Our 'Post-Ecclesiological' Age - Archimandrite Grigorios

[rowlands]

Although it is quite long, this article which was recently published in Volume 4 of The Messenger, a journal of the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland (Exarchate of Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe – Ecumenical Patriarchate), and made available on-line, may be of interest to participants in this forum. It is by Archimandrite Grigorios (Papathomas), Professor of Canon Law and Dean of the Saint Sergius Theological Institute in Paris.

exarchate-uk.org/Archive/Talks/4papathomas.pdf

In his article (actually first published by the Orthodox Church of Estonia) Fr Grigorios argues that we live in a post-ecclesiological age due to our loss of sense of the local church belonging in a particular place. He also analyses the ways in which overlapping ’co-territorial’ Churches define themselves by use of particular rites (Catholic), by confession (Protestant), or, in the case of the Orthodox, by ethnic origin.

Part of Archimandrite Grigorios’ conclusions:

In our multicultural societies today cultural demands are more comprehensible than the feeble ontological answers provided by the Churches. The Churches will have to choose whether to preserve the Pauline ecclesiology of the New Testament that guided them for fifteen centuries, or to give in to the confessional, ritualist, cultural or nationalist demands of this post-ecclesiological age. These demands have unquestionably determined the established ecclesiology of this present age – and by the look of things - of the future as well. In the latter case, the Church of Christ will be the fifth wheel of the wagon, tragically trailing behind the worldly progress of the nations rather than leading them along the path to the eschaton already traced out by the Resurrection (Rev 22:20). The fault will lie with the Churches themselves.