Athanasius, err, GAFCON Responds to Justin Welby

There is some excellent analysis out there on the current disagreement surrounding the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC).  Lee Gattis’ piece particularly stands out.  Kevin and Gavin are excellent as well.

But perhaps the most brilliant and succinct response comes from the Archbishop of Nigeria Nicholas Okoh, Chairman of GAFCON.  As most readers know, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said and did virtually nothing to discourage the SEC from solemnizing same sex “marriage.”  Instead he let them know they would be welcome at Lambeth 2020 regardless.  Nor did he lift a finger to assist the orthodox remaining in the SEC in spite of their repeated pleas.  But then, when GAFCON did respond to their pleas, Justin got huffy about boundary crossing.

Well, Archbishop Okoh just blew Justin Welby out of the water ever so nicely:

As I write, we are preparing for Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is vital. Without it, we cannot speak truly of God in a way that is faithful to the bible. However, in the fourth century the Church was nearly overwhelmed by the Arians. They were the followers of Arius, who claimed that the Son was a created being, not really God.

If the Church had continued to follow Arius, the Christian faith would have been lost. To deny the full divinity of Jesus strikes at the heart of the Christian message that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.  St Athanasius is still remembered as the man who was willing to make a costly stand against this heresy.

I am reminded of Athanasius because we are facing a similar struggle for the integrity of the gospel in our time. On Thursday 8th June, the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) changed its teaching to allow men to be married to men and women to women.  It followed the path already taken by the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada.

This attempt to redefine marriage is not a secondary issue about which we can agree to disagree and continue to walk together. It means that Jesus was mistaken when he taught that marriage was between a man and a woman and that sex outside of such a marriage is a sin. It is a radical rejection of the authority of Scripture. The Church claims that it can consecrate behaviour that God’s Word clearly teaches to be sinful. According to the Bible, this behaviour, without repentance, separates those who practice it from his kingdom.

Athanasius consecrated orthodox bishops in dioceses led by Arians because he knew that the apostolic faith itself was at stake. This was the principle guiding the interventions which led to the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009 and it was affirmed by over three hundred bishops in assembly at Gafcon 2013 in Nairobi. It was therefore very appropriate that on the same day that the Scottish Episcopal Church formally turned aside from the historic Christian faith, Gafcon announced that Canon Andy Lines, already an internationally recognised missionary statesman, will be consecrated later this month as a Gafcon missionary bishop for Europe.

Read the rest for yourself and do so at GAFCON.org. Why? A very nice touch was a prominent depiction of Athanasius that accompanied the letter on the GAFCON site.  Really that image alone rebuts Welby’s whinging about boundary crossing very well.  Okoh’s letter, excellent as it is, merely spells out the good example of Athanasius and its application today. I also like the gentle reminder that ACNA itself is the product of boundary crossing.

Speaking of which, I am very pleased that ACNA is taking a prominent role in the Lines consecration.  But more on that at a later time.  I need to get ready for the Reformed Episcopal Church’s General Council.

How to Proceed Now 3 – Flee?

One evening last week, it occurred to me that Athanasius, a favorite saint who persevered under persecution from heretics and from the state, might have something to say relevant to our current time.  And, lo, I came across and read Apologia de Fuga, his pungent defense of his flight from the Arians.

It is a good read and not a long one.  Athanasius had a pen that was both golden and very sharp.  And he never spared heretics when using it – one reason they wanted to do him in.  So do go read it for yourself soon.

Athanasius addressed the canard that he was cowardly when he fled from Arians.  Part of his reply is that his Arian accusers were only upset that they did not catch him and do to him what they did to other faithful.  And he documents some of the more egregious – and deadly – examples of the Arian persecution of his time.

Some guidelines in dealing with persecution after reflection upon Apologia and scripture:

It is not cowardice to take precautions and at times flee during times of persecution, particularly when more than mere self-preservation is at stake.  Even our Lord did so on a number of occasions as did his parents when Jesus was a small child.  Moreover, there are a number of times in scripture when the Lord commands certain of his people to flee.

One instance of this is when Jesus, while sending the twelve out to preach, instructs them that if they are persecuted in one town, flee and preach to the next.  This indicates that one good motive for fleeing or other precautions is to continue and/or resume ministry.

Now, some perspective.  With few exceptions, persecution in the West is not yet deadly and is unlikely to become so in the near future.  So fleeing is certainly not as necessary as in other times and places.  But we are at the point where precautions should be taken. 

For example, does your church or business rent out space for weddings?  Or does your minister marry those outside your church?  I urge that such policies be reviewed and fast if one does not want to choose between participating in a same-sex wedding and a lawsuit.

I will say that some states are more hostile to religious freedom than others, Oregon and California come to mind.  Fleeing them should at least be considered.  (A bonus of that is those states would no longer be getting your tax dollars.)

Some of the zealous may say that we should stand our ground and if we are persecuted or even martyred then so be it.  We should certainly stand our ground by being faithful.  Both scripture and tradition make clear that one thing you do not do is deny Christ.  Nor do we willfully disobey him by giving in to the culture and sanctioning sin.

But both scripture and tradition also teach that martyrdom is not to be sought or courted through recklessness.  Remember Jesus instructed his disciples to flee persecution to the next town and preach there.  St. Paul fled more than once.  We are to take precautions in order to continue spreading the gospel and serving God.  During Roman persecutions, the church discouraged those who practically asked to be martyred.  And in Apologia, Athanasius wrote that the normal pattern of even the martyrs is:

When persecuted they fled, while concealing themselves they showed fortitude, and when discovered they submitted to martyrdom.

More can be said (And I haven’t addressed the responsibility to protect one’s family.), and Athanasius said more.  Again read the Apologia de Fuga.  It is very instructive on this subject of taking precautions under persecution.

But do not think that taking precautions at a time such as this is faithless or even cowardly.  Taking precautions in order to be able to continue to serve God is what a wise and faithful servant would do.

The Festal Epistles of St. Athanasius

Tomorrow, Eastern churches commemorate St. Athanasius.  So this is a good time to mention that I have begun reading his Festal Epistles.

As Bishop of Alexandria, it was his responsibility to announce to the church in Egypt the date of Easter each year.  By Athanasius’ time, most of the rest of the church as well delegated this task to Alexandria in part because of the reputation of Egypt’s astronomers.

When writing his letters announcing the date of Easter, Athanasius also exhorted the faithful to keep the feast and preceding fasts rightly and with godly living.  And having read the first three epistles, I can already testify that it is edifying and, yes, convicting reading.  I heartily recommend it for pre-Lenten and Lenten reading and reflection.

The Festal Epistles are also interesting in the study of church history.  He makes mention of his numerous conflicts and takes on heretics.  And his 39^th Epistle (367 A. D.) has at least one of the earliest lists of the New Testament Canon.  (I’ve read that it is the earliest such list extant, but have not yet studied enough to confirm that.)

So as the Pre-Lent season nears, (Septuagesima is January 27^th this year.) I heartily recommend Athanasius’ Festal Epistles and look forward to continuing to read them myself.

A Past Response of +FitzSimons Allison to Dr. Radner

I’m slightly harried today due to craziness in the financial markets. But I want to point you to an excellent past response of the Rt. Rev. Dr. C. FitzSimons Allison to past exhortations of Dr. Radner to stay, stay, stay. Yes, that broken record still hasn’t stopped.

Anyway, +Allison shoots down well the view that the faithful traditional thing to do is to stay with the Episcopal Church. This for me was the money paragraph:

. . . the early church knew orthodox teaching to be of such paramount importance, since it involved the salvation of souls (not mere academic differences), that the church must disobey and replace heretical bishops. This has been amply demonstrated by Professor Werner Elert in Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries (Concordia, 1966) in which he shows that, contrary to Radner's lesson, the early church demanded that heretical bishops be repudiated and replaced by orthodox teachers. Certainly we have reason to thank God that Athanasius did not acquiesce in the Arian establishment of his day.

Amen! And Athanasius explicitly rejected the authority of Arian bishops and appointed priests (and perhaps bishops as well) in their territories. Oooooo! Boundary crossings!

So this idea that we should stay bound together with apostate unbelievers indefinitely is crap. Didn’t Paul have some words about that? Hmmmm?