Dear Assyrian73,
My immediate reaction to your posts was quite uncharitable, so I decided to step away a bit. Thanks to Chaldean, Ghosty and po18guy for putting things back into mood. Chaldean’s posting of Mar Ephrem’s hymn made me sit back, think, and pray a bit.
I’d like to add one other prayer before continuing… one that helped me to approach this in a more charitable fasion… a prayer from St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Code:
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Ghosty has hit the issue of full communion right on the head. In the Assyrian CotE, there is a strong sense of hierarchy. This hierarchy among the bishops of the ACoE comes from the fraternal relationship between the brother bishops. It is established in the Love of Christ. That is what allows the bishops to sit and realize that in this hierarchy, there must be a head.
Looking back to our history, we see that the first person in the CotE to take the position of Catholicos over his brother bishops was Mar Papa bar Gaggai. He actually made it very matter of factly, but resistance was made by his brother bishops, including being sharply rebuked {from what I’ve read} by the bishop who had taken part in the ordination of Mar Papa. Mar Papa was stopped, and upon appealing to the “Western” Christians, his claim was supported by the hierarchy outside of the Persian Empire.
In this event we see 2 things.
First, Mar Papa’s claim that there was need of a head, in this case within the Persian Church, was validated. Although the bishops were brothers, a hierarchy was to be instated and this hierarchy would eventually lead to a Patriarchy when the isolation from the West would require such a step. This need for a head in what is after all a fraternal relation is even the very same thing that is upheld by Mar AbdIsho when he states in his canons about the rights of patriarch as above the other bishops in his church, and of the Pope of Rome as above the other Patriarchs.
Let’s be frank, one cannot eat his cake and have it too. One cannot say “there is a need for a head here, and uhm but oh… well… we don’t need a head there.” If one is to wed one model of ecclesiastic communion, one cannot suddenly throw it away and say it is not needed when it seems to be detrimental to themselves. Personal pride is what often stands in the way of unity, that is why talks towards unity should be done with truth, charity {love}, and humility.
The second thing that we see is that the CotE was never meant to be “alone”, out of communion with the rest of the world. Even at such an early date as this, the need to appeal to sister churches was seen. This is what being in communion gives: accountability, in that brother Christians can review, suggest, and either speak against, or support as valid actions taken within the church. After all, rebuke is a very Christian way of approaching brothers. St. Paul rebuked St. Peter. In the bond of Christianity, being made in and through the Holy Spirit, a simple rebuke goes a long way.
The Pope’s primacy among Patriarchs is well attested to in our CotE tradition. What that exactly entails, I’m not even near to understanding everything to be able to try to differentiate what he is entitled to or not. I approach this in a way of looking at what the Pope and his congregation of faithful state that they have rights to, and what the CotE {especially the Chaldean Catholic} tradition has traditionally allowed.
More importantly, I approach this with a Christian attitude. This means, I see what the Pope writes, or has written, says, what he preaches, and DOES. I see a man beset on all sides by the world attacking him for speaking plainly, holding on to the Truth, especially of the tradition he is successor to, and being honest. He keeps guard of the orthodoxy of his Church. And I can only pray, that as head of the patriarchs, he continues to zealously guard the Truth and the Church. I pray that Christ not allow him to fall to heresy, and that our Lord safeguard the promise He made us that the gates of hell will not be able to overcome His Church. I pray for peace, tranquility and unity among all the faithful. This latter is after all in our Liturgy. And I can make this prayer, even while not in full communion with the Roman See.
Thank you everyone reading this thread for their prayers for peace and unity. Please continue to pray for us.
Peace and all good,
Anthony
