Thank you for your friendly interest!
You are really a
Marcionite Christian? That is extremely interesting.
Yes I am! I suppose I will have to concede that what I really am is a “neo”-Marcionite. But I don’t by this mean to imply that I am in any way different than the original Marcionite faith. It’s just that this church ended over a thousand years ago, so of necessity a reconstruction of it would have to be “new”. I have decided to reconstruct the faith and follow it in a very conservative way, that is no modern innovations or silly misconceptions as to what many think they know about this ancient faith.
Do you have an organized church which you attend?
No. But it can be demonstrated that many Catholic practices are actually Marcionite because early Marcionite converts to Catholicism continued many of their traditions as Catholics. This tread touches on some of that. The practice continued, but a Catholic understanding was imputed into it. That’s why abstaining from Communion because of nocturnal emissions doesn’t seem to fit in well with a Catholic understanding of Christianity. It fits much better into a Marcionite understanding.
If there were an old Russian Orthodox Church nearby I would go there to pray. Or a Greek Old Calender Church. A Coptic Orthodox Church would work very well. I would be good about communing there too, as long as the priest knew that I was a heretic and he was ok with that - not likely.
No. I believe I know of a way that a ligidament hierarchy could be restored. But there would have to be more people interested in this. Your limited interest in this already exceeds what I have come across in more than a year. It would take an act of god for a Marcionite hierarchy to have a come back. But what can be done, and is being done, is having the original Marcionite scriptures reconstructed out of the quotes from church fathers. Once finished it will be published and translated into Spanish.
Are you in communion with any other ecclesial communities?
No. No bishop means no intercommunion. No communion at all.
I have no issue with the communion of the Roman and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Research indicates that the Marcionite Church did consider the Bread an Wine (Water) to be transformed into the true body of Christ. What’s different in the belief is that the communion becomes the (dead) flesh body of Christ AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR his
apparent body. Jesus did not have an actual body of flesh but only appeared to during his ministry. The communion provided the flesh of Christ that Jesus didn’t yet have until the substitute provided it dead on the cross. It became the true dead flesh body of Jesus when Jesus emptied himself and thus also provided what Jesus had unto the one who substituted his flesh in an exchange. This one was there at the foot of the cross (with his family) and witnessed (as well as experienced) the crusifiction. This was the one for whom Jesus died - he was the Christ. Jesus was not the Christ himself, but rather Jesus died for the Christ. This one became the Christ when Jesus emptied himself on the cross. This one - the one who became the Christ - we become one with through the mystery of communion; and thus Jesus died not just for the Christ only, but for us all who are “one in Christ”. That’s also why we are called “Christians”.
The whole practice of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church came from the Marcionite Church. The practise didn’t change very much, only the understanding of what it means changed. - I’m making this assertion because I’m trying to stay on topic. - When Marcionites became Catholics they retained their practices. When Eastern Orthodox became Eastern Catholics they retained some of their practices. All of us try to continue what has been passed down to us because we think it came from an apostle. The tradition survives even though it is passed on to changing theological meanings of what the tradition really means. The Holy Church of Alexandria had to eventually give up the Marcionite practice of castration because no way could be found to impute a Catholic understanding into it. Alexandria was founded by the Apostle “Mark”, this was the Mark that Marcionite came from, by the way. The one called “Marcion of Sinope” was the seventh Pope of Alexandria. Look to Alexandria as the fountainhead of many of these Marcionite practices entering into the Catholic Church.
