We haven't forgotten that, we are very much aware that the Anglican communion exists outside of North America, and very much aware of the heresies and immorality being taught and practiced by those outside of North America as well.
guys, look, at one time, the Church in England was Orthodox and in communion with the Church. Not anymore
Regardless of the details, the most important point is that she is out of communion with the Church.
So, why not just come back into communion?
The comment was that they were not Christian. That is a very extreme statement, and I think would be difficult to justify.
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As far as returning to communion with the Orthodox Church - I am sure many people have different reasons, but when looking at church bodies, there are probably a few particular things to consider.
One is simply that bodies like that have a ton of inertia - I think it could be something that takes a dozen years, or a generation, in the life of a parish. I know Anglican parishes that might be good candidates for such a reunion. But usually for something like that to happen the parish has to come to a place where they are being forced to make a decision. And then to get everyone, or a large number, to agree to that sort of major change in affiliation is a major undertaking and requires a profound trust by individuals in the ability of the parish to undertake that kind of discernment process, and trust in the new affiliate too.
As far as that goes, I would say the OC has not always been helpful in making it clear how that kind of process might work. There seems to be a lot of obscurity around what might be asked of parishes, which makes it hard to make people have that trust. And I think there is a widespread perception among Anglicans that the OC is not always honest and straightforward in its dealings with such parishes. I have heard the term
bait and switch more than once.
As for parishes that would be less likely to make such a change of affiliation, but not totally unlikely to do so: I would say probably the biggest issue is whether they are convinced that the OC really represents the institutional church in the exclusive way it claims. Many Anglicans might be willing to accept the idea that the OC is unwilling to make statements about other ecclesiastical bodies, along the lines of the oft repeated
we know where the Church is but not where it is not type. But those kinds of statements tend to be belied by discussions like this one, and many are not willing to go so far.
I suspect that related to that is what seems a rather modern individualistic tendency to want to treat such groups as a bunch of individual converts rather than an institutional body, or even as a lost bit of the church (through historical circumstance and distance) that is now looking to reintegrate. This does not seem to be very in line with the way such bodies would have been treated, say, 500 years ago if such a reunification would have been proposed - people did not tend to think individualistically n a way that would allow that, and so people find it hard to take as THE Orthodox approach.
I think many feel that the tenor of modern and popular Orthodox sources on the history of the relationship between Eastern and Western theology is simply historically inaccurate and even revisionist, and that does not engender trust. It is that kind of thing that tends to give rise to feelings that the OC is ultimately parochial rather than universal. And historical revisionism does not engender trust, ever.
I suspect that these things all give rise to further questions about how much the OC has in fact kept the same teachings as of old, which is a major part of their claim toauthority. And many people in my experience have their own issues with other particular teachings on this score - usury is one that always bothers me (though it is not such a big deal really, it is just the only example that comes to mind.). If things seem hunky dory on the big things the little ones do not matter so much; when they seem suspicious to people each one of the little ones nags. These are the kind of doubts that make it seem a lot simpler to move to one of the other Anglican bodies, or even to Rome.
