Conflict Resolution in the Church

Nobody is perfect but Christ, but that does not mean the Church doesn’t know the truth. Before His Passion Christ promised the Holy Spirit would come to the Church and guide the Church into the whole truth. If we don’t agree with someone it is the Church that resolves our conflict.

Although the Church should stand as our mediator among members, on my mind today are conflicts about Church teaching and standards of life. We call these standards Canons, a Greek word which expresses a unit of measurement, not law. Law is a different word.

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to lconion and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. Then they passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia; and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

Acts 14:20-28; 15:1-4

Today’s reading is the opening to the Council of Jerusalem, the first official gathering of Bishops of the Church to resolve the theological conflict among leaders in the Church. Rather than fighting ‘locally’ about who was correct, the local Church ‘took their issue’ to the Apostles.

This process is important for us to understand. There are no free agents in the Church. There is no Pope. There is no ‘one saint’ who possesses the entire truth outside of others. Christ didn’t promise one Apostle would have the whole truth.

The Holy Spirit was promised to guide the Apostles (the whole group) into the whole truth, not just Peter. So, when Paul and Barnabas arrived to debate circumcision, it was understood that the issue would be resolved through the Council of the Church.

In modern Orthodoxy, especially among the so-called OrthoBros, we tend to gather around one saint, one elder, or even one Canon to ‘prove our point’ rather than trust the body of the Church. This is not what we see in today’s reading.

It was the Church that gathered as Bishops, ordained by God, to protect the whole truth. If we have a disagreement with the Church over teaching, this is our example. Do you think your priest is wrong? Call your Bishop, and trust that your Bishop knows the truth.

If you think your Bishop is wrong, first I would wonder why you think YOU are the one who is correct. Sure, there is a long history of rogue or heretical bishops, but there is a process for that too, and it doesn’t include YOU thinking you are better, or more correct than he is.

This concept of correctness or superiority has been on my mind lately as the news of the possible ‘sainthood’ of Fr Seraphim Rose has consumed the ‘orthosphere’ lately. Some are very excited while others are more skeptical. Both have a place in the Church.

I have my own opinions about Fr Seraphim Rose which I will not expand upon in today’s blog. The point of today’s blog isn’t to ‘prove’ I am right and YOU are wrong. The point of today’s blog is that it isn’t my job to determine.

The Church will wrestle with whether Fr Seraphim ‘should be’ Saint Seraphim. I will trust the Holy Spirit to guide the Church as has been the case for two thousand years. There is one complexity in the modern Church that just wasn’t an issue back then.

Because of the internet, global communication is instant. What may have taken months or even years to ‘spread’ now is known within moments. Issues that may have been debated and resolved locally have now become global issues.

What was once resolved locally and then spread throughout the world, is now debated globally by those who are ignorant of important details. Not every issue needs to be spread. Some things are better left local, and less formal.

“Sainthood” is less formal in the Orthodox Church than the Roman Catholic Church. It is much less standard making it more complex for the Church. Remember what the word ‘canon’ means. The canon of Saints (the standard list as it were) differs from one Church to another.

Some Saints are globally honored while others are much more local. Some saints are recognized relatively quickly, like Saint Nektarios. Other saints ‘take time’ like Saint Anthousa (St John Chrysostom’s mother) who was canonized by Constantinople in 1998.

As the saying goes, time will tell, about who is or who should be canonized by the Church. Either way, it isn’t up to YOU or ME. It is up to the Church as a whole.