Summer, 2003
FROM HIS GRACE:FROM HIS GRACE:
Getting in focus
The Great Apostle, writing to the PhilippiansIV:8, said: “Whatsoever things are true, whatso-ever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever thingsare lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;if there be any praise, think on these things.”
This is a reminder of timeless value to everyone call-ing himself or herself a Christian among other Chris-tians, i.e., belonging to the Body of Which Christ Him-self is the Head. There are many temptations and decep-tions placed before us by the Prince of Darkness, thegreat deceiver and liar, who always wants to distract usfrom precisely those “whatsoevers” that the Apostlelisted. Many of these distractions bear the name of “-isms.” There should be no “-isms” within an authentictraditional and focused Christian witness and piety, norshould there be any “-ists” among Christ’s authentic, tra-ditional, and focused followers. And such followersthemselves should avoid adopting such “-isms” for them-selves alongside their true allegiance: Christ. They shouldalso not be quick to apply the labels of “-ists” to thosewho differ from them or “-isms” to the beliefs of theirbrothers and sisters in the authentic, traditional, and fo-cused body of the Faithful. If I must mention some of these “-isms” and “-ists,” I would start with
traditional-ism
and
traditionalists
,
innovators
and
innovationists
,
conservatism
(which doesn’t seem to have“conservat
ists
,” rather conservatives—the same thing),and
liberalism
(old and new),
fundamentalism
and
fun-damentalists
,
renovationism
and
renovationists
. In justlisting these unfortunate concepts which plague us, onefeels a certain exhaustion at the thought of dealing withthem while what one really wants to do is discuss, pray,argue, and work to fulfill such Evangelical imperativesas prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, while holding ontothose Pauline “whatsoevers” and worshiping God “inspirit and truth” according to our Saviour’s own words.In this article I’d like to discuss and try to discuss one of these “-isms” as a legitimate concern of those seekingthe authentic, traditional (but not necessarily
tradition-alist
) and focused Way. This is calendarism.Calendarism arose in this century due to a reform that—like the reforms, tragic in their consequences, of Patri-arch Nikon—came down from the airy reaches of achurch
elite.
Such elitism arose in the Western churchof the Middle Ages when institutions like the Univer-sity of Paris attempted to dominate the Church
ideo-logically.
It also resembles a continuing elitist processin contemporary Protestantism, where theological semi-naries, professors and technical theologians, are thefounts of change, of the wisdom of the day, and of
the future direction of the church,
by virtue of possessingsuperior
knowledge-gnosis.
This calendar “reform” wasunilateral and inspired mainly by the Ecumenical Patri-archate of the early decades of the last century, an Ecu-menical Patriarchate so out of touch with the real life of the Church as to recognize the hierarchs of the Bolshe-vik-nurtured
Living Church
as the legitimate Church of Russia, even as Saint Tikhon was languishing in con-finement! From the date of this reform-from-above,the Orthodox world has become prey to
calendarisms
of one sort or the other:
Old Calendarism
or
NewCalendarism
. Both are wrong and both are based on anillusion or, better, a delusion. In fact all Orthodoxchurches and believers follow the same
Calendar
(ex-cept for the Finnish and Estonian churches at certainperiods in their history when they apparently felt sucha need of tax money and/or other support from theirLutheran-dominated governments that they thereforeadopted a non Orthodox Paschalia). A moment’s reflec-tion only, added to even the most rudimentary acquain-tance with the way our services are ordered, shows this
the
O R T H O D O X
(cont’d. on next page)
“There should be no ‘-isms’ within an authen- tic traditional and focused Christian witness and piety, nor should there be any‘-ists’ among Christ's authentic, traditional, and focused followers.”
to be true.
New Calendarists
and
Old Calendarists
fol-low one and the same
Menaion
which mandates the cel-ebration of Christ’s Nativity, for example, on December25th. This is the duty and obligation of Orthodox Chris-tians, accountable to our Holy Tradition.
Old Calendarists
and
New Calendarists
both consider them-selves (and both do so rightfully) to be living in the Or-thodox and Patristic Tradition. What divides these “ists”from each other is the understanding of just when De-cember 25th
is.
The so-called
New Calendarists
con-sider that December 25th falls on December 25 accord-ing to the civil calendar, the calendar that they live by.They assume that the church fathers, in designating De-cember 25th as the date for this commemoration,
in-tended
that Christians would always celebrate Decem-ber 25th on the civil calendar of the society in whichChristians live. The so-called
Old Calendarists
considerthat December 25th falls on January 7th according tothe civil calendar, the calendar that they live by. Whensomeone labeled an
Old Calendarist
takes out a pencilor a pocket calculator (rather than the
Menaion
alone) todetermine when such-and-such a feast will occur, thisprocess is followed simply in order to readjust the datein the Menaion according to the calendar that was ineffect in those states where the Fathers once lived. Noth-ing is really wrong or sinful about either process. Whatis wrong and sinful is when those observing either sys-tem become “ists” on behalf of this or that process andcall others “ists” that differ with them. If we do this thenwe become CALENDARISTS. When we become
Calendarists
(and, remember, there are no old or newcalendars in the Menaion or the canons) then we enlistourselves in the legions following the author of all“isms,” who is the Deceiver, the Divider. Much morecould be said, but need not be said, lest I fall prey to thetemptation myself. (It is very easy to do so!) I wouldcounsel everyone who is concerned with this problem toreflect further on the Apostle’s words and to add to themthese words from the same Apostle, written to theColossians (II:16):“Let no man therefore judge you inmeat and drink, or in respect of any holy day, or of theNew Moon or of the Sabbath days.”+Bishop TIKHON
Diocesan Members inMilitary Service
The following from our diocese are amongst thosewho were on active duty during the war in Iraq:
Priest Jerome CwiklinskiOrthodox Chaplain with Marines in IraqPriest Mark Kozak Orthodox Navy Chaplain on Hospital ShipPriest Jose VelezOrthodox Chaplain Serving in the Middle EastCarmen Anthony BrownSt. Nicholas, Portland, ORUSS Nimitz in the Middle East.Reader in the Navy Chaplaincybrowncl@nimitz.navy.milMatthew BarngroverSt. George, Hesperia, CAJennifer Barlas, MarineElevation of the Holy Cross, Sacramento, CAElizabeth Bartneck St. Elias, Placerville, CAKenneth BervenHelicopter Pilot,Nimitz Batttle Group(Bp. Basil Rodzianko’s Nephew)Marcus RossiJoy of All Who Sorrow Mission,Culver City, CAServing In Iraq
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