“The order is rapidly fadin’ / and the first one now will later be last / For the times they are a changin’....” (The Times They Are A Changin’ Bob Dylan, 1963)
I’m told that at the Diocesan Assembly of the South this year, the 300+ delegates were asked to rise if they had been baptized Orthodox Christian at birth. Only ten members from the clergy and laity stood. What a glorious celebration! The Holy Spirit is alive. Here in the United States of America, of the first-born on the continent, our beloved Church has hemorrhaged uncounted thousands of our ethnics, nearly all having been baptized into the faith, brought by parents to the sacred services, having once recited morning and evening prayers in the tongues of their ancestors. Now long gone. For a variety of reasons they just drifted away from the Orthodox Church.
Some sociologists say that it takes three generations before normalcy sets into an immigrant family in regard to coming to appreciate their heritage. The immigrants seek out their own in a land that is as foreign to them as they are to the indigenous citizens. They may live and work during the week among those who call the land theirs, struggling to grasp the language and accommodate themselves to the life styles of those who have their roots here; but the weekend is for being with their own. We still find parishes with “Cultural Center” under the name of the church. Their children often shake off the trappings of their parents’ cultural and national identity. Their first language soon is English; they may cut off the foreign tails of their surnames and pass for typical Americans as soon as possible, even at the cost of hurting feelings of their parents. Then it happens that their children become curious about their ethnic roots. They too go through their formative years like their parents, eager to pass as typical Americans; however, later they become curious and search out their ancestry. They may struggle to learn the language of the Old World and even become involved in the Orthodox Christian Church their parents sloughed off in the eagerness to blend in with neighbors and social peers.
Thank the Lord and because of the Lord that process need not be the salvation of the Orthodox Christian Church on this continent. Praise the Lord we have been discovered, like it or resent it. Resent? We see the anti-evangelical spirit in so many of our parishes, even jurisdictions, that would rather cater to the social and ethnic “needs” of the immigrants than to open their doors, arms and hearts to the converts who have been eager to embrace holy Orthodoxy despite the reluctance of those parishes to welcome them. There are now seminary and parish bookstores where one can find out about our beloved faith. The phenomenon of the computer age is another vehicle of learning and understanding Orthodoxy, its doctrines, traditions, history and worship. So much once only available in foreign tongues is translated into English. Praise the Lord as well for the perseverance of those in search of a living, trusted, tried and true faith for the salvation of their souls who would not be put off by an indifferent attitude from those who consider the Orthodox Church something for their own people, not to be shared with the world. If it should be the will of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, the immigrant parishes and those who have a fortress attitude towards preserving the ethnic “purity” of the faith will fade away and play the role suggested by St. John the Baptist: “He must become greater: I must become less” (John 3:30). Transfiguration is a sacred term in the holy gospels, and it’s not a matter of if it will happen; it’s already taking place. Have a look at the roster of our clergy. Priests and deacons are from so many backgrounds that are not traditionally Orthodox, and thank the Lord for that as well, for as in Bob Dylan’s song: “The times they are a-changin.”