Posted by
Icarus on Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:03:04 PM
I was chrismated into the Greek Orthodox church some 4 years
ago, and must confess that I am not a paragon of Orthodox faithfulness. I do
not attend liturgy regularly. In fact, in the last year I’ve been to a Catholic
Latin Mass more often than I have been attended the Orthodox liturgy. Today,
Sunday, 17 December 2006, is, however, my name since I am after the Prophet
Daniel. So I made my way to the liturgy.
I arrived a bit late since I gave a neighbor’s car a jump-start.
I observed the regular rituals upon entering the church; I crossed myself,
kissed the icon set up just inside the door, lit a candle and said a brief
prayer for my wife, my parents and finally myself, picked up the week’s
bulletin, kissed the icon of St. Paul, for whom the church is named and entered
the naïve.
I browsed the bulletin while the priest recited the liturgy
of St. John Chrysostom. That is when
everything seemed to go downhill.
Each week’s bulletin has an icon of a saint. This week’s
bulletin had the icon of St. Dionysios.
St. Dionysios, I learned is “an unparalleled
example of forgiveness”. The example of St. Dionysios’s forgiveness read as
follows:
“St. Dionysios … remained [the Bishop of Aegina] for many
years before returning to a monastery on [his] beloved island of Zakynthos.
One evening, a desperate man showed up at the monastery gate, pleading with
Dionysios to hear his confession. He confessed to committing murder and was now
being pursued by his victim’s family. Dionysios agreed to give him refuge, but
soon learned that the murdered man was HIS OWN BROHER! Despite being saddened
by his own personal loss, Dionysios followed Christ’s example: after instructing
the man in the necessity for repentance, he forgave him of his terrible sin.”
So far so good. Dionysios showed great Christian mercy and
strength hearing the man’s confession and forgiving him in Christ’s name even
after learning that the victim was Dionysios’ own brother. Furthermore, I have
no problem giving a man, who committed a terrible crime, refuge from a lynch
mob. Protection should be provided such that justice (or what passed for
justice in the 16th century) could be properly executed. The
description of Dionysios continued:
“[Dionysios] continued to protect his brother’s killer,
going so far as to send the authorities in the opposite direction of the man’s
escape route.”
WHAT!?! This I just do not understand. Is this what
Christian forgiveness is supposed to be? Are Christians to forgive murderers to
such an extent that one will even disrupt the wheels of justice and prevent the
proper authorities from executing their sworn duty? This is what I’m supposed
to emulate and look up to as “an unparalleled example of forgiveness?” What
came to mind as I read that last sentence was, ‘If this were done today this ‘saint’
would be guilty of harboring a fugitive and obstruction of justice. What’s so
Christian about that?’
I often hear that Christians are to be ‘in but not of the
world’. Isn’t this taking that exhortation just a bit too far?
I have often felt the urge to leave the Orthodox church. As
noted above, I’ve attended more Catholic Masses than I have Orthodox liturgies in
the past year. Honoring a man who would hide a murderer from those appointed to
find and bring him to justice is just one more reason to leave Orthodoxy for Catholicism.
I do not think that, upon hearing the confession, Dionysios
should have handed the man over and, with what the murderer confessed, acted as
the prosecution’s star witness. No priest should be called to give witness to
what was said in the confessional. On the other hand, no priest has the right
to prevent the authorities from doing their job. If Dionysios had emphasized repentance
as much as forgiveness, he would have allowed the murderer to be taken, tried,
judged and punished. His Christian forgiveness would still stand AND justice
would have been served. Instead, Dionysios set himself above the authorities
and not only forgive the murderer, but allowed to escape punishment as well.
It seems, in this case at least, that forgiveness took precedence
over repentance.