“O faithful, let us acclaim the lover of the Trinity, great Maximos who taught the God-inspired Faith, that Christ is to be glorified in two natures, wills and energies: and let us cry to him: Rejoice, O herald of the Faith.” – Kontakion to St. Maximus the Confessor
Would the Oriental Orthodox, also called Old Oriental Churches who prefer to be called “Miaphysite” and even “non Chalcedonian”, would they be considered in full Orthodox favor? Are any of them among the Society?
The Monophysites [“one-nature”] cannot be Orthodox, because they deny the fullness of Christ’s two natures, which is necessary for the union of man and God (salvation/theosis) – without either the destruction of one or failure to distinguish the other. The “non-Chalcedonians” cannot be Orthodox, because the Orthodox Church is the Church of the Seven Councils, which Councils are infallible, or else the promise of Christ that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth is null, and there would need to be another Pentecost, indeed another Incarnation – in fact all the words of Christ would be untrue and our Faith vain. So while that’s possible, hypothetically, it would make being a “non-Chalcedonian Christian” equally vain. In short, nothing less is at stake than the possibility of the union of man and God, the existence of the Church as a means of that union, and ultimately there being any meaning to anything. All else is a path to [ nihilism ] – winding, sometimes, but nonetheless effective.
Currently, no heterodox are members of the society.
I would agree of course as being an Anglican rector (both Chalcendonian and Trinitarian) myself. I just wondered what the Orthodox make of this situation. Thanks. It is to be noted however, that Rome..RCC, has had some kind of moderate agreement with the these people.