Father Stephen+

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It was the donkey’s verbal report of the angel that convinced Balaam of the power of the God of Israel. Apocryphal accounts of one of the very same donkey’s descendants having sired the donkey or borne the donkey on whose back our Savior Christ ride into Jerusalem just days before His Passion, carry an oral tradition that connects human beings to other mammals, never to discredit the mystery that God might speak in the least probable manner possible.

I speculate that is why the Elders caution silence on our parts, in hopes that we might hear and then listen. My gut also says, in response to Robert’s comment on 28 Oct: “…the ecclesiology once and for all delivered to us by Christ,” the Church has been revealed by Christ and the Apostles, and Christians of all makes and models having been initiated by Trinitarian baptism continue to dialogue about how to speak of Church, much less how to study the object of inquiry (ecclesio-”logy”).

In deference and respect to Robert’s conclusion about the end to revelation (“…once and for all…”) as to what Church is, I agree in principle that Church has been revealed. The Nicene and Athanasian creeds make this clear, not to mention the Magnum Opus of the ancient Fathers.

However, it remains our joint task as Orthodox Christians to learn, digest, and deliver what Holy Orthodoxy contributes by its Communion to the prayer of Jesus that “…they may all be one” (John 17). If we are to make a strong contribution, as God alone can decide, then we should remain standing alongside the Publican. Perhaps, there, we can hear the meaning in the Holy Words of Christ. Kyrie eleison.

You are on the mark.

Raphael,

There are many such mysteries and I pray for them, too. I think of Elisha, there are many who have not bowed their knees to Baal. They are also part of us in a mystery I do not know and I do not want to discourage them.

There should have been less nuance in my post. Holy Communion is Holy Orthodoxy*, Holy Unity, Christ in our midst and God with us.

I didn’t feel I had the right to impose Truth on those who have not yet ventured past the threshold. They will in time. I just didn’t want to unbalance them, to run ahead of the Holy Spirit.

Is is no longer possible to deny what the Lord has revealed regarding the Orthodox Church but I can say that there are pockets of Holy Orthodoxy everywhere. Exactly how this will play out in my own life is less of an issue in a one-story universe.

* Father Stephen thank you for your comments, I will find time to pray for your needs and the needs of the Communion. Please also remember me in your prayers.

To clarify, the meaninglessness I refer to is not because it is not true, but because we are failing to bring the Gospel’s message (the Apostolic Hypothesis!) and the magnitude of its implications to fully bear upon the falsities we have erected.

We are not called to invent yet another ecclesiology, but rather to further explain and demonstrate in our persons individually and corporately, and thus make relevant, in synergy with the Holy Spirit, the ecclesiology once and for all delivered to us by Christ. This ecclesiology is none other than the very habitation of God dwelling in His people in space and time. Thus, we can only explain, and be a living witness, to the extend that we experience the Living God. To them that much is given, much is required.

If this is not at all helpful, or if I am wrong or have strayed from the current topic, please forgive and disregard this comment and pray for my soul. Please forgive.