www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Why so ethnic?

Goodness. A minute ago I was defending traditionalism; now I'm defending ethnic consciousness. Ethnic consciousness is in itself no bad thing - it becomes horrid when it is used in an exclusive or divisive way. I have visited Holland a few times, and always enjoyed it (even Schipol Airport is a treat), largely because the Dutch are wonderful people in my limited experience. Nobody but God could possibly speak every language to be found on earth - but I will state as a postulate bordering on an axiom that each language adds to the cultural wealth of mankind, and that killing off a language is gravely destructive. This does not in the least justify turning the Church into some sort of closed club for hereditary members only! But the discussion is never-ending, probably because striking a balance is not easy and may vary from one situation to another. Incognitus

Behavior like that is one more reason for more American Orthodox churches.

Alice,

Yes, I did. I'm old and forgetful, what can I say? I apologize.

Many years,

Neil

Neil- yes I have always found Lebanese Christians to be very warm and hospitable, whether visting their churches or their restaurants!

Maybe someday, on a light note, when the pressures of reconciling East and West and solving the theological issues of the entire Christian world are not weighing so heavily on all of us , we could conduct a survey. Everyone could name the single friendliest church community (EC or EO)(or maybe one of each) which they had ever encountered - it would have to be a parish not of their own Church . It would be interesting to see how diverse the list would be .

Many years,

Neil

1. Friendliest RC's. Those that have a Latin Mass at there church.
2. Friendliest Orthodox. Very mixed OCA congregations.
3. Friendliest Protestants. Bible Churches. If you're a male expect to have a sore hand after you're finished being introduced around the church.
4. Friendliest Cultists. Jehovah's Witnesses. Tell them you live on an island in the middle of swamp with no way to get to Kingdom Hall, and they'll have someone ready in the morning with a boat to pick you up.

It WILL probably take a while longer for Orthodox institutions in America and individuals, to transition into America's mainstream. Some see that as the last thing they want, of course, but long term growth will not come from immigration, because it is not a permanently reliable source. They only come if they want to, or are permitted to, and they don't necessarily keep their homeland's religion once freedom of choice comes into play. Some recent Russian emigres don't see the OCA as being Russian enough, and hang back.

To give an example of how far in general they have yet to come: a few years ago, when Phoenix area parishes were trying to start a SCOBA-sponsored charity, it was discovered that the charity did not have a program for relief within the U.S., only for old country nations that had fairly substantial orthodox populations. It took a while for locals to realize that the charity would not benefit anyone locally, and that they would need other ways to help the needy nearby. SCOBA has worked on that, of course- witness the help for NYC after 9-11. But, generally speaking, the American homeland still plays second fiddle to the ethnic-root countries when it comes to charity, travel, hierarchical visitations, etc. This too will pass.

This is a subject I feel very close to. I married into the faith, and understand how important preserving the culture of their ancestors is to my wife and her family. That being said, I can with all honesty point to the fact that I did not share that ethnic background as one of the factors that kept me from embracing eastern christianity for such a long time. I was not "one of our people".

One of the primary reasons scholars and historians attribute for the exponential growth of Christianity after the first century was that it was the first time in the history of mankind a religion crossed tribal and ethnic boundaries. The teachings of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ were for all mankind, not just "our people". He commanded that the Word be spread throughout the world.

Preserving our ethnic heritage is a duty we have to all future generations (my children included). However, this can not become an impediment to the spreading of God's Word to all people through the unique voice of the eastern church.

Dear Orthodox Dutchman
Maybe know you can see the reason for an Ecumenical Patriarch over the entire Church.
Divisive factionalism has no place in the Universal Church.
Stephanos I

Dear Freiends,

An interesting reflection on the conflict between ethnic identity and Christian unity was written by Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, S. Th. D. founder of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies last year. An excerpt follows:

"One thing is certain. We cannot go on officially calling ourselves the Ukrainian Church, because that is heretical. We must embrace the entire Christian heritage established under the rule of St. Volodymyr in Kyiv. ...

The Church of Kyiv, established in 988, has never ceased to exist. In 1596, a large part of the Church of Kyiv re-established the unity of the first Christian millennium. We are that part of the Church of Kyiv. We retain the treasures of more than a thousand years of the Christian tradition of the Rus'-Ukrainian people, but we also welcome all who can find their way to God through our way of worshipping and theologizing, and our individual and corporate spirituality and way of ordering our church life. The martyr Church of Kyiv is from the Ukrainian people, but it also serves all who seriously embrace this Church's Holy Tradition and want to live out that Tradition, whether in Ukraine or any other land on God's earth."


The article can be found at:

http://www.ucns-holyfamily.org/newslttr.html

John
Pilgrikm and Odd Duck

Dear Two-Lungs,

Thanks for the posting. You learn something every day. I was under the impression that the UCC reverted to it's pre-1960's name of UGCC because this is how the church was generally known, even by it's foes (ie: ROC and communists) and it was confusing them. The other reason I had been told was that the term UCC would easely be confused as being the Roman Catholic rite church.

I for one would be very happy to give the word 'Greek' the old 'heave-ho', 'see-ya', 'ta-da'. Our nation has fought too hard to for the right to call ourselves Ukrainians. Getting rid of this word may be far more problematic.