Letter to My Protestant Friends

Letter to Protestant Friends

I wish they could all see the spiritual beauty and depth in the Orthodox faith that I've found. Let me say that despite the harshness of my criticism I consider the Protestant a bulwark against atheism and immorality in large part except those denominations that begin to lose moral compass especially regarding sinfulness of the practice of homosexuality and the outrage of abortion on demand. Without their influence however diminished the Church would be persecuted and violently attacked by atheists and such. See Soviet Russia and Revolutionary Mexico, etc.

I attended Protestant churches close to 25 years of my adult life and in my youth was a Seventh Day Adventist. Eventually I was drawn to the ancient traditions in my early Fifties. I began to attend the local Roman Church for a brief time then found myself led into a small Eastern Orthodox convert church in a nearby village.


And since I've discovered this Ancient Faith I want to somehow reach out and explain things so you'd understand my devotion to this Faith and want to join me in a struggle for holiness by Grace and Grace alone.

Sometimes I see churches like Willow Creek, the mega churches, as the sexy babe and the Orthodox Church is the overweight, with warts and blemishes, bad complected, missing teeth and all, wall flower type. The Orthodox Faith is hidden behind an unfortunate cultural veneer: Greek, Russian, Romanian, etc. and admittedly exclusive as I suppose traditional societies are in comparison to the open multi-cultural modern American Society. It's infuriating to me these churches aren't nearly as welcoming as they should be. The American Protestant church is welcoming and understands as the Roman church of the power of the personal conversion. This is absent from the Traditional Church because it's viewed itself within a traditional society, now lost with the Communist revolutions and the lengthy Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Holding a traditional view, they see a personal conversion story much as a given, it seems. In the context of this secular society these are very powerful testimonies. The personal conversion is a discovery of spiritual truth and journey out of the darkness of Godless pursuits. Powerful as these testimonies are, the grace of heartfelt repentance is the beginning point of the Orthodox. So yes, in many ways the Orthodox lack relevance in this secular, atheistic society.


Protestants view themselves in this mythical early church that never really existed, the house church where a small putative Bible study group met. There's problems. First the Bible wasn't there for the most part not being fully compiled until the Late Fourth Century; the populace being virtually illiterate. In this supposed church confession (early accounts will tell you the confession was to the whole church) is not there; neither is Eucharist, the mystical sharing of the Lord's supper, Body and Blood; nor the Liturgical worship with its ritual; Psalms reading, so prominent in the Early Church, is absent; as well as the Litanies of prayers. Even now the Eastern Orthodox celebrate a St. James Liturgy, whose origins are from the Late Second Century, at least once a year that incorporates all of this with confession before hand. The contemporary church service then can be said that it's relevant, it's entertaining, it speaks to the emotions and touches us and urges us to right behavior and may discuss sections of the Bible but it's NOT the Early Church as claimed.

The most fundamental proposition of the Protestant is the idea of Faith expressed without traditions and without authority of the Church, which became hopelessly apostate. The walk with Christ formula boils down to coming to Christ through a Personal Decision, that amounts to a subjective emotional experience, the personal conversion experience expressed in many cases as the altar call or decision for Christ [let's see those hands with eyes closed]. As fallen creatures with profoundly sinful hearts the Reformers, as Luther and Calvin, knew such a conversion is suspect. Our human nature including our wills were deemed completely depraved. This complete depravity idea was mollified later with Great Revival and Frontier Tent rallies where man and women can reach out to God through a personal decision, the act of faith, the Altar call. I've taken a few myself and on occasion and halfway down the isle wondered what I was doing, not overcome by a purported Spirit but a doubt of the sincerity of my actions. The Orthodox see this Altar call as very suspect as would Luther and Calvin. More often than not little changes in their lives. Ofttimes, the best can be said is that for a while they may be transported by an emotional high. In additional Revivals we see this personal decision being repeated as if our step of Faith wasn't sincere the first time. So were we really saved? It could be guessed that behavior after the Altar Call might be less than holy and so another effort in later Revivals is made to "get right with God" and march down the isle to be filled once again with the Spirit. So the Altar call is a vehicle to attain additional Grace to wash away our sin, kinda like a work of salvation? But didn't Jesus do that on the Cross once and for all? Theologically it gets a bit messy. Of course the Baptist, who proposes once saved always saved, would understand that Almighty God bestows saving Grace; we weak, depraved creatures receive it. Orthodox Tradition is to struggle for it by attaining the virtues.


To the Orthodox heartfelt repentance is the restorative key and alternative to revival. What's currently lacking so often is an understanding of our true sinful condition and how finite we are in contrast to God, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Impassible, Eternal, Holy. In humility we bow down beseeching God's mercy. The Reformers understood this terrifying chasm; do Willowcreek and the other Mega Churches? In the beatitudes the Pure in Heart see God, not the simply the yearning and acting on that yearning by a one time stepping forward in the face of the witness of the congregation. In our struggle to worship God we are bestowed Grace and its Grace alone that we receive sanctity: Be Holy as I am Holy.

In light of textual criticism, Sole scriptura, Scripture alone, as a doctrinal position is virtually untenable. The Reformers relied on the foundational doctrines of Faith and Scripture alone. During this time the Apostate Church, the Whore of Babyon, and its traditions and Early Church fathers and its nit picking Scholastics were discarded. Now come the Bible scholars in the last two centuries who have looked for the "Bible" and realize it was amended and emended, albeit in small part; nonetheless there is no intact received text handed to the faithful from Almighty God. The Muslin and Mormon claim to have their divinely handed over golden graven tablets, as does the Jew and by inheritance Christians have the 10 Commandments. Alas the Christian is left with Holy Scripture received through tradition. This leaves the Church as the repository.

The Bible is Holy Scripture, inspired by God, given by the Church to the faithful. Each Book was vetted by the visible Church not the invisible one, mind you. Bart Ehrmann, author of Misquoting Jesus, as much as an agent of Satan as he is, like Satan mixes truth with lies. The Bible was a compilation of books each deemed inspired by the Early Church. The Bible of the latest modern translations is gathered from numerous existing copies of ancient origin, which vary due to the scrible copying process (no photocopy machines back then)with its errors (virtually all typos), amendments and emendations, none critically to the truth of the Gospel mind you. Brought together as the most accurate translation based on the various ancient extant copies, the Protestant has complete faith that the textual scholar has done his job, guided by the Holy Spirit some would claim; the scholar becomes an integral part of the process of the workings of God. Nonetheless, this is a far cry from a received text, handed down by God to the home church.


As pointed out by Erhmann, the most significant emendations are the forgiveness of the adulteress about to be stoned in Chapter 8 of the Book of St. John not present in the earliest copies and the emending of Mark's ending to include Jesus' appearance after resurrection and a promise to allow handling of poisonous snakes, only taken literally by fools. Several Protestant apologists, Lee Strobel in particular, whose apologetics I have the highest regard for, are unconscious of the implications of the process. Unworried that minor changes to the Bible affect in no way the basic doctrines, Strobel even argues, the Bible is meant to be viewed in light of established doctrine, unknowingly torpedoing Bible Alone, Sole Scriptura. So it becomes tradition that buttresses the Bible. In contrast Bart Ehrmann sees the workings of the Church, apostate and corrupt, as sinister and conspiratorial. But in truth the Holy Spirit was working through the Church to sift the wheat from the chafe. Many books, claiming to be part of the holy canon (standard or rule) circulated during the early persecuted Church and the Church discerned their Holiness by holding it up to apostolic teaching, TRADITION, and verifying if the book had Apostolic roots or held to Apostolic teachings. The Gospel of St. John is revered because the Early Church knew it was written by one of the Apostles. On the other hand The Gospel of Jude, recently discovered with much acclaim and condemned by St. Ignatius in the Second Century as heresy, was discarded. First it didn't fit truth as seen by the Apostolic Tradition and secondly didn't enjoy Apostolic roots or links as deemed by the Church.



Bottom line is the Protestant receives the Gift of the Bible from the Early Church but denies the giver. Astoundingly all of the Protestant Fundamentalists who take the Bible as inspired hold more faith in the Scriptural scholar to put the modern translation together in the most accurate manner in a simulated received text, than the Ancient Church which assembled it in the first place, emendations and all by the working of the Holy Spirit. The honor might go to the Early [Visible] Church now deemed so corrupt and apostate now.


My Protestant friends see salvation as a transaction between me and God on the Cross, known as Substitutionary Atonement. Jesus pays the debt he didn't owe for the debt we couldn't pay. Anselm, a theologian and Saint in the Roman Church, of the 11th Century offered an analysis of atonement of the Cross of as Christ as Substitute. In effect Christ dies to assuage the Honor of God. Our sin had broken the Law and God is beholden to uphold that Law in respect of his Honor. On the Cross He sends Christ to die in our place, in contrast to the view of the Orthodox who see Christ dying to destroy death and corruption and re-unite our fallen nature with the Incarnate divine nature. In Anselmic Substitutionary Atonement Jesus' death once and for all pays our debt to God and sins forgiven. God kills Christ for our sins. With this formula its all to easy to see God as the avenger not healer. Oddly, once again the modern Protestant unknowingly receives from the Whore of Babylon [as seen by some Prostestants], the Roman Church, it's idea of the Atoning Sacrifice of the Cross. The result can be that the believer is relieved of responsibility for his salvation entirely. There's no need to struggle or strive; it's all been done. The believer simply accepts the gift and salvation is accomplished. This ignores Biblical direction in the verses referring to our responsibility to bear fruit or risk being cut off from the Vine and the condition of being forgiven as we forgive others in the Lord's Prayer or Saint Paul's admonish to struggle for salvation like one running for the prize. See also Matt. 6:14-15, "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, God will not forgive your transgressions." Once again that sounds conditional. We struggle but any sanctity or Holiness comes from God's Grace and the struggle isn't to attain merits for our suffering.


The Orthodox see the incarnation including the atoning death on the Cross as enlivening, quickening. The Light of Grace, the uncreated Light of the Holy Spirit infused Christ's humanity and does the same for us even in our sin condition. In the incarnation God was enfleshed in man, still God but remaining man, as well. And through the incarnation raised us up to God, becoming the New Adam. The iron of sinless humanity was heated to a glowing red, so to speak, by Divinity and gave off a spiritual light and became our Way out of this fallen world under the curse. Not born in sin and without the curse of death Jesus' humanity is infused with divinity by the Word, Logos, for our salvation.


The Protestant maintains that there can no saints because fallen depraved human nature couldn't begin to achieve any level of sanctity but we nonetheless should strive to be nice to each other. And I concede that Saints at times became objects of worship and superstition. Rightfully Orthodox vernerate and honor the Saints who are deemed to have reached high levels of sanctity. We believe in major leaguers, true martyrs for Christ, who have choosen matrydom in spiritual struggle. I always wanted to be somebody else than the one who flipped off the guy who cuts him off in traffic. I ached to be better, doing as Jesus would do. I believed in the perfectability of man without knowing it, even as a Protestant. The Reformer says this is a "project" fraught with failure; our fallen human nature is not capable. Orthodox say our divine nature, able to partake in the divine nature as writes St. Peters, is stained and clouded and corrupted but capable of renewal and revivifying by the Uncreated Light (Grace). Our nature is like a mirror that's dirty only needing to be wiped clean.


We ask the Saints to intercede. Just as any Protestant would ask a friend to pray for him, we ask someone in heaven to pray for us. This sainted person [the prayers of a righeous man availeth much it is said] is available to receive our prayer. The Book of Revelation says the the prayers of faithful rise like incense to heaven. They, the Saints, are there in heaven to receive them and join in these petitions.

Basically your don't belive in virtue. Virtue at its simplist is good habit. And Protestants' view of fallen nature precludes this. There's no possiblility of co-operation with Grace that allows the flowering of virtue. I think you get confused in thinking that gifts of the spirit are bestowed on us by Grace without the struggle. Yes, on the other hand struggle for the virtues can only show progress with Grace and so we soldier on conscious of our sinful condition, stained by lustful desires, pride of life and such but devoted as Job when his worldly positions (spiritual gifts) deserted him but still faithful. Our heavenly and spiritual gifts are gone but we yearn and hope for restoration to God's grace shown in love, faith, hope, patience, kindness. These rarely arrive simply based on a Tent Rival. This is not in anyway to demean the dramatic personal conversions that can take place with the sudden decision for Christ but it remains simply a first step and no more.


The Church of scripture and tradition is one of authority and oneness. Eph 4: 5 reads, "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called." not 30,000 denominations.

The Church is one scripture tells us(we are all baptised by one spirit into one body 1 Cor 12:13). The putative home church is the archetype for the many of my Protestant friends and is seen as invisible. But careful reading of the scriptures point to a spiritual unity, even to the point where conjoining with a prostitute by one member, befouls the fellowship of the assembly of God. And this assembly has a head, Christ. If any one has authority, it is Christ. (Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church). Once again Col 1:18 "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."

Well, that's obvious you'd say. But surrepticiously the individual believer has taken the place of the Church. So now its simply me and God. But this is not fully Biblical. In the Bible its me and my fellow believers under authority of a of Christ whose church has been organized under leaders, Bishop and Elders and Prebyters (Priests). I am spirtiually fused with my fellow belivers so that my sin affects the entire community. The Holy Spirit works to one faith, baptism and Church. One must wonder if one Holy Spirit could arrive at 30,000 (denominations). What's lost is the original unity of the Ancient Church, where struggles were assumed to be within the assembly of the Ancient Faith not without it.

The true church it is said is invisibile and I've touched on that already. The Trinity and the Bible, two foundations of the modern "reformed" church if you will was granted by the visible Ancient Church. Augustine of the 4th century, the most influential theologian of Christianity, of whom the Reformers relied on heavily for the doctrine of the abject fallen nature of man, was a Bishop of this visible, Ancient Church.

In additon the apostles were given spiritual authority to bind and loose on earth and heaven (Matt 16:19). In Gospel of John 20:22 Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, breaths into them the Holy Spirit, saying"if you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they will not be forgiven". In the Prostestant tradition this is hard to fathom. As a matter of fact I'd never even heard a teaching in Sunday school or a mention in a sermon regarding these "odd" verses. Although I heard a radio preacher say this all ended with the apostles. That seems rather in effectual. The Ancient Church of course believes this charisma is passed on in an apostolic succession. The assembly of believers whose Priestly order is granted this charisma to bind and loose and forgive or excomunicate. The Church has spiritual authority. 1 Tim 3: 15 "....The church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth."

The Church is one and was understood so by the Reformers. Luther didn't start a new church he was reforming the Roman Church. Today there's a unspoken understanding the invisible church is expressed somehow in the 30,000 demoninations. Where's one faith, baptism and spirit?

The Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist or communion is discounted by the Protestant. John 6 reports Jesus saying that if you don't eat his flesh and blood you have no life in me. (John 6: 53. )Apparently a lot of people in his hearing took this literally and left his fellowship and he has to ask his disciples if they want to leave as well. Of course in this whole chapter the one that's highlighted by my Brothers is verse 63: "Spirit gives life but the flesh counts for nothing...." which is used to discount what Jesus says earlier in the Chapter regarding partaking of his body and blood. What is meant here, as Luther saw it as well, flesh represents our fallen nature and the (Holy) Spirit or spiritual truth grants life. This is not a reference back to inefficacy of Jesus' flesh; Jesus was God in flesh.

Note to my old Protestant friends. Baptism is not simply a statement of faith and meant to be repeated as a means to revival. It's an initiation and spiritual process of death to old and rebirth to new life. Rom 6: 4. "...just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Orthodox takes this as a literal spiritual truth not symbolically. It's a washing of sins (Acts 22: 16) not simply public act of faith with symbolic meaning only. It's salvatory as well; it saves us. See 1 Pe 3: 22 "...baptism now saves you....an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ..." Just a note about substitutionary atonement it's not the Cross only but through resurrection, as being buried and resurrected, we're saved. Nowhere do we read this is to be simply a symbolic act of faith to show God we want to be part of his assembly.

Luther and Calvin knew how suspect it would be for someone to make a decision for Christ, that's we see in the modern "worship center"....One feels the panes of conscience and much like attaining fire insurance the altar call is answered! Come on down! Get your fire insurance! Human nature is much too fallen and depraved to be able to will that sort of thing, I almost hear the Reformers say. Salvation comes from Almighty God's grace, bestowed and received by us, where He wills, not by our decision. And there's much talk about knowing God.... the Modern doesn't know is that finite humans can't simply know Almighty God, but through ascetic struggle we may know his uncreated Grace. And most importantly the Orthodox have the Real Presence at the Table of the Lord, the Eucharist. What is meant by the Modern when he says he knows God is the feeling from the idea of a transcendent, almighty, loving God. A Sunday morning feeling that's gone by Monday morning like a spiritual hang over. Now this call is far better than the cynicism, skepticism of the modern secularist, which is the dominant view point type in today's society.

It must be said that Protestantism is bulwark against a secular, atheistic society. It is nontheless fully against traditional approaches to faith. Yet, it stands for many Christian basic tenents, the absence of which would be too horrible to contemplate. Yet, its approach has gradually led us to the moral quagmire we presently suffer.

I say again Salvation does not come to us in a legal transaction; It goes like this: Jesus gets killed by a vengeful God to make things right for all time so to speak. Jesus destroyed death by death we say. Death was the result of our spiritual separation from God, our soul died physical death followed. Death is not to requite God's Honor.

One thing Protestants must disabuse themselves is that this is a Christian country. This is a secular (atheistic) society with many Christians living in it. Gay marriage... or at least the Domestic Partnerships along with abortion on demand and its massive murder should give us a clue this society has gone astray. The society instituted by Constantine the Great, Christendom, which enhanced the value of life, is fully lost. This is a post Christian society. Question being, will this "diverse" society turn on its Christians when it tires of any moral restraints. Philosophically its already there; its already thrown off all moral constraints and views things in simply legal terms, Socrates that great moral teacher, would say this is the view of the Sophists. To Sophists morality was what the Greek assembly, the populace, said it should be or in American Society's the common man (citizen). The Demos (assembly) decided what the "truth" was. The assembly was ofttimes swayed by persuasive speech thus Rhetoric was the highest calling. Today the common belief is that the Demos, the popular will, can do no wrong. The society's submission to it is tantamount, except of course if its the popular will oppressing a minority and then that's a bad thing. Then the American House of Lords comes to the rescue in the Supreme Jurists, Our tiny House of Lords, God save us. Of course it rules on a multitude of other issues no way intended by the Constitution, a Judical run away train vitually without reference to Moral constraints or tradition.