Replies

When I read your introduction to this piece I had planned to make some pithy remark about Fox News taking over the Traditional Anglican list, but, as you can see, I refrain!:)

As most of you are aware, I am Orthodox and know virtually nothing about Protestantism. For me, therefore, it seems self evident that if an Episcopalian were to leave that "ecclesial assembly", as some might say ECUSA has become the past 30 years or so, to come into the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that person has only two alternatives, the Latin Church or Orthodoxy. It cannot be for me, or indeed any of us Latins or Orthodox to appropriately presume to tell the inquiring Episcopalian which way to go. I say this because it is well established that Rome and the East each recognize the validity and salvic efficacy of the others' sacraments, though the two are in schism for reasons which are thus far sufficient to each. It is better for that seeking Episcopalian to become as educated as possible about both the particular Churches within The Church, attend liturgies in both and after prayer, probably a lot of prayer, listen to what the "inner forum" as the Romans call it, and make a commitment to catechesis in one or the other.

Which one? Well aside from the specific nature of the hierarchal structure of the Roman Church, it might be that that Church will be more attractive to the majority American Episcopalians. The mindset of the Roman Church is certainly Western, its liturgy certainly familiar and it speaks in terms which are readily accessible to American ears. For people who are particularly attracted to the principle of unity, who can and do trace a multitude of manifest errors to the schism between the English Church and Rome under Henry VIII, the claims of Rome to universal jurisdiction and its hierarchal or papal attempts, not so successful of late in this country and generally in the West in my opinion, to enforce a sort of modern Christian orthodoxy and who find the focus of the Latin Church on the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ calls strongly to them, then Rome is probably the place for them. It is Western in thought and not overly rigorous in its day to day discipline on the Faithful, at least compared to Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy, on the other hand, looks at the world through eyes which never knew the Protestant Reformation nor the Enlightenment, which only recently has had to come to grips with capitalism or Western notions of individuality. While Roman Catholicism is a Faith which can well be described as a Eucharistic Community, in practice, at the parish level, it tends for the vast run of Latins to be quite individualistic. Orthodoxy's position that the fullness of The Church is found, as +Ignatius of Antioch wrote, found in a single diocese with a bishop surrounded by his people and clergy and, frankly, centuries of oppression under the heel of the Mohammedans, is in practice a communal Faith. We are saved, as individuals, within The Church as a liturgical people. The Church teaches that God never condemns us, that His Love falls on the good and the evil alike. We condemn ourselves and at the Final Judgment it is not our good deeds or evil doings, but rather how much like Christ we have become which will determine if we are among the sheep or the goats. Orthodoxy expects that we will live in the world but not be of the world and that the focus of our lives will be on our theosis. In order to advance in theosis, the Church teaches that we should pray, unceasingly if we can, fast regularly and become fully involved in the sacramental life of The Church. But these aren't "rules" and it is not a sin to fail to pray unceasingly or to fast or to miss the liturgy on occasion. Nor are these disciplines, in the final analysis, really hard to comply with if an Orthodox person comes to understand that the point of all of the Faith is to so die to the self that the "eye of the soul" becomes increasingly focused on God alone. The piece from the convert to Orthodoxy fairly shimmers with this mindset. But it is also massively counter cultural and it seems to me that if one is coming into The Church from the outside, one had best be sure that by heading East one is ready for all that entails, including the reality that if you truly become Orthodox, you won't look at the world like the other very good Christians around you in a great many ways.

The pieces you have posted each display clearly much of the mindset of the Latin and Orthodox Churches. Episcopalians will have to decide for themselves which of these particular Churches within The Church will be most successful in advancing their own salvation. I think pieces like these will help people to start that process.