Communion & Protest

Back when I was in seminary (Nashotah House, 1989-92), controversy was a given. We didn’t have women clergy serving at the altar. But we did have some female students and even more advocates for change. In retrospect, from where things are today, it was a simpler time. Less nutty, but pretty intense.

One of the biggest controversies happened in my Senior year when the Presiding Bishop, Edmond Browning, visited the seminary for the first time. I was part of the seminary chapter of the Episcopal Synod of America [*] known as the DeKoven Society. Some of us were, by our own admission, BDACs (brain dead Anglo Catholics); others were more of the Prayer Book Society type. Being seminarians, we were naturally reactionary. No less, I must add, than the other side.

Anyway, due to his liberal leanings and guidance of the church, the visit of the Presiding Bishop caused a stir. Many members of the DeKoven Society planned to protest at the Evening Mass. That is, some planned to sit in their choir stall, arms folded, refusing to receive communion; others planned to stay home. Much to the dismay of some of my friends, I decided to take part in the service.

How can members of like mind behave so differently? One of my professors at the time, Dr Peter Toon, recently posted an article that touches on this in some ways. In other words, reading Dr Toon’s words, I couldn’t help but reminisce about seminary, that particular controversy, and the directions that many of my classmates have taken since graduation.

I became Antiochian Orthodox, as did one of my classmates. Another joined the Roman Catholics. Alums, before and after, found homes in Continuing Anglicanism, here, there, etc. Some eventually fell away from the priesthood.

With all the stuff going on in PECUSA these days, no one seems to ask anymore why I left the Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, given all the negative press, my admission to having once been Episcopalian sometimes solicits smirks or chuckles by folks who know nothing of the venerable history of Anglicanism. All they know about is Gene Robinson, clown masses, and gay marriage.

Yet, understandably, I do get asked why I switched jurisdictions within Orthodoxy. While there is certainly, as ever, a “back story” not suited for the Internet, the simple answer goes back to the essence of the seminary controversy. Mind you, mistakes were made but, the struggle is similar.

Back to 1992. We had a DeKoven Society meeting where members were talking of their planned actions during Browning’s presiding at the Eucharist. After a bit of soul wrestling, I boldly stated that the Mass was not the place to stage a protest and if folks wanted to show their displeasure with the running of PECUSA they should stay home. I went on to state that I was scheduled to assist with the service and planned to do so.

My reasoning? I communed with Edmond Browning every single time I received communion in the Episcopal Church whether he was physically in the same building with me or not. Isn’t that the nature of communion? We commemorated the Presiding Bishop at each and every Mass, and, as Episcopalians, we were in communion with him. (Duh!) What difference does it make when he’s actually in the building? Did we want to hurt his feelings? Teach him a lesson? At the Mass?

Anyway, my decision found a few friendly ears but made many angry. The fated night came and went. A few of my pals and mentors did not receive communion, but it all passed without incident. During the service, I found myself seated beside Browning. I remember, unbelievably, saying to him: “I agree with you.” What was I talking about? He’d preached a sermon about how we all needed each other in the church, there would be no outcasts, etc. And I heard him — translated his words, perhaps — to say that there was a place for “traditionalists” in PECUSA. This, I was glad to hear.

(History proved otherwise.)

Back to Orthodoxy. After several years as an Orthodox priest, I made a decision — a protest, if you will — and moved to another jurisdiction. Five years later, having ridden the pendulum the other way, and having experienced another type of protest, I came back home to the Antiochian Archdiocese. In my arrogance, I left Antioch for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) because I’d begun to feel that “traditionalists” were not welcome. I came back home to the Antiochian Archdiocese after being told by my Bishop that I was not to give communion to anyone who was not a member of the ROCOR. (Thankfully, this is not true of the ROCOR as a whole!) As we had people from the Moscow Patriarchate, Greeks, OCA, and Antiochians often visiting the parish, there was no way that I could, in good conscience, follow this mandate. Though I tried, there was no swaying this particular bishop on the issue. So I did what I considered to be the God-pleasing thing to do. I humbled myself and came back home.

In the end, it all came back to communion. I believe Orthodox is Orthodox: we all are fed from the same Chalice. I am no sectarian. There are struggles within any jurisdiction — any human organization. As Dr Toon points out, and as one priest is currently proving, our answer may lie in different directions. Would that it were not so! Alas, this is the world we occupy.

This is one reason I look forward to the day, should God grant, that Orthodox jurisdictionalism dies in America. What a scandal! Antiochians could learn a great deal from the ROCOR, as could the Greeks from the OCA, et al, vice versa, etc.

Why can’t we learn from each other now? Because we’re all in competition over members, property, ideology, bureaucracy, cultural quirks, etc. Much of it smacks of territorialism, turf wars … triumphalism. But you know what? We’re still all in Communion with each other, whether administratively united or not. Whether in the same building or not. Same calendar or not. Ethnic culture or not. It might take something radical such as behaving like “reason endowed sheep” and talking to each other to resolve our differences. But, we’re already in Communion with each other. Like it or not.

As Orthodox, we should stop protesting. Because, last I checked, there was another ecclesiastical label for groups that continue to do so. 😉