Charity, Altruism and the Siren-Song of False Ecumenism

How It Was

Czeslaw Milosz

Stalking a deer I wandered deep into the mountains and from there

I saw.

Or perhaps it was for some other reason that I rose above the setting

sun.

Above the hills of blackwood and a slab of ocean and the steps of a

glacier, carmine-colored in the dusk.

I saw absence; the mighty power of counter-fulfillment; the penalty of a

promise lost for ever.

If, in tepees of plywood, tire shreds and grimy sheet iron, ancient inhabit-

ants of this land shook their rattles, it was all in vain.

No eagle-creator circled in the air from which the thunderbolt of its

glory had been cast out.

Protective spirits hid themselves in subterranean beds of bubbling ore,

jolting the surface from time to time so that the fabric of freeways was

bursting asunder.

God the Father didn't walk about any longer tending the new shoots of

a cedar, no longer did man hear his rushing spirit.

His son did not know his sonship and turned his eyes away when passing

by a neon cross flat as a movie screen showing a striptease.

This time it was really the end of the Old and New Testament.

No one implored, everyone picked up a nodule of agate or diorite to

whisper in loneliness: I cannot live any longer.

Bearded messengers in bead necklaces founded clandestine communes

in imperial cities and in ports overseas.

But none of them announced the birth of a child-savior.

Soldiers from expeditions sent to punish nations would go disguised

and masked to take part in forbidden rites, not looking for any hope.

They inhaled smoke soothing all memory and, rocking from side to side,

shared with each other a word of nameless union.

Carved in black wood the Wheel of Eternal Return stood before the

tents of wandering monastic orders.

And those who longed for the Kingdom took refuge like me in the

mountains to become the last heirs of a dishonored myth.

* * *

Milosz’s last stanza is haunting to me, yet I think it aptly captures what the fate of the Church in the world must be: we are the heirs of a dishonored myth. And this is not merely a historical statement, as in “we have become the last heirs of a dishonored myth.” The truth is that we have always been the heirs of a dishonored myth. For broad is the path that leads to destruction, and many take it, but narrow is the path that leads to life, and few find it. On earth we have no abiding city, for we are looking forward to the city which is to come.

I suppose this post falls in the category of “talking ‘til I’m blue in the face” about a minor doctrinal issue, while the real, important issue -- namely, good works -- falls by the wayside. If only Athanasius would have realized that the Deity of Christ was a minor doctrinal issue and encouraged the Christians to join hands with the Arians at a local soup kitchen. Who cares if the Arians were heretics? They were sincere in what they believed -- “people of good will,” if I may be so bold as to say. What prevents Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists of good will from joining the party? Apparently the Church’s original confession of Christ as Lord is negligible compared to one’s works. In fact, a charitable Muslim is probably more of a disciple of Christ than a crabby Christian. The Buddhists are an irenic sort; they might even chant “Christ is Lord” right along with us. As long as this is left sufficiently vague, adequately devoid of confessional content, it shouldn’t be a problem. Just rally round a diluted confession that everyone can agree on, and then pat yourself on the back for expressing the visible unity of the “Church.” Don’t pay attention to the minor doctrinal disputes such as the nature of the Holy Eucharist -- you know, the Medicine of Immortality? Don’t concern yourself with such piddling details as whether or not it really is the flesh and blood of the Second Person of the Trinity. As long as we agree that “it’s important,” we can move on. And synergism! A mere trifle, really.

While the above is obviously a satire of the position put forth by Byrthnoth in “Genotype and Phenotype,” it is intended to make a serious point. For those of you offended by satire, sarcasm, et alia, my apologies. It’s a legitimate polemical technique.

I don’t know what the “charitable scene is,” but I am pretty sure that whatever goes on there (and, to quote Gertrude Stein, I’m not sure that there is a “there” there on this one) is not going to make a hill of beans worth of difference in the imaginary Index of Christian Unity. The first, most obvious problem with speaking of a “charitable scene” is the partitioning off of good works from the ordinary world of men’s vocations. Are you a dentist? Do your job well, and gladly serve your neighbor through your vocation. Your work is a divine ministry. You need not put down your fluoride trays and tools and go to South America. You may. But it doesn’t matter if you choose to serve your neighbor in your dental office, cleaning his children’s teeth and advising him and his family on oral hygiene. In fact, it may be better if you don’t go on a missionary trip. There is a strong likelihood that that is the case, in fact. But this is all hypothetical. For a far better treatment of this issue than I am giving, or ever could give, see Lewis’s essay “Good Work and Good Works,” in The World’s Last Night.

“Oddly, churches that have disagreed on whether or not to condone abortion or even the uniqueness of Christ have been able to agree that ‘all people of good will’ ought join hands in acts of Charity.”

Is this sarcasm? I don’t find this odd at all. I’ll go ahead and say it -- if you condone abortion or believe that Christ is not true God and true Man, you’re not a Christian. The Christian is not free to call God a liar, and to do either of those things is to do precisely that. It is no surprise that all people of good will” join hands in acts of “charity.” However, they aren’t acts of charity if it’s just “all people of good will” doing them. The supposedly good works of the “pagan of good will” are damnable, execrable sins -- “filthy rags,” St. Paul calls them in his Epistle to the Romans. Yes, good may come of them -- God uses all things and works them all together for good -- but the works themselves are the opposite of virtuous. Do not call it charity; call it altruism -- which the nineteenth century positivist philosopher Auguste Comte defined as “brotherhood without a father.” This was not an epithet; Comte thought this a good thing. In any case, it couldn’t be farther away from “Christendom.”

“We’re more popular than Jesus,” John Lennon famously said in 1966. He was, of course, entirely correct. Yes, the man who wrote “Come Together” smugly acknowledged that he and his fellows were the purveyors of a new, wildly popular social gospel. Come together, right now, over me. Look at me. Rally around me. Humanity. The People. Shiny happy people holding hands. Come together: it’s an altruistic mantra.

Really? Is this what we’re called to?

“[W]e should take note that the only time denominations come together in one place and join together to act like one church may currently be the charitable scene, and this, perhaps, may be a better starting place for a visibly united Christendom than political states forming war and peace agreements.”

I would submit that the opposite is true: when “denominations come together in one place and join together to act like one church,” there is no other time when they are less the Church. Such falsely ecumenical posturing is not only vain, it is dangerous. It enlists the faithful in the construction of more and more Towers of Babel. More shameless question-begging follows with the assumption that anyone is seeking a “better starting place” for bringing about a “visibly united Christendom.” This is an incredibly vain proposition.

You want a visibly united Christendom? Go to Church and take the Eucharist. In the same way that each communicant receives the whole Body of Christ in the host, so also the whole Body of Christ gathers to partake of the Sacrament. The whole Church is mysteriously present wherever and whenever the Word is truly preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered. It is indeed truly ironic that Byrthnoth mentioned the Eucharist as something which amounts to an impediment to “a visibly united Christendom” -- it is actually the beating heart of anything even approximating “a visibly united Christendom.”

Now, I can imagine that a Pentecostal, a Methodist or any other Protestant who does not confess the apostolic doctrine concerning the Eucharist would resonate with Byrthnoth’s position, as it basically assumes that “what happens...concerning both the elements and the recipient” is really not of paramount importance (if my position has not been evident thus far, it is that “what happens...concerning both the elements and the recipient” is of paramount importance). I don’t think it would resonate with many Lutherans, Roman Catholics, or Eastern Orthodox.

I mainly just wanted to share the Milosz poem. I’d welcome any thoughts in response to what I’ve said.