What Did Jesus Mean by Unity?
Rowan Williams was the subject of a recent article in the Living Church. I can only
recommend the article as a means of understanding to what lengths the Archbishop
will go to not offend anyone in the Anglican Communion. The article said
virtually nothing meaningful until the one place where the Archbishop didn't
mind throwing a little barb out, at another Church, of
course:
I don’t especially want to see the Anglican
Church becoming like the Orthodox Church, where in some American cities you see
the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox
Church. I don’t want to see in the cities of America the American Anglican
Church, the Nigerian Anglican Church, the Egyptian Anglican Church and the
English Anglican Church in the same street.
Now, none of what I'm about to discuss is
meant to say that the jurisdictional problem within Orthodox is not, in fact, a
problem. Nor do I mean to say we shouldn't correct it (some interesting progress has been made lately in this regard).
However, the basis of the "split" is not doctrinal, but rather political and to
a certain degree ethnic. Although with the rise in converts from other
religious groups, many parishes are becoming more of a melting pot than
previously. Because I am Orthodox first, and only happen to have been
Chrismated within a Greek parish, I can attend liturgy at, and
receive communion at, any Antiochian, OCA, Serbian, etc. parish. We all express
the same faith, and I do not have to worry about what I or my family will be
taught.Now lets look at the situation
as recently as a year ago within a number of parishes here in North San Diego
county who all bore the name "The Episcopal Church". My parish
, of course, was AngloCatholic (although the teaching was becoming increasingly
inconsistent). Up the road was the charismatic/evangelical parish, where a
previous rector was prone to publishing anti-catholic rubbish in his newsletter.
One such instance was on the subject of the deuterocanonicals, which he felt were so
erroneous as to be dangerous and to be avoided. This, of course, was in
contradiction to the 39 articles , which didn't look upon the books
so poorly. Further, these books are part of the lectionary used by the
Episcopal Church. At our parish, we taught that these books should be
considered canonical (of course also in contradiction to the 39 articles). The
charismatic parish would also have problems with the real presence in the
Eucharist, baptismal regeneration, and a whole host of other critical issues
that our AngloCatholic parish would have alternate views on. To the east, one
could find another "conservative" parish which was more traditional Anglican
that likely has some fundamental disagreements with both of us. Not far away
from them, would be a nice modernist parish, where Scripture, Tradition,
and the canons of the Church have no
import.So this is the "unity" that
Williams seeks to preserve. He, and other leaders within Anglicanism look to
John 17:21 , and Jesus' well know prayer for unity,
as the goal:
that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me.
So, the prayer is not "be united at all
costs", but that we are to be united as the Father is in the Son. How do we
understand the relationship between the Father and Son? Well, several Church
councils spent a lot of time on this subject. A couple of key outcomes are that
the Father and the Son are of the same substance (homoousius), and that they
share the same divine will. Now, Christ also had a human nature and a human
will, but the human nature was assumed so that it could be healed, and the human
will was subjugated to the divine (the famous prayer in the garden). So, given
the doctrinal diversity in the ECUSA, can we truly say that they share this
unity? Are they of the same substance, sharing the same will? You tell me.
What about the Orthodox? Are they of the same substance, sharing the same will?
Not perfectly, but much closer, if you ask
me.
What Williams has now, is a deeply
divided Church, where some would rather be Druids, and others don't think Christ
ever rose from the dead. Slapping the same name on the door doesn't fix this
problem. It is interesting, I think the different names on the doors of
Orthodox Churches belie the unity of "substance" present. If the various
Anglican bodies change the names on their doors, they would better reflect a
reality where they belong to different jurisdictions, and truly do have a
variety of substance.
Posted: Saturday - August 26, 2006 at 11:37 AM
