Does the Orthodox Church Have Saving Grace from an Anglican Perspective?

From Fr. W. Joseph Boyd.  Don't let the title fool you.  An interesting take on why the Branch Theory Fact is true, regardless of what the Orthodox and Roman Catholics say.  From the article:

As an Anglican, I can sincerely state my admiration for Eastern Orthodoxy and my confidence in the apostolic, catholic and truly doctrinally orthodox nature of its positions and its effective and valid sacraments. It was mainly through the Orthodox witness that the Anglicans rediscovered the ancient fathers and re-appropriated an apostolic independence from the Pope as a prerogative of the local catholic church. In this way we are indebted to Orthodoxy. The only thing we deny to the Orthodox, as the Orthodox would deny to the Pope, is control over God's grace by later political or canonical mechanisms. Apostolicity and ordination confer the Grace upon which councils are based, not the councils providing Grace upon which bishops are made. The Seven Ecumenical Councils state the mind of the Church in the conditions and contexts of the day and must be interpreted within them. They are extremely valuable as standards of Church life and administration, but are not "infallible" without this contextualization or equal in importance to Scripture, which reveals the source of all church authority. Therefore, we must contend that there is Apostolic Grace, true episcopacy and effective sacraments that are not defined by the Byzantine Communion. While the Orthodox hold "fullness of Grace", they do not limit grace or define its borders. We believe that we, too, are a local expression of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. This is what Anglicans believe and see as biblical and self-evident, but what Orthodox fundamentalists can never accept, because they apply St. Cyprian's maxim "there is no salvation outside of the Church" not to the local catholic, apostolic, sacramental Church, but to the Orthodox Communion as an institution. We would argue that in St. Cyprian's time, such an institution did not exist and what he meant was the Apostolic Succession of the local catholic church and faithfulness to the Nicene Faith. Thus, our interpretive grid would be different, and our conclusions opposed, which is truly unfortunate, since we share the same faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior.

"Church of England. Why do you ask?"

Transgender people encouraged to become priests in Church of England diversity drive.

Fr. Andrew Gross on PB Curry's Wedding Message

To my evangelical friends who were excited about Michael Curry's sermon at the royal wedding, let me share a personal word of caution. You may not know much about him, but the man chosen to preach on marriage, has been enthusiastic about redefining it.

The guy who talked about "love" from that English pulpit is currently litigating Christians with whom he disagrees.

The guy who talks about the "Jesus movement" took the church buildings and defrocked those who stood up for the Gospel.

I wouldn't expect you to know all this. You saw a charismatic delivery in an English cathedral and you thought it was cool; a sign of progress and multi-culturalism in a global age.

You were being played.

Without knowing it, you were a pawn in Anglican Communion politics. Poor Harry and Meghan didn't know either. It was their pastor's idea, and they trusted his judgement. We live in an age in desperate need of godly shepherds. Canterbury's hired hands have instead made it their task to normalize false teaching in the global church. The royal wedding was a golden opportunity for them, and your excitement about the preacher achieved their intended affect.

The content of the sermon itself I'll leave to others. When words are separated from shared definitions the resulting debate is of limited value. You can argue that the sermon was good or that it was bad. That's fine, but it misses the point completely. Even Arius didn't deny the divinity of Christ in every sermon.

The reaction to a false teacher being given the platform at the royal wedding was a spiritual temperature gauge. The results show that alot of the western church is running a dangerous fever.

Western cultural elites are seeking to completely redefine marriage, gender, and faith. Those spearheading these innovations are not yet so secular that they can do without their own prophets. They are glad to have found Michael Curry. He is, after all, quite charismatic.

I know you didn't know. I wouldn't have expected you to understand the ins and outs of the Anglican Communion. But now you do.

Feel free to share this with your friends and pastor.

Bishop Gavin Ashenden on PB Curry's Wedding Message

Don't neglect to read the whole thing.  It's a real humdinger.  Representative quotations:

"And then he moved into the political as all progressives do. I suspect it is because they have little experience of the metaphysical, and a simple and immediate way round that is to harness the political to both prove something happens when you get God, and to find a way of making a difference in a way that people might buy into, because we are all so tired of pain and injustice.

And this is the hope that alw...ays lets us down. It is the Hebrew prophets who give fire and articulation to this hope. But they see God as delivering political and personal transformation at the end of time; only then will the lion lie down with the lamb; only then will the tears be wiped away from our eyes, and by God himself, not by the army of emoting counsellors of the progressive utopia. . . .

There are two kinds of Anglicanism practised in the world today. One that contains the cross and repentance and touches and transforms sexual desire, and one that doesn’t.

People who don’t intend to change their ways prefer the one that doesn’t.

That was the one that Bishop Curry offered them. And it went down a storm because bishop Curry is a great preacher. And it will change nothing; because it wasn’t Christianity. It was ‘Christianity-lite’." - Bishop Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen

Michael Curry & the Royal Wedding. A star-turn offers the world ‘Christianity-lite’.

Priesthood and Masculinity

Great article by an Orthodox priest as to why only males may be admitted to Holy Orders.

Lamenting the Fall of "Anglicanism"

Peter Hitchens on the (supposed) disapperance of Anglicanism. Long but well worth the read. (True, many if not most of us "now brandish thuribles and don chasubles", but this is a good thing. It's also true that many of us are "much more Catholic than the present pope." ;) You see, one of the things Hitchens neglects to mention is that belief in and recitation of the Nicene Creed is obligatory for Anglicans, and in that Creed we find no reference whatsoever to belief in a Protestant church, but to belief in the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church", the Church in which the Framers of the Creed believed. Certain things follow from that, one of which is that whatever reforms we adopt MUST conform to the mind of that Church.)

Anglicanism Didn't Begin With Henry

Or with Cranmer.  Or with the Elizabethan Settlement.  Enough already from the apologists for Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy and "Anglicanism-As-Established".

"This combination of characteristics, collectively known as what Thornton calls “English spirituality,” was developing in the English isles centuries before the Reformation. When we are challenged by the notion of Anglicanism being a relatively recent phenomenon, occasioned by a crazy king, we need to remind ourselves that this beautiful Anglican way of adoration began long before the sixteenth century."

What he said.

Puritan

And yet Anglo-Calvinists tend to get their knickers in a twist when I refer to them as "Neo-Puritans."  See the combox discussion here. :)

PURITAN | Announcement Teaser from Stephen McCaskell on Vimeo.

And Now, The Orthodox Church

"Holy" Saturday.

Tonight I penned this message to a left-leaning GOARCH priest I know, who, if it weren't for his leftward leanings, I would have nothing but total, unqualified respect.  Alas:

No one does this in the Anglican Continuum. No one. No one rides a scooter throwing Basil leaves on Holy Saturday. No priest rides a hoverboard. No one attaches a Monstrance to a drone and flies it down the Nave to the priest. None of us are Paper Machet Puppets of Doom proceeding into the church with "liturgical dancers"

No one agitates for abortion rights. No one agitates for women's ordination. There is no counterpart of "Axios."

We Continuing Anglicans, few though we be, ACTUALLY DO what the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church did, and don't do what it didn't do.

Do you see why I left?

Christ Is Risen!!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O sons and daughters, let us sing!
The King of heaven, the glorious King,...
O'er death and hell rose triumphing.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

That Easter morn, at break of day,
The faithful women went their way
To seek the tomb where Jesus lay:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

An angel clad in white they see,
Who sat and spake unto the three,
"Your Lord doth go to Galilee."
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

That night the apostles met in fear;
Amidst them came their Lord most dear,
and said, "My peace be on all here."
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

On this most holy day of days,
Our hearts and voices, Lord we raise, (?)
In joy and jubilee and praise.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Christ Is Risen!!

Victimae paschali laudes
immolent Christiani....

Mors et vita duello
conflixere mirando:
dux vitae mortuus,
regnat vivus.

Dic nobis Maria,
quid vidisti in via?

Sepulcrum Christi viventis,
et gloriam vidi resurgentis:

Angelicos testes,
sudarium, et vestes.

Surrexit Christus spes mea:
praecedet suos in Galilaeam.

Scimus Christum surrexisse
a mortuis vere:
tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere.
Amen. Alleluia.

Let Christians offer sacrificial
praises to the passover victim.

Death and life contended
in a spectacular battle:
the Prince of life, who died,
reigns alive.

Tell us, Mary, what did
you see on the road?

"I saw the tomb of the living Christ
and the glory of his rising,

The angelic witnesses, the
clothes and the shroud."

"Christ my hope is arisen;
into Galilee, he will go before his own."

We know Christ is truly risen from the dead!
To us, victorious King, have mercy!
Amen. Alleluia.

Missionary Diocese of All Saints May Leave ACNA

"Shuffle off to Rome" indeed.  Not sure why they aren't considering the Continuum, especially given the prospect that certain Continuing Anglican churches and PNCC might soon be in communion anyway.

Old Roman Chant

A Model Letter on the Restoration of All-Male Altar Service

From the Trad Roman Catholic blog New Liturgical Movement: Sacred Liturgy and Liturgical Arts.  For our Neo-Anglican friends.

Though we could do without the lace.

New to the Blog Roll

Meditating on "Irvana", the blog of my friend Fr. Will Boyd.  Good stuff here.

The Templars

Read up on them.  They're not the stuff of Masonry or of the Dan Brown novels and movies or any of that conspiracy theory nonsense.

They were warrior monks who followed a rule crafted by the proto-Cistercian and Doctor of the Cathoiic Church St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  They fought nobly, but unfortunately got over their heads in wordly affairs (they were some of the first bankers), and were finally taken down by a French monarch who owed them money.

The main takeaway here is what St. Bernard intended for them.   You'll find in his writings some very significant things about the complementary relationship of Christian theology and the Christian political order.  He was a Catholic mystic of the first order but also a practical and martial saint.  Hear ye him.

Muscular Christianity in Song

Jerycho: Petrus de Grudencz - Presulis Eminenciam Totam.

Wishing You All A Blessed and Profitable Lent

You know, these were just a gang of young Jesus People, probably ignorant of Christian history and the importance of being the Catholic Church.

But boy did they get it rigtht with this video. The Holy Spirit. Luke 9:50.

When Men Chant Manly

Ashenden: God, Sex and Gender

This article may very well be the best Anglican theological essay on WO and related issues since Lewis' and Mascall's. It is certainly more up to date. Thank you, Bishop Ashenden.

And repent, ACNA, AMiA and GAFCON.