Should we seek compromise with a departure from the catholic consensus?
by Joshua Penduck, Psephizo:
In a striking, and near seeming coincidence, at the same time the Bishop of Oxford’s Letter against the Alliance has been published, a new previously undiscovered letter of +Eustathius of Sebaste to Athanasius of Alexander has been brought to light. Eustathius of Sebaste was one of the leaders of the ‘homoiousios’ party, who claimed the Son was of ‘like being’ with the Father, and argued for a moderating position between the Arians and the Nicaeans.
As you can read from the following (possibly due to his contacts in Oxford), it appears that the Bishop of Oxford has based his letter on Eustathius, almost to the point of plagiarism—including the strange formatting at one point: […]
[…]
A Brief Commentary
This recently unearthed letter helps us to see that the supposedly reasonable position of a moderating compromise has always been on the table in moments of crisis. Also, extreme responses to compromise in later years turn out to be the right course of action. After all, the homoiousion party eventually lost ground to the more extreme homoion party, such that eventually the debate was not between rational and reasonable moderation and Nicene obsessiveness over minor details, but radical Arians and fervent Nicaeans.
Unlike some of his colleagues, this commentator does not believe that the issue of the doctrine of marriage is quite at the level of the Nicene debates – though he does believe that it is of vital importance. However, reading the language and proposals of figures like Athanasius to the supposedly moderate Eustathius – such as ordaining bishops in other Dioceses with a homoion or even homoiousion bishop – should give figures like the Bishop of Oxford pause. After all, in comparison to that great saint of Orthodoxy Athanasius and his proposals, the letter of the Alliance is muted and reserved – and quite moderate.
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