Clergy Conference during Holiday Season

ANOTHER CLERGY CONFERENCE IS SCHEDULED THIS COMING DECEMBER 15-17, 2010 AT GOVERNOR'S GARDEN HOTEL IN SOLANO, NUEVA VIZCAYA, PHILIPPINES. MAIN SPEAKER: DR.CHRIS RHUM, PHD.

History of the Anglican Church

1. The Church in Britain before Augustine

 Christians came to Britain from as early as 200AD.  Some were traders and others were Roman soldiers. The first British martyr was Alban. He was a soldier who was converted after caring for a priest who was being persecuted. He later allowed the priest to escape and was killed himself. The traditional date of his death was thought to be about 304AD, in the time of the persecution under Diocletian, but recent research puts the date at 209 in the time of the Emperor Severus.

Although Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury, a Celtic church had been in existence before Augustine arrived, and bishops from the church in Britain were present at the Council of Arles in 314. 

In Ireland, especially, a strong intellectual life had been developing in monasteries. Patrick was sent as a missionary, probably from Britain, to Ireland in the early 5^th century.  This church which was outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire had developed in a different way to the western church and its strength was in the scattered monasteries that could be found in all the tribal centres. In the century or so after the Romans left Britain around 410, and the Anglo-Saxons held power, Irish missionaries took the gospel to Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Europe. 

Thus a church which was mainly Celtic in culture and origin developed in Britain without the help of the church of Rome. 

 
2. The Church in the West before Augustine

In 306, Constantius I, the Emperor of the Western part of the Roman Empire, died at York, in Britain.  His son, Constantine, was proclaimed Emperor by the Roman army in Britain, and became Emperor of the European and British part of the Empire. In 312 he defeated his rival in the West, Maxentius, and became sole Emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire. He attributed this victory to the Christian God and made his soldiers wear the Chi Rho symbol on their shields. He and Licinius, the Emperor in the East, proclaimed toleration for both Christians and pagans. Constantine defeated Licinius in 324 and became sole Emperor of the whole empire. 

Arianism and the Trinity 

A dispute in Alexandria soon drew in the Emperor. This dispute arose because of a teacher in Alexandria called Arius. He tried to state a Christian doctrine of God in a way that Platonists could understand. He started with the idea that the supreme God is one and that therefore Christ could not be eternal in the same way as God. His saying was, “There was when he was not.” Christ was not equal to the Father and had been created by the Father out of nothing, even though he was the highest of all God’s creatures. 

Many in Alexandria supported him, but not bishop Alexander. A council of bishops in Egypt condemned his teaching, so he appealed for help to his friend Eusebius the bishop of Nicomedia. The Emperor Constantine tried to stop this debate dividing the church and so causing trouble in the empire. He planned to call a Council of the church to Ancyra but the opponents of Arius called a meeting first at Antioch to choose a new bishop for that city and to condemn the teachings of Arius. The Emperor was angry and called a Council at which he would preside – at Nicea, near his headquarters in Nicomedia. 
 

At the Council in Nicea in 325 Constantine (probably at the suggestion of Bishop Hosius of Cordova) proposed the clause, that the Son was “of one substance” (homoousios) with the Father. The decision of the Council became the basis of the Nicene Creed which is a creed used by both the Western and Eastern churches. Although Arius was defeated, the teaching of Arianism did not die. Some of the Eastern bishops thought that homoousios was too much like the mistaken Monarchian teaching (the belief that stressed the unity of God, but denied the full divinity of the Son, and the Spirit). 

Later a new Emperor, Theodosius, who did not agree with the Arians, called a Council in Constantinople in 381. The eventual outcome was to describe God as three hypostases (three persons) in one ousia (essence). Tertullian, a theologian from Carthage,  had already suggested a Latin version: “three persons and one substance”. 

This Council finalised the creed we call the Nicene Creed. Around the same time in the Western church the Apostles’ Creed was beginning to  find its final shape (the Eastern church never used it). 

Chalcedon 

The focus of theological debate then moved from Christ’s relationship with God to the relation of his human and divine natures. 

One way to understand this debate is to see how different theologies developed in two of the major centres of the Eastern church, Antioch and Alexandria. 

Alexandrians, following Origen, stressed the distinctness of the three persons of the Trinity. But they did not want to further stress a distinctness in the person of Christ. At Antioch they stressed the oneness of the Godhead and were much more ready to talk about two separate natures of Christ, human and divine, an idea the Alexandrians thought was heretical. 

A new Emperor called another Council, this time at Chalcedon, near Constantinople, in 451. At this Council the ideas of Leo, Bishop of Rome, were accepted. The extremes of both the Antiochenes and the Alexandrians were rejected. This Chalcedon definition has become the standard statement of orthodox belief in the Western church. Most of the Eastern church also accepted it, but some Eastern churches kept the teaching of Nestorius (from Antioch) and set up centres in Persia where their mission was highly successful – until the arrival of Islam. 

The Chalcedon Definition We, then, following the holy Fathers, and all in agreement, teach everyone to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [of the same essence or being] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial [of the same nature or substance] with us according to the Manhood; in all things like us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Bearer of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, that are not confused, that are not changed,  that are not divided, that are not separated; the distinction of natures is not taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature is preserved, and occurs together in one Person and one Being, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

A Latin Bible

 

In 382 Bishop Damasus, of Rome, persuaded his secretary Jerome to translate the whole bible into Latin. Just as Origen (185-254) had earlier produced a clear Greek text from a variety of sources, so Jerome edited a new Latin bible which became the bible for the western church for the next 1000 years. It is known as the Vulgate (meaning common).

To be continued.

The task of ACPT / ATS  is great  and difficult,  but the God whom we serve is greater than any of these difficulties in this present age.  I want to quote this scriptures:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
         “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
         WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:18-25, 35-39)

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Churches in the Philippines

In 1904 the first Catholic nuns [St. Paul order] arrived in Dumaguete City. This life size statue reenactment of their landing is located in the park along the seaside promenade on Rizal Boulevard in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines.






The Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia, with over 90% of its population being practicing Christians, primarily Catholic, but with all major Protestant denominations also having churches through out the entire Philippines. The southern half of the large southern island of Mindanao is primarily Muslim. The Philippine Constitution and Government strongly protect religious freedom and separation of church and state in the USA, in a way very similar to the USA. Examples of Philippine Protestant denomination churches that exist through out Negros Oriental are: Church of Christ [Iglesia ni Christo], Seventh Day Adventist, Congregational, Jehovah Witness, Later Day Saints [Mormons], Unitarian-Universalist, Baptist, Church of God, and many others.

Eucharistic Notes for Lent

1. The Church of the medieval period, of the later Middle Ages, espoused the doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Thomistic doctrine, that the Eucharistic Consecration caused the substances of bread and wine to be destroyed and replaced by the substances of the Body and Blood of Christ, hence the corrective offered by the Church of England in Article of Religion XXVIII in which it is said that Transubstantiation 'overthrows the nature of a sacrament.' The immediate reason: unfortunately, the late medieval Church had ceased properly to understand Saint Thomas's meaning of substance as a non-material essence and saw 'substance' as materiality. If the material substances of bread and wine (which is what is specifically targeted in the Article) cease to exist, the outward and visible sign of the Blessed Sacrament is vitiated and the Sacrament does not exist.

2. The Eucharistic Change, or transformation of the bread and wine into Our Lord's Body and Blood by the Word of Christ and the Invocation of the Holy Ghost, is a true and literal Change, for one objective thing (the elements) becomes another objective Thing (Our Lord), but it is not a material change - the Change occurs on the supernatural and metaphysical, the supramaterial, level, inaccessible to our understanding and perception.

3. In Saint John 6, Our Lord uses a reference to the 'gnawing' and 'chewing' of His Flesh and Blood - and He is unwilling to reduce His teaching to a metaphor or analogy. Our Lord intended the Bread of Life discourse to be taken literally, which indeed it was, as was demonstrated by the reaction of the crowd.

4. There is also the quintessential point of presenting Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Church Fathers in their proper context, and we are called to exegesis, to bring out the actual meaning of the text, rather than eisigesis, the attempt to infuse a preconceived notion into the text. The contextual reading of the Scriptures itself provides the fullest warrant for belief in the Real Objective Presence. As one has brilliantly pointed out, affirming the sacramental principle in opposition to gnosticism, 'Our Lord would not instruct us to do this and then not give us a way of accomplishing it.' Contextual reading of the Bible is the key to all of Catholic doctrine.

5. The examination of the Old Testament is all-important: the divine institution by YHWH in ancient Israel of covenant sacrifice, priesthood, liturgical worship, the use of bread and wine sacramentally and the centrality of the Lamb. The Todah sacrifice, the Eucharistic or Thank Offering of bread and wine in the Old Covenant, is an absolutely essential reference - and it is vital to recognise it. References to Melchizedek, the showbread, the manna and the Passover all prove the continuity of the Eucharist with the Old Testament.

6. The axiom for the proper Catholic interpretation of Scripture: the Mass and Catholic Priesthood are the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacramental and sacrificial system, as Our Lord Jesus Christ is the unique embodiment, personification and fulfilment of Israel and the Old Covenant. The Eucharist is the perfection and accomplishment, the full manifestation, of that to which the old sacrifices and sacraments gave symbolism, sign and foretaste. There is a hermeneutic of continuity, not rupture, between the Old and New Testaments, or as Saint Augustine saith, 'The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.' Christ is the final and full revelation of what was conveyed in the Old Covenant in prefigure and shadow. Jesus Christ is the true Priest, Victim, Sacrifice and Altar, the Lamb, truly made present in the celebration of the Mass, and under the form of bread and wine.

7. There is an inseparable link between Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition; we invoke the magisterial Church Fathers of the first millennium to demonstrate the unchanging and perennial teaching of the Church on the Real Presence, a doctrine indisputable when consulting the faith and practice of the Church in the patristic era: true Catholicism is inherently patristic and liturgical, and looks to the sources, ad fontes, ressourcement, when seeking to present the substance of that Faith Once Delivered to the Saints and faithfully transmitted by the Church of the Apostles and Fathers.

Posted by Father Chad
Copied with permission

Marriage drives Korean priests to Anglican church

Published Date: November 20, 2009

The Catholic Church in Korea has lost four priests to the Anglicans in recent years, with marriage cited as the most important reason.
“They want to marry and at the same time serve as pastors,” Anglican Fr Peter Lee Kyong-nae, himself a former Catholic seminarian, told UCA News. Two more Catholic priests are currently preparing to become Anglican priests, he added.
“The priests made an honest and courageous decision to leave the Catholic Church in order to build a family, and they gave up all the privileges they enjoyed in the Catholic Church,” Fr Lee said.
Fr Abraham Kim Gwang-joon, secretary general of the Provincial Office of the Anglican Church of Korea, confirmed that the Catholic Church’s requirement of celibacy was a major factor in the priests’ decision.
“There are various personal reasons, but marriage is the most important,” he said.
It is not difficult for Catholic priests to join the Anglican clergy although they must pass a screening process and study Anglican theology for a year.
“The Anglican Church sees the Catholic Church as a brother Church inherited from the Apostles, so we recognize Catholic priestly ordination as valid as ours,” Fr Lee explained.
Priestly celibacy was a hot discussion topic after Pope Benedict recently made it easier for Anglicans to join the Catholic Church.
In the apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus”, issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Nov. 9, married Anglican priests are allowed to be ordained Catholic priests on “a case by case basis.”
It is generally known that many of those priests making the move from Anglicanism to Catholicism are doing so because they disagree with the ordination of women and the recognition of homosexual priests in the Anglican Church.
The Korean Anglican Church is relatively liberal on such matters, particularly the ordination of women, Fr Lee says. It has ordained 14 women priests since 2001.
“Lots of elderly people are skeptical about the leadership of women priests, but as time goes by, the situation becomes better,” he said. “But on homosexual priests, we do not recognize them yet.”
SOURCE
Marriage issue drives Catholic priests to join Anglicans (UCA News)