Thursday, February 07, 2008

Orthodox attendance at Lambeth would give impression of being "double-faced"

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7643

[Virtue Online] 7 Feb 2008--The following letter is a response to the Church of England Evangelical Bishops

It was published in the Church of England NewspaperSir, I attended an international conference of orthodox Anglicans some months back. There was a lot of heated debate on the wisdom, or otherwise, of attending, or not attending, Lambeth 2008. A lot of the arguments revolved around strategy. Recent letters in The Church of England Newspaper are of the same mould. The arguments for attending are as strong as the arguments for boycotting the conference. It seems to me, that under such circumstances, we need to consider three key issues.

Firstly, the question of integrity. If I am unpersuaded as to the best course of any action, then I must act in accordance with my conscience. Which course of action would best reflect what I truly believe in my heart? If orthodox bishops really believe that Anglicanism as practised in many parts of the Western world is a denial of Scripture and is inconsistent with apostolic teachings, then they cannot, indeed must not, share communion with the leaders of that new pseudo-Christian religion. On that count, I cannot but express my highest regard for those primates and bishops who choose, at great personal cost, not to attend Lambeth 2008.

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