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Thought this piece from the London Times, forwarded to me courtesy of Father Eugene Mitchell, might be of interest to folks. I don't recollect seeing it here; my apologies if it has been previously posted. The Times London
Old-time religion: A star rises in the east
by Anthony Gardner
While the Church of England struggles to hold on to its flock, a newcomer with an ancient pedigree is packing them in - including the Prince of Wales.
On a Saturday night last month, police were called to control a crowd in the Knightsbridge area of London. Fifteen hundred people were attempting to squeeze into a building designed to hold half that number, and some had started to faint in the crush. Inside, a policeman reported, it was "like an oven".
The occasion was not an illegal rave, but the celebration of Easter Vespers [Midnight Liturgy really] at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Ennismore Gardens. In the past 15 years, the number of Orthodox worshippers in Britain has increased from 170,000 to more than a quarter of a million, making them far and away the fastest-growing Christian denomination. Orthodox churches - and half a dozen monasteries - can be found from Truro to Dunblane. This is all the more remarkable since Orthodoxy is not given to evangelism, and is, in the words of a convert, "absurdly divided, quarrelsome and grudge-bearing".
A major factor has been the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But while the number of converts is small by comparison, they have played a disproportionately important role. The two most influential clergyman in British Orthodoxy � Bishop Kallistos Ware in the Greek Church, and Bishop Basil Osborne in the Russian -were both brought up as Protestants.
There are, moreover, a number of important figures in the British Establishment who sympathise with the faith without having converted. A focus for these is the Friends of Mount Athos, which supports the monasteries on Greece's "Holy Mountain", and whose members include Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.
Prince Philip's involvement is not surprising, given that he was brought up in the Greek Orthodox Church. Less expected is Prince Charles's, as the future head of the Church of England. "Spiritually, he is very moved by Mount Athos," says a member of the society. "He visits it every year for a week, and he is very much admired there." The Prince has been influenced by Philip Sherrard, a radical commentator on Orthodoxy and ecology, who argued that Western Christianity had devalued the environment by emphasising the division between the spiritual and the physical.
The Prince is also intrigued by his great-great-aunt Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia - a victim of the Revolution who was canonised in 1993 - and has commissioned an icon of her from Aidan Hart [a New Zealander], a former Orthodox monk based in Shropshire. In addition, he has had a requiem written for her by the most eminent of Orthodox converts, John Tavener, who has composed many works for the Church, and created his own icon-filled chapel in Dorset.
To the uninitiated, the Orthodox church is Byzantine in more senses than one, and unravelling it requires a clear head and a good map of the Middle East in the first millennium AD. The early Christian church was organized into five patriarchies, based in Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome and Constantinople; but the first three fell to Muslim invaders, and in 1054 the Roman Church broke away in the Great Schism. This left Constantinople as "first among equals" in the Orthodox world, bolstered by the emergence of new churches and patriarchies in Greece and Eastern Europe. The churches in Britain are offshoots of these, and all have their headquarters overseas: the Russian in Moscow, the Greek in Istanbul, and the Antiochian in Damascus.
The Greek Church has the largest presence here, with 120 parishes. The Russian musters only 35, but according to the author Victoria Clarke, an expert on Orthodoxy, "it's trendier and more open to converts than the Greek. If you go to Ennismore Gardens on a Sunday morning, you'll find young couples who have nothing to do with Russia."
What attracts them? The conservatism of Orthodoxy is part of it: as Anglicans and Catholics agonise over demands to modernise, many find reassurance in a body which, in the words of Bishop Ware, "has preserved the tradition and continuity of the ancient church in its fullness".
This adherence to dogma is complemented by a belief that the Western church relies too heavily on human reason. Orthodox services, with their lighting of candles, prostrations and kissing of icons, are both more physical and more attuned to the emotions. "Our liturgy has a beauty which appeals to the whole person," says Father John Hockway, an English-born priest based in Enfield. "The singing, the incense, the way the church is designed - everything is a manifestation of God and our participation in His kingdom. It answers a deep longing in the soul of man."If the Church is reluctant to proselytise, it is partly because it believes that the liturgy speaks for itself. In addition, says one convert, "the Orthodox are very conscious of being guests in Britain, and worry about damaging their relations with other churches".
The most notable recent conversions have been of about 30 Anglican clergyman who rejected the ordination of women; but according to one of them, Father Michael Harper, neither the Greeks nor the Russians were receptive. "We joined the Antiochian Church simply because they opened their arms to us and the others didn't."
The fact that Orthodox services are traditionally held in unfamiliar languages - Church Slavonic, Byzantine Greek, or Arabic - has been an obstacle to converts. But this is now changing, and many churches have introduced services which are either partly or wholly in English.
The man most credited with bringing English-speakers to Orthodoxy is Metropolitan (or Archbishop) Anthony Bloom. A charismatic figure who died last year, he is considered by many to have been a saint. "I couldn't believe the number of English people at his funeral," says Piers Buxton, the former secretary of the Royal Academy, who was among the mourners. "They were scrambling over the headstones to try to get closer." Among those giving orations was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has approved the sharing of Anglican churches by Orthodox congregations.
Inevitably, there are differences of opinion, though not of doctrine, between the church's different branches. But the most serious conflicts often take place among those of the same nationality. Bitterest of all has been that between the "Red" Russians who accepted the Moscow patriarchy even when it was manipulated by the Communists, and the "Whites" who have given their allegiance to a succession of exiled bishops. Relations, however, are thawing. "There isn't the feeling against the Moscow patriarchy that there used to be," says one White, "because it's not so riddled with KGB � though there are still a few of them in there."
In his book The Inner Kingdom, Ware acknowledges these problems, but argues that it is better to bicker over unimportant things than to be - as the Anglicans are - "united (for the most part) in outward organisation, but deeply divided in their beliefs and in their forms of public worship".
"The Orthodox Church," says one convert, "is full of petty personal arguments. But at the heart of it remains an unshakable belief that the world is transformed by the celebration of the Eucharist. It's quite common to find converts who have just wandered into a service off the street and thought, 'This is where I belong. I have come home'."
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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Dear Neil,
Great article! Thanks!
In Christ,
Alice
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Orthodox Catholic Toddler Member
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As it is against the law for a Catholic to hold the throne of England, this is interesting. I wonder if that restriction might also be interpreted to prevent an Orthodox Christian from holding the throne.
The church of England has evolved a great deal from it's origins, and it has been under the control of the Prime Minister and Parliament for a long time now, the monarch has no significant say in the affairs of the church (aside from appointing the dean of Westminster Abbey, I think).
That was a big issue in the days of Cardinal Newman, who became so alarmed it started him on the long journey, and here we are 150 years later witnessing the turmoil within the Anglican communion over basic Christian theology.
I wonder if the Royal family has had enough and is thinking of 'doxing?
Michael
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The Battenbergs? Surely you jest. They will do anything to keep their usurpation going. Since becoming Eastern Orthodox is unlikely to advance that unworthy cause, they will not become Eastern Orthodox.
Incognitus
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I'm sorry but WHAT?
How is Prince Philip's family usurping the crown of England? And besides, how can you make such a judgement on the Battenburgs?
Anton
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Our unknown friend is refering to the "Act of Settlement", which insists that the crown of England sit upon a protestant head.
If you dissent from the "Act of Settlement" and recognize this bit of bigotry for what it is, then you have to admit to the facts, and there are better claims to the English throne. These princes, just happen to be Catholic, and so are excluded from the throne by the Act.
For those who support the Catholic princes (and oppose other windmills, I suppose) the Battenburgs (which prefer to be called Windsors now) are usurpers.
Sadly, the only real opposition to the Windsor dynasty in England today are the Republicans. But who knows what the future may bring.
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You both mean the Windsors-cum-Saxe-Cobug-Gothas-cum-Hannoverians then. The Batterburgs have nothing whatever to do with the Act of Settlement...
Anton
P.S. But if there is criticism of prohibiting Catholics from becoming king or queen of the UK, what about conversely...Spain. It demands that the ruler be a Catholic...that anyone marrying into the Bourbons of Spain have to convert to Catholicism. It could thus be argued that it is a form of bigotry towards non-Catholics...
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Irish Melkite,
Thanks for posting the article which I found most interesting. Also thanks to Hiermonk Elias for his post.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Porter.
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"You both mean the Windsors-cum-Saxe-Cobug-Gothas-cum-Hannoverians then. The Batterburgs . . ."
My thanks for two delightful mis-spellings. I shall consider using this version of the Batterburgs hereafter - or maybe I shall call them the Batterbugs.
"Windsor" is a makee-uppee name for that family, devised during World War I because Saxe-Coburg-Gotha didn't sound exactly true blue British. Moreover, in the Western world it is normal for a wife to take her husband's surname; the present usurper (or usurpess) is indeed married to a Batterburg (anglicized to Mountbatter). Their only pretense at a claim to the throne comes from the Act of Settlement.
As for Father Hieromonk Elias's posting, the Orthodox Chaplain of the Royal Stuart Society would emphatically disagree with the assertion that only Republicans refuse to recognize the Batterbug pretensions!
Incognitus
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I do now think there was a need for you to make such a bitchy comment regarding the spelling mistakes I made...
And actually, the Battenburgs is not a surname in use in the British Royal Family. This was long a source of controversy for Prince Philip because his family name was not allowed to be used for any of his children. Indeed, that only recently changed with the birth of a daughter to the Earl and Countess of Wessex...
And as for how disastrous the Stuarts were...
I think the Windsors have done a wonderful job and I am fully behind Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor. I am sure that an ardent monarchist like Alex might also disagree with your assessment.
Anton
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Dear Gentlemen:
Please allow me to correct a few points here.
Queen Victoria was the last British Monarch of the house of Hanover.
Her son Edward VII, was the first Monarch of the house of Saxe-Coburg, Gotha.
The next Monarch George V, changed the dynasty's title to Windsor during WWI.
The title was now seen as inappropriate considering his cousin, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, was a serving officer in the German Army.
In Monarchies this is not unusual; families have called themselves after their country or fief throughout history.
Even Saxe-Coburg Gotha was not technically the family name, which was more properly "Wettin".
The Hanoverian family name was "Guelph".
Prince Philip's style at birth was "Prince Philip of Greece".
The Greek Royal Family were descendants of King George I of Greece.
He was born Prince Christian of Denmark and was then elected King of Greece.
The Family title of the House of Denmark is "Schlesivig-Holstein, Sonderbourg-Glucksburg".
Even their original title is "Oldenburg".
Greek Princes are still styled "Prince of Greece and Denmark".
When Prince Philip came to live in England as a young man, he informally used his mother's name of Mountbatten.
Mountbatten was the anglicized version of the original family title "Battenberg".
When Prince Philip married the Queen they made him resign all his foreign titles, including "Prince of Greece", and had him formally change his name to Mountbatten (after considering others including Oldenburg and Oldcastle).
Unfortunately they did not even extend him the courtesy of allowing his children to use his own name (that has now changed).
I would not be surprised if the next Monarch will use the dynastic title of "Mountbatten-Windsor".
Sorry for the Royalist rant, but this is a slight obsession of mine.
Great article, I hope the whole country goes Orthodox.
Sincerely
defreitas
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the Stuarts were not so disastrous. It was their misfortune that they followed the Tudors, who were indeed disastrous and who, among other things, plunged England into an inflation which ultimately destroyed the financial stability of the monarchy. As for the Batterbugs - ugh! When the usurper during World War I changed his surname, Kaiser Wilhelm II announced that he would stage a production of the famous Shakespearean play "the Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha"!
Or you might enjoy a song which was quite popular in Scotland when Ms Batterbug usurped the Scottish crown, calling herself "Elizabeth II":
Noo, Scotland has nae got a King
and she has nae got a Queen
For ye canna hae the second Liz
When the first yins never been!
Nae Liz the Twa
Nae Lilibet the Wan
Nae Lil will ever dae
For we'll bring home our Stuart King
In a Scottish breakaway!
Incognitus
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Oh please. I really must stop laughting my posterior off. ELizabeth II is no usurper. She is the lawful monarch of the United Kingdom and please at least have some respect.
Anton
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The only "law" I can think of that gives Ms Batterbug a clear title to any throne is the law of the jungle. God save King Francis.
Incognitus
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Long live King Francis II of England, Scotland, and Bavaria. Mnohaja lita!
Jason, Monarchist and Jacobite
P.S. I agree with St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote that a kingdom is the best form of rulership, so long as it is not corrupt.
--
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
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