NORTHWEST DEANERY GATHERS IN PORTLAND FOR RETREAT WITH BISHOP ANTHONY JUNE 14–16, 2021 “Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ Jesus is, there is the catholic church.” – St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Church in Smyrna The clergy of the Pacific Northwest Deanery within the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West gathered together during the after-feast of our Lord’s Ascension from June 14–16. His Eminence, Metropolitan JOSEPH, called for the clergy of the deanery to meet in Portland for a retreat led by His Grace, Bishop ANTHONY of Toledo. Twenty priests and six deacons from the largest deanery within our Archdiocese gathered for three days at St. George Church, coming from Alaska, Utah, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. His Grace gave four talks about the identity, role, and vocation of the priest within the Apostolic Ministry. In his first talk, he gave a broad survey of the development of Western cultural thought over the past millennium that have led to the pervasive modern secularism of today’s culture. Then he laid out how the Orthodox Church views this modern mindset and the errant thought processes that infect our culture, filling it with the pursuit of the carnal and the temporal/worldly. At one point he quoted the Romanian theologian Fr. Demetri Staniloae, who said, “Passions are infinite desires for finite things.” How does the Church respond? His Grace stated plainly: “We cannot follow culture; we must set a subculture that is strong and runs counter to the world.” In session two, Bishop ANTHONY talked about the importance of hierarchy in the Church as found in the Holy Scriptures and liturgical services. Within this hierarchy, he emphasized the importance of priestly obedience to the bishop, because the bishop is within the apostolic succession. He said, “As long as your bishop is not heretical, then 26 September - October 2021
Fr. Matthew Howell
you are obligated to stay within that order of the apostolic presence,” because it is the bishop who is called out from the world just as the Twelve Disciples were chosen by our Lord to be consecrated to the service of God. His Grace taught that through obedience to the bishop, priests preserve the order of the Church in service to Jesus Christ, and ultimately carry out the apostolic ministry to which they are called by the Lord Himself (cf. Romans 1:1–6). In response to a question about how we respond when we think our leaders are failing us, His Grace continued the theme of obedience, reminding the clergy, “You still have to stay within the obedient structure no matter what,” and that “obedience is righteousness” (cf. Romans 6:16). The subculture that runs counter to the world begins with proper order, hierarchy, and obedience within the Church. His Grace also talked about how priests need to ascend to heaven in working out their own salvation through penitence, purification, and perfection, and in so doing they will take their people with them, rising above the sinful gravity of the passions. “Unless I’m heavenly minded, I’m no earthly good,” said His Grace, quoting an anonymous saying he grew up hearing. Session three focused more on the apostolic ministry, specifically as found in the Sermon on the Mount, in Christ’s High Priestly Prayer found in John 14–17, and in the rest of the Gospels. “The Gospels are a manual for apostolic ministry,” he said. Connected to this, he also presented a teaching on the Mystical Marriage of Christ the Bridegroom to His Bride, the Church. This led to a very edifying discussion with the clergy about the sacramental role of the bishops and priests, and the way in which these sacramental functions relate to the identity of clergy, especially in contrast to the gender identity issues that are being wrestled with in our culture. Ultimately for clergy, when the bishop serves the Liturgy in the presence of the priests and deacons, it
