When controversies are ignited and flare up in the Church, which happens and has happened often, alas, we inevitably hear appeals from Church circles to cease these controversies in the name of peace and love.
Now, this would be cause for great joy, if only in these appeals there were no unmistakably different overtones: "Your controversy is not important. It is of interest to no one: only ‘specialists’ and ‘scholars’ can understand it, so all this argument leads only to seduction and harm."
And here we must point out to these accusers something very important which they have apparently forgotten. They have forgotten that peace and concord in the Church are inseparable from the Truth.
Read the whole thing here.
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Just curious, by why would the fact that Christ founded the Roman Catholic Church 2000 years ago necessarily imply that the modern Catholic Church is in any way aligned with the original vision on which it was founded?
If you do maintain that the modern Church holds true to the original intent of Christ, do you see this as unique to the modern Church? Or do you maintain that the Church has remained in alignment with this intent throughout all of its history?>
There's a nice line in Proverbs, made for today it seems: "Better open rebuke than silent love."
Starting a controversy and labeling others divisive is a too-common tactic today. I wish more people were called on it.>
I am perhaps not the best to comment on this, not being involved in either the Roman Catholic church or the Orthodox, but I think that the main thought of this article is excellent and applies to the controversies and divisions within other religious groups as well. The search for Truth should be held up as important for all who believe in the God of the Bible and want to serve him. Without Truth we have nothing.>
Spiritual Truth can be spoken in a Spiritually Fruitful way.
But not everything that is true is Spiritual truth, some of it is only worldly truth. And not everything that is spoken truly, is spoken spiritually fruitfully.
To fight for every truth under the sun, would be controversialist, even if you really thought you had every truth under the sun, but then arrogance is not spiritual fruit either.>
I love this line from Fr. Schmemann's article:
"So for this cause they debated and for this cause they were persecuted and exiled for one word, for one "iota" (an accurate assessment of the Aryan controversy at the time of St. Athanasius the Great),"
Of course he is referring to the controversy about whether Jesus was "homoousios" (of the same substance) as the Father, or "homoiousios" (of similar substance). As he says, the difference was one iota. But everything hangs on that iota.>
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