Is it not a tad inconsistent to send delegations to episcopal enthronements (thus recognizing the validity of Anglican bishops) when the Orthodox re-ordain every Anglican clergyman who converts to their Church?
My favorite Christian comedian is Mark Lowrey, who states that he is a recovering fundamentalist and who's mother is a PhD at Liberty University. His classic comment in reference to the Fundamental Baptist's is "They're not always right, but confidence is high". Jeff
I think the main thing is that we should try to be faithful insofar as we can in the situation we are in. Consistency is only a modifier, not the virtue in itself. One can be consistent and still be consistently wrong, if you get me.
Theodore of Tarsus: The Syrian Archbishop of Canterbury April 10, 2013 http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/theodore_of_tarsus_the_syrian_archbishop_of_canterbury
Our Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo in Syria is kidnapped today http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.com/2013/04/met-boulos-yazigi-kidnapped-outside.html http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paul_(Yazigi)_of_Aleppo http://oca.org/news/headline-news/prayers-requested-for-abducted-syrian-hierarchs
Today the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, Justin Welby and Vincent Nichols, made the following statement: "...Today, our prayers also go with the ancient communities of our Christian brothers and sisters in Syria. The kidnapping this week of two Metropolitan bishops of Aleppo, Mar Gregorios Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Paul Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, and the killing of their driver while they were carrying out a humanitarian mission, is another telling sign of the terrible circumstances that continue to engulf all Syrians. We unreservedly support these Christian communities, rooted in and attached to the biblical lands, despite the many hardships. We respond to the call from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, urging churches worldwide to remain steadfast in the face of challenging realities and to bear witness to their faith in the power of love in this world..." Full article: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.o...from-archbishop-justin-and-archbishop-vincent
On the 350th anniversary of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662), Professor David Frost, Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, assesses the influence of the Anglican rites on Orthodox theology and worship. http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/cambridge/orthodoxy_and_the_western_rite
Meeting of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue in Serbia 5. September 2013 - 10:36 The official regular session of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue (ICAOTD) to be held between 4-11 September 2013 in Novi Sad Hosted by the Serbian Orthodox Church, this significant convention which summons more than 30 notable dignitaries, professors and theologians from both Churches is being held in a congress hall of the hotel Centar in Novi Sad, being organized by the Diocese of Backa. The topic of this year’s theological dialogue, as well as during former regular conventions of the International Commission, is the issue of identity and meaning of human being in Jesus Christ including also the relation of the Christian anthropology towards burning questions of the modern age such as, for instance, questions of bioethics, genetic engineering, sex identity, euthanasia, ecology or issues related to social-political sphere and human rights, and the issues of hunger, inequality, slavery, wars between peoples, nations and countries, changes in psychological structures of individuals and families exposed to marginalization, loneliness, violence, drugs, and other media propaganda. http://www.spc.rs/eng/meeting_inter...nglicanorthodox_theological_dialogue_novi_sad
The calendar is one difference between the East and West. Indeed it is a matter of considedrable contention even among the Easterners themselves. There is considerable misinformation circulating about the church calendar, especially about the Julian calendar still used by almost all Eastern Orthodox to compute the date of the Easter festival. Here is a picture than can cut through some of the clutter: More broadly: the church calendar, Eastern or Western, is actually two calendars, a solar calendar and a lunar calendar. The Western churches, the Eastern Orthodox church of Finland, and some of the Oriental Orthodox use both the Gregorian solar and the Gregorian lunar calendars. All the remaining Orthodox use the Julian as their lunar calendar, but for the solar calendar some use the Julian solar calendar and some use the "Revised Julian" solar calendar devised by the Serbian astronomer Milankovitch (this is how he spelled his name in German-language publications, but other transcriptions into Roman characters are sometimes used) which, for the time being, agrees with the Gregorian solar calendar. ( Milankovitch proposed a new Easter computation too, which was accepted by a Pan-Orthodox congress in 1923 but never implemented permanently anywhere.) The Julian solar calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian and Revised Julian solar calendars. The Julian lunar calendar is 4 days (sometimes 5 days) behind the Gregorian lunar calendar. Hence, as in the picture above, when it is a full moon according to the Julian lunar calendar, the visible moon is already about 4 days past full. This combination of solar and lunar discrepancies is why "Greek Easter" is 1, 4, or 5 weeks later than our Easter more often than it is on the same day as it will be next year.
I listened to this a while ago. I wouldn't say it's an example of good relations between to two churches.
Novi Sad: International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue 12. September 2013 http://www.spc.rs/eng/novi_sad_international_commission_anglicanorthodox_theological_dialogue