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Podcast Monday - Tribute to Metropolitan Philip

By now, you've probably heard about the repose of Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.  Last night, Ancient Faith Today offered a special tribute program exploring the career and contributions of a towering figuring in the history of American Orthodoxy.

You can listen to the podcast here:

As you listen, consider:

1. Why did the Antiochian Archdiocese experience such explosive growth in the last 50 years, growing from about 65 parishes when Met. Philip first took office to roughly 260 parishes and missions today?  What potential does the Church as a whole have for growth in the next 50 years?  

2. Though they didn't explore this detail in the program, some reports indicate that Met. Philip began the process of reconciling the two competing Antiochian jurisdictions by offering his counterpart, Archbishop Michael, primacy; Met. Philip offered to be the auxiliary bishop in a unified Antiochian Archdiocese.  What lessons can we learn from this offer?  Why was it so important that the Antiochian Archdiocese end its internal schism?  

3. What do you think of Met. Philip's decision to accept so many Evangelical Orthodox into the Antiochian Archdiocese?  What is the place of converts in the Church, generally?

4. Though Met. Philip personally had a love of the Arabic language, he did not insist on it liturgically.  Do you agree with this position?  What considerations should shape our decisions about which languages to use in our services?  

5. What is a "Kingdom ethnicity?"  How do we walk the fine line between appreciating the richness of ethnic and cultural heritage while also crafting a single identity as unified Christians who are not divided by ethnicity, race, language, etc?