Trouble in the Antiochian Church

Cyberbrethren, a blog I read on a regular basis, had a post today entitled "Trouble in the Antiochian Orthodox Chruch".

Pastor McCain provides some commentary and a link to an article about a current issue involving the role of the American Bishops in the Antiochian church. However, he uses his blog post to attack the Antiochians on several issues unrelated to the current Bishop problem. He attacks the Antiochians on their process for making Priests out of former Lutheran pastors and their “aggressive” recruiting strategies.

Pastor McCain then attacks the Lutheran pastors who left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. He accuses them of having “starry-eyed naiveté” and believing they were entering an “ecclesiastical promised land.” He even goes so far as to offer prayer for these poor souls that they do not “leave the church” over the current affairs– as if they are so weak in their convictions and the current problems in the Antiochian Church so great that they are bound to leave.

What is most interesting is that Pastor McCain never once addresses the issues involved in the article he links to.

Here is a link to the story: "What’s going on in Antioch?"

After reading the article, here are my thoughts:

As an LMCS Lutheran, I have been taught that the office of the presbyter and bishop are the same.


So, how does the LCMS treat our presbyters/bishops?

• In 2006, an LMCS presbyter/bishop was arrested in the middle of his sermon and led out of the church by the police. This happened because of a dispute inside his congregation. He was arrested for “trespassing on church property”. Apparently, one of the “factions” in the dispute “fired” him. However, the pastor and the other “faction” dispute the firing and claim that the official process was not followed.

• We know that LCMS presbyters/bishops have been fired or removed from a church, sometimes because of their Confessional stance on an issue.

• We know that churches and entire LCMS districts resist or refuse to call presbyter/bishops who are “Confessional”.
  

What are some of the current actions of our LCMS presbyters/bishops?

• We know that there are LCMS presbyters/bishops who have alcohol or drug problems. I would also guess that there have been some who have been arrested and convicted of crimes.

• We know of LMCS presbyters/bishops teaching heresies in their church. We have LMCS presbyters/bishops teaching and practicing open communion, contemporary praise worship, speaking in tongues and “baptism in the Holy Spirit” and Arminian doctrines.
  

One just has to spend an hour or so reading the back posts on the Steadfast Lutheran website to see all the problems in the LCMS, especially with our presbyters/bishops.

The issue for the Antiochians is the same for all American Orthodox – the role of the Bishop (especially the role of “overlapping” Bishops) in the U.S. This is a complicated issue due to the history of America and the unplanned immigration of Orthodox from many different countries. This is an issue that is being addressed and is a focus of SCOBA.

So, the issue for me is not conflict or even that “problems exist” in Orthodoxy. The issue is HOW the problems are addressed. We have seen how the LMCS “handles” their problems. It will be interesting to see how the Antiochians address their issues here in America.