Orthodoxy has
been present in the United Kingdom for centuries. The interest of the Anglicans
has started since the 17th centuries, where unofficial contact began
between the two ecclesiastical groups. However, this is an interesting
evolution. How and why are the Anglicans interested in the Orthodox Church is a
massive topic. The relations of the two churches, another. These relations,
nevertheless, have formed a number of groups within Britain including the
Anglican and Eastern Churches Association (A.E.C.A.) and the Fellowship of St.
Alban and St. Sergius.
The Fellowship
of St Alban and St. Sergius is a well-known organisation in Britain and the
West in general, promoting Orthodox-Anglican Relations since its birth in the
1920s. However, the faithful within the Orthodox countries are not aware of its
existence or do not support its works. Christos Yannaras, upon visiting the
Fellowship and its 1973 conference that took place in Winchester, he returned
to Greece, and wrote about his experiences in respect to the Fellowship and the
Anglican-Orthodox relations and interests within Britain. The following
passage, translated by the author (Dimitris Salapatas), is taken from his book Το Προνόμιο της Απελπισίας[1].
However, this was also published in the VIMA newspaper (2-9-1973).
“A
Gathering of Anglicans and Orthodox in Winchester
From the 4th
until the 15th August the annual conference of the Fellowship of St.
Alban and St. Sergius took place at Winchester, England, at King’s Alfred’s
College.
This
Fellowship, which is widely known in England and less so or even not at all in
Greece, was founded during the interwar
period (1928) with the objective the meeting, the mutual understanding and the
theological dialogue between the Anglicans and the Orthodox. Its foundation was
the result of the interest that was created within England for a ‘rediscovery’
of the Orthodox Spiritual Tradition and Theology, on the occasion -then- of the
presence of the Russian diaspora in Western Europe. During the pre-war years,
the annual conferences of the Fellowship brought together the biggest names of
the Russian theologians of the diaspora (Lossky, Boulgakov, Zander, Zenkovsky,
Berdiaeff), but also distinguished Anglican theologians, such as Reverend
Derwas Chitty and professor H.A. Hodges, Bishops Gore and Frere, professor
Mascal and the current Archbishop Ramsey (1973), who have formed with their
presence the spiritual life of the Anglican Church.
Today the
Fellowship is widely known within the theological and ecclesiastical circles of
England, not only with its annual conferences that it organises but also with
the quarterly magazine which it publishes, entitled SOBORNOST. Secretary of the
Fellowship and editor of the magazine is Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, A.M.
Allchin, member of the University of Oxford and author of a number of
theological books. Allchin has around him a team of young researchers, who
research topics concerning orthodox theology, channelling on a regular basis
the fruits of their work to the pages of the journal. The majority of these
Anglican theologians know Modern Greek and that is why the journal presents a
special interest for the Greek reader, since in its pages one can find
regularly valuable book reviews of Greek theological books – valuable, because
in Greece such a level of academic criticism is scarce.
Since we are
speaking about the journal SOBORNOST, it should be added that in England a
second journal circulates, exclusively dedicated in the study of the Orthodox
Church and Traditions, the ‘EASTERN CHURCHES REVIEW’, which is edited by
Anglican George Every, Roman Catholic Robert Murray and Orthodox Archimandrite
from the monastery of Patmos and professor of the University of Oxford
Kallistos-Timothy Ware. Two specifically important journals, a good number of
important publications specialising in Orthodox Theology and spirituality, two
houses-centres of the Fellowship (one in London and one in Oxford) and one
professorship in Oxford for the study and the research of the Orthodox Church,
are the somewhat subjective evidence of interest that exists in England in
regards to the Orthodox Church.
This year’s
ten day conference in Winchester was attended by nearly 100 people, mainly from
England, but also from America, France, Belgium, Italy and Scandinavia. Not
everyone were theologians; nevertheless, an important percentage of the people
who came from different disciplines, gathered together at the Fellowship due to
a living interest for a more systematic encounter and engagement with the
Orthodox Church. With sadness, I have
to point out that at the conference there was no Greek priest from the
Archdiocese of Thyateira, despite having nearly fifty all around the country,
and of course no representative from the Greek theological schools or from the
Church of Greece. Therefore, mainly the
liturgical representation of Orthodoxy was
exclusively restricted to the Russians – and I point this out not to
point out any racial antagonism, but as an but as a substantial lack highly
significant towards the Anglicans; of course, the Europeanization of the
Russian church music, the sentimentalism in worship and the westernised style
of the Russian icons promotes to the eyes of the Europeans only one aspect of
Orthodox spirituality and tradition and it deprives them from more authentic
elements of the Byzantine wealth of Orthodoxy, which have been maintained
within the Greek Church….
…I think that
during the last years, during the meetings where different Christian
denomination are represented, a new distinction appears, on a different level
from that of denominational divisions. I would claim that the divisions in
Roman Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox subsidies, not for the sake of a
naïve ecumenical syncretism, but in order for another distinction to be
revealed – two distinct groups of theologians: On the one hand are those who
understand theology as a professional employment (scientific, social or and a
political employment) and the dogma as an abstract ideology, and discuss the
denominational differences on the dead level of following the letter of
theoretical and scholastic formalities. And on the other hand, there are those who
understand theology and dogma as an existential problem with life consequences
and specific historic and cultural implications, they understand the
theological basis of the stalemate that is apparent in the western or consumer
society and they search for the size of the authentic ecclesiastical and
existential life within the tradition of a unified and undivided Christendom.
The first can be conservative or liberal, ecumenical or anti-ecumenical, but
definitely irrelevant with the life of the Churchand the problem of the
salvation of the modern person. The second, I believe consist a promising
lively yeast within the dead paste of the fossilised objective “truths” of
“scientific” theology. And I would like to point out that the second group of
quality of theologians gave the major tone in the bright gathering in
Winchester”.
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