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by Father Andrew George
Orthodoxy’s Presence in The World
With
the Sunday of Orthodoxy just ahead (March 16), the day upon which we
remember in a special way the “victory” of the Orthodox teaching of the
Incarnation against those who rejected the teaching which included the
honor given to Saints and the depiction of Christ and the Saints in
various forms for veneration, we also extend this observance beyond
parish boundaries and celebrate with other Orthodox Christians around
the world. This is why on this day in almost every major city of the
world where Orthodox Christians live, they will gather together for a
joint service, celebrating as it is “their oneness in the same
theology.”
When we say “Orthodox Christians around the world”
this may seem strange to some of us, for we might think that Orthodox
Christians are largely in eastern Europe and the Middle East. But the
truth is that Orthodox Christians live literally around the world, even
in places were we might not usually think there would be Orthodox
people. In the heart of Africa, in Ethiopia, we find one of the largest
Orthodox Churches (16 million strong) native Africans, not immigrants
from eastern Europe. In fact it is the largest Christian denomination
in that country, more than the Catholics. In the country of
India......we usually think of it as a Hindu nation, yet there are
close to two million Orthodox Indians. In Japan, again native Japanese
who are Orthodox Christians, in Finland, again a rather large church
which is actually an autonomous Orthodox jurisdiction, native Finns
from the 9th century being Orthodox.
Another important aspect of
Orthodoxy’s presence in the world scene is to look at numbers. Have you
ever thought about “how large” we are? World wide we are the second
largest Christian Church. The Catholics are the largest, the Orthodox
are next. This may seem strange to some of us born and raised in
America, for in America, we are small group (only six million counting
all the various Orthodox jurisdictions), so we usually don’t think of
ourselves as very large. We need to note that some almanacs may give a
different picture, but their accounting is wrong, for they count
Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.....just three categories. The
Protestants should not be grouped or counted together for they are very
separate and different groups one from the other largely and should be
counted separately. The doctrines of the Lutheran Church for example
are very different than the Baptists, its just not right to count them
as one and the same.
This then brings us to a different
understanding of ourselves here in the U.S.A. Is six million really
that small? In the USA there are about 2.5 million Episcopalians, eight
million Lutherans, three million Presbyterians, barely two million
members of the United Church of Christ. Even looking at non Christian
groups....there are about 4.5 million Jews. So being six million
Orthodox doesn’t really make us small even in the USA.
Numbers
aren’t always important, but history is when you talk about
Christianity. The Sunday of Orthodoxy is a time to remember our roots
and how they spread to just about every corner of the world. May we all
do our part in keeping it alive for future generations.
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