Message from Pope Francis to Patriarch Bartholomew (Nov 20th, 2018)

This is a message from Pope Francis to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, published Nov 30th, 2018. Some thoughts underneath the selection I’ve cited.

 

“….I convey my sentiments of deep affection, together with the assurance of my prayers for Your Holiness, beloved brother in Christ, and for the Church entrusted by our Lord to your pastoral care…Our Churches have safeguarded the Apostolic tradition with great care, along with the teaching of the first Ecumenical Councils and the Church Fathers, despite the differences that developed in local traditions and in theological formulations, which need to be more deeply understood and clarified. At the same time both Churches, with a sense of responsibility towards the world, have sensed that urgent call, which involves each of us who have been baptized, to proclaim the Gospel to all men and women. For this reason, we can work together today in the search for peace among peoples, for the abolition of all forms of slavery, for the respect and dignity of every human being and for the care of creation. With God’s help, through encounter and dialogue on our journey together over the last fifty years, we already experience being in communion, even though it is not yet full and complete. The search for the re-establishment of full communion is above all a response to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who on the eve of his Passion prayed that his disciples “may all be one” (Jn 17:21)….”

 

Panagia: The Immaculate and Predestined Mother of God

Interesting article by Fr Kimel’s blog. It seems to be that a great difficult exists for both Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics, but in different ways. The Orthodox don’t have the burden of having to sustain arguments which necessarily prove the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, but they do have to explain why the tradition speaks so highly of Mary’s purity and sanctity as the unique theotokos. On the other hand, Roman Catholic have the difficulty of trying to maintain that the immaculate conception was definitely revealed by God and handed down through the ages. Obviously, the Roman Catholic, in this regard, is in the more difficult position. Why is that? Because, as Fr. Kimel records, nothing in a grammatical-historical reading of the Scriptures would require her to be immaculately conceived nor absolutely sinless. Secondly, the Church Fathers are mixed on whether she sinned or not, and there is a great deal of Latin fathers (mind you) who speak about the Virgin being born with the full effect of the curse from Adam.

Arguments that show the immaculate conception is a legitimate dogmatic development, and also, even her absolute sinlessness, are going to necessary resort to something which does not exist in either Scripture or the Patristic witness, namely, an analysis of what the Lord has prompted the bride of Christ, in a seemingly unpredictable and spontaneous way, to confess about the Theotokos in her overall career of teaching and to try and make a deduction from that which makes the most sense.

Eclectic Orthodoxy

“Most holy, most pure, most blessed and glorious Lady, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.” Panagia, Achrantos, Theotokos, Aeiparthenos—the titles abound, not only in the private prayers of Eastern Orthodox Christians but in the public liturgies and offices. A prayer to the Theotokos in Small Compline begins with these words: “O spotless, undefiled, incorrupt, immaculate, pure Virgin, Lady Bride of Christ.” In the Divine Liturgy, after the solemn consecration of the Holy Gifts, we sing the Axion Estin:

It is truly meet and right to bless you, O Theotokos,
Ever-blessed and most-pure mother of our God.
More honourable than the Cherubim,
And beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim,
Who without corruption gave birth to God the Word,
True Theotokos: we magnify you.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is first among the saints, the most holy and pure, beloved by God above all creatures. Her icon…

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The Eucharist is the Sacrifice of Christ – Cyprian of Carthage (258 AD)

In the 3rd century, there were a group of Christians who began to try and celebrate the Eucharist with water instead of wine, and they were known as the Hydroparastatae or Aquarians. During the Decian persecution, they would substitute water for wine. St. Cyprian’s refutation of this erroneous practice comes to us in a letter to a certain Caecilius and it affords us the opportunity to see a 3rd century Saint expose the realism of the sacrifice of the holy Mass. I strongly encourage the readers to visit the full letter at the link after the citation to read the whole thing. Its priceless. Notice, most particularly, two things: how Cyprian describes the priest who offers the Eucharist to be doing what Christ himself did during the Last Supper, and how drastically important it is to get the Eucharistic tradition right in all its particulars.

What does δικαιοσύνη mean in St. Paul?

Martin Luther was certainly correct to keep his finger on Romans 1:16-17 as the place where the gates of heaven open up and adorn sinners with the grace of righteousness which grants us entrance into the everlasting kingdom of God.