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We have any number of former Anglicans in my parish, and they tend to take to Orthodoxy with great ease.

Was it Kolokotronis who said this also? I know he's referred that "spark of Orthodoxy" you all perceive within Anglicanism. I still wonder why, or what that spark is.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard traditionalists repeat how much they felt at home reading Orthodox theologians but they could never become Orthodox because the Byzantine Rite was just too exotic! There was a time when I would also nod my head in an understanding gesture when this kind of comment was made, so I expect many doubters when I now, in all honesty, after six months as an Eastern Rite priest, write what follows. I understand your concerns, but I can tell you that the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil no longer seem complicated and long. They are now exciting and re-newing. Having made a choice between the modern Roman Rite, formal BCP worship, and the Byzantine Rite, I am now delighted and thankful to worship with the Fathers. Orthodoxy is right belief and right worship.

I'm really not sure what it is, but there is a certain kind of Anglican that is closer to us in spirit than any other non-Orthodox Christian. Part of this, of course, is that Anglicanism's very flexibility allows it, to a certain extent, to be whatever one wants it to be.

But it is more than that. The dream of Anglicanism, it seems to me, was to try to have it all: be rid of the excesses of Rome, embrace the ancient and undivided Church, live in evangelical immediacy, and keep national distinctives and independence. There's not a lot that Orthodox would find fault with in that dream. And when Anglicans with that dream come into Orthodoxy, they find that dream, not as a creation of the individual mind, but lived out in closely-knit communities, and in living, unbroken continuity with the ancient Church.

I can no longer speak to what it is like to look at Anglicanism from within, but I do know that my Orthodox godfather never gave up hope that large numbers of Anglicans would return to the Orthodox faith through their own path of discovery -- together. I reached a point where I could no longer live out that hope myself within Anglicanism, but I have never stopped having it.

I have joy every time an Anglican comes into Orthodoxy, and I also have joy every time one stands firm and says "I'm going to be a part of trying, even if just for a while longer, to figure this out..."

In haste as I am at the office. We've moved to the cottage and we don't have one of these infernal machines there...Doxa tou Theou!

As I have noted before, of all the converts we have in my parish, the former Episcopalians seem to get with the phronema of Orthodoxy the fastest. Indeed I am unaware of any of them having a problem with that. I don't know why. The largest group of converts we have are former evangelicals of various sorts. They tend to be the most fervent, but it takes a long time for them to begin to think and live like Orthodox people, even if they are frankly marvels at quoting the Fathers! Interestingly, it is the Roman Catholics who seem to have the hardest time with the phronema despite the fact that the externals of the Faith are more familiar to them than to the others. Melkites and Maronites seem to slide into the pool of Orthodoxy without a ripple.

Clearly there is something about Anglicanism which predisposes some of its faithful to Orthodoxy and this is nothing new. 100 years ago, Orthodoxy and Anglicanism believed that a reunion was imminent. Nor do I believe that Anglo-Catholics are more Orthodox minded than the evangelical brand, at least I've seen no difference.

Here's an interesting observation. Whether it is from a former Evagelical, a Roman Catholic or Episcopalian, in each instance these people have said to me, perhaps a year or two into Orthodoxy, that Orthodoxy is the fulfillment of everything their former churches promised them. I think that's rather nice.