ANONYMITY

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Permalink Reply by Pat on February 10, 2011 at 3:45pm

Anonymity was a large part of the spiritual foundation and survival of the early Christian church.  This was also true for A.A.; albiet, for different reasons.  No one was out to kill the founders of A.A. because they belonged to A.A.  The early Christians had a language of the heart which was used to identify each other when they heard it spoken.  They also used the ichthus or ichthys, which is the Greek word for the English symbol of the fish.  Tradition has it that when one person encountered another, one might draw half of the fish symbol in the dirt with their sandle as they spoke.  If the other person responded by finishing the other half of the drawing, then they knew they shared a common way of life. The Church, like A.A. has not outgrown the need for anonymity as illustrated by the bad PR which results from the decisions of high-profile personalities who incite the media with their recovery exploits and for Christians around the world who still suffer persecution because of their faith.  Because of the Church's anonymity in the early development of the movement they were much misunderstood, for instance the Romans believed that the Eucharist  was about the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood, likewise because of the anonymity and general ignorance today, A.A. is pecieved to be a cult.  Anonymity leads to problems, however it appears that it addresses more problems than it creates. E'nuff.