Ecumenical Greetings from Father Siarhei Sardun

Here is the video clip from the General Assembly Business Session 7, which was introduced by Father Siarhei Sardun, from the Orthodox Church in Belarus. He was asked to bring greetings as an Ecumenical Advisory Delegate. He is introduced about a minute in. The fireworks begin about five minutes in. The whole clip is about eight minutes long.

I have been unable to find a transcription of his greeting. The following is a synopsis posted by The Discerning Deacon.

If you are unfamiliar with the currents in the Presbyterian Church, the introductory minute shows you a glimpse of the Clash of Cultures (and Christianities, Fr. Sardun encountered) The shorthand from Fr's speech:  I am from the Ancient Orthodox church, unchanged from 2,000 years.  We were nearly exterminated by the secular forces of the 20th Century, but are now resurgent.  The East is embracing Orthodoxy again.  We have had the financial help of the Presbyterian church in America, so I have come here to thank you since I have never encountered the Presbyterian Church before.  Now that I have encountered you, I find that you do not embrace the ancient faith.  You have changed the Nicene creed by adding the Filioque.  And another thing.  I was really struck by your discussion of Christian morality.  Christian morality is as old as the church itself.  It doesn't need to be invented now.  And those attempts to invent a new morality, look to me like attempts to invent a new religion.  A sort of modern paganism.  When people say they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible, the same Holy Spirit that inspires the Holy Orthodox Church not to change anything in Christian Doctrine and Moral Standards...

Sing it Brother!  It took some cast iron cojones to stand before the entire leadership of the Presbyterian Church and warn them of turning into pagans -- speaking Truth to Power.  This is what we are all called to do every day folks -- in large ways and small.  Pray that the Lord helps us find the courage to love him this much.

As you can see in the video, Father Sardun is extremely gracious, he is deeply thankful for the monetary support of the PC(USA) and its partnership. However, as a friend, he has some harsh things to say, but he does it graciously, don't you think?

The arguments over the inclusion of the Filioque clause in the Apostles' Creed have been going on since the sixth century. The following is from Wikipedia, the whole article is here.

Filioque, Latin for "and (from) the Son", was added in Western Christianity to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed. This creed, foundational to Christian belief since the 4th century, defines the three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. In its original Greek form, the creed says that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father". The Latin text speaks of the Holy Spirit as proceeding "from the Father and the Son".

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.

(And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.)

The word Filioque was first added to the Creed at the Third Council of Toledo (589) and its inclusion spread later throughout the Frankish Empire.^[1] In the 9th century, Pope Leo III, while accepting, like his predecessor Pope Leo I, the doctrine, suppressed the singing of the Filioque in the Mass of the Roman rite.^[1] In 1014, however, inclusion of Filioque in the Creed was adopted in Rome.^[1] Since its denunciation by Photios I of Constantinople,^[1] it has been an ongoing source of conflict between the East and West, contributing to the East-West Schism of 1054 and proving an obstacle to attempts to reunify the two sides.^[2]

 If this were Father Sardun's only critique, it seems like a rather quaint revisit to ancient controversies. But he does not leave it there. He critiques quite forcefully the new moral standards, (I suppose he means the debates about homosexual marriage and ordination). He likens this approach to a creation of a new religion, a new "paganism".

Not satisfied with that, he goes deeper in critiquing the continual references to the Holy Spirit. Almost every prayer at the General Assembly, and rightly in my opinion, asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And yet, Father Sardun points out, when the conclusion we come to differs from what Scripture clearly teaches, are we, in fact, listening to the same spirit?

On the one hand, this from a man who is proud that the Orthodox Church has not changed doctrinally for 2,000 years, so ANY deviation would be a large one. So one could chalk this up to hyperbole, or to our country brother visiting the big city for the first time.

But on the other hand, he has a point. The phrase bandies about at many Presbyterian meetings is "the Church Reformed, always Reforming."

There are several popular Latin mottos associated with the Protestant Reformation, one of which is “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.”  Translated into English this Latin phrase reads, “the church reformed and always reforming.”  This phrase first appeared in a 1674 devotional by Jodocus van Lodenstein, who was involved in the Dutch Second Reformation.  According to van Lodenstein and other reformers who used the phrase, the church was reformed under the Protestant Reformation, but it was always in need of further reformation, that is according to the Word of God.

Almost five hundred years after the Protestant Reformation began, this is certainly still true of the church today.  Consider two critical examples of how the church should always be reforming:

1.  Culture. 

The church needs to always be reforming because of the influence of the culture.  The culture is always changing (especially these days) and a danger the church faces is conforming to the culture in order to be relevant and popular.  To the degree that the church has conformed to the culture it needs to be reformed according to the Scripture.

2.  Tradition.

The church needs to always be reforming because of the influence of tradition.  One danger the church faces is for tradition to become more authoritative than Scripture and to do certain things because they’ve always been done a certain way.  To be sure certain traditions can be good, but they become harmful to the church when they conflict with biblical teaching.  Traditions must always be tested according to the Scriptures and if they fail the test, the church should be reformed.

A great Scriptural summary of “the church reformed and always reforming” is Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

One of the things often lacking in the reforming debate is that phrase "secundum verbum Dei", or "according the the Word of God". Much of our current "reformation" seems to be following the culture rather than stemming from God's Word. [SDG-JS]