The following (in italics) is an excerpt from an article on Fr Gregory Jensen's blog entitled 'Martyred Priest Daniel Sysoev & American Orthodox Missionary Work'.
At a missions and evangelism conference in 2009, the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah said that “becoming Orthodox is not something that you can do just after 6 months of catechesis and a little bit of chrism on your forehead. It’s a life-long process, because it’s being transformed into Christ.” He continued by reminding his listeners that “coming into the Orthodox Church is not about joining a new organization; it’s not joining ‘the right church’; it’s not ‘joining the historical church or the apostolic church’; or it’s not ‘joining the right church instead of the wrong church that I was in.’” Rather, and I think Fr Daniel would agree with this, becoming Orthodox is about entering ever “deeper into the mystery of Christ.” If we are not interested in becoming more like Christ we simply remain trapped “in our passions” and so “we might as well have not converted anyway, because we still haven’t left the world behind.”
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This is a very interesting word, especially to converts (past and potential) to Orthodoxy. Typical reasons for converting to Orthodoxy from another Christian tradition such as Catholicism or Protestantism include issues of history, Church authority, Councils, Tradition vs. Sola Scriptura, doctrine, dogma, and hopefully, the sense of a deeper worship experience. These all seem to entail finding the "right" or "true" Church, which is a common pursuit of the convert. Is Metropolitan Jonah ignoring an important and inescapable aspect of conversion, or is he onto something more profound, in that conversion or 'becoming Orthodox' is much larger than the doctrinal and dogmatic issues of the Church, and more about the Person to whom all doctrines are directed? Is he telling us to ignore the other issues, and furthermore, is it even possible to ignore them? Would converts to another Christian tradition not be able to relate to these words, or do his words apply only to those converting to Orthodoxy? Perhaps Metropolitan Jonah is expressing the commonly held idea of Orthodox Christians who encourage potential converts to enter into their worship rather than read about doctrine and dogma. Either way, it might not be wise to write his words off, since he himself is a convert to Orthodoxy, and his words happen to resonate with me, as I am a convert to Orthodoxy (Armenian) as well. In short, I believe he is onto something profound. It forces me to reflect on my own conversion experience, as well as other potential converts, and to think about what is really important, and why I converted in the first place. Is my answer the same now as it was when I first converted? Is the end goal of an Orthodox convert to claim that they have found the "true" or "right" Church, or is it the continuation of a journey toward 'becoming'; a deeper journey toward union with the Christ, the Son of the living God?
2 comments:
Good stuff, and I think reflective of talks we've had as well. However, there is certainly a "we're the true church" attitude among at least some Orthodox. I just finished Clark Carlton's The Way and he makes it quite clear that this is the claim of EO. Schaeffer seems to write in the same fashion. Now these are laymen, but they get backed by some heavies in EO. Interesting.
I agree that there is sometimes an attitude about the Eastern Orthodox Church being the true Church, but this attitude can be approached in a couple ways. I believe a distinction can be made between the secular attitude toward a true Christian tradition, which reflects the "badge-wearing" or "jersey-wearing" kind, and the spiritual claim of 'true' and authentic apostolicity. I believe both kinds can be found in any tradition. I pray for the latter to be dominant.
I can't speak for Metropolitan Jonah, but I would assume that he wouldn't deny that the Eastern Orthodox Church is the true Church, but seems to be saying that our faith, whether it's a conversion process from one Christian tradition to another, or an initial conversion to Christianity, is and should primarily be directed toward a Person rather than a system of belief.
Maybe we can refer to truth in the rational sense vs. truth in the faithful sense, in that the true Church is not true because one's dogma and history prove it to be true, but that it is a true and faithful witness to the apostle's teachings, and the Church's experential knowledge of God throughout the history of the Tradition.
Christianity as an idea, system, or religion vs. union with a Person will perhaps determine one's approach to the conversion process, and the Christian faith in general.
Thanks for the comment!
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