“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

The Life of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain is now being prepared for publication. The following story is just one small offering from the spiritual treasure contained in the book. It speaks volumes both to the delusion of evolutionism, but even more to the importance of being humble and persistent in the spiritual struggle, for even more than great feats of asceticism the Lord honors the humble thought.

The Elder later in life, at a monastic tonsure
(Souroti, Thessaloniki)The Elder once told us: “From age of eleven I read the lives of the Saints and fasted and kept vigil. My older brother would take these books and hide them. He achieved nothing by this. I would go into the forest and continue my reading.” Then one of his friends, Kostas, told him: “I will make him want to forget everything.”

“He came and explained to me Darwin’s theory [of evolution]. I was shaken by this and said: ‘I will go and pray, and if Christ is God, he will appear to me so I will believe. A shadow, a voice – He will show me something.’ That’s how much I knew. I went and began to pray and make prostrations, which lasted for hours, but nothing happened. In the end, laden with distress, I stopped. Then something that Kostas had said came to mind: “I can accept that Christ is an important man, righteous, virtuous, who was hated out of envy for his virtue and condemned by his compatriots.” Then I said to myself: “Since Christ was like this, and even if he was only a man, he is deserving of my love and my obedience and my self-sacrifice on His behalf. I don’t want paradise, or anything. For his Holiness and His goodness, every sacrifice is worth it” (a good thought and magnanimous (philotimo) spirit).

“God was waiting to see how I would deal with it. After this, Christ Himself appeared to me within abundant light. He was visible from his waist and higher. He looked upon me with tremendous love and said to me: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.’ These words were also written upon the Gospel that He held open in his left hand.”

With this event, the thoughts of uncertainty, which had troubled his young soul, were erased within the fifteen year old Arsenios, and in the grace of God he was given to know Christ as true God and Saviour of the world. He was made certain of the Theanthropos (God-man), not by man, nor by book, but by the very Lord Himself, Who revealed Himself to him, even at such a tender age. Now firmly established in faith, he said to himself: “Kostas, if you want to, come and let’s have a talk.”

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

By Father Geoffrey Korz, (Nativity, 2006)

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

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” - John 8:31-32

Media coverage of the recent visit by Benedict XVI to Istanbul illustrated vividly the great gap between popular illusion and Christian reality.

For instance, consider the repeated references to Patriarch Bartholomew as “spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians”. For the ninety percent of Orthodox Christians not under the jurisdiction of the bishop in Istanbul, this seemed as strange as describing the American president as the Leader of North America. Clearly, the Patriarch lays claim to an ancient see, one which is now numerically bereft of faithful, but which still claims jurisdiction over all Orthodox in so-called “barbarian lands” (apparently places like Russia, the United States, and Canada).

This claim to a kind of semi-universal authority is propped up by supporters in the West, who emblazon the Patriarchal standard on their letterheads, but who do not muster the energy to advocate a return to the monarchy of the Byzantine Empire which gave the Patriarch his title in the first place. Even in its far-flung holdings in Europe, Canada, and the United States, the Orthodox who are under the Patriarchate of Constantinople are in speedy decline, a result of low birth rates and severely limited mission work.

Greek TV: “Historic Meeting”It is of course the mystique of this office, not the realities, which make her worthy of a visit by the Roman Catholic leader. Without question, Benedict XVI is the magnet of media attention around the world. It is this mythology of the Patriarchal office - a mythology paralleling the Roman Catholic claim to the universal authority of one bishop - which makes the Latin “vicar of Christ” so eager for “ecumenical” dialogue, and eventually, eucharistic union.

The bishop in Istanbul is somehow seen by Rome as the key to this unity, and the Patriarch is eager to oblige. Life in Turkey has not been easy for the Orthodox minority and their local spiritual leader (for so he is, like any bishop in his home city). Numerous assassination attempts, coupled with micromanagement of patriarchal affairs by the Turkish government, make it easy to understand the reasons one would welcome media attention in the Phanar (the enclosure that houses the Patriarchal offices). It is much more difficult to lob molotov cocktails through the back window of the Phanar while the Papal motorcade is parked outside. This is at least part of the reason the Roman Catholic leader was greeted at the Phanar by the singing of “Many Years” by the Patriarchal chanters, a practice strictly reserved for visiting Orthodox bishops. Apparently, they were especially happy to see him.

Posted on 02/13/07. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry

ELDER PAISIOS OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

Elder PaisiosMany of the holy Martyrs, whenever they were unfamiliar with a dogma, used to say:  “I trust whatever the Holy Fathers have instituted”. If anyone dared to say those words, they would suffer martyrdom.  In other words, although they did not know how to present any proof to their persecutors, they did, however, have faith in the Holy Fathers.  They would think to themselves: “How can I not trust the Holy Fathers? They were far more experienced, and virtuous, and saintly. How can I agree to something that is nonsense?  How can I tolerate someone abusing the Holy Fathers?” We must have faith in Tradition. Nowadays, unfortunately, we notice that “European good manners” have shown up, and they strive to present a benevolent face.  They try to be superior, but in the end, they head towards the worship of the two-horned devil. “Only one religion must exist” they tell you, and they flatten everything. 
I’ve had people come to me too, who suggested: “All of us who believe in Christ should form one religion”. 

I said to them: Now what you’re telling me is to take gold and copper – gold of so many carats quality – which they took so much trouble to purify, and then gather the metals and melt them into one mass.  Is it right to mix them together again?  Ask any goldsmith:  “Should we mix inferior elements with gold?”

Well, the same trouble was taken to filter-clean the dogma. The Holy Fathers must have known something, when they forbade every association with a heretic.  Nowadays they say: “We should all pray together – not only with a heretic, but also with a Buddhist and a fire-worshipper and a demon-worshipper.  The Orthodox should also participate in these common prayers and conventions. It is a matter of [being] present.”

What do they mean by “being present”? They strive to solve everything with logic, in order to justify the unjustifiable.  The “European spirit” is convinced that spiritual matters can also be made a part of the Common Market.

Some of the rather shallow Orthodox want to project [ecumenism as] “Missionary work”, so they convene meetings with the heterodox for the sake of being heard, and they think that this is the way to advertise Orthodoxy – by mingling in the same pot with cacodoxies.  Then we have the hyper-zealots at the other extreme: they even blaspheme the Sacraments of the New-Calendarists etc., and they excessively scandalize those souls who are pious and have an orthodox sensitivity.  The heterodox on the other hand usually attend meetings, they pose as know-it-alls, they take any good spiritual material that they find with the Orthodox, they take it to their own workshop, add their own colours and brand names and they present it as something original.

Holy Gregory Palamas, Pillar of OrthodoxyToday’s strange world is actually moved by such strange things, and it is eventually destroyed spiritually.  But the Lord – when the time is right – will bring forth new Marks of Ephesus and the Gregorys of Palamas, who will muster all of our scandalized brethren, who will confess the Orthodox faith, consolidate the Orthodox Tradition and give great joy to our Mother the Church.

If we were living Patristically, we would all be enjoying a spiritual health that would have been the envy of all the heterodox; it would have made them abandon their sick fallacies and render them saved, without any sermons.  At present, they are not moved by our holy Patristic tradition, because they are waiting to see our Patristic continuity – our true kinship with the Saints. 

That which is obligatory for every Orthodox, is for them to sow the “good uneasiness” in the heterodox as well; in other words, to bring them to the realization that they are living a lie and that they should not light-heartedly relax their thoughts, for fear of depriving themselves in this life of the bounteous blessings of Orthodoxy, and in the life to come, the infinitely more and everlasting blessings of God

I was once visited by some Catholic youth who had good intentions, and were ready to acquaint themselves with Orthodoxy. “We want you to say something to us, so that we will be helped spiritually”, they told me. 

“Look”, I replied, “find a book on Ecclesiastic History, and you will see how we once used to be together, and then see where you wound up. This will help you immensely.  Do it, and the next time, we will talk about many things.”

In times past, people used to respect something because it was their grandfather’s, and they used to safeguard it like an heirloom.  I once met a very good lawyer.  His house was very simply furnished, and it relaxed not only him, but his visitors also.  He told me this, some time ago:

“A few years ago, Father, my acquaintances made fun of me because of the old, family furniture that I had. Now they come and admire them as valuable antiques. While I make daily use of them and enjoy them because they remind me of my father, my mother, my grandparents, and I am always emotionally touched, those acquaintances now go around collecting various old pieces of furniture, to the point that they have turned their lounges into curiosity shops, in an attempt to take their minds off their problems and forget their secular stress.”

In the past, one would hold on to a tiny little coin of insignificant value as though it were a vast fortune, only because it was given to him by his mother or his grandfather. Nowadays, if someone has an expensive coin – a gold Pound for example – that was given to him by his grandfather, and that coin’s value is slightly higher than its original value, he will give it away to be sold. He will not show any respect, nor will he be concerned about any mother or father.  It’s that “European spirit” that is slowly creeping in and is sweeping us all away....

Posted on 02/07/07. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • The Royal Path & the Two Extremes • • Email This Entry