone the rest of the Orthodox world.

The thought that only me or my group has the right faith and all the other Orthodox are in delusion or not genuinely Orthodox is very dangerous. In this way, demonic pride is hidden behind a mask of fidelity to the truth.

It is time for these separated churches, their faithful and bishops to reevaluate their positions and their beliefs, to stop making excuses for their schisms, to stop pointing fingers at other bishops.

It should not be taken lightly that the Church on earth is also in communion with the saints and angels in heaven. If those following the New Calendar, for example, have been noted for sanctity, is following the New Calendar something justifying schism? If merely being a member of an ecumenical body is so damning, why, after so many decades of envolvement, haven't these Churches adopted the beliefs of the ecumenist heresy as outlined above? It is the Communion of Saints, I think, which has held Orthodoxy together even through difficult and confusing times.

The bishops have been put where they are by the will of God. If that is so, they have God to judge them, and synods of their peers to chastise them. It is not, therefore, mine or any other layman's or singular bishop's place, to sit in judgement. It is something reserved for learned men having the appropriate authority. For everyone else, it's a waste of time.

So, enough of rumors like "I heard so and so is a Mason," or "Bishop N. said that Christians, Mohammedans, Hindoos, and Buddhists serve the same God." These things are, in the first place, unsubstantiated rumors. Even if they were proven to be true, they do not have consequences affecting anyone but the individual who is a Mason or ecumenist heretic.

Rumors of heresy and gossip about personal conduct often have a convenient way of drawing attention away from the person starting the rumor or the gossip. Perhaps that person is guilty of the same or worse sins, besides just gossiping. Also, when other people listen to and accept these rumors and this gossip, and spread them to still more people, they endanger their own souls and the souls of those to whom they spread this filth. Being against ecumenist heresy is one thing, and commendable. But being totally consumed by zealotry to the point where one spreads slander and leaves the Orthodox Church for a puritanical sect is quite another, and totally condemnable. Already, this zeal not according knowledge has ruined many souls--the Orthodox who have been drawn into reactionary sects, the leaders and perpetuators of these sects, and the many innocent victims of this whole brainless campaign--the seekers of ancient Christianity confused, seduced, or turned aside by the words and actions of zealots without knowledge or love.

Temptations come from the right and from the left, that is, from what appears to be good and what is manifestly evil. Our job is to stick to the royal path and not to wander off in search of another one, no matter how "good" it might seem. Only by having moderation as our ascetic way will we reach our heavenly destination unharmed by the assaults of the enemy.