How do we address one another in the Church?

Ordained officials of Church of the East are traditionally addressed by their title, not as a form of civil elevation but as a form of designation, especially by devotees who accept the ordinand as his/her spiritual guide. By using the official form of address devotees set the tone of their relationship with the other person. Titular usage is by no means an official rule of conduct but a guideline how the Church navigates herself through the foreign waters of western society. However, for legal reasons, ordinand officials sign business and official documentation assisted by use of their respective titular designation. The Council forwards the following suggestion for titular usage for all new communities incorporated in the Anglophone West:

* Ashram devotees be addressed as Sister or Brother. In the written form the abbreviations Sr. or Br. be used before their names.

* Deacons be addressed as Sister or Brother. In written form or formal address the designation Deacon is used before the name.

* Counsellors be addressed as Reverend Sister or Reverend Brother. In the written form the abbreviation Rev. be used before their names.

* Teachers be addressed as Reverend Teacher. In the written form the abbreviation Rev. be used before their names.

More about Forms of Address

The Christian Church inherited traditional forms of address for officials in the Church, and they added a host of others over the past two thousand years. It was common practice in the first century, and even in today's Africa, to address senior people and high ranking officials as Father, Mother, Lord, King, and the Roman and Chinese Emperors even held the title of Son of God, Son of Heaven, or Godlike.

Some titles used in the Christian Church have something to do with holiness. This is probably fair because teachers of holiness are expected to practice what they preach-and they should reflect a larger measure of holiness than ordinary people. Holy means to be 'set apart for divine purposes'.

The title Reverend suggests that the person is worthy of honour. The Latin title Domine means Lord, while the title Dominus means Master. The title Venerable means 'worthy to be venerated'. The Aramaic title Mar means Holy. The Sanskrit title Swami means Teacher, and Guru means Spiritual Teacher/Director, and Sri means Honourable.

The origin of the title Father is not clear. Although in popular use for clergy in the West since about 300 years ago, this title presents more theological problems than most of the abovementioned. The titles Father and Mother work well in Africa where older persons are addressed in this manner. In a Christian sense the title provides a bit of a problem in light of the fact that Yesu explicitly taught, 'call no man Father'.

Why use titles at all?

It is a modern, mostly American phenomenon for children to call their parents and elders by first name. This is however deeply frowned upon by most of Europe and the rest of the developed world. It is certainly totally taboo in all of the developing countries. In this instance the 200 million Americans are largely outnumbered and the billions of other people on the planet may not accept their disrespectful notion in this instance. Any form of government, whether it is a household or a country, needs titular heads that will take ultimate responsibility for law and order and profit and loss. Not all people are sensitive enough to automatically know where the line is, not to toe the line, and how to be familiar in one manner but accept it when a judgment or ruling is made the next moment. The sorry state of the family in the US is unfortunately the scourge of this could-have-been great nation-and most people feel that the loss of titular usage was the beginning of the end for that society.

Titles and hierarchies are not important when well-mannered, well-intentioned and sensitive people get together because each one will know how to act. But how did the people learn to be well mannered, respectful, mindful and sensitive? They most probably encountered, somewhere in their maturing process, a set of rules that taught them how to be cordial and respectful. This is probably what the function of the titles in business, government, the army and the Church are-to act as a set of rules that will assist the not-so-sensitive to learn.

Another function for titles has to do with identification. It may just happen that one would not want to sit in discussion openly talking about Government corruption when a senior government official is present without you knowing. Similarly, I suppose, it is handy to know that someone at your table is a professor in international politics and another is a medical doctor before you shoot your mouth off about the new herbal cure for HIV that was discovered in New Guinea but its release to the public is being blocked by a deadlock in negotiations between the Cuban and Zambian governments. Sometimes it is nice to know whom you are talking to.

How was Yesu addressed?

As with all forms of titular address, it is in the eye of the beholder where the title lies. Some people beheld, or understood, Yesu to be the Saviour of Humanity even before he was born, and they addressed him in this manner. The early believers, including Mary Magadhalene, called him Lord. Early in his Palestinian career devotees and theological counterparts called him Teacher. Later in his career his students called him Lord.

How was St. Thomas addressed?

We do not know how St. Thomas was addressed. Those who respected St. Thomas referred to him as a holy man, as a man of God, and as an apostle and prophet.

Is it wrong to call someone 'holy'?

No it is not all that wrong. The word holy means 'dedicated to divine things', like almost all ordained ministers' lives are, and like the church building is, and like holy Scripture is. But, in today's language we can use a capital H or a small h and the meaning will be different. Only God and God's Energies (and Yesu Christ is part of that) is Holy with a capital H. It would be very improper to refer to any human being, no matter how good that person is, as Holy with the capital H.

This can lead to confusion, and such confusion is not in line with Yesu's teaching of Simplicity and Humility.

What did Yesu teach about titles of address?

To keep it short here are a few brief notes. Yesu said, 'call no man father' in a discussion about our true Parents--God. In this same context Yesu also said something very harsh, 'one who recognizes mother and father will be called child of a whore'. This saying, as all teaching from the Mystical Sayings, is aimed at advanced devotees who should know exactly what is meant-that we should never understand biological parents, who gave life to this lifetime's body only, to be the Source of our spirit essence. This could be a reaction against the 'virgin birth' notion and the Roman idea that God (Zeus) has sexual relations with earthly women and sires sons-Sons of God-in this way.

On another occasion a man addressed Yesu as, 'Good Sir' and Yesu answered that the man should not call him Good because only God is truly good.

When people addressed Yesu as Teacher he never seemed to find anything wrong with that. However, before the end of Yesu's Palestinian ministry he told his disciples that he is not their Teacher any more and he will henceforth regard them as friends.

Conclusion

We believe the Churches of the East and West remained in error on this matter. It is a human need to differentiate between people by using labels and titles, and therefore it was probably not easy for the Churches not to have titles for officials and ministers. But, in line with the examples we receive from Lord Yesu, St. Thomas, St. Magadhalene and early church fathers and mothers, we must look to a more proper solution for the errors of culture.

We learn from Yesu that we are all children of God our Mother and Father, and that the Way takes us to deification as we will one day unify with God's Energies-and this is the station of Yesu Christ our Saviour. Yesu is our Holy Brother.

Church of the East All Diocese Synod of 1998 determined that previous forms of address be replaced over the next 5 years. Forms of address have to be culturally sensitive and should be used in Church context for designation and identification purposes. The following forms of addressed were determined to replace older forms of address over the next five years for existing congregations and with immediate effect for new congregations founded after Jan 1999:

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