Bartholomew, His Eminence Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem
Karim, His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,
Archbishop Mor Titus Yeldho,
Archbishop Abune Zachariach and Bishop David.
When people approach me and ask me questions about the faith I try to answer in a humble and respectful way full of sincere love. I do not answer that way on purpose to show how deep our faith is with words but rather because our faith is lived out constantly. If our faith is based on spoken words then we are as good as any hypocrite. As the title of this blog entry suggests, we are ONE Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We are ONE church. There is no division or disunity within the church. Ever since I began studying at St. Vladimir's Seminary people warned me about the "Eastern Orthodox" practice and how they will brain wash you with silly doctrines about "theosis" and "complicating our faith". This is complete nonsense and rubbish if anyone tells you that. Ever since listening to Fr. John, Fr. Alexander, Fr. David, Dr. Barnet, Dr. Myenedorff, and all the teachers and students on campus I came to realize one thing about the beauty of the ONE church. Orthodox is not a denomination but rather it is LIFE. Life in the ONE church. We are not divided or separated by beliefs, dogmas or traditions. So when then why do we still speak about two "Orthodox families"? It boggles the mind how people can speak about the beauty of Orthodoxy and still spilt the church into two different "denominations". The body of Christ is not two but one. We are all one in the same community united in the ONE body of Christ. The body of Christ is not spilt but rather is united under the same physical building we go to in order to worship the same Christ; the ONE church. The church is ONE and is not separated. Unfortunately, in our modern times we have created facades by hiding behind what the ONE church means behind terms like the GREEK Orthodox Church, the RUSSIAN Orthodox Church, the COPTIC Orthodox Church, the MALANKARA Orthodox etc. What we have forgotten is that first before anything else we are Christians. We are the ONE church represented by the love of God bestowed through his church. We then are Orthodox! Orthodox by faith and belief. Then lastly we are whatever nationality we are born into weather that would be Greek, Russian Coptic or Indian. Imagine now saying that you are a Christian Orthodox Greek (you can fill that in with any nationality). The beauty of expressing that you are first among all Christian, Orthodox then whatever nationality it is. This shows that we are the ONE church. We are united by the SAME belief. Unity exists in the ONE church and not dividing the church in two. Christ cannot be divided. If we say we are one in the body of Christ then we need to stop using silly terms such as "Eastern Orthodox" or "Oriental Orthodox". These post WWII invented terms need to be dropped from our language if we are to begin expressing the ONE church. Christ is not divided into two parts! That was the heresy of the 5th century. Christ, as the councils concluded was united into one person of his human and divine nature! Now many people will approach me and say that we simply are not the same because the liturgies are different and many practices are not the same from church to church.
The next part of the blog title is HOLY CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC CHURCH. The ONE church is holy and catholic. We are a universal church by definition. I would like to focus on the Apostolic Church part because this is how the church began. Christ instituted the church through his Apostles who passed on the traditions to the next generation of disciples. Being at St. Vladimir's Seminary we have to attend a Matins services and Vespers on a daily basis. I can say with full confidence that the similarities between vespers and matins should bring the church together. All matins and vespers between church to church is done differently. However, there are more similarities than there are differences. How can that be? Because the church is established by the Apostles. The traditions were the same! The teachings were the same. Over time as each tradition (Alexandria, Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem and Constantinople) began to grow, developments grew out from these traditions but at the core of the worship the main elements remain the same! Censing and venerating icons, partaking of the Eucharist, the canonical prayer of the hours, choral chanting either by lay people or deacons and the list is endless. I remember a specific incident where one of the students began talking to me about the Coptic rite liturgy and the different services we have in the church. I was fascinated and amazed at the knowledge this student knew about the Coptic rite. I began to think about it more and realized that he knew all that information because the same thing is done in the Russian Church, in the Greek Church, in the Malankara Church. What does that mean? It shows that the church is truly ONE not only in beliefs and doctrine but we are the ONE church through the same worship which was handed down to us by the Apostles themselves received from Christ. The beauty of the ONE church lies in the person of Christ and through our worship. When we enter the church we are entering heaven on earth. Complete reverence and respect is shown once you are in the church. The church stands outside of time and in standing outside of time we leave all our worries and troubles of society and enter a place where we become one in Christ. This I can find in any Orthodox church I go to. However, this will only be realized once terms such as "Eastern" and "Oriental" are dropped from our language. We are the ONE Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are one in the body of Christ! Orthodox is not a denomination but LIFE!
Listen to the beauty of daily vespers from St. Vladimir's (Gladsome Light; one of the most ancient hymns in the Orthodox Church. St. Basil from his time when writing said he himself does not know how old this hymn is. Listen to the beauty):
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