Today is the last day of the liturgical New Year.

Throughout the year we celebrate and commemorate various holy-men and holy-women who through their example – whether it is through their teaching, or their praxis – encourage us in our own understanding of, and practice of the Christian sacramental tradition.

Heresy brings another level of understanding to our living the faith. Yes it is true that some of the results of dealing with heresy seem obtuse and esoteric but the fact is our understanding of “being” human, “being” Christian would not be what it is without the tough questions, and sometimes wondurfully wierd teachings of the early heretics.

Remember that heresy is not “anti-Christian” rather it is a result of thoughtful people struggling with one or more questions related to their attempt at living faithfully. That is not to say that we should embrace heretical teaching – rather it is to say that we ought to respect the fact that such teachings (and their teachers) were doing the same thing we are – striving to understand and be faithful to the Gospel.

Christianity is what it is in part because of our historical experience of heresy; for this reason, on this the last day of the year, we commemorate rogues and rakes of Christian history. Not because we want to emulate their example, but because their experiments, questions, and the answers they developed, contributed to the body of tradition, our heritage we as modern believers refer to as our anchor and starting point for all theology and praxis.