Metropolitan Hilarion in North America - follow-up on yesterday's post

Whatever you might think of them, he doesn't mince his words ... and there are                          important implications here, not just for TEC, but for Canterbury (and Llandaff?)                                   as well ...  isolation from the ecumenical mainstream will be hard to accept ... and                                   for the benefit of any Welsh (episcopal) readers, the international ecumenical                           mainstream does not mean the Welsh 'Free Churches'; and even under Pope                                   Francis, Rome's gaze will be directed to the East. One suspects the wilder                                         excesses of TEC's or Poorvoo's revisionism will not compensate indefinitely...

Metropolitan Hilarion Blasts Episcopal Church                                               and Western Liberals for Abandoning the Faith  

Russian Orthodox leader says any double standards with regard to Christian ethics is unacceptable. Leader praises Anglican Church in North America for upholding the Faith   

By David W. Virtue DD      www.virtueonline.org   

November 9, 2014   

A theologian and bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church lambasted The Episcopal Church for its "liberalization" and "deviation" from Holy Scripture,           at a USA forum of Christian leaders which included representatives of the Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the   Patriarchate of Moscow said in a speech that by the end of the 20th century,       the relationship of the Moscow Patriarchate with many Christian communities      in the USA had encountered a serious crisis.

"It was caused by the liberalization of the moral teaching in these         communities, their deviation from the ethical norms laid down by Holy       Scripture of the New Testament common for us all. In 2003 the Russian   Orthodox Church had to suspend contacts with the Episcopal Church in the    USA due to the fact that it consecrated an open homosexual as a bishop."

At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church remained open to contacts     with the North American confessions which have stayed faithful to the        traditions   of our dialogue and which are firmly committed to biblical           morality, in particular, with the Anglican Church in North America, as it has separated itself from the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church consecrated a practicing homosexual.

"The theme of morality may become one of the most important in our   cooperation. In today's pluralistic world, the processes of liberalization have   swept over some Christian communities. Many churches have diverted from biblical teaching too   far in this respect, even if this attitude is not endorsed         by the majority of these communities' members.

"The Russian Orthodox Church consistently states that for her any double standards with regard to Christian ethics or any experiments with the            ethical component of our faith are unacceptable.

"The so-called 'liberal theology' clearly conflicts with the apostolic heritage.."   

Read it all here