A clear voice from the Eastern Orthodox Church came to the General Assembly of the PCUSA recently. Archpriest Siarhei Hardun of the Orthodox Church in Belarus was invited to speak as an ecumenical delegate. Words that all Americans should ponder, (even with the little barb towards those of us in the Reformed camp).
Fr. Hardun said: “I represent here the Orthodox Church of Christ – the church that has an unbroken, unchanged, and unreformed tradition. And our theology has never been changed or reformed for almost 2000 years.” Then he said: “Christian morality is as old as Christianity itself. It doesn’t need to be invented now. Those attempts to invent new morality look to me like attempts to invent a new religion – a sort of modern paganism.” Then he followed with these words: “When people say that they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Spirit that inspired the Bible, if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Holy Orthodox Church not to change any doctrinal or moral standards. Is it really the same Spirit? Or perhaps there are different spirits acting in different denominations and inspiring them to develop in different directions and create different theologies and different morals.” Fr. Hardun concluded with these words: “My desire is that all Christians should contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints, as St. Jude calls us to do. And my advice as an ecumenical delegate is the following: ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.’ Yes, the words of St. Paul.”
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