It has taken sometime to retrieve the letter that was sent to Archbishop Rowan…this is it….it speaks for itself……

Fr. John T. Skinner
St. John’s Place
Langton Hill
Hamilton HM13
Bermuda
441 292 6802
johntskinner@fkbnet.bm

Lent 2004

Dear ++Rowan

We almost met over two years ago when John Lee introduced us via my CV and you offered me a job in Wales. I ended up in Bermuda, and will end my contract here in May.

In another life, I am the founder of the Northumbria Community, joint editor and complier of Celtic Daily Prayer and Celtic Night Prayer. For my sins, I introduced Bonhoeffer’s “new monasticism” back into mainstream thinking, and have spent the last twenty years creating images, metaphors and ideas that give meaning and substance to this alternative way of living as a Christian in our ever changing world.

In 1998 I left Northumbria, and the Community, for Europe, specifically Turkey. Since then I have been developing the Émigré Communion, a body of individuals, churches, communities and associations who share a common vision to contribute to the

“renewal of the Church through a new type of monasticism”.

In July of this year we open our first Centre, in Selçuk (Ephesus) Turkey.
Several others are planned in Europe and the Turkic World.

For the last two years we have been having informal discussions with Dr. Wooding of Lampeter University under the banner of our daughter charity Monos- a society for the continuation of monastic culture.
In 2005, Monos in partnership with Lampeter will host a conference on New Monasticism. We are also seeking to develop an accredited Certificate/Diploma Course with a curriculum that has at its heart, monastic themes, but also covers emerging paradigms.
Our concern is that New Monasticism is rooted in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and a genuine expression the ‘first fruits of the kingdom’ and not become a ‘post-modern theatrical company!’

Émigré and myself are currently facing a dilemma
and this is the reason I am writing to you.

2.

Autocephalous Movement

Last Year, I was approached by Bishop’s from the autocephalous movement. They were familiar with Celtic Daily Prayer and my work on New Monasticism.
I was asked to consider if Émigré would become an Independent Jurisdiction within the movement, and myself a Bishop.
I dismissed this suggestion immediately, having always maintained both in the Northumbria Community and Émigré that members stayed true to their Church affiliations and that New Monasticism was not an alternative Church.
I firmly believe that alternative movements must run parallel with the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
(This has not been easy. Only 20 years ago I was censored by an Archdeacon in Northumbria, asked not to attend the local church, and warned of arrest if I impersonated an Anglican Clergyman. It was only the humility and courage of Bishop Alec Graham who apologized to me several years later, authorized Eucharist ministry at the Community house, that brought me home.)

However, recent events within Émigré have led to a serious discussion with the Covenant Community that affiliation with the autocephalous movement may be a step that we need to take.

First: In recent months I have been approached by two leaders within the House Church Movement, asking about ordination and affiliation within Émigré. They are seeking association with the Ancient Church and Her Creeds. Such an affiliation would mean entry of several interconnected churches.

Second: Central to my own understanding of monasticism, the Church and Her Mission is the Eucharist. New Monastic communities need Priests, men and women who are authorized to hold the ancient truth in their hands that “God is with us”, connecting us with the past and the future.

Third… Some time ago you kindly saw Chris Haggerstone who was seeking guidance, with regard his vocation. Chris has been my “deacon” for over twenty years! He was an early pioneer of the Northumbria Community, and is a Trustee of Émigré. Chris’s DDO has just suggested he meet his Bishop, for recommendation to ABBM. He has a dilemma. He feels very clearly he has a vocation to Priesthood, but feels the context of his vocation is within a Monastic Community. His DDO has the same discernment. However, Chris would like to work that out within Émigré, and after a visit to Turkey, in our new house.
Disclosure of that to his DDO will no doubt end his current journey to his vocation.
We need Priests.

3.

Archbishop backs guerrilla tactics in war on secularism

I wept when I read this report in the Times in January. Twenty one Years ago I sat with Bishop David Jenkins and I discussed with him Jacques Ellul and the Post Christian Society. I outlined a new movement, Secular Monasticism, running parallel alongside the Church, looking at alternative ways of Christian living, ministry and mission. We talked about new religious movements that would fill the void caused by the privatization of Christianity. I was full of hope, anticipating his support. He said to me, that the Church was not ready for this, and the only way he could help was to encourage me to stay in the desert until the time was right.

there are words that slip into the vocabulary of popular culture almost unnoticed: secularisation.. new age.. new physics.. postmodernity..
long before they reach our lips they have made a journey through the recesses of human understanding the power and force of their meaning
has already transformed or swept away former perceptions.
We imagine we can dialogue, find common ground; only then
do we awaken and find the ground has moved from beneath our feet..
our house has fallen…we are internal émigrés John Skinner

My concern in the Christian community, is the misconception, that having caught up with the cultural changes created by previous paradigms we now have a “handle” on the whole thing. This creates an inertia in our true need for metanoia, to have the courage to take steps that initiate the profound reconstruction of the Church in all its forms to participate confessionaly in the emerging culture.

I confided in a former Church Warden that I planned to contact you, and what I would say. He is a very traditional, middle church communicant. I wanted to test his reaction.

He said he was once the Chairman of a substantial insurance company. The natural disasters in the ‘80s coupled by paradigm shifts in the insurance business left his corporation reeling and in need of significant reconstruction. An evaluation of corporate culture suggested that significant change would take a considerable period of time. Long established policies, procedures and executive resistance to change left the corporation too slow to respond to new market forces. Without change the company would breakdown.

He decided a different tactic. He created a Treaty Partnership with small companies, whose small infrastructure left them able to move quickly in the new market. In return for sharing the risks, the smaller companies benefited from the corporate connection with the bigger company. Eventually the corporate culture of the bigger company due to the interaction with the federation of smaller

4.
companies began to evolve and grow, and eventually emerged in the market with a new identity.

“It seems to me” He said “that the church has to make a similar journey”

He suggested I speak to you, something I was already planning to do.

In the Émigré Community we are now in a very painful dialogue trying to find away forward.

The autocephalous connection would give a link, no matter how fragile or enigmatic, to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It would provide an answer to some of the challenges we are currently facing. Without that link to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the alternative movement will position itself in privatized religion, taking part in a conversation that has already ended, and more alarming, not even be aware of it.

I am an Anglican. You are my Father Bishop. I have maintained throughout my ministry that we must maintain Canonical Obedience to those the Lord has placed over us, no matter how painful or difficult our journey together, or it all just falls down.

In the dialogue within my community, I have expressed my concern in damaging that relationship.
It has been suggested that we put forward one of our senior people for entry into the autocephalous movement. This would mean we remain a communion who has within its ranks a bishop in the Autocephalous Communion, as well as other types of Christian leaders.

Is there no small step the Anglican Communion can take that would help us to reconcile some of these difficulties? Can we not show leadership and initiative in helping Émigré and those like us to walk closely with the Church, while sharing the risks in our new culture?
Is there no way we can help people like Chris, or the house church ministers who very clearly have vocations, but who just can’t translate them into the traditional mould?
Is there no way we can form alliances with smaller communities and communions who are awake to the present crisis, and are sincerely seeking alternative ways of Christian living that will contribute to the renewal and reconstruction of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Not unlike my Church Warden’s Treaty Partnership.

5.

Forgive me ++ Rowan. Your time is precious. Thank you if you got this far.
I am back in the same place I was twenty years ago speaking to Bishop David.
This time, I hope I am a little more articulate, and in the Northumbria Community, and the Émigré Communion I have something to point too to give a little glimpse of what I meant.

I am afraid you will say “Back to the Desert”, or worse dismiss me as a post- modern wacko. I have taken the risk.

Any response at all you can give would be sincerely and greatly appreciated.

The Lord Bless You Dear Archbishop Rowan.
We pray for you daily in my Parish in Bermuda.
These are difficult yet exciting days.
May God give you courage to follow your heart.

Fr. John Skinner

Comment The Archbishop sent me an informal reply through one of his aids. He said he was sympathetic to the comments made in my letter but felt he was unable to support an initiative like this at this particular moment. However, and it may be coincidental, the following year saw the launch of Fresh Expressions, a movement within the Anglican Communion whose aims and objectives seem rather close to those I first proposed to Bishop Jenkins in 1985..and in this letter to Archbishop Rowan:
‘Twenty one Years ago I sat with Bishop David Jenkins and I discussed with him Jacques Ellul and the Post Christian Society. I outlined a new movement, Secular Monasticism, running parallel alongside the Church, looking at alternative ways of Christian living, ministry and mission.’

Coincidence or not…there was one significant difference between my proposal and what has become Fresh Expressions…location. I suggested a movement that was located ‘parallel’ to the Church… autonomous but interdependent….rather than authorized and therefore supervised by the Church. As one Anglican Priest commented in a recent email to me: ‘In Fresh Expressions there is a real danger that new monasticism will be domesticated by the very institution it may well be meant to rescue.’

• My final question is this: if the starting point for NM movements is a social critique, how should they locate the ‘public square’ with which to engage? It seems that in the US NM communities easily become ‘one issue’ movements. By contrast, could disengagement be a truer expression of the monastic tradition – a kind of ‘passive aggression’ towards the prevailing powers?

John T. Skinner

In 2009 Steve Silvester asked if he could visit us in Turkey to conduct an interview about the origins and development of contemporary new monasticism.
I found Steve’s questions not only interesting but very well informed, and as a result requiring considered responses. To answer this final question I have had to take some time becoming acquainted with New Monasticism USA. I have been helped in this quest by several friends who have read and reviewed several new monastic USA publications. We are also in the middle of recording a new video series which we have called ‘Rock and Roll meets Punks New Romantics.’ In this new series where we examine the roots, beliefs, theology, of A New Type of Monasticism (NTM) which has been on the scene since 1980 and the US New Monastics which emerged sometime around 2000. This final question from Steve gives us the opportunity to get the ball on the pitch and have a practice kick around.

Lets start with what first seems to be a critical observation of US NM:
‘
‘It seems that in the US NM communities
could easily become ‘one issue movements.’

This comment was made in response to an earlier conversation about the relationship between a new type of monasticism and intentional communities.
At the end of the 70’s and the beginning of and throughout the 1980’s we were looking for communities who could give us living examples of what a new type of monasticism might look like. Our search was not limited to Europe and the UK, but we also looked at the USA. In the US we found many intentional communities which had emerged, quite rightly, as a social critique of various political, social and economic difficulties they were encountering as a result of changing cultural paradigms. The major themes of these groups were peace mercy and justice, and their location was mainly on the other side of the law and the status quo. They were champions of the poor and oppressed, anti war activists, supporters of human rights, and political campaigners on behalf of those in society who had no voice. As a result they often came into conflict with the ‘powers that be’ including the CIA, FBI and whatever other agency, government or otherwise had a job or an interest supporting the status quo. Within this movement there are some inspiring characters: Dorothy Day 1897-1980 a journalist, social activist, catholic, who was a co-founder of the catholic worker movement was described as a Christian anarchist and whose life remains an inspiration for the intentional communities movement. Daniel Berrigan Born 1921- a poet, priest, peace activist who was on the FBI’s most wanted fugitive list for his protest and active resistance to the Vietnam War. Throughout the 60’s 70’s 80’s intentional communities sprang up at a very fast rate to address various political, social and economic issues. They also died back very quickly as issues were addressed, dropped or lost. So Steve’s comment is in no way critical, but a genuine question given US NM has been significantly influenced by the intentional communities movement.
Jim Wallis and the Sojourners Community were contemporaries of ours and they were influenced by similar people such as William Stringfellow and Jacques Ellul. However, we recognised that the Sojourners Community were breathing new life and vitality into the intentional community movement in which they were firmly located, and to which we did not feel attracted.

Although we were amazed at what the intentional communities movement were living we decided it was not a way forward for us in regard to a new type of monasticism. This was for two reasons. First, many of the issues addressed in the movement were culturally specific to the USA and the demise of America’s supremacy in world affairs. We had already faced that situation in the UK and in Europe with the demise of our Empires and the continual shame of our Colonial past.
Second, and perhaps more significantly, a new type of monasticism did not emerge as a social critique, as I said earlier in this particular blog:

‘We were aware of being part of a vast crisis in the western human psyche, and those momentous changes and forces that were re-defining our culture. We looked in vain for some explanation of this crisis within the Church. It was this crisis in the human psyche rather than a social critique that drove me into the desert.’

NTM emerged as a response to three profound existential questions that have been echoing in the human heart as a result of the crisis in the human psyche. We believe these questions have their origin in Christ, have urgency about them and are addressed specifically to post Christian Societies: ‘Who is it that you seek?’ (What are you looking for?) ‘How then shall you live?’ (What kind of people do you want to be?) ‘To whom shall you go’ (Who is inspiring you?)

NTM has a significantly different starting point to US NM and as a result the two movements, though complimentary are also conflicting in various areas, in particular in regards to the fundamental nature of what it means to be ‘monastic.’
This is one of the subjects we will explore in our new series: ‘Rock and Roll meets Punks New Romantics.’

So, coming back to Steve’s comment:

‘It seems that in the US NM communities
could easily become ‘one issue movements’

US NM has matured significantly over the last five years and the influence of the peace justice and mercy movements while considerable are not the only focus.
Many of the intentional communities who originally aligned themselves with new monasticism have begun to question if they made the right decision, and if new monasticism really describes their vision and mission. As a result there is still awkwardness and some hesitation to fully commit to the new monastic community. This is proving to be a good thing for all concerned as it is helping both US NM and Intentional Communities focus on their meaning and values.

The crisis of faith in the US Evangelical community has also sent the question ‘How then shall we live?’ to the top of the list in the Christian community. My recent excursions into Cyber Space have left me breathless at the massive exodus that is taking place in, or should I say, out of the Evangelical milieu, followed in many cases by the complete rejection of and hostility to this once eminent Christian tradition in the US. As a result, once outside of the constraints of evangelical thinking all kinds of new dialogues are being initiated regarding what it means to be Christian? Many appear to be fuelled by the dying embers of post-modernity rather than biblical themes with an emphasis that the more outrageous the proposals the more radical and authentic they must be. As the American economy slides towards bankruptcy, and American foreign policy invalidates claims of spiritual and moral legitimacy, the religious institutions that have uphel the status quo will continue to be seriously undermined.

As I have followed the development of US NM from its inception until now I have been encouraged to witness a more comprehensive response and consideration to the nature of the crisis that we in the West are in. At NTM we have been warning and witnessing to the grave dangers we are facing as a church and society for more than 25 years. However the myth of a prosperity (Debt Fueled) both in church and society meant we had an unreceptive audience, which, before the advent of the internet it was difficult to communicate.

Rather than suggest US NM is a one issue movement, I think it is uniquely positioned and has the people, resources, commitment and most of all hope, to carry forward the vision NTM :

To embrace a way for living that will encourage the Community of Christ to have a voice, a vocation, a location in this new age, that has come and is coming. To embrace a way for living that makes us available, authentic and shares the vulnerability of a Society going through a profound cultural transition.

Neville promised he would return to let me know if and how the ‘old dodgers’ in the company responded to their crisis. I was astounded by what he had to say when he did return.
To illustrate and contrast his response I would like to share with you a cartoon story I saw in a newspaper several years ago, followed by a story from my own imagination.

First Story
There was a small boat in a very big and troubled sea. Alongside came a cruise liner who offered to take the crew on board and tow their boat to their common destination. In the cartoon the crew of the small ship is seen boarding the cruise liner looking very pleased with themselves as they anticipate the comfort and security of their new transport home. We are then shown a picture of the giant cruise liner moving off into the distance towing the small boat behind it.
The final picture is a close up of the stern of the ship and a caption of its name; HMS Titanic.

Second Story
There was a large Cruise Liner in a very big and troubled sea. Alongside this ship came a vast flotilla of small boats of different shapes and sizes. They offered the people on the Cruise Liner safe passage to their common destination. The crew and passengers were unable to believe that such an offer was being made to them yet wondered why so many boats of different shapes and sizes were making such an outrageous invitation. That is, until they heard the announcement over the public address system: ‘Abandon Ship.’
The flotilla is last seen going off into the distance with the cruise line passengers safely on board as their prestigious ship sinks slowly and gently into the troubled sea.

If we could let these two stories travel side by side in our imagination, we can then draw on them to illustrate and contrast what happened to the very troubled though prestigious Insurance Company as it negotiated its own troubled sea.

This is what happened.

The Company Directors once again contacted the Management Consultancy and requested their help to negotiate the troubled waters. The response from the Consultancy was simple and straight to the point: “Abandon Ship” or ‘Go Under’ There was no other alternatives.
The majority agreed it was time to abandon ship.
(Now imagine yourself in a troubled sea, what would you choose, an old familiar
prestigious cruise liner or a small untested ship to grant you a safe passage?)

The plan in itself was simple, the acceptance and cooperation to do it was much more complicated. The company would form a network with existing and newly emerging companies whose flexibility enabled them to respond creatively and practically to the changes and challenges resulting from major cultural changes. In return, the company would give their network the right to use their name, brand and reputation. The network could draw on the extensive resources and expertise of the company when developing new products and for pursing new opportunities they had identified themselves. Customer Data bases were shared and marketing and sales were handled both cooperatively and specifically by different specialists within the network.
All of the major operating systems were gradually dismantled and decentralised, greatly assisted by the advent at that time of computer software. Senior Management were encouraged and supported to form their own companies who remained intimately connected
and contributed to the new emerging network.

There were many difficulties that needed to be addressed during the process of growth and
change but two kept reoccurring;

First and rightly expected, many employees of the company felt completely unsettled by and unprepared for the changes that were being proposed. This was expressed in open hostility to sincere concern. All responses were treated openly and honestly, under girded by a genuine belief that each response may contribute to the overall shape of the new expression of the company. Those who felt they needed to resist the changes were encouraged to stick it out and come up with creative alternatives to avoid then having to give up on the changes.

Second, there were members of the network of new companies who mistook interdependence for independent and in some cases used the new relationship to further there own agendas. This often took the shape of openly and consistently criticizing and maligning the older company to bolster their reputation. As the success of the whole undertaking was dependent on interdependence it was agreed by all participants that this type of attitude was damaging to every one and was simply unacceptable.

Over a period of a few years, the older company which was a single, monolithic structure emerged as a network of interdependent and interconnected companies, orbiting around the hub of the restored and reconstructed company.

Neville’s story challenged me to think over once again the relationship between a new type of monasticism and the one holy catholic apostolic church. When I visited Bishop David Jenkins in 1985 to ask him to support and locate a new type of monasticism within the Church I was unconsciously thinking in traditional monastic ways of a religious order attached to the Church. As the years went by it became clear that a new type of monasticism could not be bolted on to any church structure in that way, because the church structures themselves were collapsing. Over the years we had experienced and witnessed churches who had tried to do that and they simply imploded. As we became more aware of the new paradigms that were fuelling cultural changes and social upheaval, it became apparent that a new type of monasticism was in the first place ideally located alongside the church rather than inside.
If Bonhoeffers vision of the ‘restoration of the church through a new type of monasticism’ was to be realised then steps needed to be taken that set things going both at local and national levels. To that end, in 2004 I sent a letter to Archbishop Rowan Williams with a request for some advice and some thoughts on how we might move forward in doing just that.

• In relation to this I am interested in your location in Selçuk. We stayed for 2 weeks in the summer of 2007 in Sirince. As we lived there and visited early Christian sites I was overwhelmed by the degree to which the Christian presence in Turkey was a thing of the past. (While in the UK we did try to make arrangements to meet with Christians in Turkey but realised that this could make life difficult for them.) Is your choice of location to do with returning to historical roots or about living in an undeniably post-Christian environment?

John……

That is a really interesting question, and certainly has got me thinking down new avenues. I was first introduced to Turkey by John Patterson in 1991. He asked me if I wanted to join him on a visit to Istanbul and Selçuk. We were just getting ready to move to the Mother House of the newly established Northumbria Community, so I said no thanks. John was persistent, and continued with his invitation. One day he rang me up, said I should come to Turkey as a tourist, and was I aware that Istanbul was once called Constantinople; Selçuk was adjacent to the ancient city of Ephesus; St. John the Apostle and Mother Mary used to live in the are; and this was the region where the Seven Church’s of the Revelation were located. No, I was embarrassed to say, I had not made the connection that modern day Turkey was the Asia Minor of biblical times. (Over the years I have discovered I am not alone, lots of other folk share my ignorance!)
When John rang, I was in the middle of reading a book by Edward W. Stimson: ‘Renewal in Christ; as the Celtic Church led the Way’ Vantage Press 1979 (Its in our Bookshop!) a history of the spread of Christianity from Asia Minor through the Community of St. John the Apostle, and in particular the growth and development of the Early Irish/Celtic Church. John’s phone call and reading that book were to change the direction of our lives completely, and leave Linda and I inextricably connected to Selçuk where we have lived for six years.

So yes, we came because we were returning to our historical roots, in particular the ancient community of John the Beloved Apostle and Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe it is from these ancient wells, fresh water will flow, bringing repentance, renewal and refreshment to those who are seeking God, and wanting to live as citizens of His Kingdom. Getting here, staying here, has been the most difficult and demanding period of our lives, and continues to be so.

I was interested by your comments about living in a ‘post Christian environment’ and wondered if you had chosen ‘environment’ over ‘society’ deliberately? In Turkey, are we living in a Post Christian Environment? I think the answer is Yes. Is a Post Christian Environment the same as a Post Christian Society? I think the answer is No.

Let me try to explain;

Asia Minor has an ancient history and has been peopled by several civilizations, both before and after the birth of Christ. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘Cradle of Civilizations.’ In the 3C the Emperor Constantine restored and renamed the city of Byzantium; Constantinople (now Istanbul) and proclaimed it the New Rome of the Roman Empire. He also agreed to the ‘Edict of Milan’ 313 which granted religious freedom to all peoples, including Christians. The Roman Empire had rigorously persecuted the Church for nearly three centuries, with a particularly nasty and brutal persecution conducted by the Emperor Diocletian, a former superior to Constantine. This was to be major turning point for the Christian Church. I don’t know about you, but if I was a believer in the 3C with a family I would be praising and thanking God for the Edict of Milan. I would also be encouraged by the opportunities it now presented for the Christian’s to openly speak about the Kingdom of God to all sections of society. At the same time, I would be terrified and bewildered as to the decisions that we would have to make in regard to ‘How Then Shall We Live’ in this persecution free environment. As a result I might well have headed down the desert for a while, to seek God, and work some stuff out!

The Byzantine Church would have a 1000 year reign in Asia Minor, yet all that is left are the architectural monuments that speak of another age, another time, another life, and a small community of Byzantine Christians who support the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I who is the Archbishop of Constantinople and head of the Eastern Orthodox Church. I met Patriarch Bartholomew I, and several other Patriarchs and Archbishops from the Eastern Church which has 250 Million members. I was overwhelmed by the sense that I was in the company of representatives of an ‘Ancient Faith’ and at the same time felt their sense of dislocation from what they still regard as their ‘Ancient City’ Constantinople, more than 500 years after the event.

As you rightly observed during your holiday in Selçuk, the dislocation from Christian memories, language and traditions in Modern Turkey are for the most part complete. In 1453, the Ottoman’s (Turks/Muslim) sacked Constantinople and brought to an end more that 1000 years of Byzantine Rule. The Eastern Church was allowed to continue and keep her lands in return for accepting Ottoman Rule. However she never recovered her primacy and activities of state were transferred to Ottoman rule with recourse to an Islamic rather than Christian frame of reference
In the case of Byzantine Christendom, the threat of ongoing institutional violence, together with a promise of continuance under agreed conditions led to the gradual dilution and eventual dislocation of the Christian memory of that period and led to a post Christian environment. This dislocation was completed during the foundation of the Modern Turkish state.
If we consider the criteria put forward by Jacques Ellul for a post Christian society then it is not a consequence of violence from outside but rather it is an ‘inside job’ a rejection of Christianity from within;

‘The post Christian society is a society of men who are at the point to which
Christianity brought them, but who no longer believe in the specific truth of the Christian Revelation.’
Jacques Ellul

‘The last and most important fact about the post Christian society, is that it feels as if it has experienced Christianity, and left it behind.’ Jacques Ellul

Living in a post Christian society you still retain the cultural memories, language and to a certain extent, the traditions from that shared history. In a post Christian environment the stark reality is the almost complete dislocation from Christian memory and presence. A dislocation that underlines the importance of a Daily Office to retain not only your identity but also your sanity! Thanks for those questions Steve…still got me thinking in lots of new directions. However, you have saved the best question until last, and answering it in the next blog will begin the ‘creative collision’ between; a new type of monasticism and new monasticism USA.