Orthodoxy Represents Our Original Incompetency

There is one thing to be said about Church-shopping: you can always find a better one…

I often see examples of what I would describe as “comparative denominationalism.” It is the comparison of one Church to another (yes, I know that Orthodoxy is not a denomination). Indeed, the drive for a “better Church,” a “more authentic Church,” the “true Church,” the “New Testament Church,” is little more than a game invented in America during the 19th century. It is post-Reformation and represents the rise of Christian consumerism.

I have long thought that Orthodox Christianity comes out on the short end in this shopping effort. For some, it seems too hard, too complicated, too ethnic, too riddled with rules, too confusing and inconsistent, etc. All of those things are true. And, just when you think you’re going to like it, there’s some sort of train wreck across the world and it falls apart again.

The greatest victim in the course of the split between East and West, and later in the Reformation, was the Church itself. To a great extent, the last thing considered in all of the various iterations of doctrine was ecclesiology (the doctrine of the Church). Particularly after the Reformation, the notion that correct doctrine would produce a correct Church gained increasing acceptance. However, history has repeatedly proven this to be a false idea. No matter the corrective measures, Christianity, as Church, remains flawed. Apparently, allowing sinful people to be part of the Church ruins its excellence, and, even the most excellent people are revealed to be broken.

All efforts of comparison fail. Perhaps the assumptions that drive comparisons are the real problem.

I will describe what I mean in terms of my own experience. I did not become an Orthodox Christian because I thought the experience would be more excellent than my Episcopal life. Indeed, in many ways, I knew that the most immediate consequences of my conversion would be pushing my ecclesiastical life off a cliff. Just months before being received into the Church, my corner of the Southeast was plunged into a terrible schism (OCA/ROCOR) that revealed some the worst weaknesses of American Orthodoxy. To a degree, my life is still encumbered with the effects of that situation.

It was possible for me to make comparisons: priests in Orthodoxy were and are more likely to believe the Creed, but even demons believe the Creed and tremble. The shared life of a common tradition is far richer in Orthodoxy (I prefer the piety of peasants and monks to the sentimentality of Anglo-Bourgeoise). However, piety easily becomes more of a “style” and a “badge” than a thing that is practiced. In short, comparisons reveal the one who does the comparing.

So why convert? I think that is a serious question and worth considering carefully. My own journey towards Orthodoxy spanned nearly 20 years. I looked at every possible angle.

At its deepest level, I came to see that becoming Orthodox was a renunciation of comparisons and the empty efforts to improve the Church. It became an agreement that the Church, with all that came with it, was instituted by God for our salvation. The Church is what salvation looks like. Someone could ask, “Couldn’t that be done in any ecclesiastical setting?” My conclusion was that this was not so. Reformation, Counter-Reformation, Restoration, Oxford Movement, Latter Rain Move of God, the endless forays towards some new, imagined excellence, were the founding ideology of the various modern ecclesiologies. Orthodoxy represents our original incompetence. It is the quarreling of the Corinthians, and the fiery courage of Ignatius of Antioch. It is the excess of Greeks, the soul of Russians, and dancing Ghanians.

The story of the Church is not one of progress, certainly not a progress that can be measured by worldly standards. The saints and martyrs alone serve to give evidence that the vine is still alive and fruitful.

Thus, to a large extent, my conversion to Orthodoxy was a decision to cast my lot into the messiness of our original humanity, refusing to remain a part of the modern project and its attempt to improve on the work of God. Its idolatry has been to make successful versions of a middle-class secularism at prayer. The result is largely insipid.

I am often embarrassed by Orthodox failures, just as I am by my own, and for the same reason. However, I believe our failures are uniquely unmasked by the sublime reality of the sacraments, and the perfection of the gift we have been given. It is measured by the yardstick of the spotless bride and constantly found wanting. And this is the truth of our existence. I would not want to exist in any other manner. Before the altar of God, I stand in union with human failure throughout the ages, and in union with the infinite compassion of Christ.

Accept, O Lord, this sacrifice upon Your heavenly, noetic altar, and send down upon us in turn, the grace of Your Holy Spirit.

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also author of Everywhere Present and the Glory to God podcast series.



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133 responses to “Orthodoxy Represents Our Original Incompetency”

  1. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    It is only natural that the Church reflects our disorder. A “perfect” Church would be inhuman I think. The Church must also have the vital core of Divine life to prevent our disorder from overwhelming everything

  2. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Michael,
    The actual continuous existence of the Orthodox Church is nothing less than an ongoing miracle – particularly given our incompetence.

  3. Sunny Avatar
    Sunny

    Dean, thanks for that info. It would be so amazing if we could get involved in something like that.

  4. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Oh my….
    is it time for that cup of tea?

  5. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    Fr. To me the only thing that allows the Church to continue is the reality of the Incarnation. Otherwise she would be just another human institution. Unfortunately that is how she is thought of most of the time.

  6. Michael Bauman Avatar
    Michael Bauman

    E.C. Not to be contentious but is not a bumper sticker a mainstay of Anglo-Bourgeoisr piety, especially secular piety?

  7. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    To all, to Simon and Christopher,
    Yesterday was an example of raging Orthodox incompetence – with me as the exemplar! I was traveling, tired and unable to comment. I got frustrated and deleted a conversation-string. And then I called it “hijacking.”

    I apologize to all. I have restored the conversation.

    The passions are terrible masters. I am particularly sorry if I gave offense to any of you – it was unwarranted. Generally, I like to mess up in quiet and unobtrusive ways. But the occasional screw up in public is good for the soul – though frustrating for those involved. God give us grace.

  8. Dino Avatar
    Dino

    We are most grateful for your ministry Father, for your many insightful clarifications, for this blessed “platform”.
    May we all, (rather than bring God into our turmoil), continuously bring ourselves into God’s inconceviable peace.

  9. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Good rule of thumb: never blog when you’re agitated.We were driving through Atlanta traffic and its insanity. My wife was driving, and I started reading the blog on my phone. Not a good combination! Being cutoff by an 18 wheeler and friends…does wonders for my edginess.

  10. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Oh Dear Father! God love you! We love you!
    As one who is very passionate, I understand….!!!
    You and this blog and the people here are a high blessing….thank you so very much for all you do…and endure!

  11. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Paula AZ,
    I should make it clear that writing the articles and participating in the comments is not a chore for me. It is something I enjoy for the most part. It has all the limitations of my own abilities and personality. But, like the whole of my priesthood, it is a joy.

  12. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Understood!
    That it is a joy is most evident.
    That you are humble enough to admit to your readers you share the same basic afflictions is strangely comforting.
    It sustains our unity.

    In much appreciation, Father……

  13. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Paula,
    That I admit to my readers that I share the same afflictions – is just a matter of being honest. God forbid I should do otherwise.

  14. Christopher Avatar
    Christopher

    Father,

    Truly, I understand. It really is frustrating when the conversation goes off on an unrelated tangent to the topic, particularly one that most would not find relevant or understand. Sue said in one comment everything that needed to be said so if you want to delete my multi-post-meandering with Simon and just leave hers I would get it, really! I am that strange character that is ‘energized’ by conflict and disagreement (it turns most folks off) and this can come out as a tendency to get bogged down in a back and forth dialectic without noticing the futility or effect on the majority. Limitations and personality and all that. Thank God, we are all given a little Grace and are adept at tolerating each others foibles, and perhaps even loving the sinful character behind them. As you have done before, you can just say “this tangent/tread is off topic and/or frustrating, time to move on…” and I will, or at most leave one more petulant “summary” 😉

  15. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    If we are being honest. I cant hijack the blog without the cooperation of others…but oddly enough, for some weird reason. I end up hijacking most conversations Im in. I recognize that. My sincerest apologies to the group for my inflammatory behavior.

    I want to say with all sincerity has taught me more about myself than probably any other group Ive been in spare one. But certainly this group has revealed myself to me…which I genuinely needed. Forgive me for working my issues out here. As Fr Stephen said he’s been very patient with my behavior.

    Forgive me. I meant no harm.

  16. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Simon, christopher,
    As the kids say, “We’re all good.” Glory to God.

  17. Christopher Avatar
    Christopher

    On topic I think and related to Hieronymus observations, I have just started listening to Fr. John Stricklands “Paradise and Utopia” podcast series here on Ancient Faith. In the first one titled “The Post-Christendom of Our Time” he makes the distinction between Christendom (I think he puts our current Secular Age inside Christendom and this makes sense) and the Faith as summed up in Acts 2:40-43 . Too often (most of the time I think) there is a fundamental confusion in our thinking between “Church” and “Christendom”. We often say one when we really mean the other, and there is much internal conflict in each of us centered around the grey area which is ‘in between’ and where each of us stands to one extent or another.

    What just living in history (even if you are not a historian) teaches us is the tendency of “the world” in whatever form including Christendom, to dissipate the Church (St. Paul’s letters would not have been written if this were not so). Whole cultures and “churches” have moved away from “the” Church in time and this is everywhere to be seen around us. The visible ecclesia of “Orthodoxy”, where is it in this continuum? How is Orthodoxy itself (and not the decaying Christendom into secularism around us) doing? I personally don’t think the regular schisms in Orthodoxy (currently over the Ukraine, next year it will be fill_in_the_blank) tells us much other than the inherent problematic of stretching a canonical structure designed for an Empire over modern nation states. I think the deeper “secularization” of the mind and habits of the heart of *everyone*, lay and clergy, is the much more important and pressing question. Here I am not talking about Church vs. Culture (or Christendom or whatever) but the disposition of the Church internally. I believe it is evident that Orthodoxy’s encounter with Secularism-with-a-capital-S is both fairly new (about a 100 years) and our resultant disposition is “mixed” at best…

    Fr. original post and Hieronymus’s got me thinking of where do we stand in this “in between” of a “pure” Church of Acts and Christendom/culture. What does our love do with this situation? It strikes me that we are largely stuck on “pessimism” and because secularism leads to a kind of reformist “activism” (most obvious on the intellectual and academic levels, less so among the rest of the ecclesia) the passive pessimists get dissipated and reformed eventually…

  18. Fr. Stephen Freeman Avatar

    Christopher,
    To my mind, pessimism and optimism are both modern problems. Our narrative is that things should get better. When they do – we’re optimistic. When they don’t, we’re pessimistic.

    My point within the article would be that both are part of a false consciousness. Things simply are what they are – and history is not on an improvement/worsening trajectory. Neither is true.

    The same is largely the case with regard to our lives. But our lives can be lived, and lived well – sometimes even in the “worst” of circumstances – consider someone like “Father Arseny.”

    Our false consciousness makes us think in very crazy ways about ourselves and the Church. Learning to live with the messiness of history – whether within an ancient empire, or within the modern empires – is required in order to rightly live as Christians. The comparison game is built on false assumptions.

  19. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Christopher
    There are a couple of points you make in the beginning of your comment that, in my thinking, creates further problems for me with what follows. In other words, you lost me from the start!
    I am not sure what you mean by “there is a fundamental confusion in our thinking between “Church” and “Christendom”. We often say one when we really mean the other…”
    Despite our internal conflict and inconsistencies I think we know the difference between “Church”as the Body of Christ, and “Christendom” as a nebulous term for Christianity throughout the world. (maybe if I had listened to the podcast…?)

    In what follows you say ” history…teaches us… the tendency of “the world”… to dissipate the Church… Whole cultures and “churches” have moved away from “the” Church in time”. I’m not sure what you mean by “dissipate”. The Church has been scattered. spread apart, dissolved, swallowed up, by the world? But in reality, has not the Church always existed, eternally, and can not be considered historical in that sense. So although to the eye She appears scattered or dissolved, the Church is and always has been One. That we live in, swim in, and are affected by secularism, that we are fragmented and inconsistent, does not mean we can not “know” this, by God’s grace, about the Church.
    I reference Father’s words about Reality of the Kingdom and how I think it applies to the Church: “If we see something of it in part, it is not because [the Church] is in part, but only that the fullness has not been made manifest.” I do not think this eschatological reality is so hard to understand…and live by.
    You ask “how is Orthodoxy doing?” The answer is: She is doing! Always was and will be, doing! Built up, torn down, rejoicing in unity, grieving in schism, exacting in councils, appointing, dethroning, ruling and reigning…She is, doing! She is/we are Christ’s mystical Body, His Bride…we look to our High Priest, Chief Shepard for His Grace to enable us through this age of modernity/secularism, inconsistencies notwithstanding. To answer your question “what does our love do in this situation”, we look after each other and share the burden of “our original incompetency”.
    (thought I’d better have a sure reference to the original post!)

    See…I admitted Christopher, you lost me from the beginning! Different frame of reference I guess…

  20. Erin Avatar
    Erin

    I have never posted but have been reading since 2008. God bless all of you. I am a broken person, sometimes feeling damaged beyond repair….and I so appreciate this blog and the encoragement and reality and transparency. I am not Orthodox but drawn more and more to the reality that here is truth. Thank you. Esme, I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved dog and why. Your faith and sharing has been very encouraging. Paula, I am also so sorry for your loss of your beloved horse.

  21. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    Paula,

    I thought of you and Fr. Stephen’s mention of the Cross being the seat of God’s Judgment when I was reviewing the Matins Gospel from yesterday for the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross and read this in John 12:

    31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am [e]lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

    The context is Jesus foretelling of his death on the Cross. The Cross is the world’s judgment.

    I have to say I was so very tired yesterday morning, I could barely drag myself out of bed. My boss had given me the morning off to attend the Liturgy. I was fighting the hoards of hell to get there. I was also feeling very overwhelmed and discouraged by the chaos and evil in this world and beat down by my own failings–then those two lines from the Gospel jumped out at me when I read them and realized, “the ruler of this world has already been cast out!” I was reminded the enemy only has authority because we give it to him, not because it is rightfully his–Jesus by the Cross toppled him from his illegitimate rule over the earth. It was a heartening thought. Yes, Christ’s kingdom is not yet fully manifest, but nevertheless, it is a done deal! Glory to God! Well, that got me back in the “saddle”! 🙂

  22. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Karen…I smiled big at your words… “Well, that got me back in the “saddle”! ” One horse lover to another!
    Thanks so much for your thoughts, bringing to mind these gems Father gives us. I’ll never forget…the altar the Priest serves at, the altar of Christ’s sacrifice, is also called the Throne, the seat of Judgement. Ahhh…Mercy!

    How very amazing how when exhausted and just plain spent that a little dose of the Good News got you right back in gear! There is no doubt that we are troubled by these evil powers. And it is very distressing when the battle is both within and without. I’m so glad you were gladdened (!) by the reminder of Christ’s victory. So yes indeed it is a done deal…and a solid guarantee of it fullness the coming age.
    Oh that Precious and Life Giving Cross!
    Glory to Jesus Christ!

  23. Sue Avatar

    This morning I read the following passage by Father Raniero Cantalamessa in my prayer book. His thoughts brought to mind what Karen said in her last comment: “The Cross is the world’s judgment”. I hope it’s okay to share the passage here:

    “If we were going to stay close to the cross of Jesus with Mary, we must constantly increase our knowledge of the mystery of the cross…
    The cross is, above all, what divides and separates. In fact, it separates what belongs to the spirit from what is of the flesh (see Gal. 5:24), what belongs to faith from what is of the law (see Gal. 5:11), the old self from the new one (see Rom. 6:6), believers from nonbelievers, Christians from Jews and Greeks (see 1 Cor. 1:18 ff.), and the Christian himself from the world…
    The cross is what unites, what breaks down the wall of hostility, reconciles people among themselves and with God…
    Thanks to the cross of Christ those who were far off have been brought near, the dividing wall has been broken down, all are united…
    The cross is both these things together. It distinguishes in order to unite. It separates from the world to unite to God; it rescues from corruption and unites all those who accept being crucified with Christ. It overcomes all differences, revealing their relative secondary nature before the new radical difference, which distinguishes the friends from the enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18). ..
    The cross separates and divides. This is true: it is the tool God uses to prune the shoots of the great vine of the Body of Christ so that they may bear fruit…
    But above all the cross unites. It unites us one to the other: It makes us understanding and caring…he is no longer impervious to compassion. ..the cross unites us especially to God. “

  24. Paula AZ Avatar
    Paula AZ

    Erin,
    Your words touched my heart. From one broken person to another, I thought of you tonight as I read this older post, as I can relate to the story myself :
    https://glory2godforallthings.com/2008/08/03/solzhenitsyn-has-died-memory-eternal/
    You may remember it, being one of Father’s long time readers.

    In our brokenness, Christ, The Ruler Over All, takes it all upon Himself and heals.
    May God bless and keep you, Erin.

    So glad you were moved to comment. Thank you for your kind words.

  25. Christopher Avatar
    Christopher

    Father,

    As usual you have pulled the rug from out underneath. I had to ruminate on your September 15, 2018 at 1:18 pm post for a couple of days. Not so much around “optimist” and “pessimist” as I think in this context those are placeholder terms and not inherently descriptive, but on “comparison’. Am I doing comparative religion when I think deeply, and more importantly act deeply, on Church? Is the Body of Christ subjectable to a comparison of this sort? The answer is no – not deeply and not “essentially” (to twist a term) because of course the Body is the source of all such comparisons and is not itself a subject thereof – its life simply is as you say and is the ground upon which any and all comparisons occur.

    On the other hand, what then is the ground upon which we judge our life in it? How do we make distinctions between “living well” in the Body or living poorly? How do we know if we are living “rightly” as you put it in this our given empire (this empire of Secularism)?

    Thankfully my time in the institutional Church I have only run across a handful of wolves. However, I have suffered many fools. I am convinced that almost all this foolishness, or rather the foolishness that I am concerned about because it *hurts* me and those closest to me, is a Secularism *from within*. This suffering is NOT the Cross because it is the very thing that leads a person away from the Cross. I don’t know if this is a new thing or simply the latest expression of the original incompetency, but in the end I don’t think it matters because I do not believe this “is what salvation looks like”. IF a secularized Church “is what salvation looks like”, then why not return to the original incompancy of secularism? What does secularization in Christianized outer form really add?

    So in the end I stand on my “comparison”. I don’t know what else to do as I perceive this space between “Orthodoxy” as actually lived, at least here in NA, and the Church. That’s not quite it (too strong with connotations I don’t mean) but nevertheless I perceive this “space”. Am I standing on a secular “construal” (as Taylor would say) when I perceive this space? No, for to see a thing one has to have a perspective outside the thing itself obviously. The point is to know the light and to live by it, not to get comfortable with the dark.

  26. Erin Avatar
    Erin

    Paula, thank you from responding. I lay myself bare and you alone respond. Thank you. I appreciate your link and those such as him keep me going as otherwise I would give up. Again, thank you.

  27. Alan Avatar
    Alan

    @ Dean (Re: your comment from Sep 12 @ 9:26 AM)…..

    What are some of the other places where this is happening, besides the location in Dunlap, CA ?

  28. Alan Avatar
    Alan

    @ Lynne,

    I absolutely loved your comment. Thank you. As one who loves statistics….one of my all time favorite quotes is this: “There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics.” 🙂

  29. Dean Avatar
    Dean

    Alan,
    Agata just directed me to your question. I know of two others personally, both in Arizona. You’d have to like the desert! St. Anthony’s is a very large men’s Greek monastery near Florence, Az. There are many families who have moved close to form quite a community. Another monastery is St. Paisius, a women’s monastery under the Serbian jurisdiction. All services are in English. Some families have also moved there to be in close proximity. Hope this helps some.

  30. Dean Avatar
    Dean

    Forgot to add that St. Paisius is outside of Safford, Az.

  31. Alan Avatar
    Alan

    Thanks Dean, I appreciate the information!

  32. Marija Avatar
    Marija

    Thank you Father for such an insightful commentary. I love reading your commentaries.

    Here I am a Roman Catholic and guess what? I’ve been comparing (!) the Roman Church with the Orthodox for several years and at times I’m almost ready to leave “Rome” and become Orthodox. I know from all I’ve read and still read that both branches claim to be the best and original and each one would say I should “join” its ranks. After reading your commentary, I may just stay where I am in spite of all the messiness in the Roman Church currently, and as it always has been a church ravaged by enemies from without and within.

    The main thing I cannot do is give up on the Lord Jesus Christ and His true presence in the Holy Eucharist.

    So, it leaves me still wondering about my “two favorite Churches” (ha). I want to attend and partake of the beautiful heritage of both. Maybe one day…….. but only the Lord could make that happen.

  33. Esmée La Fleur Avatar

    Marija – Have you read The Orthodox Church by Timothy Ware? If not, I highly recommend it. May God continue to guide you on your journey with Christ.

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