News and Comments – The Pastoral Staff
News — and Comments — The Staff of Pastoral Care
The holy Church, when it presents the staff of pastoral care to a bishop — from the hand of the Pope — is entrusting that bishop with the care of her children and with leading them in the faith of the Church. But for the Church to present the staff of pastoral care to a bishop who differs with us in faith is a matter of serious danger! A bishop may visit us, and we may offer him any gift, but we do not offer him pastoral care…
Therefore, we read in Coptic magazines — with much astonishment and pain — news which we hope is not true… its meaning being that the staff of pastoral care was presented in Alexandria to the Archbishop of Finland, who differs with us in the Nature of Christ, who believes in the Council of Chalcedon which was condemned by Saint Dioscorus, and in the Tome of Leo which all our saints rejected, and on account of which Saint Macarius, Bishop of Edku (one of the three Macarii), was martyred. And Anba Samuel the Confessor lost one of his eyes, and Saint Dioscorus was exiled from his see, as were all our patriarchs exiled from the year 451 A.D. to the year 641 A.D., and hundreds of thousands of the Church’s children were martyred.
To present the staff of pastoral care to the Archbishop of Finland means that we are implicitly entrusting him with the pastoral care of our children there, as though we are encouraging them toward that regardless of the doctrinal differences!! And His Eminence understood the matter in this way, and he was very delighted with the staff of pastoral care…
He said: “With this staff I can gather large numbers into ‘Orthodoxy’,” and he meant, of course, “Chalcedonian,” because he differs with us in faith…
We do not want to fall into the mistake of the World Council of Churches, which aims to dissolve doctrinal differences and unite churches outwardly while forgetting doctrine and theology!!
We proudly remember the firm stances taken in our generation by the late Pope Cyril V and the late Pope Macarius III. Each of them refused even to raise his cross in blessing over the head of a non-Orthodox leader, lest this be exploited in a way dangerous to the Church.
The Church’s canons absolutely forbid the handing of the staff of pastoral care to one who differs with us in faith… As for the unity of the churches, it comes first through an agreement in doctrine — an agreement approved by the holy councils.
Unity… but in faith.
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