Do all Religions Have the Same Heavenly Father?
“WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS” Are we?
First in Jerusalem (May 27, 2014), and more recently in Rome (June 8, 2014), Patriarch Bartholomew hammers the message of universal brotherhood with intra-Christian and interfaith prayer services (which according to the canons of the Orthodox Church are prohibited) and with statements and declarations to that effect.
Back on Nov. 2, 2009 in an interview Patriarch Bartholomew had given to Charlie Rose (view the video below) he had stated: “We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” Charlie interrupted the Patriarch: “All religions have the same heavenly Father?” “Of course,” was the Patriarch’s reply, adding: “God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”
Although the two statements (everyone believes in the same God; and, we are all his children) appear to be self-proclaimed truths, for us Orthodox Christians (and to me, as I understand my faith), they are erroneous, outrageous and totally unacceptable. If the Patriarch is correct what meaning do the words, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no Savior” (Is. 43:10b-11)? What is he thinking of when he recites the following words in the divine Liturgy (our main worship service): “You are our God, beside You we know of no other [God]” and in the final benediction of the same service, “May Christ our true God… save us…”?
No. It’s not a matter of a name (God, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Supreme Being, the Power), so that it doesn’t matter what we call Him, as long as we call upon Him. No. Not so! Our God is Christ: “This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:20-21). Outside of Christ every other “god” is an idol.
As far as all of us being children of God, clearly we are all God’s creation, but not His offspring. Our heavenly Father has only one Child: Jesus Christ. However, we all have the potentiality to become His children (by adoption): “To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Therefore, unless we belong to Christ’s family (cf. Heb. 3:6), the Church, we are not His children.
In the early Church the Lord’s Prayer was not revealed to the Catechumens until immediately before their baptism, because no one that was not baptized could presume to say, “our Father who art in heaven,” not having yet received the gift of adoption. The Lord’s Prayer is introduced in the Divine Liturgy with the words, “and make us worthy, Master, with boldness and without fear of condemnation, to dare call You, the heavenly God, Father, and to say, ‘Our Father…’” Only those who have been united with Christ, God’s only Son, can call God “Father.”
Sorry, your All Holiness: this is the faith of the Orthodox Christian people, and one would expect our Patriarch to be a leader “who rightly teaches the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), not one who betrays it.
Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis
Discussion — 8 Responses
source: www.orthodoxwitness.org/do-all-religions-have-the-same-heavenly-father/
Oksana Ensslen ·
I cannot agree with this statement. God is God, is the Holy Sprit ( which is everywhere and of whom all things are made), and is the Son, our lord Jesus Christ. The name we use is completely secondary to our understanding and worship. We are all as children of this awesome, unknowable, immeasurable being. Our earthly understanding is only of value to us. We are blessed in having a connection to the divine. Our reliance on books, ritual and all other things are of no immeasurable significance to the divine and we need to accept our limited state. To deny that other traditions are not also attempts to gain grace and understanding is to my thinking presumptuous. Let us praise the Lord,our God, with our hearts, our souls and our lives. Let us not prevent the little children from coming to him
Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis Oksana Ensslen ·
Dear Oksana, in disagreeing it would be nice to put forth your reasons and state your arguments. But you put forward none, other than sweeping the Christian faith to the side. It’s your choice to follow or not to follow Christ. We Christians trust in Him.
God has only one Son, one Child. This Son became a human being. By doing so He gave the opportunity to all those who share His humanity to be united in Him, and in becoming one with Him become God’s children.
All of us are called to become God’s children. His children, however, become only those who accept Him, are baptized in Him, believe in Him, and live His life.
Being born as a human does not make you a child of God; it makes you a creation of God. In order to become His child you must be reborn, i.e. receive the baptism of water and the Spirit (see John 3:5). “For all who are led by the Spirit of God [the Spirit of Christ] are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). Still, one more thing is required: “…we are children of God…provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17).
Yes, we are all children of God, but through faith in Jesus Christ: “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:26-21).
You, dear Oksana, choose to directly oppose these words when you say that relying on books (like the holy scripture) and ritual (like baptism) and other things (like faith and tradition) are insignificant. They may be to you. But to me, and to all Christians, are not.
We become children of God through adoption (see Gal. 4:5), only through faith in Jesus Christ, not through birth. In this life “we wait for adoption as sons” (Rom. 8:23).
Justina Oksana Ensslen ·
” the Holy Sprit ( which is everywhere and of whom all things are made),” aside from anything else this right off the bat is serious error. you are saying “of whom all things are made” as if any creature is of same substance as God. This is wrong. This is pantheism. This is not what is said in the prayer, it says “Who is everywhere present and fillest [or sustainest, maintains] all things.”
There is nothing in Orthodoxy that promotes the idea that anything was made out of God, God made all out of nothing by His Word, by His divine fiat ‘let it be so” let there be light, let the dry land arise out of the water, let the earth bring forth plants, etc. etc.
that another tradition might be an ATTEMPT to gain grace is not the issue. The point is, do they succeed at all?
Justina Oksana Ensslen ·
“To deny that other traditions are not also attempts to gain grace and understanding ” the operative word there is ATTEMPTS. you
can attempt to do something and not accomplish it. especially if you
use the wrong approach or wrong tools, or think that the road you
are on leads to the top of Mt. Everest when it is a dead end and it is
another trail that leads to the top (I think there is something like this.)
Nikola ·
Oksana, I respectfully disagree with your views. Firstly Nicene Creed states ” And in One Lord Jesus Christ…through Whom all things are made”. Secondly the name of God is absolutely of PRIME importance, as God, our Heavenly Father has revealed certain things to us. God has revealed (Himself) to us, Jesus Christ, the Son of God “Who is one with the Father” and “Who is full of Grace and Holy Spirit” He is our God Incarnate in Whom ONLY we Orthodox Christians believe. I wholeheartedly, for what is worth, agree with Fr. Emmanuel and his assessment on Patriarch Bartholomew’s interview.
Nicholas Pantelopoulos ·
To be precise, from an Orthodox perspective, we must agree that all beings have the same origin or cause or Creator. Ultimately, this is what is meant. The Patriarch is certainly not ignorant of the fact that each religion has its own human definition or view of God. These individual views of course are sometimes contradictory and even entirely opposed. Also, some of this understanding is based on a low level “Divine revelation”, which early apologists referred to as seminal cause (σπερματικός λόγος), some is purely based on philosophical speculation, some is culturally and linguistically influenced, and some finally is purely imaginary. There is always some overlap and influence. The Orthodox view is based on the experience (revelation) of the prophets and the Saints, and of above all the spoken word of the Son and Logos of God, Jesus Christ. I think that the Patriarch’s statement on religions have the same Heavenly Father is clearly what he means. When the Church encounters the faiths of other people, the first is to establish rapport, by saying that we Christians believe that all human beings have the same Heavenly Father or Creator. We can then become more specific depending on the level of receptiveness. We can only speak in a manner that we are understood. If we are called or challenged to witness our faith, only then things are different. We have to make the distinction between giving witness (martyria), and kerygma. They are not the same. As Christ said the apostles, do not disperse the pearls so that they can be trampled upon by human senselessness. This was the practice of early Christians, in a hostile world.
Caj Ilotuuli · 9 months ago
Thank You Fr Emmanuel !
What are the other Patriarch’s saying ?
So far I understand this words from Patriarch Bartholomew is an heresy .
http://cajanj.blogspot.se/