Tag Archives: Harry Linsinbigler

Fasting, the Church, and the World

Rev. Dr. Michael G. Azar, Elizabeth Theokritoff, Very Rev. Dr. Harry Linsinbigler

Reflecting Jesus’s own Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7)—a passage which has been and remains the standard of Orthodox Christian ethics—the preconciliar document, “The Importance of Fasting and Its Observance Today”, carefully balances two points: first, the Church’s emphasis on admittedly “lofty” fasting standards (cf. §5) and, second, the practical adoption of these standards among the faithful. With regard to the former, the document thoughtfully resists the temptation to ignore “the value of the fast” (§8) by becoming more lax in fasting rules; with regard to the latter, the document exhorts the Church to treat “instances where the sacred prescriptions of fasting are loosened” with “pastoral care,” with a particular, and much appreciated, freedom given to local Orthodox Churches “to determine how to exercise philanthropic oikonomia and empathy” (§8). As Jesus does not seek to conceal the difficult standards to which God calls us in his commandments, so also he exhorts his people both to avoid prideful and boastful asceticism (Luke 18:10–14) and to be merciful as God himself is (Luke 6:36).

Yet, despite the numerous ways that this document supports and carries forward the Orthodox tradition of, and justification for, fasting, it also bears a surprisingly un-Orthodox feature: Continue Reading…

Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue

by Very Rev. Dr. Harry Linsinbigler

Scripture describes ecclesial division as harmful to Christ’s flock, and something that requires correction (1 Cor. 1.10-13; 12.25). The continued absence of full communion between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church–each comprised of local Churches that together in the first millennium formed a single communion of Christ’s Holy Body–is a sorrowful reality that inhibits a united Christian witness to the world.  The non-Christian world, however, does not have to look far to find Christian writers “satisfied” with the status quo.

The Church itself, however, has not been satisfied with the detached communion of hundreds of millions of Orthodox and Catholic Christians. While some who oppose the dialogue might point to various synodical documents of the 19th century to support their viewpoint, they cannot ignore the parts of those documents that actually support the dialogue. Continue Reading…

Response to the Pre-Conciliar Document on Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World

by Fotios Apostolos, Rev. Dr. Radu Bordeianu, Paul Ladouceur, Very Rev. Dr. Harry Linsinbigler, and Edward Siecienski

We have joyfully received the text of the Pre-Conciliar document on Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World and the invitation to comment on it, in the spirit of Orthodox conciliarity. We applaud it for its bold statements, which include: defining the goal of dialogue as the complete restoration of unity in true faith and love (12), recognizing that not all differences are equal and the existence of a certain “hierarchy of challenges” (12), referring to other Christian communities as “Churches” (6, 16, 20), the censure of those who would break the unity of the Church under the pretext of defending Orthodoxy (22), and the continued participation of all Orthodox Churches in the Ecumenical Movement (7) consistent with the apostolic faith and our tradition (4). We would like to focus here on the relationship between the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church, and the other Churches, as well as its implications for the ecumenical dialogue.   Continue Reading…