[PRengine]

Byron wote:

Is the Orthodox Church a broad enough Church to have room for both "hawks" and "doves" (I take this avian simile from Bishop Kallistos' book, "The Orthodox Church")? Indeed the Church would die without this. Were not Sts Peter and Paul very different in character and yet both fully Apostles of Christ? This was reflected in both their active witness within the Church and even through their weaknesses. St. Paul even refers to his weakness as playing a most crucial role in his understanding of what it means to be a true follower of Christ, "My [ie Christ's] strength is made perfect in [or through our human] weakness." I think we can see this in our struggle to come to terms with our own weakness and sin. We see through experience that Christ's grace works most powerfully only insofar as we recognise and acknowledge our own weakness and sin. The connection here to humility and the countless examples Christ provides in the Gospels to this should be obvious.

Somehow there is also some sort of intimate connection between discovering what humility is and coming to terms with our own personal place within the Church. Of course the danger is that this becomes an excuse for self-will but we're not talking about that. Rather we mean that besides the humility needed in regard to outward events there is also a humility needed in regards to how Christ leads each of us towards Himself. How opposite this is to the world's message of "I did it my way!" Rather it comes down to becoming sensitive and aquiescent to how God is leading each of us within His One Church like the Theotokos' "yes" to the Archangel Gabriel. But really we're talking about obedience here aren't we?

In Christ- Fr Raphael