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Fem klargörande citat om den missbrukade termen "kanonisk"

Ingen term är och har de senaste 100 åren varit så missbrukad som termen "kanonisk" i den Ortodoxa kyrkan. Nedan har vi därför samlat fem klargörande citat från olika teologer, som kan sätta termen i rätt perspektiv.

“…A church can only claim to be the one Church of Christ if it holds no more and no less than the faith defined by the Church through councils which were judged to be councils of the whole Church.  …The members of the one Church of Christ must be in sacramental communion with each other although that communion may be broken from time to time, as it is, by non-dogmatic considerations.”  -(Upon This Rock: Doctrine, Dogma and Church Authority, 2002, David Dale, Regina Orthodox Press, Salisbury , MA )

“They that are of the Church of Christ are they that are of the truth; and they that are not of the truth are not of the Church of Christ … for we are reminded that we are to distinguish Christianity not by persons who have ecclesiastical titles, but by the truth and by the exactness of the Faith.”  -(St. Gregory Palamas, 1296-1359)

“In all this controversy, one should also note the lack of correspondence between spiritual content and canonical forms…  Authentic church life may be present yet still ignored or mislabeled.  Conversely, authentic spiritual life may be absent yet canonical recognition be extended.  …in fact we are ignoring the real source of the canonical reality in favor of empty names, claims and titles.  Should we not instead discuss real issues, however painful this may be?  Do we care enough - love enough - to take upon ourselves this cross of truth?  We Orthodox Christians may value the many traditions we have inherited from our forefathers, but our ultimate point of reference must be the apostolic Tradition, the faith handed down from the apostles.”  -(The Challenge of Our Past: Studies in Orthodox Canon Law and Church History, 1991, Prof. John H. Erickson, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY.)

“Of course, faithfulness to the truth of the Great Tradition, not organizational continuity, is what counts most.”  -(Prof. Bradley Nassif, Biblical & Theological Studies at North Park University , and member of the Antiochian Orthodox Church: Will the 21st Be the Orthodox Century?, Christianity Today magazine, December 2006)

“There is no such thing, of course, as ‘canonical’ Orthodox jurisdiction, despite the fact that this kind of terminology has crept into our ecclesiastical vocabulary from the West.  Nor are there ‘official’ Orthodox Churches, a category produced by the contemporary ecumenical movement.  Were this so … we would have to concede that the Cappadocian Fathers, the Studite monks, and the Palestine Hesychasts were in some way ‘quasi-canonical’ and ‘un-official.’”  -(Archbishop Chrysostomos of Enta, Review of The Price of Prophecy by Fr. Alexander Webster, Orthodox Tradition, Vol. 14]