Ecumenism, Western Rite, Monasticism in America (Q&A with Metropolitan Saba)

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Your Eminence, when can we begin seeing Antiochian monastic communities being established in America?

[00:00:07]>> We started There is a a new new monastiraki.

[00:00:14]A mini mini monastery now in Memphis, Tennessee where Father Paul, who is a Thonite monk, but he is American.

[00:00:25]Uh many years ago he went to Syria and Lebanon to experience the monastic life and then his Beatitude at that time was a an Abbot advised him to go to Athos and to live as a monk there.

[00:00:45]And then he lived for 6 years and was tonsured a monk and came back to America. After I came to the Archdiocese, he accompanied me for 1 year and then we had a land and small buildings with small chapel uh in Memphis, Tennessee. He started 2 years ago there. But at the same time we have a plan uh for a convent for the nuns. Uh we're still waiting uh permission of immigration for three nuns to come from Syria to start monastic life for women.

[00:01:32]So pray for us to have this permission because it is not easy now for the Syrian and Lebanese people.

[00:01:41]>> Your Eminence, what are your thoughts on the future of the Western Rite within the Antiochian Archdiocese and in the Orthodox Church more broadly? Do you see it continuing to grow and what role can it play in helping Western Christians enter into the fullness of the Orthodox faith while remaining faithful to holy tradition. Additionally, what practical steps can clergy and laity take to spread awareness of the Western Rite and help it flourish in the years ahead?

[00:02:07]>> I think I hope first I hope we still grow.

[00:02:13]But growth is in the hand of God.

[00:02:16]Um But I have hope that we will we will.

[00:02:23]If we could overcome our challenges and know well how to face our challenges according to God's will not according to us as people.

[00:02:41]Um I hope when we have time when all the uh Orthodox churches can be one and we live together as one family and one jurisdiction. But this is something as I said many time, it is not in our hands because there are many reasons which tell us that this dream this dream still need more time more time.

[00:03:17]Um the future of Orthodoxy in America uh I think will be uh so positive especially the more we have time the more we have real American minded and way of thinking people uh who are Orthodox and then uh we will see the special flavor of the American Orthodox Church.

[00:03:54]>> Your Eminence, what do you think lady need to improve with when it comes to the church? Either in church or our private lives, and also what are some challenges you notice with Orthodox Christians living in the West versus the Holy Lands in the East?

[00:04:11]>> You mean the difference?

[00:04:15]>> The challenges that you notice, yeah. It says the challenges on here.

[00:04:21]>> And women in the archdiocese here in America are so active in the church.

[00:04:27]And they do many things. They don't feel that they are persecuted.

[00:04:32]Uh but the big challenge in America and everywhere now is this a new way of thinking in some other churches.

[00:04:44]Uh who get this way of thinking uh under the influence of the humanistic movements.

[00:04:54]And uh very secular not uh religious concept of liberty or freedom or freedom.

[00:05:07]The greatest challenge I think is what is the role of the uh of women in the Orthodox Church and maybe more specifically what is the position of women practically practically. Because the challenge as you know now uh some uh call that women should be priests.

[00:05:35]But they they look at priesthood as other like the other business.

[00:05:41]It is not a vocation or something and this need another lecture.

[00:05:47]This is a greatest challenge I I think.

[00:05:52]>> Your Eminence, what is the heresy of ecumenism and how should we respond to those who say they believe in the same God yet are outside of the church?

[00:06:00]>> Look, first I don't like this word the heresy of ecumenism.

[00:06:05]Uh, but let me explain why.

[00:06:09]Ecumenism as a movement that the whole Orthodox uh the whole Christian people to meet with each other, talk with each other, know each other as they are.

[00:06:23]I know the Catholic and the Protestant not as I know about them, but as I know them. The more I know them in person, the more I know how they think, how they live, how they believe.

[00:06:39]In this understanding to meet with each other is good thing.

[00:06:47]But I know that many now call ecumenism movement uh a heresy as heresy.

[00:06:55]Um maybe they are right because of the many different and the strange concepts we have now about many things.

[00:07:09]And uh the ecumenism movement also started in different way of what it is now.

[00:07:22]Now it has different goals, different aims.

[00:07:28]Um so many many people are afraid of it and they don't like it, they refuse it. To to give one change in the beginning the hope and the dream was so strong to look for the common things between each other, among each other as a Christian.

[00:07:54]And the unity was a great goal of the ecumenism at in the beginning.

[00:08:02]But later we started hear that we cannot uh have one faith, one dogma, one vision. So, let us talk about how we are one in diversity.

[00:08:23]But this in diversity is very wide.

[00:08:28]Each one means something.

[00:08:31]So, you cannot condemn the people who hear from here or there that there are many dangerous thing, many things which are heretical, heretic.

[00:08:51]So, um this is my vision toward the ecumenism. And in one of my visits to one of the monasteries, strict monasteries, uh we were talking about some uh ideas of uh ecumenism.

[00:09:13]Uh the monk told me a story um from the Holy Mountain of about one of the elders, the greatest elders.

[00:09:24]I told him I know this a story, Father, but please when you are asked about ecumenism and you um answer the people who ask you please try to explain to them the difference between ecumenical institutions and to live in one area and we have meeting with each other, we say hello to each other, we discuss one common problem with each other.

[00:10:06]Because when they hear that this great word heretic very harmful, something from the Satan and and etc. The normal people, the uh faithful who don't who are not so uh deep and in theology and in in the ecumenical uh relationships, they understand if their priest had a cup of coffee with the minister of the same area to discuss about something they are ecumenical people.

[00:10:47]So so he looked at me, told me I didn't mention about that before.

[00:10:53]Thank you, Sayidna.

[00:10:55]Because you tell me you're right.

[00:10:59]So uh it is so wide uh thing. Ecumenism so wide. Uh when we talk, I think we need to have one definition about the ecumenism we mean to talk about it and and to say what our opinion is.

[00:11:21]>> Your Eminence, where can we draw the line when it comes to praying with non-Orthodox Christians?

[00:11:28]>> You mean to pray together?

[00:11:30]>> Yes.

[00:11:31]>> There is two currents in the Orthodox Church.

[00:11:36]One is uh maybe open so much or too much.

[00:11:44]And they say we can participate in the all the prayer services, whatever they are.

[00:11:54]And another one which is so closed and closed too much. Refuse to say one word, "Oh Lord, have mercy on us." with the other who is non-Orthodox.

[00:12:11]I think the both are wrong.

[00:12:15]We need to be in in the middle.

[00:12:18]As we believe according to our holy fathers, the virtue is virtue is the middle between two extremes.

[00:12:29]Uh so, of course, uh we cannot pray together sacramentally.

[00:12:35]We cannot have the Holy Communion with each other uh with each other. But uh if there is uh a reason, urgent incident, urgent uh catastrophic thing to pray together, we pray to uh God, I think there is no problem.

[00:13:01]I know many people will uh be angry and upset of that, but this is what the Orthodox Church do now.

[00:13:10]We cannot be out of our uh church and at the same time uh we are in the church.

[00:13:19]Uh uh but, of course, we can correct, we can say uh what we believe in we should observe because even we are in the church, the bishops, the priests, even the faithful do sometimes some mistakes. It is good that the others too uh admonish us advise us to to tell us their their viewpoint.

[00:13:51]But do not be so strict and we are not ready to say Lord have mercy with the other people.

[00:13:59]It is too much. I think it is not according to the gospel.

[00:14:05]>> Your Eminence, what is the Orthodox position on the validity or invalidity of heterodox sacraments? Are they channels of grace and how does this pertain to those in the church who believe that rebaptism should be the universal form of reception for converts?

[00:14:23]>> Join us on the church teaching and practice.

[00:14:30]Mhm.

[00:14:31]Until now is to a chrismate who are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity.

[00:14:46]I understand now this rigidity we have not just in the Orthodox Church, in all the churches, but specially in the Orthodox Church because of many reasons.

[00:15:03]Uh this rigidity because many who were called churches now are so different of what they were.

[00:15:16]And Orthodox people cannot understand this change and this uh sometime you feel that you you deny Christ and Christian faith.

[00:15:31]For this reason we have this current in the Orthodox Church now which ask to rebaptize everyone to say that they have no grace and whatever.

[00:15:44]The practice and the teaching of the Orthodox Church is as I said until now and we don't judge or we don't we don't give absolute decision that this church or this group has no grace. This belong to God not to us.

[00:16:08]We know that the fully grace is in our church.

[00:16:13]And after that if we say about the others, I think we interfere what is the affairs of God not our affairs.

[00:16:25]This is not our business.

[00:16:28]But we know that the full of grace is in our church and this is good for us. I was reading the last week a book about St. Evmenios. St. Evmenios was a very simple monk and not educated at all but he was sent.

[00:16:47]His his love is marvelous. Really.

[00:16:51]One of the question the father interviewer asked about the heretic.

[00:16:59]How do they will be in hell?

[00:17:04]Do you believe that they will be in hell? He told him he answered I believe if I do according to my orthodoxy I will be saved if I will be do according with my orthodoxy. But, I don't know God how God will deal with others.

[00:17:32]It is not my business.

[00:17:34]He is a saint also.

[00:17:37]Yeah? And he is a holy father also.

[00:17:43]>> Your Eminence, what are some words of wisdom for people who are thinking of making Orthodox Christian content online, be it teaching Orthodoxy, sharing Bible verses, quotes and lives of the saints, and more?

[00:17:57]>> I advise them to pray before they do anything and they put anything and they ask They ask They should not do anything by themselves.

[00:18:16]I'm so sensitive and aware of our self-will because we know all the deviation, all the heretic all the problem the church has and had came because we want to do our will.

[00:18:42]So, the more we live in the living body of Christ the monk we become humble and we learn what obedience mean and how I can deny myself and my will to do his will.

[00:19:02]>> Master bless ROCOR's Holy Synod announced the plan to move forward with the canonization of Father Seraphim Rose.

[00:19:09]Does the Antiochian Church have any plans to put together a committee to explore the possible canonization for Father Seraphim? Or how does that all work once another jurisdiction has moved forward with considering him a saint?

[00:19:22]Any insight you might have in how the Greeks might go about it, too, would be very interesting and helpful. Thank you.

[00:19:27]>> No, as I know from ROCOR Church that ROCOR Council, the last council in Germany, was not canonized Seraphim Rose yet.

[00:19:40]But he adopted a plan for his canonization.

[00:19:47]To be accurate, this what I know from ROCOR Church.

[00:19:51]Um but if the Antiochian Church recognize him after his canonization by ROCOR, this is not an Orthodox question because all the Orthodox churches recognize anyone is canonized as a saint in other Orthodox jurisdiction, which is legal.

[00:20:16]So, we don't need to have another recognition.

[00:20:19]So, when any patriarchate or legal jurisdiction belong to patriarchate uh canonize any saint, he is saint in the whole Orthodox Church.

[00:20:36]>> Last question here.

[00:20:38]Question from the Orthodox of America team. If you had to give one message to every Orthodox Christian living in America, what would it be?

[00:20:49]>> My advice that I hope uh they read the new contemporary Orthodox saints teaching like Saint Silouan, Saint Porphyrios, Saint Paisios of Athos, and whatever whatever.

[00:21:12]And I advise them before they read the Holy Fathers, they pray to the Holy Spirit to inspire them to understand the teachings of the Holy Fathers and to give them the minds of the Holy Fathers to be able to know what the Holy Fathers really teach and mean and mean.

[00:21:47]>> Thank you so much, Your Eminence.

[00:21:49]>> Thank you, Jonathan. God bless you.