Praying With Protestant Friends

[paleodoxy]

Is this typically a case by case, 'AYP' issue, or are there some general guidelines that are traditionally followed? I still have a number of friends from my Protestant days. How do you deal with prayer time around the dinner table with RC or Protestant acquaintances? To be clear, I am not asking whether it is okay to pray for non-Orthodox Christians, but rather whether it is appropriate for Orthodox Christians to pray with the non-Orthodox.

 

[SeraphimSarov]

Unless they start praying something completely off-the-wall and heretical, I can't for the life of me understand why not. I'm pretty sure my parents would throw me out of the house for refusing to pray with them since they're still RC, and I don't think I'd blame them.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Well, since my whole family is non-Orthodox, this is not something I can avoid. When we're together with family, our older son always blesses the meal for the family - he sorta became the "designated prayer" . And he prays in the usual evangelical way. I don't have a problem with praying with my family in those circumstances.

Mary

 

[authiodionitist]

At dinner and other meals I agree with Kjell.

in other situations, however......

 

[SeraphimSarov]

At dinner and other meals I agree with Kjell.

in other situations, however......

It depends on the situation. I really can't think of too many other situations other than meals that this issue could even come up.

 

[paleodoxy]

What about a book club that meets every other Sunday evening to discuss Church history that is run by an Orthodox's ex-Anglican church? I would simply be doing it to retain ties with the people from my parish. I would continue going to (1) learn a lot of cool stuff from church history and (2) preserve my old contacts in the hopes of being an influence on some of them down the road of life...

Of course, they pray as a group at these gatherings.

 

[SeraphimSarov]

What about a book club that meets every other Sunday evening to discuss Church history that is run by an Orthodox's ex-Anglican church? I would simply be doing it to retain ties with the people from my parish. I would continue going to (1) learn a lot of cool stuff from church history and (2) preserve my old contacts in the hopes of being an influence on some of them down the road of life...

Of course, they pray as a group at these gatherings.

Confused here... this is an Anglican parish or an ex-Anglican parish? I think you meant the former?

 

[paleodoxy]

Sorry, I should have said that it is an Anglican church (my ex-church/parish)

 

[Breaking Babylon]

This reminds me of a personal experience. When I was leaving the CoC, a couple of them came over, KJV in hand, to discuss 'Biblical truths' with me. When it came time for them to leave they wanted to pray with me, so they asked that I stand up and join hands with them[Now that I'm not Protestant-minded anymore I can't understand this type of prayer]. They were praying that God open my eyes and enlighten my mind and guide me into all truth, amongst other things, while I had my eyes closed, head bowed, silently praying Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Maybe their prayer worked.

Point is, I guess when in doubt, turn to the Jesus Prayer.

 

[authiodionitist]

Sorry, I should have said that it is an Anglican church (my ex-church/parish)

These sort of things are "frowned on" simply because it is highly doubtful that you will lead anyone to Holy Orthodoxy (unless you're running it yourself). These sort of ecumenical engagements are dangerous, because it may make it seem that we only practice "closed" communion, but everything else is "up for grabs," which is also wrong. We do not pray with non-Orthodoox except in incidental "polite" incidences such as dinner, etc, but in cases of non-Orthodox worship (study, liturgy, group prayer) we say no unless it is explicitly recognizing that we only intercommune with ourselves.

 

[paleodoxy]

Are authiodionitists's comments accurate and true for most of you in terms of your understanding of how things are normally done? In other words, are Orthodox priests fairly consistent in their application and counsel in light of the authio's above remarks?

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I don't know how to answer your question across the board, but I can give you a feel for how I think my own priest would advise me.

If my hubby (Anglican Catholic) asked me to attend church with him for some special reason, I would ask my priest, and I have a feeling he would tell me to go, to honor my husband. But I also think that for most any other reason, the answer would be no.

Mary

 

[paleodoxy]

My wife has made the journey with me into Orthodoxy, and equally willingly, so I'm not in quite as tough a spot. I imagine, then, that Bible studies and book studies and prayer groups with Protestants would ordinarily be out, since it wouldn't be to preserve peace in a marriage. What do you all think?

 

[authiodionitist]

this is an AYP question and also a conversation that we should be having as an Orthodox Church in America (not the jurisdiction). To what degree should we do ecumenical stuff, and what does that entail? SCOBA has a very moderate stance about how to be "polite" without offending the heterodox.

I recommend reading it to inform a continued discussion.
http://www.scoba.us/resources/documents/guide_for_orthodox.pdf

 

[ClementofRome]

We have a campus prayer walk at the beginning of every academic year (I teach at a small Protestant college). The prayer walk consists of walking around campus and praying that God will bless the people and goings-on in each building. Various folks are asked to pray in advance so that some students, Professors, administrators pray...one per building. All of this takes about an hour or so.

I was asked to pray over the main academic building where my office is housed. It was one of the last prayers, so you can imagine the variety of prayers that we had all just heard prayed.....

I prayed:

Glory to you O God, glory to you. Lord have mercy on the people and proceedings that will take place in this building. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

While we were walking to the next building, I am sure that I heard someone in the group say, "what the heck was THAT!"