Toward the Horizon
When I was growing up as an evangelical Christian one of those popular verses which was always being quoted was,
Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Prov. 29:18)
This had particular resonance in a community that was detached from Church History and the Apostolic Tradition, because we were constantly being driven to find something new and exciting. In that context the verse meant that we should always be looking for the next thing that God was going to do.
The difficulty with such an understanding is that the life of the community tends to be rather shallow. It has no roots in a wider and more solid foundation, and is only built upon the latest hymns and songs, the most current liturgical and spiritual fads. It is like the seed sown on the rocky soil which springs up quickly but having no depth is unable to be sustained in the face of the heat of the sun, the strength of the winds and the currents of the flood, and is all too often swept away.
In the Hebrew the word used here for vision does not so much mean a dream or image, but a communication from God. This is especially clear in the Greek of the Septuagint, which translates the meaning of the Hebrew with the phrase that ‘there shall be no interpreter for a sinful nation’.
It seems to me that this verse has something important to say to us as we consider the future of our own Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. Even this short verse is filled with substance if we consider it prayerfully and carefully. In the first place we see that our vision for the future must be prophetic and not merely some sort of daydream or fantasy. If it is prophetic then it is rooted in our life with God and in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Prophecy.
More than that, we must understand, as if we could forget, that the word of God is not heard among those who are sinful. The lawless people are left in the confusion of present circumstances, while those who seek to live their lives in the holiness of the grace of God find a meaning which transcends the events of the day and leads them into God’s will and God’s way for tomorrow.
Our thoughts for the future must be rooted in our experience and knowledge of God. We must be people who are integrated into the Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ, the Son and Word of God. This requires both a personal and a corporate holiness if we are to hear the prophetic word and be able to follow it. It is too easily drowned out by the haste to be doing that which has the appearance of godliness but which fails to make room for the will of God.
How do we look to the future without merely engaging in fantasy? Surely we must begin where we are, and seek to remain connected to that which God has already been pleased to do. Our future is built on our past, but the present is always a place of faith and humility. Our experience of the will of God is not a matter of dogma, but of prayer.
If we are to look forward, as we must, I would suggest that our Churches need to become more Orthodox, not less, to face the challenges of the 21st Century. More Orthodox in the sense of having a greater and wider grasp of our theological Tradition, more Orthodox in the sense of having a greater understanding of the aim of the Christian life. It is very easy for any established Christian community to simplify its message over time. This is perhaps necessary where there is a degree of nominalism, or simple family attachment to the faith. The grasp of theology becomes rather naïve and credulous, the understanding of spirituality becomes increasingly moralistic.
The Churches become filled with people who believe things simply because they are told them, and who act in a certain ‘Christian’ manner because that is what is expected of them. Such an outcome is certainly not unique to Orthodoxy. There are many Roman Catholics who have a vague grasp of the teaching of their Church, and who act in a certain way because others expect it of them. And this is so in all Christian traditions and communities.
This is not a criticism of those who do not understand or experience the Orthodox spiritual life in a meaningful way. If they do not believe or participate it is because they have not been taught and not been properly invited to share in the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. We are all of us called to become more Orthodox, both those who have not really participated and those who have spent a life time growing into Christ. We must all become more Christian if we are to face the present and future challenges.
Otherwise we are not sharing what we have experienced ourselves. We are not supported and sustained by the life of the Holy Spirit. Rather we are sharing only a moralistic and human attempt to live in a certain way, a way which has no true life and which is ultimately pointless.
What the world needs now, as much as at any time, is a community of faithful Orthodox Christians who can say ‘Come and see… could he be the Christ’. And this requires of each of us that we become more rooted in the substance of our Orthodox spirituality, participate more completely in the liturgical celebrations of the Church, and seek to have a more thorough understanding of the teaching of our Faith.
But there is undoubtedly a danger even as Orthodox Christians seek to become more Orthodox and more Christian. The Orthodox Faith is a universal spiritual life, which is only known within particular cultural expressions. In our Oriental Orthodox communion we enjoy the variety of cultural forms which are expressed by the Armenian, Syrian, Indian, Ethiopian and Eritrean peoples, as well as in our own Coptic Orthodox Tradition. It is a joy to worship in these varieties of ways while holding to the substance of the same Orthodox faith.
The danger is that in becoming more committed to Orthodoxy we actually become committed to a single cultural expression, and mistake the particular forms which we practice for the universality of the Faith. This has become especially important as Coptic Orthodox emigrate around the world and are confronted with new questions about the relevance of cultural forms which have helped to create and mould the Orthodox Christian life in Egypt over hundreds and thousands of years, but which suddenly seem alien and out of place.
This raises the second aspect of our prophetic vision for the future. If we must become more Orthodox, then for what purpose? Is it to preserve our cultural forms? Is it to preserve our ethnic cohesion? Or is our experience and practice of the Faith for others? Are we to be a witness to our culture – allowing others to participate in only a secondary way because they are not and can never be truly Egyptian? Or are we to be a witness to the work of God in us and in the world – so that our cultural expressions of our faith become important but secondary to that aim?
This question cannot be ignored, and it is being heard around the world, and to a great extent the answer being formed in people’s minds and hearts is generous and positive. It does seem that we are at a prophetic point in the life of the Coptic Orthodox Church. A moment in time when God’s will and word is heard and acted upon.
What indicators are there that suggest this is so? Firstly we may give thanks that within the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate there are British and French Christians who consider themselves Coptic Orthodox but not Egyptian. Metropolitan Seraphim, and the recently departed Metropolitan Marcos, bear witness to the fact that Christians from outside an Egyptian and Coptic cultural environment have been welcomed and allowed their own cultural integrity, rather as the first Apostolic Council in Jerusalem welcomed the Gentile converts without requiring them to become Jews.
There is also the fact that the liturgical texts of the Coptic Orthodox Church are being translated and published in high quality authorised editions. In the past decades texts in English have been rather ad hoc and of a variable quality. But these authorised editions show that the Church understands that it is in the West to stay, and it has a part to play within the Western, and predominantly English cultural setting.
And there is also the growing awareness that the Coptic Orthodox Church needs to be involved in mission and in supporting the poor and dispossessed in the places where it finds itself. Not simply as the pious activity of a few committed Church members, but as the activity of the Church as a whole, in the name of Christ.
It has been exciting to be a member of online discussion forums dedicated to Coptic Orthodox mission, and to pray for and read about the work of many young Copts who are giving up their time to work with the poor in the Inner City, or with those speaking even yet other languages than English, in Mexico. It is inspiring to read about the work of the Church in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in evangelism and in caring for those in need. On the website of Bishop Paul and the mission in Africa there are opportunities listed which say: ‘We need at least 2 courageous people in Tanzania.’ Or ‘We urgently need at least 2 people in Congo, either a brave God-loving couple, or two individual persons…’.
Perhaps it is difficult to be a member of a congregation which is struggling with the balance between Arabic, Coptic and English. Perhaps it is difficult to have a prophetic vision when the young people seem to be drifting away, or when the priorities of the congregation seem to be directed at maintaining an Egyptian ethos rather than sharing the treasures of Coptic Orthodoxy. But such problems are not universal. They are being overcome as bishops, priests and faithful Coptic Orthodox laity hear the prophetic word and seek the renewal of their own Orthodox Faith and that of the communities they belong to.
How wonderful it would be for all of our bishops to ask for ‘courageous people’, for ‘brave God-loving people’ to commit themselves to God and to the service of the world. It is happening already. We do not need to wait for something new and more exciting. The prophetic vision for the 21st century is in fact the same as that of the 1st century.
It is a vision of men and women committed to their Orthodox Faith in the incarnate Word of God. Living that faith out in service and witness. Going beyond the comfort zone of our own culture and seeking to share the essence of our Orthodoxy – life in the Holy Spirit – with all those men and women that God has placed us among. This challenge may call us to become less Coptic in some cultural aspects of our faith, but by doing so we will in fact become more Coptic Orthodox, more thoroughly rooted in the faith which has sustained two thousand years of Egyptian Christians.
