Holy Trinity Celtic Orthodox Church

Toledo, Ohio

Ecumenism is the buzzword heard so often today. The definition of the term is problematic for some, a matter of indifference to others and is seen as a subversive heresy by Conservatives and Traditionalist. We don't have a shared vision when we use the term.

Connected with the term Ecumenism, is the term Unity. For some the term means recruiting others who will totally submit to a given Western Patriarchate; which Patriarch must, as a condition for unity, be acknowledged as supreme over all Bishops, infallible on matters of faith and morals and above scrutiny by any. His definite statement on any theological issue under discussion is considered definitive, effectively removing the issue from further discussion.

For some the term means submission to an Ethnic Patriarchate; which Patriarch is competing with the Western Patriarch for the title Universal (Ecumenical) Patriarch/Bishop.

Both of these major players define the Church Catholic as exclusively their own jurisdiction and in terms of submission to a given Patriarchate. Both East and West are rushing to redefine and revise history in order to perpetuate their own inflated self-image and exaggerated sense of self importance.

Both sides hope the Catacomb Movement and Resistance Jurisdictions will suspend good judgement, ignore history and redefine the Church in terms of "Official" or "Canonical" Church jurisdictions with total passive submission.

Even the Patristic definition of Canonical has been redefined from a matter of faith and praxis to a political term.

For some this sought after unity means total freedom or a release of responsibility to truth or morality. For these, Ecumenism means an excuse or justification to deny absolute truth.

Many view a general, undefined and nebulous statement of general Christianity as sufficient to serve as a basis for a united one-world religion.

We in the Catacomb/Resistance jurisdictions deplore the fact that the unity of Christendom has been disrupted. The unity of faith and the integrity of order has been broken. For us, the challenge of Ecumenism is the challenge of a return to the fullness of faith and order in obedience to the will of God. For us, unity requires a submission in faith to the fullness of truth found in the message of Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

We believe the unity of the Church has never been lost because all faithful and committed Orthodox and Catholic believers form the Body of Christ and as such is indivisible. It is the headship of Christ and the continuous indwelling of the Holy Spirit that guarantees the unity of the Church unto ages and ages. The sins, errors and inflated egos of papist and neo-papist churchmen cannot obliterate the unity of the Church Catholic, which Church has the divine guarantee of indefectibility.

No power can defeat the divine plan of Christ who established ONE Church commissioned to bring mankind into unity with God. Oneness is an essential mark of the Church. Unity is not a promise, a potentiality or a goal to be sought. Unity belongs to the very nature of the Church Catholic. It is not something that has been lost, rather it is an essential, intrinsic and permanent mark of the Church.

True Ecumenism and Unity rest on the identity of faith, order and worship. All three aspects are assured and safeguarded by the reality of our unbroken succession of Bishops from the Apostles and our succession of Apostolic truth. This guarantees our Episcopal structure and Sacramental life.

No unity is possible where the Episcopacy and Sacraments are absent. For this reason, the horde of Protestant Sects and their continuously mutating heresies are excluded from any hope of unity. Our focus must be limited to the brothers and sisters in Christ who possess Apostolic Succession, without which there is no unity and no church. A common faith and a common Eucharistic worship are inseparable in the historical continuity of the Orthodox and Catholic Church established by Christ upon the Apostles.

We must pray for those unscrupulous churchmen who view canonicity as a matter of law to be used to expand their power base in the name of officialdom. We pray, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Mentally bowing to the light of Christ within you, I remain a repentant sinner, worker in the Vineyard of Christ and

His Unworthy Priest,

Bishop +Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B.

Schema Monk

ECUMENISM:

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/ecumenism.html

FOR FURTHER STUDY SEE

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/canon28.html

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/patriarch.html

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/canonicity.html

HOME PAGE

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/