I have a different set of issues to address regarding Archbishop Basil's recent remarks.




I found the Archbishop's remarks to be inadequate and disturbing.

I found the Archbishop's remarks to be inadequate because he failed to address the single most critical problem facing the Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Church: the ongoing demographic catastrophe. The BCC has been losing members at a catastrophic rate in recent years. A recent visit to a BC parish for Divine Liturgy confirmed this. There were no children. There were no grandchildren. There were only about 25 old people, and I was one of three or four people who were middle aged. If this trend continues, the BCC will dwindle into tiny numbers. Yet, the Archbishop failed to address this. He also failed to address solving the problem. He did not point to BC parishes which are growing (such as in Chicago and Phoenix) and declare that they are worth studying and imitating.

I found the Archbishop's remarks disturbing because of he seemed to be repeating the same mistakes which the Roman Catholic Church made in the 1980s by relying too much on ourselves and not enough on Christ. For example, at one point the article said that the Archbishop referred to the Eucharist as "The Breaking of Bread." No; the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. At another point, the Archbishop said: "Our efforts of renewal must be Positive, Outgoing, Unbiased and Responsible, so we can POUR ourselves in a life-giving way back into our Church." No; we do not renew ourselves; Christ renews us through the Holy Spirit, so He can "pour" His life-giving grace into us and through us to others. At another point, the Archbishop said: "We do it [renewal] in community and only with the assistance of the triune God." No; we don't do it; God does it; and God doesn't assist us; God divinizes us so He can make us holy and so we can be His instruments for touching others with His grace. In the article, the Archbishop's vision for renewing the Church was summed up by the word "koinonia" -- community. Therein is the problem. The renewal of the Church doesn't happen by community; it happens by Communion. Instead of looking at "koinonia" he should --we should-- be looking at theosis.

All of this sadly reminds me of what happened in the Roman Catholic Church (and some "mainline" Protestant churches, like the Episcopalians) in the 1980s. Church "reformers" took the emphasis off of Christ and placed it on ourselves. The result is either idolatry or iconoclasm. The Church only exists in communion with Jesus Christ, and it can only be renewed by Jesus Christ, and both are through the Holy Spirit. When Christians forget that or overlook that, they falter and dwindle. However, when Christians keep the emphasis on Christ (rather than ourselves), there His blessings abound and there His Church thrives.

-- John

John,

I find your remarks inadequate and disturbing.

"For example, at one point the article said that the Archbishop referred to the Eucharist as "The Breaking of Bread." No; the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ."

The Archbishop is simply quoting scripture:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' instruction and the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42).

Koinonia is communion with Christ and with one another in Christ through participation in the Divine Energies. In my opinion you went through the Archbishop's statement with an eye to finding any statement you could reinterpret negatively and criticize. Our Archbishop deserves better.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Fr. Deacon Lance,

I'm sorry you feel that way, but that's not what I did. I read the article with an open mind, and I was disturbed by what I read.

His vision reminds me of what I saw happen in the Roman Catholic Church in the 1980s: emphasizing community over Communion. The results were not particularly encouraging. I truly hope that is not what is in store for the BCC.

I also was shocked that the Archbishop didn't even mention the demographic situation facing the BCC. The BCC's membership has dropped, and the remaining members have aged, and both have happened to a catastrophic degree. Yet, the Archbishop said nothing about this in his remarks. If a CEO had dwindling numbers of customers and no few ones in sight, the CEO would be expected to treat growth as the number 1 issue or risk going out of business. The Archbishop of the BCC faces a very similar situation, but he didn't even mention it. I find that to be remarkable and shocking.

I really hope those remarks do not reflect the sum total or substance of Archbishop Basil's vision for the future of the BCC. Otherwise, there won't be much of a BCC in 20 - 30 years.

-- John

I thought he referenced it by the strong push to evangelize, accept, and seek out a non-ethnic population, including through being active in the community and through technology. Would this not solve the demographics problem?

Dear Wondering,

I suppose I'm dense then, because I need something explicit when it comes to a catastrophic problem. I think the Archbishop should have explicitly said something like this: "We are facing a demographic catastrophe; and unless (by God's grace) we change it, we as a Church are in real danger of dwindling away into tiny numbers. So, here is what we are going to do: Step 1 . . . "

-- John

Was that really the venue to make a serious speech about a specific problem needing serious attention?

I'd hope he would address it appropriately soon, but I don't have a problem with him only touching on it in that venue.

One of the problems that is not being even considered (in my opinion as a former Protestant) is the total lack of evangelization in the BCC. It should not be a bragging point that the BCC Liturgy is the "best kept secret in Christendom in America."

What is especially sad is that there are numbers of Protestants out there who think they are in a "New Testament Church" and for whom this distinction of worship is important, yet no one is out there challenging their misassumption.

There are so many ways that this could be challenged: door-to-door evangelism, challenging Protestant pastors to public debates, newspaper advertizements in which the Early Fathers are quoted to deflate Protestant heretical views of the Sacraments, etc, etc, etc.

Yet we remain an ethnic oonclave.

Now I am in no way Slavic, but I have had no problem with the ethnicity of the Liturgy. Truth in worship should supercede all other concerns, including that of ethnicity.

The fact of the matter is this: the cults, including Protestantism, which is also a cult by the Webster definition, are not shy about going out and making converts. They are agressive in getting out their message. Why --- WHY???? --- when the Catholic Faith has the truth are we so quiet about it, almost as if we are embarrassed to go out into the world and let people know the wonderfulness of what God has given us??

I do not share in any optimism for the future, save that the Lord Himself move by His Spirit in hearts and bring a real spiritual quickening.

Brother Ed

PS....How do I set my posts so that I get Email response to my posts?? I am not being informed of responses to what I post.

Thank you.

Father Alexander Schmemann of blessed memory once attended a World Council of Churches gathering in Montreal. On his return to the seminary, he was asked for his impressions. He responded that as the Gadarene swine were rushing down the hill to be drowned one pig turned to the next and said "it is very important: we must all stay together and we must all continue to move forward!".

One is often reminded of Father Alexander's observation. I am not, of course, thinking of any specific set of events or any particular group of people.

Fr. Serge

"I am not, of course, thinking of any specific set of events or any particular group of people. "



Though, in the context of this thread, there is a strong implication of identifying Fr. Alexander's remark with our (Arch)Bishop, else your post wouldn't be.

The BCW article paraphrases Metropolitan Basil's speech which makes discussion of his remarks more difficult to prove or disprove. My thoughts on the Archbishop's comments are quite meaningless on such a forum based on the article, though my reading of it reminded me of political campaign speeches we recently endured in this country.

John wrote:
"I also was shocked that the Archbishop didn't even mention the demographic situation facing the BCC. The BCC's membership has dropped, and the remaining members have aged, and both have happened to a catastrophic degree. Yet, the Archbishop said nothing about this in his remarks."

Perhaps he didn't mention the demographics because of Helen Kennedy's earlier presentation that day on the subject. As a church leader however he probably should have offered some direct commentary on the survey results given the preceding topic of presentation.

Again, only my 0.000001 currency unit opinion.

With respect to Fr. Schmemann's account of the pigs, there was a "good news, bad news" scenario. The good news was they were making good time. The bad news, of course, was that they didn't know where they were going.

The meeting that Father Alexander Schmemann attended in Montreal took place around 1962; moreover, Father Alexander has been - we trust - in the Heavenly Kingdom for about a quarter of a century, so he certainly wasn't commenting on what a hierarch quoted in indirect discourse may or may not have said in 2006.

That said, the importance of Father Alexander's words remains: the idea that "we all have to stick together and we all have to keep moving forward" rests upon two false principles. "Sticking together" is never an adequate excuse for doing something seriously wrong or destructive, and "moving forward" is a pointless exercise at best if one does not have a specific and worth-while goal towards which one is moving.

Fr. Serge

Everything is ethnic. So if you replace one set of small "t" traditions for another, you're merely importing the practices of another culture.. or ethnic group. There is no blank slate so to speak. You can't merely say, "let's not sing prostopinije, let's sing Byzantine chant, 4 part Russian choir music" Then you're substitution Greek and Russian tradition for Rusyn tradition.
It isn't like you can pick up a book that is non-ethnic and use it, everything is ethnic. It makes us who we are. Even in diverse parishes in the Carpatho tradition, the main underlying chant (like for the tropars, irmos, etc.. ) is prostopinije, even if they sing different ethnic chants (like a byzantine Ize or a 4 part Russian piece for the Svaty Boze). And remember the rubrics are still practiced according to the Carpatho tradition, even if they sing a four part russian piece during the ize.
What we see in those parishes is a melting pot of ethnicity, where everyone can share their cultural experiences.
Perhaps over time a natural evolution of music will occur and become unique to the USA. But it doesn't exist.

There is nothing wrong with being ethnic. There is however, something wrong with being closed-minded and not welcoming towards new parishoners and only using the parish as a closed social community.
The Carpatho-Rusyn liturgy HAS unique small traditions that differ from the Greek practice, the Russian practice and so on and so on. Why should we look at our small traditions and erase them because we feel another small "t" tradition does it differently, and therefore it is "more orthodox?"
When you do that, you are once again replacing one ethnic practice for another. The Carpatho-Rusyn practice has differences, and they are unique. Just as the Greeks have their unique practices, which make them unique.
Liturgy, liturgica, work of the people, has evolved over time. One can't merely through out certain practices that have organically developed in a certain geographical area. Sure you can, but what does that leave you with?
Either non-organic development or a substitution with one ethnic group's small "t" traditions for another.

Very Well stated!!!

Thank you Job, even with my several spelling errors. I'm out of practice! I used through instead of throw! And other things. Kind of bad for an educated person with the student loans to prove it!
Spelling errors aside, I think I make a great case.