Discussions of Eastern Christianity, often with a Byzantine flavor. Posts on the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and even the occasional church of the West.
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The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate are really pushing for deaconesses. They post about it online almost daily.
20 years ago I assumed the EP/GOA (same organization or "jurisdiction") would already have female ordination by now. If you are at all familiar with the majority "spirit" of the laity and many of the clergy you know that a modern theological anthropology prevails.
I still think it is inevitable, and will be the primary cause of a real and permanent schism within Orthodoxy - a deep differentiation of "The Faith" among the already de facto differentiation of ecclesiology that exists among all the "Orthodox" today. I know I will not be in communion with the EP/GOA (or any "jurisdiction" still in communion with them) the day women's ordination is a reality in their church.
The fact is the EP/GOA and may others (e.g. the current Patriarch of Alexandria and his flock) would already have women's ordination if it was not for the "conservativism" of many hierarchs in the Church of Greece, Cyprus, etc.
As for the Archon's themselves, they may be male in the biological sense, but they are very modern in the psychological/spiritual sense. They are "men without chests" as saint Clive Staples Lewis so aptly put it...
Is the male-only priesthood a discipline or essential to the nature of being a priest? Sr. Vassa (again unflinchingly taking up a contentious topic by climbing up the ladder to the highest platform and then jumping into the deep end head first) dives right in and says there is no reason beyond personal preference to not have female clergy. You know, when people ask me about women in priesthood, they say, 'Sister, why can't women be priests?' And I say, 'Women CAN be priests. We don't WANT them to be priests.' Because you see, God can do anything, and the Church, by divine authority, uh, can do anything, but, the Church doesn't want to - and that's a legitimate reason. What I don't like is when we TRY to pretend that there are other reasons for this, because it's legitimate not to want something, and there are reasons not to want this - right? - but, we shouldn't pretent that there's some... reason, that, for example, the maleness...
NEW YORK: July 12, 2013 ( ROCOR ) - An Extraordinary Session of the Synod of Bishops is Held On Wednesday, July 10, 2013, an extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held, presided over by its First Hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York. Participating in the meeting were permanent members of the Synod of Bishops: His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany; His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, and His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America. Deliberating on the matter of Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, the Synod of Bishops made a decision as follows: “During a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, presided over by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, A DECISION WAS MADE: on the activities of Bishop Jerome of Ma...
( Orthochristian.com ) - The primate of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada, will concelebrate with the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, in western Ukraine later this week. The Ukrainian Orthodox Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina “awaits the visit of the primate of the Orthodox Church in America on June 1–2, 2024. Solemn services will be held in the Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Chernivtsi, with the participation of both primates.” The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America formally rejects communion with the schismatics of the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” recognizing only the canonical UOC under Met. Onuphry. The Ukrainian primate was the honored guest at the OCA’s 18th All-American Council in July 2015.
20 years ago I assumed the EP/GOA (same organization or "jurisdiction") would already have female ordination by now. If you are at all familiar with the majority "spirit" of the laity and many of the clergy you know that a modern theological anthropology prevails.
ReplyDeleteI still think it is inevitable, and will be the primary cause of a real and permanent schism within Orthodoxy - a deep differentiation of "The Faith" among the already de facto differentiation of ecclesiology that exists among all the "Orthodox" today. I know I will not be in communion with the EP/GOA (or any "jurisdiction" still in communion with them) the day women's ordination is a reality in their church.
The fact is the EP/GOA and may others (e.g. the current Patriarch of Alexandria and his flock) would already have women's ordination if it was not for the "conservativism" of many hierarchs in the Church of Greece, Cyprus, etc.
As for the Archon's themselves, they may be male in the biological sense, but they are very modern in the psychological/spiritual sense. They are "men without chests" as saint Clive Staples Lewis so aptly put it...