Greek Orthodox Congress for clergy and laity

I had the distinct honor of being invited to the 42nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, held in Philadelphia last week. Archbishop Demetrios of America joined all eight Metropolitans of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the United States, bishops, priests and lay representatives from each parish and organization of the Greek Orthodox Church in America to discuss the issues surrounding the theme of the congress, “The Orthodox Christian Family: A Dwelling of Christ and a Witness of His Gospel.”
The opening session ceremony began with prayer led by Archbishop Demetrios. Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter and U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania offered warm and cordial greetings. Vice President of the United States Joe Biden also attended and addressed the convocation.
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, head of the Orthodox Church, addressed the congress via Skype. In his greetings he said, “Our Modesty, your Patriarch feels great spiritual joy and affection by seeing in spirit from Constantinople the children of the Holy Mother Great Church of Christ in America. Our Lord, through his first miracle in Canaan, Galilee, blessed the holy sacrament of marriage, in which two persons of different sexes come together to unite into one body: and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is a profound one and I’m saying that it refers to Christ and the Church. Through this union of the two persons male and female in Christ the family becomes a dwelling of Christ, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Eph: 5 15-16); every family, i.e. every genealogical origin and presence on earth of which the family is the cell from Adam and Eve, through which life goes on, the earth is inherited, and the heavenly kingdom granted to the man who has been created in the image and likeness of God.”
He explained that for the Orthodox believer “the institution of marriage and the Orthodox Christian family is foremost a course of love, secondly a course of common spirit and common exercise, thirdly a course of creativity, common creativity and continuation of life, and, fourthly a common course toward heaven, toward the heavenly kingdom. It is a calling of God, it is a joining of diversity that leads to perfection, and, therefore, the spouses become also ‘joint heirs of the grace of life'” (1 Peter 3, 7).
In his keynote address at the opening session, Archbishop Demetrios said, “A great blessing of God is the central theme of this 42nd Clergy-Laity Congress of our Church: ‘The Orthodox Family: A Dwelling of Christ and a Witness of His Gospel.’ It was not long ago that the word ‘family’ evoked a particular image in the minds of most Americans. In this mental picture we saw a man and a women, not just living together but joined legally and in most cases through a religious ceremony, in a lifelong bond of marital commitment and deep mutual love.”
He continued by adding, “We saw children, usually more than one or two, who belonged to both their parents by birth or adoption. For many of us also, that family portrait included one or more members of the previous generation, a grandmother and/or grandfather who lived in the home of their adult son or daughter, rather than in a retirement community or a nursing home.”
He contrasted this past view with a new image: “Today, there is a movement in our society to change and redraw this portrait completely. We hear about the ‘modern family,’ which in essence means everything and anything. It seems that in many cases any two people who share an address are to be considered a family, whether or not they are married or have children together. So, the family is under heavy pressure, because its very sense of identity and uniqueness is being eroded by this huge change in public sentiment. If everybody and everything is a family, then nobody is truly a family in any meaningful sense.”
He added, “We can easily understand that in view of the present crisis of the family, as an institution of divine origin, and the relevant challenges, if not provocations, our theme ‘The Orthodox Christian Family: A Dwelling of Christ and a Witness of His Gospel’ acquires an enormous importance. Now the crucial question is this: How can we save and preserve, how can we develop and enhance such an image of the Orthodox Christian Family? How can we make this image the prevailing image among families?”
These questions and answers will be similar to those that will be discussed by the Roman Catholic Church at our Synod on the Family soon to take place in Philadelphia.

Father Joseph D. Wallace is director, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.