This work, subtitled The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church is an invaluable addition to any library of Orthodox materials. It answers clearly and concisely so many of the questions which occur to the Orthodox themselves and to those making enquiries about Orthodoxy: Are the sacraments of the non-Orthodox valid? Do those who are not Orthodox lack any hope of salvation? How should non-Orthodox Christians be received into the Church? etc. And it answers them in a considered and authoritative way, because it consistently refers to the teachings of the Fathers and of the Church herself, and not to opinion or how it must be. Patrick Barnes goes further, and without being contentious he demonstrates the fallacy of so many opinions that are current today within the Orthodox world and which are often presented as teaching although they are largely unfounded. He is not stinting in quoting even those whose opinions he shows to be erroneous. Often in books that have a polemical aspect, one finds that those who are being refuted are hardly given space to express of develop their thought. Barnes avoids this injustice. He also explains how it is that the Orthodox Church firmly believes herself to be the Ark of salvation, but does not therefore assert that those outside her fold, who must in any case be distinguished between those who are culpability [sic] so and those who are not, are devoid of Gods blessings and His love. So much confusion has been caused in the past two or three generations by the spread of views within the Orthodox world that are not the Churchs, but are designed to make her teachings more palatable to the ecumenistic world-view of the present age, that this book comes as a strong and healthy, but compassionate, remedy to these ills. ~Hieromonk Alexis (now Ambrose) Young (From The Shepherd, April, 1999)
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 02:09:36 +0000
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