Why I’m not Eastern Orthodox

This paper argues that while Eastern Orthodoxy is a true church, the magisterial Protestant tradition better preserves the biblical and patristic deposit of faith in its doctrines of Monergism, Sola Apostolica, Ecclesiology, and cultural catholicity. In this paper I will explain why I am personally not Eastern Orthodox. Before I get into this discussion I want to first explain what I am not saying. I am not saying Eastern Orthodoxy is not a true church. I am not saying that Eastern Orthodoxy has invalid sacraments, orders, faith, or holiness. I am not saying her saints are frauds or that she is lost. I believe that all particular church bodies have their errors. I am also not saying, like the radical protestants, that the one true church was destroyed, the gates of hell prevailed against her, and that the church needs to be reconstituted in local bodies. The goal of the magisterial protestant reformation was a purging of the excesses of Rome. These excesses were the debauchery in the priesthood, the universal jurisdiction of the Pope (although this was not fully implemented at the time), the recovery of virtue, and most importantly the re-discovery of the doctrines of justification by faith through union with God. This is the core of the Reformation. Not a revolution but a return to a more primitive and simple faith. A faith that trusts fully in the Lord alone for salvation. A faith that above all protects that apostolic deposit that was delivered once to the saints. An issue with discussing protestantism in her relation to Eastern Orthodoxy is that the two traditions hardly interacted at the time of the Reformation. The best that can be done is to compare the contemporary doctrines of each tradition to each other and I will show why I believe the magisterial protestant positions to be superior to that of the East. Because of the nature of the brevity that this format of discussion necessitates I will be focussing on four topics, in brief, that I believe are superior and more biblical or patristic positions than what the East holds to. These topics are as follows

1. Monergism – Man is totally dead in sin and is incapable of saving himself. The elect have been predestined for salvation and are saved by Grace through faith working in love. 
2. Sola Apostolica – That the Scriptures are the sole arbiters of what the apostolic deposit is, and that tradition is authoritative in as much as it expresses this apostolic deposit. 
3. Ecclesiology – That the bare necessity (esse) of what constitutes the church is where the baptized faithful receive the word of God rightly, His sacraments, and discipline under God’s authorities. 
4. Culture – The East requires a φρωνημα (Phronema – mind) that requires a subscription to an eastern mindset or an assimilation into the thought life, culture, customs, iconography, and liturgical practice of the East. 

Monergism

Monergism is commonly misunderstood to mean that Man has no part in his salvation. This is not true. Monergism only means that God is the first and final actor in the economy of salvation. As Revelation 22:13-15 (New King James Version) says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” God is the one who acts first and acts last. He is the one who has started our salvation and He is the one who will bring it to completion. Let us move to the economy of salvation. God has chosen who will be saved, not on the basis of the individual’s works, but based on his justice, mercy, and love. In order to understand God’s decrees of salvation, we must first understand the state of Mankind. Before the world was created, God decided that He would be incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:16-18). This shows that the purpose of the entire cosmos is a relationship with the living God that is as intimate as the incarnation. The purpose of the created order is so that God could become Man. Jesus Christ from before all creation was decreed to be the God-Emperor of the Universe. Then God decided to create Man. As part of this there was a conditional. Man could choose to join in working towards the full union in Christ, or he could rebel. If Man rebelled God would choose some to save and would leave some in their reprobated state. The fate of the reprobate depended on the decision of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The point of this election is to show the God-Emperors justice and mercy. “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (Romans 9:15-16). The reason why some are left to be reprobate and some are not is a divine mystery.  “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?’” (Romans 11:33-34). So far this sounds like Man has no say in his salvation. The modern American “Reformed” tradition takes this high sovereignty point of view and nuance it no further. If I were to leave the doctrine of election here I would be teetering on the heresy of equal ultimacy (the doctrine that God chooses people to go to hell on no basis whatsoever). This is not my position nor the classical position of the Lutheran, Anglican, or Continental Reformed faiths. We must remember that the doctrine of Election must center in the doctrines of Original Sin (a difference with Eastern Orthodoxy), Hell, and Union with Christ (a similarity with Eastern Orthodoxy). The doctrine of Original Sin says that since Adam has sinned against an infinitely honorable God, that his family has infinitely dishonored God. God has accounted all mankind guilty of dishonoring His majesty, and so we have fallen out of our relationship with Him, and ultimately have lost our Union with God. Hell is the presence of God without Union with God. We see glimpses of this in the Old Covenant. “Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him” (Exodus 34:29-30). Moses represents the presence of God (specifically His Word) in the congregation. This glory of God was too much for them and became a “hell” or judgment upon them because of their disunion with God. Israel of the Old Covenant only had the types and shadows of our true Union with Christ. In the New Testament Apocalypse, John sees that Hell is not an absence of God, but it is in fact the full blown consequences of eternal life without union with God. 

If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Rev. 14:9-10)

This wine is the blood of Christ. All will drink of the flesh and blood of Christ and live forever, but those who do not have the Spirit of God will be condemned by His blood and die. This is how those who eat of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist can receive condemnation if they eat of Him unworthily. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day…It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:54-54; 63). All will be raised up on the last day through the Body and Blood of Christ, but if one does not have the Spirit, one will live forever in the presence of the Angels and Christ and receive the Blood of Christ to condemnation. So how does this relate to our participation or synergism in the economy of God’s salvation plan? In this life, our salvation is dependent upon our participation in the means of Grace and good works. James himself says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (James 2:24). This does not mean that a man’s salvation is based upon his own works, but that his faith must be working in love. His faith must trust in the means of Grace and work towards further union with Christ. Our election is unknown. It is revealed throughout time (although it is set). This is the scroll upon which only the Lamb can open. It is the Book of Life that has the names of the elect written in it from before time began. 

So then what is salvation? Right now my explanation must be very confusing. I have said that salvation is monergistic and synergistic. Isn’t this a contradiction? Yes, it is! And this is the beauty of the Gospel. From God’s point of view He is the one that has fully worked out our salvation for us, having molded us to his image as a potter molds clay. And He has also left some in their sin for them to be condemned on the final day. But it is also true that we are working out our “…own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). This is the great mystery of our lives and the Gospel. God has willed us towards salvation and has promised to keep us in salvation and yet we are working with Him in our salvation. This is summed in the first chapter of Ephesians. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:3-14)

God has revealed to us, Himself, through the visible means of Grace (preaching, the Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper) in order that we may have faith in Him through His blood. Without him first moving Himself to us through these visible means of Grace we would have never known Him. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). And we shall not stay in the faith unless He has preserved us through these means of Grace. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-5). Because of these  means of Grace, and our participation in them, we can have confidence that we are the elect. We may not assume upon our own works that we will be saved. Not upon our own efforts to be saved (though they are real efforts) but we may assume that because God has promised in His outward and ordinary means that we shall be saved through those things, we may know we are the elect. “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism as our entrance into our covenant with God assures us that our conscience has been cleansed of both the dishonor we have inherited from Adam and our own actual sins we have committed that separate us from a Union with Christ, and through Baptism we are united with Christ objectively. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:22-23) It is because of this confidence that we can have in Christ for our salvation that we are spurred onto good works that are pleasing unto the Lord, these works are not the basis for our salvation but the fruit of the Grace of God in our lives. The next verse continuing from the previous passage in Hebrews says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” (Heb 10:24). This shows that the result of our Union with Christ through our Baptism, and the strengthening of it through the other means of Grace are the basis and cause of our salvation not our works. Our works only being a fruit of a lively faith that is caused and completed by God alone. There then is a two-tiered view of salvation. One that looks from the Father’s perspective and is monergistic, and one that looks from our perspective and is synergistic. Both views are true but the monergistic is a higher truth than the synergistic. One is of the Spirit and one is of the flesh. This is why the more mature Christian can quietly and confidently say, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). And the mature Christian can also say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

This two-tiered view of our salvation is not only affirmed by the Holy Scriptures but is affirmed by the Fathers of the Church. For the sake of dialogue with the East I will not use St. Augustine. The first father of the church I want to analyze is St Clement of Rome. St. Clement supports the doctrine that we are not justified by our works but by Grace through faith in God.   

And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Clement 32)

St. Clement argues for the basis of our confidence in our salvation not being in our own works but in how God has justified us through Jesus Chrsit. This justification, according to St. Clement, starts with the call and will of God, in Jesus Christ. This union with Christ is the basis of our salvation and not our own works. The proof that St. Clement believes that this is our justification before God and not just a vindication is that he believes that what he is saying will cause people not to do good works. So in the next chapter he exhorts his readers to do good works. “What shall we do, then, brethren? Shall we become slothful in well-doing, and cease from the practice of love? God forbid that any such course should be followed by us! But rather let us hasten with all energy and readiness of mind to perform every good work. For the Creator and Lord of all Himself rejoices in His works” (1 Clement 33). Notice that St. Clement does not say that the Lord rejoices in our works but he rejoices in His works. These works are the work of Christ in us, not our own. This shows that it is not our working or striving that saves but Christ working in us to conform us to His image. 

Next I want to look at St Irenaeus. In his work, Against Heresies, St. Irenaeus argues for our salvation being based in God’s grace and not our works. 

Nor did He stand in need of our service when He ordered us to follow Him; but He thus bestowed salvation upon ourselves. For to follow the Saviour is to be a partaker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. But those who are in light do not themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it: they do certainly contribute nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they are illumined by the light. Thus, also, service [rendered] to God does indeed profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He grants to those who follow and serve Him life and incorruption and eternal glory, bestowing benefit upon those who serve [Him], because they do serve Him, and on His followers, because they do follow Him; but does not receive any benefit from them: for He is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. But for this reason does God demand service from men, in order that, since He is good and merciful, He may benefit those who continue in His service. For, as much as God is in want of nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God’s service. Wherefore also did the Lord say to His disciples, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you; John 15:16 indicating that they did not glorify Him when they followed Him; but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by Him. ( St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.14.1)

St. Irenaeus shows us in this passage that we contribute nothing, overall, to our salvation. In his analogy of the light, we are the wall that is illuminated by the lamp. The wall does not illumine in and of itself rather it only reflects the illumination of the lamp. In the same way our works are only a reflection of the grander work of God in our lives. They are grateful to the salvation worked in us through the blood of Jesus Christ. In an economic analogy, God is the great investor, we are the accountants. God is the one that gives us all the money we need to do our jobs, our works are like equal debits and credits. The money goes in and out but ultimately they do not produce value, God is the only one that produces value. 

For the sake of brevity St. Cyril of Jerusalem will be my final father I call to the stand. St. Cyril of Jerusalem in his catechetical lectures shows us how the monergistic sovereignty of God interacts with our synergistic reality. 

The race is for our soul: our hope is of things eternal: and God, who knows your hearts, and observes who is sincere, and who is a hypocrite, is able both to guard the sincere, and to give faith to the hypocrite: for even to the unbeliever, if only he give his heart, God is able to give faith. So may He blot out the handwriting that is against you , and grant you forgiveness of your former trespasses; may He plant you into His Church, and enlist you in His own service, and put on you the armour of righteousness : may He fill you with the heavenly things of the New Covenant, and give you the seal of the Holy Spirit indelible throughout all ages… (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Protocatechesis, Catechetical Lectures)

Through our Baptism in water, God gives us His Spirit. This Spirit is able to make the hypocrite alive, and to conform the faithful to His will. Notice that all of this is dependent on God. Beside one point which is that we rend our hearts. This is the understanding that the sacraments require faith. This shows that in our world God works through visible means to enact His will. This shows that, at least, these fathers are consistent with the Reformation positions on salvation. This is in contrast to Eastern Orthodoxy which believes that God’s salvation is determined upon the foreseen faith and good works of the individual. The Orthodox position does not believe that we can have assurance of our salvation rooted in the sacraments. As can be seen this is contrary to both the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. 

Sola Apostolica

Sola Apostolica is the Reformation principle that we are only to adhere for salvation that was given to us in the Apostolic Deposit as preserved in Scripture and confirmed by tradition. This principle was expressed during the reformation as Sola Scriptura, which means that we can only make binding for salvation that which is clearly articulated in scripture. This is true, but the broader idea that was expressed by the reformers was that of Sola Apostolica. The Biblical foundations for this concept are throughout scripture. Paul says, “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” (2 Tim. 1:13-14). The way that this deposit is kept according to St. Paul is by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit was promised to be with the church to preserve Her until Jesus Christ returns. This means that through the Church and Her Tradition we find the preservation of the apostolic deposit. St. Paul confirms this in 2 Thessalonians, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” (2 Thess. 2:15). This is because the Church, built upon the Apostles, is the protector of truth. “…I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” This pillar and ground, supports the truth which is above it which is the apostolic deposit chiefly preserved in the Church’s greatest writings, the Holy Scriptures. These books, discerned and written by the Church but not of the Church but of God, are the litmus test of what is a tradition of the Apostles and what is not. This means that Ecumenical Councils, Liturgies, and doctrines of the Church are only binding on the conscience of the believer in so much as they are articulated in Holy Writ. This is not to say that one may just disobey the Church. This is an ecclesiological version of Antinomianism. Just because there is a freedom of conscience does not mean that we have the right to disobey the customs, practices, and creeds of the church. On the contrary, if there is a problem in the Church we are to defer to those who God has been put in authority to determine these controversies. The layman does not have the right to start his own church. This is the difference between the magisterial reformers and the anabaptists. The magisterial reformers went through proper channels and got state sanctioned churches. The anabaptists caused chaos for chaos sake. 

In St. Irenaeus we find an articulation of Sola Apostolica. In his Against Heresies he articulates the Scriptures and the pillar and ground of truth by which we are to know things pertaining to matters of salvation.

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they possessed perfect knowledge, as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and individually possess the Gospel of God. (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1)

The argument for Sola Scriptura and Sola Apostolica is only arguing that the final authority for matters of salvation is the apostolic deposit as preserved in Scripture. This is exactly what Irenaeus is arguing. He is saying that the Apostles, who at one point preached the Gospel verbally, have now preserved it and handed the Gospel down in the Scriptures which are the perfect knowledge of the truth. There is nothing outside of the scriptures which are necessary to be known for salvation. 

St Basil the Great too talks of the supremacy of Holy Scripture over Holy Tradition. He articulates this in his work On the Holy Spirit. In his discussion on the glory of the Son in comparison of the Father he says this, “What our fathers said, the same say we, that the glory of the Father and of the Son is common; wherefore we offer the doxology to the Father with the Son. But we do not rest only on the fact that such is the tradition of the Fathers; for they too followed the sense of Scripture, and started from the evidence which, a few sentences back, I deduced from Scripture and laid before you.” Notice how our father in the faith deduces his doctrine of the glory of the Father and the Son. He first deduces from scripture, then deduces from the fathers before him and then proves their observations from the scripture again. This is the way we are to discern the catholic faith, scripture confirmed by tradition confirmed by scripture. This is the conversation between the Son and the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit. 

I will finish my patristic exhortation on the primacy of scripture with the great Cyril of Jerusalem. St. Cyril explains that we should not hold to any doctrine of the faith unless it can be proved by Holy Writ. 

Have thou ever in your mind this seal [the Holy Ghost], which for the present has been lightly touched in my discourse, by way of summary, but shall be stated, should the Lord permit, to the best of my power with the proof from the Scriptures. For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning , but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures. (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 4.17)

St Cyril exhorts us to test the mysteries presented before us by the Holy Scriptures. This is the same as the Bereans who when hearing the Apostle’s teaching accepted it only on the basis of its congruence with previous revelation (the Law and the Prophets) 

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. (Acts 17:10-12)

Holy Writ according to St. Cyril is the ultimate test of whether a doctrine or practice is from the apostolic deposit. We can learn from St. Vincent of Lerins (a western father but in congruence with the east) his rule for discerning the Catholic faith from heretical sects. He says, 

I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or any one else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of the Divine Law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. (St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium 2.4)

St. Vincent of Lerins is in congruence with St. Cyril in that there are two levels of authority, the Divine Law or Apostolic Deposit is over the Holy Tradition of the church. In contrast with the modern Eastern Orthodox church, they believe that the Holy Tradition is equal to that of Holy Scripture because Scripture is a part of the Holy Tradition. Rather, there is not two authorities of Divine and Tradition but there is one authority: The Great Tradition. This becomes rather confusing on what is the deposit of the apostolic faith since their is no canon of tradition. If, let’s say, they limited the Great Tradition to the Seven Ecumenical Councils, then Orthodox Anglicanism, Old Catholics, and Nordic Catholics would be in communion with the East. But they do not limit it to the Seven Councils. Rather they broaden the tradition to the way that the present day Eastern Orthodox church is allowed to decide what the tradition is. There is no confession of faith for the East. There are no dogmatic councils for the East past the Seventh Ecumencal Council (some even argue that there are Nine Ecumenical councils but this is debated in the East). In contrast to magisterial protestantism, they have their creeds, confessions, and local councils that determine what each protestant tradition is. Protestant traditions are definable, Eastern Orthodoxy is not. 

Ecclesiology

What constitutes a true church? The Eastern Orthodox have many criteria and the following are just some of them: 

1. Apostolic succession in tactile episcopacy.
2. Communion with a canonical Orthodox bishop.
3. Participation in the Holy Mysteries (sacraments) within Orthodoxy.
4. Continuity of Tradition (Scripture, Liturgy, Iconography, Councils).
5. Unity in the Orthodox phronema (mindset or noetic experience).

These are all aspects of the church. But the early Church, and what the Protestant Reformers recovered, did not believe many of these to be the essence of the Church. There are three stages of Church development: esse, benne esse, plenne esse (Essence, Well-being, Fullness of the Essence). According to the Orthodox Church the five previous items are of the esse of the church. The protestant position and the early church’s position is that these are of the benne esse and plenne esse of the church. According to the protestant churches the esse of the church is the Gospel preached rightly, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s supper administered, and the Church discipline under proper authority is enacted. This is the bare minimum of what constitutes a church. It does not mean that this church is not heterodox, it does not mean that the church is dangerous to be in. Jesus, in fact, has a warning to these churches, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Rev 2:4-5). The essence of the Church is her love of Christ and His Apostolic Deposit. Is Apostolic Succession (or the tactile laying on of hands) of the essence of the Church. It cannot be since Christ says this of those who are not of the Apostles. “Now John answered Him, saying, ‘Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side’” (Mark 9:38-40). This shows that an authority of Christ is with those that are not of the Apostolic company. To give a patristic example, the Bishops of Alexandria were not ordained by Bishops but rather were chosen by Presbyters for the first few hundred years of that Church’s existence. Yet she was seen as a valid church. “In the city of Alexandria, it was the custom that, when the patriarch died, the twelve presbyters would assemble and lay hands on one of their own number and appoint him patriarch” (Eutychius of Alexandria, Annals, quoted in J.B. Lightfoot, The Christian Ministry, Appendix (Macmillan, 1890), p. 193–194). 

The Eastern church has also outlined that communion with an Eastern Bishop and his sacraments is a requirement of the esse of a church. This misses that essential function of what the church is, which is those Baptized into Christ’s name. The Orthodox church does not invalidate Baptisms done by Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Anglican churches yet it claims that those churches are not valid churches. It would be more consistent to say that those churches do not have the Plenne Esse of the church. You would have to invalidate the Baptisms of the heterodox to be consistent with Eastern Orthodox claims. 

Finally, the East claims that to be a true church one must have a continuity of eastern tradition and mindset in order to be a true church. This is just blatantly false given that for the first thousand years of the church the West and her western latin mindset was Orthodox. This completely invalidates the Celtic expression of orthodox and catholic worship, it invalidates all Western Saints. It ignores the history of the development of the filioque, the context of the difference in development of theology proper and soteriology between St Augustine of Hippo and St Gregory Palamas. This notion that one must jump from the phronema of the west to the phronema of the east to be in the one true church of God goes against the biblical principle of Galatians which says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Whether the Eastern or Western phronemas are correct or not does not invalidate the condition of whether a Church is a real church or not. This is why the protestant position on the esse of the church is more consistent with our real life situation, the bible, and patristics. Now I understand that there are the Western Rite Orthodox Churches. But these churches follow the rubrics of either a revised Latin Rite mass or the Book of Common Prayer. You cannot claim that the phronema of the Eastern church is being used if you are using a Book of Common Prayer. In using the Book of Common Prayer, these Western Rite Orthodox liturgies reflect deeply Catholic and patristic sensibilities—ones that are already preserved within Anglican tradition. This should invite reflection on the shared inheritance we already possess. Does this not already validate the Anglican phronema? My challenge to my Eastern Orthodox brothers is what does the magisterial protestant traditions, especially classical Anglicans and Lutherans, not have that the East does. We have the Divine Liturgy, we have the Sacraments, we have a priesthood, we have the Great Tradition, we have icons, we have the Seven Ecumenical Councils. How we apply these things may be different. They are Western and filtered through our experience of the excesses of Rome, but that does not make us any less Catholic or Orthodox. We have the esse, benne esse, and plenne esse of the Church. This must now be recognized by the East.

Conclusion

The reason I am not orthodox simply is, I believe that the protestant churches are true churches. I have a responsibility to stay in these churches because it would be a sin for me to schism against a true church. The burden of proof is upon the Eastern Orthodox to prove that they are the only true church since I already believe they are a true church. My plea to the East is to consider the patristic witness on the primacy of scripture and the doctrines of Grace and to come into unity with your magisterial protestant brothers. The true plenne esse of the church is when we are all one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church again.

Works Cited

“Against Heresies.” CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, IV.14 (St. Irenaeus), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103414.htm. Accessed 22 June 2025. 

“Catechetical Lectures.” CHURCH FATHERS: Catechetical Lectures (Cyril of Jerusalem), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3101.htm. Accessed 22 June 2025. 

Lerins, Vincent. “Commonitory.” CHURCH FATHERS: Commonitorium (Vincent of Lerins), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm. Accessed 22 June 2025. 

“Letter to the Corinthians (Clement).” CHURCH FATHERS: Letter to the Corinthians (Clement), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm. Accessed 22 June 2025. 

The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2014. 

“Of the Holy Spirit.” CHURCH FATHERS: De Spiritu Sancto (Basil), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3203.htm. Accessed 22 June 2025.