PNEUMATOLOGY IN ORTHODOX EGYPT

AN OPEN LETTER

Dear Mina,

Grace and peace be unto you from our Father God and His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. 

Last time, we had just started discussing the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) but we barely said anything.  I want you to be well aware that the Holy Spirit is the Lord God in the Church, from Pentecost on until the second coming of Jesus Christ for judgment.  The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is concentrated in the New Testament in the Gospel of John, known as the paraclete 14-16.  The Old Testament too shows you how the Holy Spirit worked through the prophets for uttering oracles, performing miracles and signs, and filling certain people to accomplish specific tasks (Ex 30). The Book of Acts is a live contextualization of Pneumatology in the vibrant life of the first church; the Pauline and general epistles are examples of how the apostles contextualized the gospel to various people, in different cultures.

Pneumatology in Egypt, as a Majority World Country, is different in many ways from Western Pneumatology.  Egypt is the country that St. Mark, the Evangelist, evangelized, founded the first church, and ordained bishops and priests to minister the gospel.  He died as a martyr and his blood covered the city of Alexandria as well as many Christians were martyred.  Pope Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 AD), the Apostolic, is the 20^th Pope who defended the Christian faith against Arianism, and is a renowned theologian and apologetic. Then the church in Constantinople got divided between east and west as a result of many ecumenical disagreements, which is not my issue of concern here.  Unlike the Western Church, Egypt was conquered by Islamic invasion in the sixth century and the Coptics (Christian Egyptians) were severely persecuted and oppressed and this very persecution revived the faith.  My point is, Egypt kept the pure Christian faith that St. Mark brought to Egypt.  When the Church in Europe passed through the dark ages of the medieval times, the Christian faith in Egypt was vibrant and the monastic life was flourishing, being confirmed with miracles, signs, and wonders. Though Egypt is a Majority World Country that holds to the authority of Scriptures; is morally and ethically conservative, orthodox, and traditionalist; is sensitive to issues of poverty and social justice; is “experienced in articulating the uniqueness of the gospel in the midst of religious pluralism;” and grasps the corporate and individualistic dimension of the New Testament teachings (TT, 15), it is different from other MWC in terms of church history and a seven-thousand year old culture.

The Orthodox Church is a 2,000-year old church, well entrenched in the fabric and conscience of the Coptic people as opposed to the 200-year old Evangelical Church.  The Catholic Church exists in Egypt and the Charismatic Catholics are on the rise.  Despite the fact that pneumatology is different between the three denominations, the work of God, the Holy Spirit, is the same; God knows no partiality or favoritism.  The difference resides in the contextualized pneumatology.  The Coptic Orthodox Church believes that by baptizing through water immersion and anointing babies, children, or adults with the holy chrism, the Holy Spirit has indwelt them; it does not acknowledge the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or a second blessing, or speaking in tongues. However, it is a vibrant missionary Church that has spread all over the world, and God confirms its ministry with miracles of healing and casting out demons, through the mediation of saints. It is a highly mystic church and venerates the cloud of witness and the victorious heavenly Church, and considers them partners in ministry to whom she refers for help and assistance. Ministers get filled with the Holy Spirit without knowing or realizing because of the lack of teaching; however, this does not stop the Holy Spirit from filling them and using them with power, being confirmed by spiritual gifts.

Orthodox and Catholics practice the sacraments; Charismatic Catholics have a vibrant spirit-filled worship and openness to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Protestants have many sub-divisions but they all share the reformation principles—only scripture, only grace, only faith, only Christ, and ecclesiology; only one mega-church is active on the ground and rely mainly on media evangelism, block parties, and outreaches. The market of faith is open; and like Latin America, the Catholics that shed the Catholic faith to convert to Protestantism were stigmatized and socially ostracized.  Coptic Orthodox too who shed their faith were socially outcast and treated as traitors and non-believers who lost their salvation; this stigma remains the same for Protestants who shed their evangelical identity. But as the Charismatic Catholics and Protestants are flourishing, the Orthodox Church too is flourishing in evangelistic outreaches, home visit campaigns, and media evangelism. The presence of competitors in the faith market made the Orthodox Church a better Church, expanding the pastoral ministry, anointing and ordaining bishops, priests, and deacons for the work of ministry, unleashing laity to witness, making church revivals, ministering to addicts, establishing pastoral counseling, and building hospitals and schools. But is this the revival God wants? This is a realistic contextualization of the gospel of God’s love and care in society, in ways that serve people’s lives to be transformed towards spiritual rebirth and conversion.  But is this all? Isn’t there something missing? What is missing is the “Charismatic Orthodox;” just as Catholicism was emancipated through the Charismatic lay movement, the next move of the Holy Spirit targets the Eastern Orthodox Church to give it a Pentecostal Renewed Experience. God will teach the Popes, Bishops and Priests that He is still alive; He has not changed; He is the Lord in the Church; He is the Pentecostal God who poured His Holy Spirit to empower the Church with spiritual gifts for the work of ministry, including speaking in tongues, healing miracles, casting out demons, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, raising the dead, among others. There is much more in God’s heart for the Church than the present situation; there is a Pentecostal Wind coming over Eastern Orthodoxy.

Dear Mina! Be wherever the Holy Spirit guides you to be; wherever you have a calling to fulfill; just hold on to the Word of God and the continuity of life by/in the Holy Spirit.  The Bible will teach you the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; you need to befriend the Holy Spirit for He is now the Lord God in the Church. Make sure not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit but always kindle it through the means of grace—word of God/teaching, fellowship, communion, prayer/worship (Acts 4).  Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you to all the fullness of Christ Jesus, to all the fullness of God. Be open and do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit; obey Him no matter what; and live a radical life of discipleship.

One final word, view the Great Commission not as a divine command to be obeyed but as “the living Christ who went before the disciples and the Holy Spirit who bore witness to Christ through them. The Holy Spirit is continuing to extend the presence and power of the resurrected Christ through the witness of the church” (TT, 184).  Connect Christology to Pneumatology to be effective in ministry/mission (TT, 184).   The Great Commission is no longer an ethical command but “personified by the missionary’s Spirit indwelling presence” (TT, 184).   It is the Missionary God who indwells you, anoints you, empowers you, and sends you out with the good news of the gospel confirming the Word with miracles of healing and deliverance, with signs and wonders.

As the Holy Spirit fills you, be ready to go on missions as He will unleash you for evangelistic outreaches and confirm the Word with miracles and signs.  Infilling of the Holy Spirit, called Pentecostal experience or baptism of the Holy Spirit, could be accompanied with speaking in tongues or not; do not be afraid, just be open to receive what God bestows on you. Don’t put God in doctrinal molds for God is infinite and creative; I do not relegate the biblical doctrine but just be open to receive what God has in store for you and for His church through you.

Be blessed in Christ Jesus with all spiritual blessings; hold on to the Word of God and to the means of grace; remain a prisoner in Christ’s love and faith and a witness to God’s love in the Cross of His beloved Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Your sister in Christ Jesus.

HebatAllah

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tennent, Timothy C.  “Pneumatology:  the Holy Spirit in Latin American Pentecostalism.” Theology in the Context of World Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan, 2007.