Get your own Free Home PageMar Peter was consecrated bishop in 1981 by the Most Rev. Herman Adrian Spruit, the late founding bishop of the above-mentioned Church of Antioch. Mar Peter consecrated Mar Michael to the episcopate in 1990. Through Archbishop Spruit, the ACCA is heir to Old Catholic (+Mathew), Syro-Indian Orthodox (+Vilatte), Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic (+Aneed) and several other lines of Apostolic Succession. Hence, the ACCA is founded upon and possesses VALID HOLY ORDERS IN APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION, and is therefore led and served by Christian priests: validly ordained bishops and presbyters, who are assisted by deacons. Further, the ACCA has chosen to perpetuate the traditional minor clerical orders, both as avenues of ministry in and of themselves and also to provide formation opportunities for those called to the diaconate and presbyterate.
According to Sebastian Brock, a British scholar who specializes in the study of Syriac Christianity, this Semitic form of the Orthodox-Catholic Christian Faith has several distinctive characteristics. Among them is a recognition of the paradoxes present in all being, and especially, at least from a human perspective, in God's Being. In the 20th Century, this idea is reflected in the statement of the late pioneer nuclear physicist, Niels Bohr: "The opposite of a small truth is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another great truth."
Further, it is understood that all of creation is interconnected, reveals God, and was made to both provide humanity with the means of maintaining natural, biological life and to serve as the vehicle for the impartation of Divine Life through being consecrated by the "sacrifice of thanksgiving." (sacramentality). Salvation is understood both in terms of liberation and healing from sin and positively, as divinization, theosis, comm-union with God.
There is a longing for the time when, in the words of Mar Paul the Apostle (upon whom be peace), "God will be all in all." This is a matter, not only of the salvation of individual human persons, nor even simply of all humanity, but of the sure liberation, restoration, DIVINIZATION of the entire universe. To again quote St. Paul, "All creation groans" for salvation in and through Messiah Jesus, who has already irrevokably triumphed over sin, death, Satan, all the enemies of God and creation, and who now calls all human persons to consciously participate in that victory by sharing His Divine-human life in, with, and through the Church, the Christian Community.
This primitive form of Catholic Christianity also approaches theological matters in a way that is more poetic, symbolic, and experiential than strictly expositional, philosophical, and discursive. According to an old Eastern Christian saying, "Those who truly pray are truly theologians and true theologians are those who truly pray."
Among other places, these ideas are found in the poetry and other writings of Mar Ephrem (upon whom be peace), a 4th Century deacon who hailed from Syria. He is considered a Doctor ("Teacher") by the Roman Catholic Church, along with such Saints as Augustine, John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila; Ephrem is recognized as an important Saint by all Catholic traditions. Besides St. Ephrem, other persons associated with the Syriac tradition include Ignatius of Antioch, Aphrahaat, John Chrysostom, Severus of Antioch, Isaac of Ninevah, Jacob of Serugh, John of Damascus, John Maron, and others. Besides Brock, contemporary writers dealing with these subjects include S. Beggiani, a Maronite clergyman; Paulos Mar Gregorios, an Indian Orthodox prelate of blessed memory; Robert Murray; and Roberta Chesnut Biondi (especially in her earlier writings).
Consistent with this tradition, our normal eucharistic liturgy is an English redaction of the Syriac Liturgy of St. James, as edited by Mar Michael and one of our priests, Fr. Andreas Richard Turner. St. James is one of the oldest extant liturgies remaining in regular use and is the basis for those of most of the other Eastern rites, including the Byzantine, the Coptic, and the Armenian. A Prayer Book, which includes this liturgy as well as anaphorae (eucharistic prayers) from Coptic and East Syrian sources, has been adopted for provisional use. However, the ACCA is somewhat open to the use of other traditional liturgical forms as well, at least on a transitional basis.
Like the West Syriac Church, we accept three Councils as being fully Ecumenical, those of Nicea (AD 325), Constantinople (AD 381), and Ephesus (AD 431). However, we also accept the statements of other synods, etc., insofar as they do not conflict with the above-named Councils. Specifically, we understand the Council of Chalcedon to be a defective statement of a common Chistology, a Christology held also by the Roman Catholic Church, the Byzantine Orthodox Churches, and confessional Protestants, as evidenced by the tacit correction of Chalcedon by the following two Councils which are considered ecumenical by the RCC and the Eastern Orthodox.
We use ikons and/or statues in our homes and public places of worship. Like all Catholic Churches, our basic statement of faith is the so-called Nicene Creed, understood and interpreted according to the whole of the Apostolic Tradition.
We recognize and celebrate the seven core sacraments, or "mysteries" (Baptism, Chrismation/Confirmation, Communion, Ordination, Marriage, Confession/Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick), but we also see everything the Catholic Church does, qua Church, as sacramental. (Although conversely, we understand the Church to be CONSTITUTED, through the activity of the Holy Spirit, by the proclamation of the Gospel and the celebration of these mysteries INSTITUTED by the Messiah, especially those of Holy Baptism, Chrismation, the Eucharist, and Ordination.)
Our doctrine of Eucharistic sacrifice is that of the universal Catholic Church, East and West; therefore, we unconditionally believe and teach that our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus the Messiah, is really, wholly, uniquely, substantially, and permanently present in and as the consecrated Eucharistic "Bread" and "Wine." However, we as a Church adopt no particular philosophical theory, such as "transubstantiation," to explain this unexplainable Real Presence, any more than we propagate a dogmatic explanation of the mechanism of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God, the Lord Jesus. We would agree with St. Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher killed in witness to his Faith in Rome around AD 150, who said, in speaking of the Eucharist:
The Real Presence of the Messiah on the Christian altar as Bread and Wine is analogous to the Incarnation, is derived from it, and serves the same purpose: it is, in the words of the Nicene Creed, "for us humans and for our salvation.""Even as Jesus Christ our Savior, being made flesh by the word of God, took on flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise we are taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word...IS THE FLESH AND BLOOD OF THAT JESUS WHO WAS MADE FLESH." (First Apology, Chapter 66)
We accept Holy Scripture, the Bible, including the deutero-canonical writings of the Old Testament, as the cornerstone and primary expression of the Catholic Christian Tradition, which we understand to be the Holy Spirit's revelation to and through the Church. We understand the Church to be the Christian Community (hierarchically structured by the Messiah and His Apostles), the Mystical Body of Christ, and the extension, in history, of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son and Word of God, Messiah Jesus Himself. (Therefore, the Church is the lifeboat, the ark of salvation for all human persons, and all who are ultimately saved are in some way members of the Church, even as the Messiah is the Savior of all who are saved, whether they consciously acknowledge Him in this life or not.) Since we recognize Traditions other than our own as being truly Catholic, we honor Saints from all the historic, Apostolic Traditions, including the Latin, the Byzantine, and the East Syrian.
It should be noted that we are not "monophysite," at least not as this term is commonly understood. Monophysitism, or Eutychianism, was a heresy which denied that Jesus is in fact really human. No, rather our Christology is "Ephesine": that is, taught by the Council of Ephesus, and "Cyrillian," that of St. Cyril of Alexandria. While we indeed affirm that Messiah Jesus is both truly human and truly God, we, along with the above Council and St. Cyril, emphasize that His Divinity is "indivisibly united" with His humanity in a "hypostatic," Personal union that began at His conception and will continue forever. That is, we find St. Cyril's phrase, "the one incarnate nature ("nature" perhaps here best understood as 'entity') of God the Word" to be entirely orthodox. (It should also be noted that the word translated "one" here is not "mono," but rather, "mia," essentially meaning "one united." Hence, this Christology might best be termed "miaphysite.") Therefore, with the Fathers of the undisputed Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, we acclaim the Blessed Virgin Mary as "Theotokos," which means "God-bearer" or "Mother of God." and honor her as "the New Eve," "the Pride of the Faithful," "the First of the Redeemed," "Mother of the Church," and by the use of other traditional titles as we invoke the protection of her omnipotent intercession with her Divine and Eternal Incarnate Son.
Concerning other matters, we take a pastoral approach to divorce and remarriage; while we strongly discourage divorce, we do permit the remarriage of divorced persons. All levels of our clergy are permitted to marry and we ordain qualified women to all orders of the ministerial priesthood, including those of deacon, presbyter, and bishop. However, these questions notwithstanding, OUR APPROACH TO SEXUAL AND OTHER ETHICAL ISSUES IS ESSENTIALLY TRADITIONAL and in line with those of the more mainstream historic, Apostolic Churches.
That said, it must be understood that "traditional" cannot necessarily be equated with what is usually understood today as "conservative," especially in regard to economic matters. For example, in addressing questions of economic justice, St. John Chrysostom and many of the other Fathers have little in common with contemporary free-market ideologues, who, unfortunately, are all too often merely secular Social Darwinists wrapping their notions in pseudo-Christian rhetoric. Here we proclaim an often-repeated slogan from the Christian East: "Christian social teaching IS the doctrine of the Most Blessed Trinity" and that, to paraphrase Greek Bishop John Zizioulas, "There is no Being apart from Communion."
Further, we take very seriously St. Paul's call for economic justice found in II Corinthians 8:13-14 as well as St. James' words in James 1:26-2:7. In this regard, we remember the activism of such Christians as Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St. Maximillian Kolbe, Oscar Romero, John-Paul II, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Maria of Paris, St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Mother Theresa, and many, many, many others who have mounted both prophetic resistance to tyranny and oppression (whether of "Left" or "Right," whether originating with the State, revolutionary political forces, or with the so-called "private sector") over the centuries while at the same time working to meet the immediate needs of those victimized by such "structural sin."
That said, we as a Church in no way identify with any particular ideology or political party, whether of Right, Left, or Center.
In 2007, the Cloistered Heart Franciscans, an ecumenical sisterhood headed by Mother Shirley Raper of Sparta, Tennessee, reorganized within the ACCA as the Cloistered Heart Myrrh-bearers. Mother Shirley, a deaconess, conducts weekly services for about 20 people at a small facility, called Holy Adoration Chapel, in the absence of a priest. Sister Jacqueline Dierring, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, also a deaconess, conducts similar services at Holy Trinity chapel, an oratory in her home. Priests occasionally visit to offer the qurbana in these venues when available. As of April, 2008, the order had begun to accept brothers, called Cloistered Heart God-bearers, under the patronage of St. Ignatios of Antioch.
At this time, all clergy must support themselves and their families with secular jobs, but we hope that someday this may change. We obviously have room to grow, but are in no hurry. Clergy meet in convocation once a year. Besides assisting Mar Michael and maintaining this website (as well as a sometime presence in the chat rooms of AOL, on various blogs, and, from time to time, elsewhere on the Internet), I am, as stated, Ecumenical and Social Concerns Representative for the Church. Others are working on translating material from the Syriac and compiling a florigellium (anthology) of commentary from the Syriac Fathers on various parts of Scripture.
Such is the Antiochian Catholic Church in America: a miniscule Christian Community that is seriously commited to proclaiming and living the saving, healing, transforming, deifying "Faith once delivered to the Saints."
I would be happy to answer any questions. We are especially interested in hearing from people, clergy or lay, who are looking for a Church home or who would like to know more about Orthodox-Catholic Christianity in general and/or the Syriac Tradition in particular. You may reach me by E-mail below.
© 1997-2008 Fr. Gregory Blevins for the Antiochian Catholic Church in America.
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