Dear Mr. Weigel,

George Weigel

Today I read your views on the stance taken by Mount Athos with regard to Pope Benedict’s visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch in November. You wrote in an edition of The Tidings (http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/041307/difference.htm):

“...this Athonite intransigence reflects a hard truth about Catholic-Orthodox relations after a millennium of division: namely, that, for many Orthodox Christians, the statement “I am not in communion with the Bishop of Rome” has become an integral part of the statement, ‘I am an Orthodox Christian.’”

Your reasoning reflects a mindset that is decidedly Rome-centered and reminds me of the knee-jerk reactions of devout Roman Catholic friends of mine to nearly every critique leveled against contemporary Roman Catholicism: “that is just anti-catholicism” or “they are anti-catholics” or “they are “Rome-bashing.” This response, like your own understanding of the Athonite stance, reveals an egotism and pride unfortunately quite characteristic of Roman Catholic apologists and zealots of the papacy.

Orthodox Christians do not define themselves against anyone; they do not see themselves as existing in opposition to anyone. They do not say I am ... not this or that. Like Christ and the Church, Orthodox Christians live in the enternal now and knowing their Redeemer they in turn know what it means to be alienated from Him.

Orthodox Christians, and especially those who live the Faith to fullest, such as the Fathers on Athos, believe and confess The “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.” This is “the Faith of the Fathers, the Faith of the Orthodox”, as the Synodicon of the 7th Oecumenical Council states. Consequently, it is quite obvious to them that the Pope of Rome, who has for hundreds and hundreds of years confessed another faith, who has confessed the Orthodox Church to be schismatic, heretical, etc., and who has confessed Saints like Gregory Palamas (who has now been “rehabilitated” by Roman Catholic scholars) to be heretics, has become alienated from the life and faith of the Orthodox and cannot be the canonical Bishop of Rome.

But here, in particular, is where you get it wrong: Stating, as the Fathers did, that the Patriarch wrongly accepted the Pope as the canonical Bishop Rome has less to do with the Pope than it does with the Patriarch, insomuch as the issue at hand is the Patriarch’s confession of faith in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, for by accepting the Pope as a bishop he likewise accepts the Roman Catholic church as a church - as either a Local church of the Church of Christ, which would mean there is heresy within the Church, which is impossible, or as the Church of Christ, which would deny the Orthodox Church as the Una Sancta. Orthodoxy rejects both the branch theory of the Protestants and the “Theory of the Primordial Unity of a common baptism” of the Papacy.

All of this is to say that the Orthodox still believe and confess as of old, as once did Roman Catholics. The Orthodox have not “graduated” into the age of ecumenism or bought into the (mainly) Post-Vatican II nuances (for us they are yet more distortions) which divide jurisdictional (administrative) authority from the mysteries or accept baptism and other mysteries outside of the Church (the canonical, that is, right believing and living Church). As Bishop Kallistos Ware has said many times: the Orthodox again and again are saying to the West, and to Roman Catholics in particular, “we are your past”, that is, we hold the faith you once held, to which you must return.

Your comments once again point out the obsession of those who are adherents of the papacy: everything revolves around Rome. But your comments also point out not only the ignorance of Roman Catholics vis-a-vis the Orthodox Church or the Patriarchate of Constantinople (which, by the way, is decidedly not an eastern version of the papacy toned-down), but of your own ignorance, as well. You are far, far away from understanding the Orthodox, let alone the Garden of the All-Holy One, that is, the Holy Mountain of Athos.

Sincerely,

Fr. Peter Alban Heers
Thessaloniki, Greece

Posted on 04/13/07| Filed under: Email This Entry

The Proceedings of a Pan-Orthodox Conference (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Available Winter 2007

For nearly 100 years the contemporary movement for the unification of Christianity has enjoyed the involvement of the Orthodox. Yet, despite the objections of many Orthodox Christians, the divisions among them which have developed on account of this participation, and the apparent lack of real progress toward the desired goal, there has never been a critical Pan-Orthodox examination of the phenomenon and Orthodox participation in it. This historic conference, sponsored by the School of Pastoral Theology of the University of Thessaloniki and the Society of Orthodox Studies, promises to fill this gap.

Speakers at the conference included: Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos (Greece), Metropolitan Nathaniel of Nevrokop (Bulgaria), Metropolitan John of Velesson (Patriarchate of Serbia), Bishop Artemy of Raska and Prizren (Kossovo, Serbia), Bishop Panteleimon of Ghana (Patriarchate of Alexandria), Archimandrite Joseph of Xeropotamou Monastery (Mount Athos), Archpriest George Metallinos (Athens), Archpriest Valentin Asmus (Moscow Theological School), Archpriest Zourab Antadze (Church of George), Archimandrite Christophoros Tsiakkas (Church of Cyprus), Archimandrite Demetrios Vasiliadis (Patriarchate of Jerusalem), Archpriest Theodore Zisis (Thessaloniki), Archpriest George Dragas (Boston), Geron Moses (Mount Athos), Professor Jean-Claude Larchet (France), Demetrios Tselengidis (Thessaloniki), among the nearly 60 speakers in all. 

Posted on 04/10/07| Filed under: New Releases • Email This Entry

The Timeless Wisdom of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain for Children and Adults!
Mersine Vigopoulou

128 pages; hard cover; full-color illustrations throughout - $19.00
ISBN 960-86778-6-6

From I-ville to You-ville, the well-known, best selling Orthodox Christian children’s book of Greece, presently in its seventh printing, is now available in English. The unique and wise counsels of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain are presented in a way that is perfect for children and adults alike. In every turn and twist of this adventure the author masterfully weaves the wisdom of the elder into the fabric of the story, constructing a seamless garment of beauty, charm and enlightenment.

Be one of the first to read and impart the life-giving lessons of You-ville to your children!

I-ville - a Kingdom where pride and selfishness dwell, and where people live by the motto “Me first!” You-ville - a Kingdom where humility and kindness have their home, and where people put the good of others before their own.
This is the story of a young boy named Stubborn, as he strives to become the first person of I-ville to make the difficult journey to the beautiful, joy-filled Kingdom of You-ville, and to become a citizen there.
As we join Stubborn in his adventures, we learn, along with him, profound lessons in how to struggle against bad thoughts and feelings. The journey of young Stubborn is one that all of us - old and young - must take, and which all of us can accomplish - if only we shrink our “I” and put “You” first!
The author, Mersine Vigopoulou resides in Souroti (Thessaloniki, Greece). She is also the author of several of other acclaimed children’s books, including the forthcoming Lady Tradition and Orthodoxy.

Posted on 04/03/07| Filed under: New Releases • Email This Entry

“The Commadment of the Lord is not to remain silent in times when the faith is in danger. ‘Speak, he said, and do not remain silent.’” And, “if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Heb. 10:38).  And, “if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Lk. 19:40). Thus, when it is a matter of faith, one should not say: ‘Who am I, a priest or a leader of the people?’ In no case should one remain silent.”

-- St. Theodore the Studite

Posted on 02/13/07| Filed under: The Contemporary World • The Prophetic Role of the Church in the World • Email This Entry

by Fr. John Romanides

This is an excerpt from the upcoming book Patristic Theology, The University Lectures of Father John Romanides, by Uncut Mountain Press.

Saint John of DamascusMany are of the opinion that Orthodoxy is just one religion among many and that its chief concern is to prepare the members of the Church for life after death, securing a place in paradise for every Orthodox Christian. Orthodox doctrine is presumed to offer some additional guarantee, because it is Orthodox, and not believing in Orthodox dogma is seen as yet another reason for someone to go to Hell, besides his personal sins that would otherwise send him there. Those Orthodox Christians who believe that this describes Orthodoxy have associated Orthodoxy exclusively with the afterlife. But in this life such people do not accomplish very much. They just wait to die, believing that they will go to paradise for the simple reason that while they were alive they were Orthodox Christians.

Another section of the Orthodox is involved with and active in the Church, interested not in the next life, but chiefly in this life, here and now. What interests them is how Orthodoxy can help them to have a good life in the present. These Orthodox Christians pray to God, have priests say prayers for them, have their homes blessed with holy water, have services of supplication sung, are anointed with oil, and so forth, all so that God will help them to enjoy life in the present: so that they do not get sick, so that their children find their place in society, so that their daughters are ensured a good dowry and a good groom, so that their boys find good girls to marry with good dowries, so that their work goes well, so that their businesses go well, even so that the stock market goes well, or the industry they work in, and so on. So we see that these Christians are not so very different from other people who follow other religions, for those people do the very same things.(1)

From what we have said, we can clearly see that Orthodoxy has two points in common with all other religions. First, it prepares believers for life after death, so that they will go to paradise, whatever they imagine that to be. Second, Orthodoxy protects them in this life so that they will not have to experience sorrow, difficulties, disaster, sickness, war, and the like – in other words, so that God will take care of all their needs and desires. Thus, for this second type of Orthodox Christian, religion plays a major role in the present life and on a daily basis at that.

But among all these Christians we have just discussed, who cares deep down whether God exists or not? Who really yearns for Him and seeks Him out? The question of God’s existence does not even come up, since it is clearly better for God to exist, so that we can appeal to Him and ask Him to satisfy our needs, in order for our work to go well and for us to have some happiness in this life. As we can see, human beings have an extremely strong predisposition to want God to exist and to believe that God exists, because we have a need for God to exist in order to ensure everything we have mentioned. Since we need God to exist, therefore, God exists. If people were not in need of a God and could take measures to ensure sufficiency for the necessities of life by some other means, then who knows how many would still believe in God. This is what happens in Greece as a rule.

So we see that many people who were previously indifferent to religion become religious towards the end of their lives, perhaps after some event that has frightened them. This happens because they feel that they cannot live any longer without appealing to some god for help – that is, it is the result of superstitious beliefs. For these reasons, human nature encourages man to be religious. This holds true not only for Orthodox Christians, but also for adherents to all religions. Human nature is the same everywhere. Since as a result of the Fall the human soul is now darkened, people are by nature inclined toward superstition.

Now the next question is this: Where does superstition stop and real belief begin?

The Fathers’ views and teachings on these matters are clear. Consider first someone who follows, or rather thinks that he follows the teachings of Christ, simply by going to Church every Sunday, communing at regular intervals, and having the priest bless him with water, anoint him with oil and so on, without examining these things very closely.(2) Does this person who remains at the letter of the law, but does not enter into the spirit of the law, stand to gain anything of any account from Orthodoxy? Now consider someone who prays exclusively for the future life, for himself and for others, but is completely indifferent towards this life. Again, what particular benefit does such a person stand to gain from Orthodoxy? The former tendency can be seen in parish priests and those who flock around them with the attitude described above. The latter tendency can be seen in some elders in monasteries, usually retired archimandrites waiting to die, and the few monks who follow them. (3)

Since purification and illumination are not their main focus or concern, both these tendencies, from the viewpoint of the Fathers, have set the wrong goals for themselves. But insofar as purification and illumination become their focus and the Orthodox asceticism of the Fathers is practiced with a view towards attaining noetic prayer, then and only then can everything else be placed on a firm foundation. These two tendencies are exaggerations that reflect two extremes and share no common core. But there is a common core, a structure that runs throughout Orthodoxy and holds it together. When we take into account this one core, this unique structure, then every subject that concerns Orthodoxy finds its proper place on a firm foundation. And this core is purification, illumination, and theosis.

What will happen to man after death was not an overriding concern for the Fathers. Their primary concern was what will man become in this life. After death, his nous cannot be treated. The treatment must begin in this life, because “in hades there is no repentance.”(4) This is why Orthodox theology is not outside of this world, futuristic, or eschatological, but is clearly grounded in this world, because Orthodoxy’s focus is man in this world and in this life, not after death.

Now why do we need purification and illumination? Is it so that we can go to Heaven and escape Hell? Is that why they are necessary? What are purification and illumination and why do Orthodox Christians want to attain them? In order to find the reason for this and to answer these questions, you need to have what Orthodox theology considers the basic key to these issues.

Posted on 02/13/07| Filed under: Ecclesia • Asceticism, Theology and an Orthodox Worldview • Email This Entry

By Father Geoffrey Korz

See original article at: http://www.orthodoxcanada.com

The reception of converts from heterodox confessions inevitably raises a variety of questions. The method of reception, the question of serving an Orthodox marriage for those who have lived married for years before coming to the Church, and questions surrounding clerical office are most common. The question of the need for catechism is not usually up for grabs: it is assumed that any convert would receive some kind of satisfactory catechism before (and sometimes even after) entering the Church.

An interesting twist on this question recently arose in an Orthodox forum on the topic of ecumenism: what would happen if notable heterodox, such as a Roman Catholic pope, were to convert to Orthodoxy? What about someone that the Roman Catholics recognize as a saint? Surely, such individuals would have immense learning, perhaps extensive theological degrees, and in some cases, even immense holiness? Surely, such an individual would not require catechism? They could teach the Orthodox a thing or two about their own Orthodox Faith - couldn’t they?

The fact that the question emerges reveals something of the lack of a deep understanding of the nature of Orthodox catechism, something which is not only relevant with such celebrated conversions, but more importantly, in cases of catechism for all of us “regular” folk. If catechism is such an important process (and it is), how can one determine if one is actually receiving a “good” catechism?

We must begin by asking, what is the purpose of Orthodox catechism? Unlike catechism amoung heterodox believers, catechism is not primarily about understanding what the faith believes, or the liturgical life, or the meaning of icons. All these things come into play during proper catechism, but none of them represent the essence of true Orthodox catechesis. The primary purpose of a good catechism is to help the catechumen acquire the mind of the Church - the same manner of seeing the world, God, and our human condition, that the saints of all times and places share.

Catechism is about acquiring an Orthodox heart, not about academic study. Although reading is helpful and important, it is not the heart of the matter. Many so-called “Orthodox” academics and some seminaries have forgotten this, adopting the westernized concept that we know God through the mind. Such thinking leads to the idea that even liturgical and prayer should be reconstructed based on academic study, rather than inherited, living experience of Holy Tradition. This is foreign to the mind and heart of the Church - the mind and heart that one must desire more than anything, if one is to be one with the Body of Christ, the Orthodox Church.

Many converts to Orthodoxy (and not a few Orthodox who have been raised in the Church) suffer from what has been called “pseudomorphisism” - the approach to the Faith using “false forms” of understanding or outlook. In this respect, it is harder to come to the Church from heterodoxy than from a non-Christian background. The differences are sometimes subtle, and we can think we know what we do not.

How does this “pseudomorphisism” manifest itself? False forms (that is, forms of worship and belief foreign to the collected wisdom and experience of the Church) are evident in the casual incorporation into prayer and worship of practices with which an individual or group is comfortable, but which have no root in Orthodox practice. A convert from Pentecostalism who raises her hands during the Divine Liturgy, or a convert from Roman Catholicism who continued to use the Rosary would be two examples. There are examples, both ancient and modern, of converts who are warm to the idea of “speaking in tongues”, not as it is seen at the first Pentecost, but rather as it is displayed at protestant charismatic revival meetings. Some of these kind of practices - including this manner of “speaking in tongues” - have been condemned as heresies by the Church long ago, while others simply run counter to the witness of Holy Tradition, that collected measure of belief, morals, and worship shared by the saints across time and place.

“When I became a Christian I voluntarily
crucified my mind, and all the crosses
that I bear have been only a source of
joy for me. I have lost nothing and
gained everything.”
Blessed Father Seraphim (Rose) When one comes to the Church, it is reasonable to assume that an individual wants all She has to give: the fullness of faith, practice, and belief, the life-changing medicine of ascetical discipline, and the Holy Mysteries. In coming to the Orthodox Church, one is saying no to the spiritual salad bar of our times, and yes to the Orthodox Faith. This move means leaving the mind of the world - including the heterodox mind - behind, in order to humbly seek instruction from the Bride of the Lord, His Church and its saints, who reflect His Likeness.

Posted on 02/13/07| Filed under: The Contemporary World • The "New Christianity" • Neo-Roman Catholicism • Neo-Protestantism • Email This Entry