Metropolitan Philip

This is probably a bit risky, but I'm going to weigh in on the controversy concerning Metropolitan Philip.

After the first round of controversy over "Auxiliary Bishops" I had hoped things had blown over.

When the second round surfaced, I was discouraged.

Having been a part of the movement to combat liberal revisionism in the Episcopal Church in the late 1990's and early 2000's, I thought I had made a clean getaway from controversies over Primates and Bishops.

My family and I followed a church plant started by an Episcopal priest who would later become a Bishop in the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

Our reason was the same as the rest of our fellow church members: The ordination of a practicing homosexual Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire was unacceptable.

Personally for me, this didn't mean that I believed homosexuals in other fields besides ecclesiastical fields shouldn't have full equal rights. Homosexuals make fine Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and Businessmen.

But I believed and still believe that the office of Bishop and the state of being a practicing Homosexual don't go together. My attitude was "Fine. Be a homosexual if that is your choice, but choose another career besides Christian Priest or Christian Bishop."

Such a person can even choose something similar, like Professor of World Religions or Psychologist. But I've always been against the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

Scripture and Tradition are against the ordination to Holy Orders of those with sexual standards that differ from those believed in by the Christian Church for two thousand years.

This is every bit as non-negotiable to me as the Ordination of Women to the Holy Priesthood and Episcopate.

The Priests are Icons of Jesus Christ. The Icon has to be a faithful representation.

Leaving ECUSA for the AMIA was a decision based on conscience.

Leaving the AMIA and journeying to Eastern Orthodoxy was a matter of belief.

Once my family and I joined the Antiochian Archdiocese, we hoped we were home.

In spite of the recent problems, I've come to believe that we are STILL home, even in Antioch.

Am I happy or pleased about the current controversy? Not in the slightest.

In recent weeks, I went through a bit of a panicked state about the controversy.

I even posted a comment on www.ocanews.org. This is not the safest thing to do if you're a member in good standing of the Antiochian Archdiocese. I was frustrated and discouraged about the controversy, however, and on a lark, I posted my comments. I realized later that for me personally, this action might have been sinful.

My comments likened the current situation with Metropolitan Philip to the situation of the owner of the Denver Broncos, Pat Bowlen.

My analogy was that Pat Bowlen, who is an aging NFL owner nearing the current age of Metropolitan Philip, has made some bad decisions as of late.

Hiring Josh McDaniels has set off a chain reaction that has led to the current mess the Broncos are in. McDaniels might be a good coach in the future, but he was too young to be given the power and responsibility that Mr. Bowlen gave him.

There are persistent rumors that Pat Bowlen is battling short-term memory loss or possibly Alzheimers Syndrome.

I put forth the theory that Metroplitan Philip's advancing age might be causing him problems in a similar vein. Some of his recent decisions have also caused chain reactions.

In the past, the Broncos have been to many Super Bowls and have won two. I suggested that right now, the Denver Broncos are a real mess, but that they will survive it.

I also said that the Antiochian Archdiocese will also survive our current troubles. Metropolitan Philip has also presided over the winning of some "super bowls." But right now our "team" is having a bad season in light of some of his recent decisions.

Running away again is not the answer.

Taking up the Cross of Christ, as Father Stephen Freeman argues in Glory to God for All Things is a better course of action.

I was tempted to look to other Orthodox jurisdictions for "a way out" of this crisis.

But my parish is really "home" for me. I realize this every time I serve at the Altar as an Acolyte or Reader.

I'm still "home" even with these controversies which are "above my pay grade."

Metropolitan Philip was not the first Metropolitan of the AOANA and he won't be the last.

And the story isn't over yet. The Holy Spirit can still reach Metropolitan Philip and lead him in a different direction then the one he is currently pursuing.

This is a different sort of controversy than the one I faced in ECUSA. Issues of the faith are not in question. Issues about the Bishops won't last forever. The AOANA is part of the Holy Orthodox Church and I believe the Orthodox Church is self-correcting over time.

So I need to bloom where I'm planted, and wait this time of troubles out.

Metropolitan Philip has done many good things in the past. Paving the way for Fr. Peter Gillquist and others to enter the Orthodox Church was one of those good things. That one was a "super bowl win."

The present doesn't undo those things.

I hope and pray MP "lightens up." Nevertheless, this is God's issue, and not mine.

As penance for posting on OCAnews.org, I decided to actually read the book Metropolitan Philip, His Life and Dreams to balance out the things I've been hearing and reading about.

All of this is an issue of Loyalty. Will I be loyal to my Archdiocese even when things are difficult?

It's good spiritual therapy for me.

I began to learn the sin of disloyalty when my parents were divorced in the 1970's.

I thought of my dad as a "tyrant" at the time.

What I failed to realize was that I was still to maintain a measure of loyalty to him because he was still my father. "Honor your Father and Mother" is not a commandment that is easily abrogated.

If a parent tries to get a son or daughter to forsake God, then that son or daughter must obey God first. But the son or daughter of divorcing parents is seldom put in such a position.

Learning loyalty now through this hard situation is penance and therapy for past sins.

Taking up the Cross, being patient and loyal and waiting for God to move the heart of our "king" and "father" is a better course of action then rebellion and disloyalty.

So I'm staying put in Antioch. No more church hopping or jurisdictional hopping to escape problems and challenges.

May God have mercy on me a sinner, and may God save the Antiochian Archdiocese and the Western Rite!

Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God

Columba Silouan