Note: This was posted at Stand Firm by the Rev. Matt Kennedy:
To the House of Bishops in New Orleans
Bishop Mouneer Anis
Bishop of the Episcopal/Anglican Diocese of Egypt
With North Africa and the Horn of Africa
President Bishop of the Episcopal/Anglican province of
Jerusalem and the Middle East
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thank you so much for inviting me here to come and listen to you and for
giving me the opportunity to share my heart with you. I am very aware of my
own sh ortcomings and weaknesses, but every word I want to say is out of
love and concern for the unity of the Church of Christ.
I do not come with great authority, nor am I the Primate of a Province with
a great number of Anglicans; I do however come from a region where Christ
walked and where the Church was borne. I come representing the Church of
Jerusalem and the Middle East.
The Church in this region has faced many challenges since the first century.
Our brothers and sisters in the early centuries were ready to sacrifice
their very lives to stay true to the Faith they received from the Lord and
His Apostles. Their blood was not in vain; rather it became the seed of
the Church all across our region. Many disputes and heresies took place in
our region. In face of all the challenges, persecutions, and heresies our
ancestors—people like St. Athanasius, St. Clement, Origen and Cyril from
Alexandria, along with Tertull ian, Cyprian and St. Augustine from North
Africa-- kept the faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We
are constantly learning from our ancient martyrs and forebears how to serve
the Kingdom of God faithfully.
Today our Anglican Church in the Middle East still lives within a very
exciting and challenging context. We live among the Oriental Orthodox, the
Greek Orthodox, the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims. We greatly value
our ecumenical relations and continue to work for unity.
We also deeply respect and appreciate our Muslim friends and value our
interfaith relations while in no way compromise our faith. I have to tell
you that many of these relations were severely strained after your decision
to consecrate Gene Robinson as Bishop in 2003. We are seen as the new
heretics and this has hindered our ecumenical and interfaith relations as
well as our mission in the region.
My friends, like you, we want to be relevant to the culture in which we
live. More importantly, we want to be salt and light to our societies.
That is not an easy calling but it means we must remain distinct and humble
at the same time. Without being distinct we cannot be salt and light;
without humility we will not represent the One who said “I am meek and lowly
in heart”. We, are also continuously challenged whether we should allow the
culture to transform the Apostolic faith we once received, or if we should
allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to transform our culture as it has in the
past. As we struggle to answer this question we must never divorce
ourselves from the faith that countless men, women and children died to
protect. I believe that if we faithfully serve the Church of Christ, He will
continue to fulfil his promise that the gates of Hades will not prevail
against her.
.
Rupertus Meldenius said ''In essentials, unity; in non essentials, liberty;
in all things, charity''. Our hope is to be united on the essentials of
faith which are defined only by the whole church. We are not in any way
trying to impose rigid views on you. Like you we celebrate diversity, but
we believe that such diversity should not be unlimited and should not
contradict the essentials of our faith. We are not schismatic, but we are
diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. We want
unity by not unity at any expense.
Anglicans are aware with humility that we are not ''the” church but we are
one member of the body of Christ, the one Holy Catholic Church. We proclaim
this every week in our churches. This places upon us the responsibility to
listen to and respect our ecumenical partners.
My friends, you may believe you have discovered a very different truth from
that of the majority in the Anglican Communion. It is not just about
sexuality, but about your views of Christ, the Gospel and the authority of
the Bible. Please forgive me when I relay that some say you are a different
church, others even think that you are a different religion.
I understand that it is difficult for you in your context to accept the
standard teaching of the Anglican Communion. This is why you refused to
accept Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10. You also ignored all the
warnings of the Primates in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Your response to the
Windsor Report is seen by the Primates as not clear. You cannot say you
value being member of the Anglican Communion while you ignore the
interdependence of the member churches. The interdependence is what
differentiates us from other congregational churches. I would like to remind
you and myself with the famous resolution number 49 of the Lambeth
Conference of 1930 which declares “ the Anglican Communion is a fellowship
of churches that …are bound together not by a central legislative and
executive authority, but by mutual loyalty sustained through the common
counsel of the bishops in conference.”
With respect, I have to say that those who would prefer to speak of laws and
procedures, constitutions and canons, committees and process: you are
missing the point! It is our mutual loyalty and fellowship, submitting to
one another in the common cause of Jesus Christ that makes us of one Church
one faith and one Lord.
It is clear that your actions have resulted in one of the most difficult
disputes in the Communion in our generation. You may see them as not core
doctrinal issues. Many like me see the opposite but the thing that we all
cannot ignore is that these issues are divisive and have created a lot of
undesired consequences and reactions. For the first time in centuries, the
fabric of our Communion is torn. Our energies have been drained and our
resources are lost; and it is difficult for both of us to continue like
this.
My friends, if you really believe that the truth revealed to you is
different from that shown to the rest of the Communion, then you need to
uphold that claim with boldness even at the risk of losing unity. If you
think it is right and necessary to ordain and consecrate practicing
homosexuals and that you should bless same sex partnerships or even
marriages, you should be true to what you believe is right and accept the
consequences.
However, if you appreciate being members of the global Anglican family, then
you have to walk along side the members of your family. Those who say that
it is important to stay together around the table, to listen to each other
and to continue our dialogue over the difficult issues that are facing us
are wise. We whole heartedly agree with this, but staying around one table
requires that you should not take actions that are contrary to the standard
position (Lambeth 1:10) of the rest of the Communion.
Sitting around one table requires humility from all of us. One church cannot
say to the rest of churches “I know the whole truth, you don’t”. Archbishop
Rowan reminded us in his paper “Challenge and hope” that “the whole truth is
revealed to the whole church.” Sitting around one table requires that
each one should have a clear stance before the discussion starts. It also
requires true openness and willingness to accept the mind of the whole. We
do not have to be in one communion to sit around one table. We do so when
we dialogue with the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox and with other faiths. It
would be extremely difficult to sit around one table when you have already
decided the outcome of the discussion and when you ignore the many voices,
warnings, and appeals from around the Communion.
Today I appeal to you to respond with great clarity to the requests were
made in Dar Es Salam. If you accepted the Primates' recommendations, would
you be able to give assurance that the Executive Committee and the General
Convention of TEC would ratify your response? It is the responsibility of
the Bishop to guard the faith as we promise during our consecration. In many
if not in most parts of the Communion and the historic churches, present and
ancient, matters of faith and order, is the responsibility and therefore the
authority of the Bishops to safeguard and teach.
If you don't commit yourself to the Dar Es Salam recommendations, would you
be willing to walk apart at least for a period during which we continue our
discussions and dialogue until we reach a common understanding, especially
about the essentials of our faith? Forgive me when I say that for many of us
in the Communion, we feel that you have already walked apart at least
theologically from the standard teaching of the Communion.
I know that you value personal freedom and independence. The whole world
learns this from you. You need to demonstrate this by securing freedom for
the American orthodox Anglicans who do not share your theological direction.
Show your spirit of inclusiveness when you deal with them. I am afraid to
say that without this more and more interventions from other provinces is
going to happen. No one wants this.
I pray for wisdom and grace, for myself, as well as for you, and I pray that
God will lead us both in the right direction. Remember the illustrious
history of God’s church and remember future generations who will sit in
judgment on us. Remember also that the whole world is waiting and watching
what you do.
Please forgive me if I have said anything that offends you.
May the Lord Bless you.
+ Mouneer Egypt
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