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Episcopal Priest Renounces Ordination Vows, Forms Druid Order
We are grieved to report that we received the following message from Bill Melnyk on Thursday (03/31/05). We had sincerely hoped and prayed that his original letter of repentance was heartfelt, and would be followed by amendment of life. We are dismayed and deeply sorry to hear of Mr. Melnyk's renunciation of Christian faith. Bill and Glyn Melnyk will remain in our prayers.
You folks might like to know that I have renounced by ordination vows, and formed the Llynhydd Grove of the Druid Order of the Yew. You might want to take my forced letter of 'recantation' off your website.
This morning, the IRD received a copy of the following letter of repentance sent from Rev. William Melnyk to his bishop. We are grateful for his humble and direct letter. We hope that the leaders of the Episcopal Church's Office of Women's Ministries will likewise repent of that office's promotion of neo-paganism. We also hope that this direct act of recantation of wrong and reaffirmation of the historic faith of the Church will serve as a model for other Episcopal leaders who have been called to express regret for their actions in the context of "the repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ" (Windsor Report, paragraph 134).
To the IRD,
I have today sent this letter to my Bishop. My wife [The Rev. Glyn Lorraine Ruppe-Melnyk] has sent a similar letter:
Dear Bishop,
Recently it has been brought to light by several agencies and individuals that I have been involved in work with Druid organizations in the United States and England, exploring the relationships between Christian and pre-Christian Druid spirituality and theology. These individuals and agencies have presented you with pages of documentation of my activities from the internet. You and I have discussed this material, and you have pointed out to me that it is the opinion of the church that my involvement, writings, and activities go beyond the bounds expected of a Christian and a Christian priest.
I affirm to you with all my heart it was never my intention to engage in such error, but only to help others who had lost connection to the Church to find a way to reconnect. I also thought that there was much in our early British heritage that could help those of us in the Church to broaden our understanding of Anglican tradition.
I was wrong. I repent of and recant without qualification anything and everything I may have said or done which is found to be in conflict with the Baptismal Covenant, and the historical Creeds of the Church. With God as my witness, I reaffirm my belief in the historical creeds of the Church, and the Baptismal Covenant, and reaffirm to you my faith, as expressed in that covenant. I am resigning my membership in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, as a sign of my repentence.
I have been a follower of Jesus Christ since my Baptism in 1947, and a faithful Deacon and Priest of the Church, with the exception of the error admitted above, since 1981. It is my desire to continue as such, and I ask for the mercy of the Church, and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
The Rev. W. William Melnyk
I now take pains to publicly affirm this statement, and to thank the contributors to the various Anglican weblogs for
