We Must Not Allow Ethnicity to Become a Barrier to a Life of Faith

Over the years I have heard many grief stricken parents and grandparents lament the loss of their children and grandchildren from the Church. Sad as it may be, I'm not usually surprised, for over and over I've heard the sad truth behind this exodus from the Church. More often than not, these parents did not raise their children to be practicing Orthodox Christians. They may have had their infant baptized, but the frequency of church attendance was not important, other than the need to keep those ethnic links to the "old country".

Parents, unless they are serious about their faith, often look upon baptism as the moment when their child is made Orthodox, but fail to realize the Mystery of Baptism is only the beginning of a life in Christ. These same parents see childhood vaccinations against diseases as important, and they understand their child's long term health requires sound nutritional planning, exercise, and loving support for good mental health. Yet they treat baptism as though it is a magical formula that assures their child is forever connected to the ethnic heritage of the family tree.

The 10th Ecumenical Council, all but forgotten by much of the Orthodox world, classified ethno-phyletism as a heresy, because it is an attack on the very catholicity of the Church. Our Orthodoxy can not be seen as the ethnic link to a family's history, anymore than ethnic dancing and ethnic food makes one Orthodox.

It is fine to be proud of one's ethnic heritage, and want to preserve one's ethnic language and ethnic traditions. But our ethnicity does not save us. Only Christ saves us! Being Greek or Russian will not save us, for there is no grace in one's ethnicity. It is only putting on Christ, and becoming One Body in Christ, that will bring about salvation. We must not link ethnic preservation to our Orthodox Faith, for in Christ there is "neither Greek nor Jew...", for in Christ, we are but ONE NATION.

With love and blessings,
Abbot Tryphon