POSITION PAPER NR. 1
ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW OSTROG
I do not want this archdiocese to be viewed as conservative. We are traditionalists, not conservatives, and it is a great error to think that the two are the same thing.
In our view, people who are Old Calendarist primarily because they are conservative by nature, are responsible for many tragic errors. Indeed, they often cripple the witness of the Traditionalist Orthodox Church. Conservatives are often not seeking to restore authentic, evangelical Tradition to the life of the Orthodox Church, they are more apt to want to perpetuate the errors and injustices of recent centuries - the 19th in particular.
Conservatives are sometimes "Old Calendarists" for no more tangible reason than that they fear change of any kind; others are attached to old country superstitions and forms which simply cannot be sustained in a literate, educated society.
It is interesting to note that most of the conservative criticisms of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, are based on purely political, sometimes social, or ethical grounds. One sometimes arrives at the conclusion that, for conservatives, Ecumenism would be all right if the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches had the "correct" politics or adopted social policies which were "acceptable". From a Traditionalist point of view, however, such criticism must be based on revealed theology and historical reality. Ecumenism is an amalgamation of falsehoods masquerading as a pursuit of truth. Quite simply, the canons of the Orthodox Church forbid our membership in such organizations because they clearly undermine the Gospel and the spiritual health of Orthodox Christians. For this reason, we must consider that membership in the World Council of Churches really does raise questions about a jurisdiction's canonicity. Ecumenism as a whole strives to reduce religion to a series of glib slogans. It undermines the traditions of all its constituent members and so deprives them all of their historic bases. Each member of the W.C.C. and N.C.C must become unfaithful to itself and its own theological and historical basis for existence. Eclecticism and polytheism are the evident results. Our objections are spiritual and not political. We had resolved to obtain our own diocese for our Traditional Canadian Orthodox parishes and monastery (and now, the newly added parishes in America) in order to give us the possibility to address these matters more directly, and establish our own policy in relation to them.
It is well known that we are strongly opposed to Ecumenism on spiritual, dogmatic and philosophical grounds, and yet we freely acknowledge that many of the social policies and programmes of the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches, are positive and laudable.
It is my view that the greatest immorality among humanity is that many people eat meat every day and throw food in the garbage while multitudes are starving to death. If I were asked what I feel is the greatest perversion in mankind, I would reply 'racism'. Such moral illnesses as apartheid, the caste system and organized concepts of racial or national superiority, must be overcome; the are heresies which essentially deny that God created all mankind after His own likeness and image. The need for insuring women's rights is a vital and righteous pursuit. Sexual discrimination of the most profound, brutal and often violent kind, is a reality. These are issues which this Archdiocese considers important and valid, and we will make precise policy statements on all of them, in time.
Conservatism often sees the Orthodox Church as a jackbooted, authoritarian organization where salvation is earned through the precise maintenance of ritual and structure. Here, bishops often consider themselves to be "generals," while the laity are mere "privates" whose only function is to pay and obey. Such bishops are primarily concerned that the proper etiquette be shown toward them (and that revenue levels be maintained), leaving the struggle for the salvation of the soul and sincere pastoral work in darkness. It is often a reflection of the dry, vapid, lifeless concepts of scholasticism.
As Traditionalists, our goal is to help restore a vivid Christ-centered reality to church life - the Church as a spiritual hospital, where co-suffering love in the grace of the Holy Spirit, is the primary therapy. Our struggle may sometimes be difficult, but being Orthodox Christians should be joyous. Fasting should be a time of spiritual joy and refreshment, as should every aspect of our struggle to follow the Orthodox Christian way. Everything we do in our spiritual life should centre on Christ and His Gospel. Our duty is not to maintain mere good order and a rigid, forced respect for persons of various rank and authority; our duty is to proclaim the Gospel and to struggle as a faithful community for the salvation of our souls.
Our goal is to avoid the errors which developed during the Turkish occupation in the Balkans and during the three-hundred year Latin captivity of Russian theology. The accretions of Western Scholasticism, various mythological concepts and superstitions, over the last several centuries have created a spiritually deadening effect, permitted the rise of the "elder cults," and moved the emphasis of church life away from Christ and the active struggle for salvation, and toward an entrancement with various phenomena - both real and imagined. A mass of often dark superstitions has come to overshadow the Gospel of Christ. Many jurisdictions within the Church have become ethnic social clubs and political camps. Major ecclesio-political associations have been developed with the aim of excluding and eventually stamping out Traditional Orthodox Christianity. Our goal is to return to the fullness of the Church life in a truly Orthodox, evangelical manner. At the same time, we must avoid the empty pursuits of New Calendarism, which has enveloped itself in the New Age Movement of spiritual eclecticism, modernism and the unmitigated pantheism of Ecumenism.
The goal of the Archdiocese is to be Traditionalist in the most Orthodox sense of the word. We intend to be evangelical in the most ancient and Orthodox sense of the word, and we will not be limited by the suffocating confines of conservatism, nor will we be led into the thoughtless eclecticism of liberalism. We do not need conservatism or liberalism, but truth and faithfulness.
We have heard many people talk about the "royal road" of moderation, of remaining in the middle between two extremes; we have never seen anyone actually practice it. With God's help, we hope to accomplish it.
+Archbishop Lazar Puhalo
+Bishop Varlaam Novakshonoff