9 thoughts on “OCA and NCC”

  3. In 1970, the OCA at its first All-American Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on its Dept. of External Affairs “to reassess the Church’s association with the National Council of Churches of Christ in America in the light of current developments inside the Council,” after deploring “the current tendency, prevailing in ecumenical agencies, to identify the quest for Christian unity with political involvement. It protests, in particular, against the moral and material help given by some of these agencies to destructive revolutionary groups, while, at the same time, the suppression of Christian faith and human freedom in Communist lands is being ignored” (The Quest for Orthodox Church Unity in America, p. 174, by Archim. Serafim (Surrency), 1973).

    In any event, it goes on a bit further. The main aim of the resolution seems to be a threat to leave the NCC. One hopes that they follow through with it this time around, 35 years later. I wish that all of our jurisdictions (including my own) would high-tail it out of the NCC. I’m glad to see that there’s talk of it again. As the English say, though, the proof in the pudding is in the eating.

  4. SCOBA Bishops go Left:

    SCOBA
    The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
    8 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021

    Press Release
    July 8, 2005

    SCOBA Hierarchs Endorse

    Statement on the Environment

    A group of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant theologians, convened in Washington, DC by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, released a letter recently calling all Christians to reject teachings that suggest humans are “called” to exploit the Earth without care for how our behaviour impacts the rest of God’s creation.

    This letter, reprinted below, was endorsed by the hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) at their meeting in New York City, on June 21, 2005, following its approval by the SCOBA Social and Moral Issues Commission, and recommendation by the SCOBA Study and Planning Commission.

    God’s Earth is Sacred:
    An Open Letter to Christians in the United States

    God’s creation delivers unsettling news. Earth’s climate is warming to dangerous levels; 90 percent of the world’s fisheries have been depleted; coastal development and pollution are causing a sharp decline in ocean health; shrinking habitat threatens to extinguish thousands of species; over 95 percent of the contiguous United States forests have been lost; and
    almost half of the population in the United States lives in areas that do not meet national air quality standards. In recent years, the profound danger has grown, requiring us as theologians, pastors, and religious leaders to speak out and act with new urgency.

    We are obliged to relate to Earth as God’s creation “in ways that sustain life on the planet, provide for the [basic] needs of all humankind, and increase justice.” Over the past several decades, slowly but faithfully, the religious community in the United States has attempted to address issues of ecology and justice. Our faith groups have offered rich theological perspectives, considered moral issues through the lens of long-standing social teaching, and passed numerous policies within our own church bodies. While we honor the efforts in our churches, we have clearly failed to communicate the full measure and magnitude of Earth’s
    environmental crisis – religiously, morally, or politically. It is painfully clear from the verifiable testimony of the world’s scientists that our response has been inadequate to the scale and pace of Earth’s degradation.

    To continue to walk the current path of ecological destruction is not only folly; it is sin. As voiced by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has taken the lead among senior religious leaders in his concern for creation: “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s
    creation…for humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forest, or destroying its wetlands…for humans to injure other humans with disease…for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances…these are sins.” We have become un-Creators. Earth
    is in jeopardy at our hands. This means that ours is a theological crisis as well. We have listened toa false gospel that we continue to live out in our daily habits – a gospel that proclaims that God cares for the salvation of humans only and that our human calling is to exploit Earth for our own ends alone. This false gospel still finds its proud preachers and continues to capture its adherents among emboldened political leaders and policy makers.

    The secular counterpart of this gospel rests in the conviction that humans can master the Earth. Our modern way of life assumes this mastery. However, the sobering truth is that we hardly have knowledge of, much less control over, the deep and long-term consequences of our human impacts upon the Earth. We have already sown the seeds for many of those consequences. The fruit of those seeds will be reaped by future generations of human
    beings, together with others in the community of life.

    The imperative first step is to repent of our sins, in the presence of God and one another. This repentance of our social and ecological sins will acknowledge the special responsibility that falls to those of us who are citizens of the United States. Though only five percent of the planet’s human population, we produce one-quarter of the world’s carbon emissions,
    consume a quarter of its natural riches, and perpetuate scandalous inequities at home and abroad. We are a precious part of Earth’s web of life, but we do not own the planet and we cannot transcend its requirements for regeneration on its own terms. We have not listened well to the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

    The second step is to pursue a new journey together, with courage and joy. By God’s grace, all things are made new. We can share in that renewal by clinging to God’s trustworthy promise to restore and fulfill all that God creates and by walking, with God’s help, a path different from our present course. To that end, we affirm our faith, propose a set of guiding norms, and call on our churches to rededicate themselves to this mission. We firmly believe that addressing the degradation of God’s sacred Earth is the moral assignment of our time comparable to the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, the worldwide movement to achieve equality for women, or ongoing efforts to control weapons of mass destruction in a post-Hiroshima world.

    Ecological Affirmations of Faith

    We stand with awe and gratitude as members of God’s bountiful and good creation. We rejoice in the splendor and mystery of countless species, our common creaturehood, and the interdependence of all that God makes. We believe that the Earth is home for all and that it has been created intrinsically good (Genesis1).

    We lament that the human species is shattering the splendid gifts of this web of life, ignoring our responsibility for the well being of all life, while destroying species and their habitats at a rate never before known in human history.

    We believe that the Holy Spirit, who animates all of creation, breathes in us and can empower us to participate in working toward the flourishing of Earth’s community of life. We believe that the people of God are called to forge ways of being human that enable socially just and ecologically sustainable communities to flourish for generations to come. And we
    believe in God’s promise to fulfill all of creation, anticipating the reconciliation of all (Colossians 1:15), in accordance with God’s promise (II Peter 3:13).

    We lament that we have rejected this vocation, and have distorted our God-given abilities and knowledge in order to ransack and often destroy ecosystems and human communities rather that to protect, strengthen, and nourish them.

    We believe that, in boundless love that hungers for justice, God in Jesus Christ acts to restore and redeem all creation (including human beings). God incarnate affirms all creation (John 1:14), which becomes a sacred window to eternity. In the cross and resurrection we know that God is drawn into life’s most brutal and broken places and there brings forth
    healing and liberating power. That saving action restores right relationships among members of “the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

    We confess that instead of living and proclaiming this salvation through our very lives and worship, we have abused and exploited the Earth and people on the margins of power and privilege, altering climates, extinguishing species, and jeopardizing Earth’s capacity to sustain life as we know and love it.

    We believe that the created world is sacred – a revelation of God’s power and gracious presence filling all things. This sacred quality of creation demands moderation and sharing, urgent antidotes for our excess in consumption and waste, reminding us that economic justice is an essential condition of ecological integrity. We cling to God’s trustworthy promise to restore, renew, and fulfill all that God creates. We long for and work toward the day when churches, as embodiments of Christ on Earth, will respond to the “groaning of creation” (Romans 8:22) and to God’s passionate desire to “renew the face of the Earth” (Psalm 104.30). We look forward to the day when the lamentations and groans of creation will be over, justice with peace will reign, humankind will nurture not betray the Earth, and all of creation will sing for joy.

    Guiding Norms for Church and Society

    These affirmations imply a challenge that is also a calling: to fulfill our vocation as moral images of God, reflections of divine love and justice charged to “serve and preserve the Garden (Genesis 2:15). Given this charge and the urgent problems of our age-from species extinctions and mass poverty to climate change and health-crippling pollution -how shall we
    respond? What shall we be and do? What are the standards and practices of moral excellence that we ought to cultivate in our personal lives, our communities of faith, our social organizations, our businesses, and our political institutions? We affirm the following norms of social and environmental responsibility:

    Justice-creating right relationships, both social and ecological, to ensure for all members of the Earth community the conditions required for their flourishing. Among human members, justice demands meeting the essential material needs and conditions for human dignity and social participation. In our global context, economic deprivation and ecological degradation are linked in a vicious cycle. We are compelled, therefore, to seekeco-justice, the integration of social justice and ecological integrity. The guest for eco-justice also implies the development of a set of human environmental rights, since one of the essential conditions of human well-being is ecological integrity. These moral entitlements include protection of soils, air, and water from diverse pollutants; the preservation of biodiversity; and governmental actions ensuring the fair and frugal use of creation’s riches.

    Sustainability – living within the bounds of planetary capacities indefinitely, in fairness to both present and future generations of life. God’s covenant is with humanity and all other living creatures “for all future generations” (Genesis 9:8-17). The concern for sustainability
    forces us to be responsible for the truly long-term impacts of our lifestyles and policies.

    Bioresponsibility – extending the covenant of justice to include all other life forms as beloved creatures of God and as expressions of God’s presence, wisdom, power, and glory. We do not determine nor declare creation’s value, and other creatures should not be treated merely as instruments for our needs and wants. Other species have their own integrity. They deserve a “fair share” of Earth’s bounty – a share that allows a biodiversity of life to thrive along with human communities.

    Humility – recognizing, as an antidote to arrogance, the limits of human knowledge, technological ingenuity, and moral character. We are not the masters of creation. Knowing human capacities for error and evil, humility keeps our own species in check for the good of the whole of Earth as God’s creation.

    Generosity – sharing Earth’s riches to promote and defend the common good in recognition of God’s purposes for the whole creation and Christ’s gift of abundant life. Humans are not collections of isolated individuals, but rather communities of socially and ecologically interdependent beings. A measure of a good society is not whether it privileges those who already have much, but rather whether it privileges the most vulnerable members of creation. Essentially, these tasks require good government at all levels, from local to regional to national to international.

    Frugality – restraining economic production and consumption for the sake of eco-justice. Living lives filled with God’s Spirit liberates us from the illusion of finding wholeness in the accumulation of material things and brings us to the reality of God’s just purpose. Frugality connotes moderation, sufficiency, and temperance. Many call it simplicity. It demands the careful conservation of Earth’s riches, comprehensive recycling, minimal harm to other species, material efficiency and the elimination of waste, and product durability. Frugality is the corrective to a cardinal vice of the age: prodigality – excessively taking from and
    wasting God’s creation. On a finite planet, frugality is an expression of love and an instrument for justice and sustainability: it enables all life to thrive together by sparing and sharing global goods.

    Solidarity- acknowledging that we are increasingly bound together as a global community in which we bear responsibility for one another’s well being. The social and environmental problems of the age must be addressed with cooperative action at all levels – local, regional, national and international. Solidarity is a commitment to the global common good
    through international cooperation.

    Compassion – sharing the joys and sufferings of all Earth’s members and making them our own. Members of the body of Christ see the face of Christ in the vulnerable and excluded. From compassion flows inclusive caring and careful services to meet the needs of others.

    A Call to Action: Healing the Earth and Providing a Just and Sustainable Society

    For too long, we, our Christian brothers and sisters, and many people of good will have relegated care and justice for the Earth to the periphery of our concerns. This is not a competing “program alternative,” one “issue” among many. In this most critical moment in Earth’s history, we are convinced that the central moral imperative of our time is the care for
    Earth as God’s creation.

    Churches, as communities of God’s people in the world, are called to exist as representatives of the loving Creator, Sustainer, and Restorer of all creation. We are called to worship God with all our being and actions, and to treat creation as sacred. We must engage our political leaders in supporting the very future of this planet. We are called to cling to the true Gospel – for “God so loved the cosmos” (John 3:16) – rejecting the false gospels of our day.We believe that caring for creation must undergird, and be entwined with, all other dimensions of our churches’ ministries. We are convinced that it is no longer acceptable to claim to be “church” while continuing to perpetuate, or even permit, the abuse of Earth as God’s creation. Nor is it acceptable for our corporate and political leaders to engage in
    “business as usual” as if the very future of life-support systems were not at stake.

    Therefore, we urgently call on our brothers and sisters in Christ, and all people of good will, to join us in:

    Understanding our responsibilities as those who live within the United States of America – the part of the human family that represents five percent of the world population and consumes 25 percent of Earth’s riches. We believe that one of the surest ways to gain this understanding is by listening intently to the most vulnerable: those who most immediately
    suffer the consequences of our overconsumption, toxication, and hubris.

    The whole earth is groaning, crying out for healing – let us awaken the “ears of our souls” to hear it, before it’s too late.

    Integrating this understanding into our core beliefs and practices surrounding what it means to be “church,” to be “human,” to be “children of God.” Such integration will be readily apparent in: congregational mission statements, lay and ordained ministries, the preaching of the Word, our hymns of praise, the confession of our sins, our financial stewardship and
    offerings to God, theological education, our evangelism, our daily work, sanctuary use, and compassionate service to all communities of life. With this integrated witness we look forward to a revitalization of our human vocation and our churches’ lives that parallels the revitalization of God’s thriving Earth.

    Advocating boldly with all our leaders on behalf of creation’s most vulnerable members (including human members). We must shed our complacency, denial, and fears and speak God’s truth to power, on behalf of all who have been denied dignity and for the sake of all voiceless members of the community of life.

    In Christ’s name and for Christ’s glory, we call out with broken yet hopeful hearts: Join us in restoring God’s Earth – the greatest healing work and moral assignment of our time.

  5. It is too bad that the SCOBA bishops have taken the worldly approach to such an important topic as the environment, relying on a politicized, scientistic materialism and anti-capitalist jargon to critique behavior instead of using the power of the Incarnation the power of Scripture and the testimony of the Holy Fathers to call us to an even higher responsibility. I am appalled that such a document apparently prepared without any real thought or study and almost wholly lacking in any real Christian witness or spirituality would be penned in the name of the Holy Orthodox Church.

    A recent book by popular author, Michael Crichton makes the powerful case that we are being kept in a constant State of Fear(the title of his novel) when we have less to fear really than at any time in history. His book is on global warming which he believed before he started writing the book. However, he had the intellectual honesty to write from fact rather than from emotion and hyperbole. Even though he was writing a novel, he researched the topic in depth as the footnotes in his novel attest. He came to the conclusion, despite the bias he began with, that global warming was bunk. At the end of the novel he called on all of us to be more sober and independent in our thinking guarding our hearts and minds to avoid having our emotions fanned into flames without clear reason. I ask you which is the more patristic approach, that of the secular, millionaire author or that of the SCOBA bishops?

    An excerpt from The Sacred in Life and Art by Philip Sherrard regarding the modern way of thought: “…essentially nature works according to its own laws, and it is quite sufficient to take account only of these laws in order to discover how nature does work. Moreover, it is now assumed that these laws can be investigated and defined by the human reason quite apart from whether or not this reason is itself illumined by divine grace or inspiration. In other words, in order to discover the laws of nature–to gain a knowledge of nature–neither divine grace nor divine illumination is necessary. Such a view of things at once gives a charter to the unregenerate and profane human mind to study and investigate nature as though there was nothing divine in it or about it at all, and even more disastrously it gives assurance to such a mind that the knowledge it obtains as the result of its observation and investigation is a valid and authentic sort of knowledge. This charter and this assurance are the prerequisites and mainsprings of the modern scientific mentality, which actually demands that we regard the physical world, man and practically everything else as impersonal objects deprived of all divine qualities and possessing nothing sacred about them at all. A mentality such as this builds a world in its own image: our own mechanized, industrialized, dehumanized and desacralized world, in which manâ??s separation from God not only alienates him from himself but also separates the visible universe from man and makes both of them wanderers, lost travelers cast out into deserts of time and space.”

    The modern environmental movement and the largely junk science which supports it has become increasingly anti-human, and anti-capitalist. Now there is no question that capitalism can be destructive to humanity and the rest of creation by adopting the type of mentality Mr. Sherrard decries. In such a mentality, everything and everyone becomes capital. But it does not have to be that way. In fact, only successful capitalist economies have taken steps to protect and heal the environment. Show me where, outside of democratic and capitalist societies there is any modicum of justice for anyone, especially Christians, show me where outside of democratic and capitalist societies there is any attempt to heal the earth or help those who are not privileged, show me where outside of democratic and capitalist countries there is any attempt to allow women to be equal. Show me the proof of all the statistics cited that is not refuted by an equal or greater body of evidence or ameliorated considerably when placed in context.

    In non-democratic, chiefly Muslim, Communist, and Socialist cultures around the world, greater destruction of the earth occurs daily than anywhere in the Untied States. That is not the fault of the United States; it is the fault of the tyrannical, despotic, theocratic leadership that refuses to allow freedom and the unwillingness of the people to demand freedom. To blame the United States alone or even primarily is a cop out and ignores entirely the true spiritual warfare, asceticism, and holiness to which we are called as human beings.

    Yes the United States uses far more energy and resources than most other countries, but we produce far more goods and services for the rest of the world. We do not keep all of what we produce to ourselves. Can a better balance be achieved, undoubtedly, but not in the way the environmental tyrants wish to proceed. Their course will only impoverish more people, destroy more of the natural world, and leave more people in terror and slavery. Christ gives freedom, Christ heals, not man. This document is man centered not God centered, not Christ centered.

    The first command God gave us was to dress and keep the earth and we must be responsive to that command, but we will not do that if we sell our priceless spiritual heritage for the pottage of modern scientistic materialism which seeks to destroy our faith. We should not have any common cause with them at all–certainly not on the illusory even blasphemous foundation they have built. What the SCOBA bishops have done is abdicated their spiritual responsibility to be a prophetic voice in favor of a political broadside against the United States. The SCOBA statement is, in my mind, similar to Sergianism in the Soviet Union. It also smacks of the heresy of believing that the Kingdom of God can be restored here on earth through human hands, without the return of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. If this statement is truly indicative of the spiritual leadership of our bishops, then we had best pray that there be no jurisdictional Orthodox unity in the United States, perhaps that way there will be a faithful bishop we can united under when the secular blasphemy overwhelms everyone else. Apparently it is too difficult to teach the Orthodox faith in our parishes, train good men to be good priests, encourage and support monasticism in this country. It is to difficult to stand against the real tyrants and oppressors around the globe even those who are daily enslaving and killing our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is far easier for our bishops to cuddle up with the politicians of all stripes who are enemies of our faith so that they feel important and powerful. God have mercy on them, there are many fine and wonderful men among them, but it will be a long time before I ever again trust or hope in the spiritual leadership or the prophetic voice of a synod of bishops in this country.

  7. George,

    I don’t see this statement necessarily being political. SCOBA isn’t advocating the Green party here. This seems more like a moral statement that could be applied to anything, political or not.

    The politcal left has often enough been one of the worst caretakers of the earth. The communists trashed the environment in Russia. All too often, people give lip service to being “environmental” when the actual aim is political power. There needs to be moral statments from the Church regarding environmental protection in order to keep political “environmentalists” in line.

  8. I have to go with Stephen on this one. Some of the rhetoric in this statement should have been avoided, since it contains buzzwords that have been essentially corrupted by the eco-NAZIs and their ‘Mother Goddess’ crowd. Terms like ‘sustainable development’ are what I have in mind.

    However, if you read a lot of the recognized saints of the church, you will find similar or identical phrases about the Earth ‘groaning under man’s misuse.’

    By the way, what exactly would we expect Bishops to say, anyway? ‘Slash and burn, baby! The Earth is yours to wreck as you see fit!!! Whoa, get it on, brother!!!’

    Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Of course the bishops are going to counsel humility, asceticism, and concern for the poor. Of course the bishops are going to take America to task for its overconsumption and its consumerist lifestyle. Why would we expect otherwise?

    The key for me is in the call for action. It calls us to be Christians, to respect God’s creation, and to speak truth to power. Whether that power is the Communist Chinese who are busy wrecking their ecology to build up their military, or the United States.

    Today, when bishops talk like this, we instantly assume that they sound like Marxists. If we take a step back in time, then we can understand that one reason the Bolsheviks and other Marxist movements had such success was that when they talked about the poor and the oppressed, they sounded like bishops. Some bishops have been corrupted by contact with Marxist thought. However, many of them are sincere in their advocation of the poor and their advocation of moral treatment of the environment. Simply because Marxists employ similar themes to advance their own agenda doesn’t discredit the bishops. The Church was here first, the Marxists simply picked up the themes and perverted them for their own power.

  9. I’m sorry Michael, I don’t agree. There is clear, empirical evidence of environmental degradation and climate change due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the environment. Scientists have measured rapid, unprecedented melting of the polar ice shelves, a phenomenon with the potential to significantly alter global weather patterns.

    “Ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic hit an all-time high last year, raising concerns about the effects of global warming on one of the most sensitive and productive ecosystems in the world . . . Water temperatures were above normal right across the North Atlantic last year, from Newfoundland to Greenland, Iceland and Norway.” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Warming%20Ocean

    Much of the weather pattern in Europe and North America is driven by the seasonal drift of warm water from the south to the north Atlantic. As the polar ice caps freeze each winter cold water falls to the bottom of the ocean dragging warmer water from the south northward, warming Europe.

    Paradoxically, shrinking icecaps in the far north Atlantic means colder winters for Europe because the ability of the north Atlantic to draw warmer waters from the south will be diminished. A build-up of warmer waters in the mid Atlantic means more hurricanes and hotter, drier weather patterns over the most of the agricultural states of the US.

    See also, “The Discovery of Rapid Climate Change”, http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-56/iss-8/p30.html

    So if we are concerned about environmentalism “wrecking our economy” we ought to think about what a 5-10?C drop in mean temperatures on the eastern seaboard and/or or a radical change in rainfall patterns in the Mississippi River valley might do to it.

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