Orthodox Fundamentalism

One of the cornerstones of Orthodox Christianity is its reverence for the great Fathers of the Church who were not only exemplars of holiness but were also the greatest intellectuals of their age. The writings of men like St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. Maximos the Confessor have been and will always remain essential guides to Orthodox Christian living and Orthodox Christian faith.

Thus it is alarming that so many Orthodox clerics and monks in recent years have made public statements that reflect a “fundamentalist” approach to the Church Fathers. And unless leaders of the Orthodox Church unite to repudiate this development, the entire Orthodox Church is at risk of being hijacked by extremists.

Like other fundamentalist movements, Orthodox fundamentalism reduces all theological teaching to a subset of theological axioms and then measures the worthiness of others according to them. Typically, this manifests itself in accusations that individuals, institutions, or entire branches of the Orthodox Church fail to meet the self-prescribed standard for Orthodox teaching. For example, when the Theological Academy of Volos recently convened an international conference to examine the role of the Fathers in the modern Church, radical opportunists in the Church of Greece accused it and its bishop of heresy.

The key intellectual error in Orthodox fundamentalism lies in the presupposition that the Church Fathers agreed on all theological and ethical matters. That miscalculation, no doubt, is related to another equally flawed assumption that Orthodox theology has never changed—clearly it has or else there would have been no need for the Fathers to build consensus at successive Ecumenical Councils.

The irony, as identified by recent scholarship on fundamentalism, is that while fundamentalists claim to protect the Orthodox Christian faith from the corruption of modernity, their vision of Orthodox Christianity is, itself, a very modern phenomenon. In other words, Orthodoxy never was what fundamentalists claim it to be.

Indeed, a careful reading of Christian history and theology makes clear that some of the most influential saints of the Church disagreed with one another—at times quite bitterly. St. Peter and St. Paul were at odds over circumcision. St. Basil and St. Gregory the Theologian clashed over the best way to recognize the divinity of Holy Spirit. And St. John Damascene, who lived in a monastery in the Islamic Caliphate, abandoned the hymnographical tradition that preceded him in order to develop a new one that spoke to the needs of his community.

It is important to understand that Orthodox fundamentalists reinforce their reductionist reading of the Church Fathers with additional falsehoods. One of the most frequently espoused is the claim that the monastic community has always been the guardian of Orthodox teaching. Another insists that the Fathers were anti-intellectual. And a third demands that adherence to the teachings of the Fathers necessitates that one resist all things Western. Each of these assertions is patently false for specific reasons, but they are all symptomatic of an ideological masquerade that purports to escape the modern world.

The insidious danger of Orthodox fundamentalists is that they obfuscate the difference between tradition and fundamentalism. By repurposing the tradition as a political weapon, the ideologue deceives those who are not inclined to question the credibility of their religious leaders.

In an age when so many young people are opting out of religious affiliation altogether, the expansion of fundamentalist ideology into ordinary parishes is leading to a situation where our children are choosing between religious extremism or no religion at all.

It is time for Orthodox hierarchs and lay leaders to proclaim broadly that the endearing relevance of the Church Fathers does not lie in the slavish adherence to a fossilized set of propositions used in self-promotion. The significance of the Fathers lies in their earnest and soul-wrenching quest to seek God and to share Him with the world. Fundamentalist readings of both the Fathers and the Bible never lead to God—they only lead to idolatry.

Authored by George E. Demacopoulos: Professor of Historical Theology; Director and Co-Founder, Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. 

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Mary’s Standing

“Mary’s Standing” (Мариино Стояние) is the colloquial folk term used for the Matins Service prescribed in the liturgical practice of the Byzantine Rite for the Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent. At this service, the entire Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is read together with the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt. The theme of this service is repentance with specific attention focused on the life of St. Mary of Egypt. Though once a harlot, she became through repentance a very righteous woman. This will be the last time during this Lenten season that the Canon of Saint Andrew with its familiar refrain “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me!” will be chanted.

Repentance is the means by which each of us can obtain our salvation. Whatever kind things we do, if we are praised for them, we are in danger of the temptation of becoming a Pharisee, looking only at the exterior, while the interior can remain like the inside of a coffin full of decay. For by the works of the law we will not be justified, no one is able to perform such acts that would cover one’s evil deeds. Repentance is what stands above all.

It seems to some that repentance is easy, however genuine repentance is an incredibly difficult task. Repentance is not simply saying: “I repent!” It is erroneous to believe that merely reciting one’s sins in confession is sufficient. Confessing one’s sin is certainly a good start; however, ff no subsequent efforts follow, one’s words spoken in the confessional remain merely words. Repentance demands from us sincere change (metanoia), and it is only through repentance that our sins are forgiven. God requires our cooperation and helps those who make genuine effort. Through repentance, many have achieved salvation.

So what do we do? We must fervently pray and be vigilant to overcome our sins and temptations. The ascetics, who have trod the path of repentance and have gained experience, guide and help us. The power of prayer strengthens our path of repentance.

We often delay our repentance, rationalizing that we need to finalize a few minor “mistakes” and then repent. Such a calculation is a fraud, as warned in the Great Canon:

“My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near!”

Our lives pass rapidly. Many persons meet an unexpected and untimely death. Postponing one’s repentance is a dangerous risk, for we may find ourselves without time or control over our circumstances. We need to repent without hesitation or delay. It’s tempting to rationalize in taking just one last “sip”, but that may be the fatal sip.

It is already the fifth week of Lent. Very soon we will be celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. Repentance leads us to resurrection. Before this spiritual feast, let us examine ourselves in what manner have we repented? Easter (Pascha) is the victory of the power of death, our reconciliation with God and with one another. Repentance leads us to resurrection. May we hasten our repentance, preparing our hearts and souls as open vessels for the outpouring of paschal grace.

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Fourth Sunday in Lent

On the Fourth Sunday in Lent, the Eastern Church commemorates Saint John Climacus, also known as John of the Ladder, who was a seventh-century monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is revered as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox churches.

Saint John’s spiritual instructions known as Ladder of Divine Ascent describes the means by which one acquires the ascetic virtues. He uses the analogy of Jacob’s Ladder as the framework for his spiritual teaching. Each chapter is referred to as a “step” and deals with a separate spiritual subject. There are a total of thirty steps. The final four steps or “rungs” of the ladder concern the higher virtues: prayer, spiritual stillness (hesychia), dispassion, and, highest of all, love (agape).

Ladder of Divine Ascent became one of the most widely read books of Byzantine spirituality. In Eastern Christian monasteries, chapters of the book are often read in church or in the refectory as part of the Daily Office on Lenten weekdays.

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Jesus Christ’s Tomb Opens to Public after Restoration

A burial tomb believed to have held the body of Jesus Christ before his resurrection will open to the public on Wednesday. The tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem underwent nine months of restoration.

A team from the National Technical University of Athens (NTU) carried out intensive restoration on a small structure known as the ‘Edicule’ (little house) within the church, containing the tomb and burial bed believed to have once held the body of Jesus Christ.

During the restoration the team removed a slab of marble that had been placed over the bed in 1555AD to prevent pilgrims removing rocks from the holy site, exposing the original limestone shelf for the first time in centuries.

The team from NTU reinforced the ‘Edicule’ structure during the restoration, using titanium bolts and mortar.

“If the intervention hadn’t happened now, there is a very great risk that there could have been a collapse,” said Bonnie Burnham from the World Monuments Fund, which oversaw the project, The Guardian reported, citing AP.

Thick layers of candle soot and pigeon droppings were also removed from the holy site.

A small window has been cut in the marble wall of the ‘Edicule’, allowing pilgrims to see into the tomb for the first time. On Wednesday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians and a representative of Pope Francis, will mark the completion of the restoration with a ceremony.

According to scripture, the body of Christ was laid in the tomb following his crucifixion. After three days he was discovered to be missing and said to have appeared over a period of 40 days before ascending into heaven.

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Saint Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland*

Troparion Hymn

Holy Bishop Patrick, faithful shepherd of Christ’s royal flock, you filled Ireland with the radiance of the Gospel: The mighty strength of the Trinity! Now that you stand before the Savior, pray that He may preserve us in faith and love!

*Commemorated on March 17/30

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The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem – 5

Finally, idle talk. Of all created beings, man alone has been endowed with the gift of speech. All Fathers see in it the very “seal” of the Divine Image in man because God Himself is revealed as Word (John, 1:1). But being the supreme gift, it is by the same token the supreme danger.

Being the very expression of man, the means of his self-fulfillment, it is for this very reason the means of his fall and self-destruction, of betrayal and sin. The word saves and the word kills; the word inspires and the word poisons. The word is the means of Truth and it is the means of demonic Lie.

Having an ultimate positive power, it has therefore a tremendous negative power. It truly creates positively or negatively. When deviated from its divine origin and purpose, the word becomes idle. It “enforces” sloth, despondency, and lust of power, and transforms life into hell. It becomes the very power of sin.

These four (sloth, despair, lust of power, idle talk) are thus the negative “objects” of repentance. They are the obstacles to be removed. But God alone can remove them. Hence, the first part of the lenten prayer; this cry from the bottom of human helplessness. Then the prayer moves to the positive aims of repentance which also are four (chastity, humility, patience, love).

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The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem – 4

Lust of power! Strange as it may seem, it is precisely sloth and despondency that fill our life with lust of power. By vitiating the entire attitude toward life and making it meaningless and empty, they force us to seek compensation in, a radically wrong attitude toward other persons.

If my life is not oriented toward God, not aimed at eternal values, it will inevitably become selfish and selfcentered and this means that all other beings will become means of my own self-satisfaction. If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I become my own lord and master — the absolute center of my own world, and I begin to evaluate everything in terms of my needs, my ideas, my desires, and my judgments.

The lust of power is thus a fundamental depravity in my relationship to other beings, a search for their subordination to me. It is not necessarily expressed in the actual urge to command and to dominate “others.” It may result as well in indifference, contempt, lack of interest, consideration, and respect.

It is indeed sloth and despondency directed this time at others; it completes spiritual suicide with spiritual murder.

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Crown of Thorns on Icon of St. Seraphim of Vyritsa

A crown of thorns, not painted by human hands, has miraculously appeared around the Cross on an icon of St. Seraphim of Vyritsa in Severomorsk, Russia, 640 miles north of St. Petersburg, reports the Severemorsk Diocese.

The icon was painted in the fall of 2016 and brought from St. Petersburg. The board was made from a pine tree that grew on the grave of St. Seraphim’s parents, Nikolai Ivanovich and Khionia Alimpeivna, at the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Spass-Ukhra in the Yaroslav region. The tree which grew up between their graves became too large and was cut down. It dried over the course of ten years, after which icon boards were made from it.

This particular icon was written on one such board last year by a nun from Diveyevo Monastery. It was decided to send the icon to Igumen Mitrophan in Varzuga, but he became the bishop of Severemorsk, so the icon was sent there. 

By that time there was a “defect” on the icon, a bright circle had appeared on the cross on St. Seraphim’s monastic schema. The painter suggested perhaps there was a knot in the wood of the board, but the carpenter who made the board stated that there had been no knots. By the time of the icon’s arrival in Severemorsk, the circle had clearly turned into a painted crown, hanging on the Cross.

The miraculous appearance of the crown of thorns hanging on the Cross of Christ is obvious to all and the joy of this wondrous grace from God is felt by all who pray before the icon.

The icon was first publicly displayed on Friday, March 3 at the Presanctified Liturgy in the Severemorsk Church of Sts. Sophia, Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov, and will be present at all hierarchical services throughout Great Lent.

– Pravoslavie, Moscow, 14 March 2017

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The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem – 3

The basic disease is sloth. It is that strange laziness and passivity of our entire being which always pushes us “down” rather than “up” — which constantly convinces us that no change is possible and therefore desirable.

It is in fact a deeply rooted cynicism which to every spiritual challenge responds “what for?” and makes our life one tremendous spiritual waste. It is the root of all sin because it poisons the spiritual energy at its very source.

The result of sloth is faint-heartedness. It is the state of despondency which all spiritual Fathers considered the greatest danger for the soul. Despondency is the impossibility for man to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism. It is truly a demonic power in us because the Devil is fundamentally a liar. He lies to man about God and about the world; he fills life with darkness and negation.

Despondency is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it he is absolutely unable to see the light and to desire it.

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Fasting and Feasting

Every Sunday the Orthodox Catholic Church liturgically commemorates Christ’s Resurrection and considers Sunday a “Feast Day” even during Lent. Historically, therefore, Sunday was observed as a day of celebration and of breaking the lenten fast. On the weekdays of Great Lent, however, fasting and abstinence are probably more important now than ever before, given our culture is shaped by excess.

Fasting and abstinence are spiritual practices that aim to set us free from unhealthy attachments and addictions and to help us remember the poor and to realize how truly blessed we are. Saint Benedict wrote: “nothing is so inconsistent with the life of any Christian as over-indulgence.” Isaiah 58 reminds us that the fast God desires is for us to actively pursue justice for those in need.

It is important for us to find a balance between fasting and feasting. We need to be freed from our attachments and to grow in our solidarity with the poor; but we also need to be nourished and reminded of God’s lavish grace. The goal during feasting, though, is not to excessively indulge in food, but to celebrate and savor God’s gracious provision.

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2nd Sunday of Lent (St Gregory Palamas)

The gospel reading for the second week of Lent is the reading about the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12). Four of the paralytic’s friends lowered him through the roof to the feet of the Savior.

According to one of the interpretations, the soul of the paralytic represents our own souls, and his friends are the saints of the Church, who intercede for us and help us in this life to obtain Christ’s mercy and help. And the Lord says to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you. Arise, take your bed and go to your house.”

This is what we hope to gain from fasting. We await for our paralyzed soul to grow in God’s strength that spiritually heals and transforms us.

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The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem – 2

Why does this short and simple prayer occupy such an important position in the entire lenten worship?

Because it enumerates in a unique way all the “negative” and “positive” elements of repentance and constitutes, so to speak, a “check list” for our individual lenten effort.

This effort is aimed first at our liberation from some fundamental spiritual diseases which shape our life and make it virtually impossible for us even to start turning ourselves to God.

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Russian Orthodox Church to Commemorate Saint Patrick

The patron saint of Ireland has finally won over the Russian Orthodox Church, which declared on Thursday that it shall henceforth celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, albeit on March 30, almost two weeks after the carousing has wrapped up to the west.

“In total, we added to the ecclesiastical calendar more than a dozen saints who struggled bravely in Western countries, including holy Patriky, the Apostle of Ireland, better known among the faithful of our country as St. Patrick,” Vladimir Legoida, a spokesman for the church, told the news agency Interfax.

According to Legoida, the new calendar was formulated based in part on the accounts of Russian Orthodox Christians worshipping in dioceses located in Western Europe. Church officials weighed this information, as well as the absence of particular saints’ name in polemical works criticizing Eastern Christianity, Legoida told Interfax.

The Russian Orthodox Church is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day almost two weeks after the rest of Christendom because the church observes the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the now-standard Gregorian calendar.

While this year will make the first time Russian Orthodox Christianity has officially honored St. Patrick’s Day, cities across Russia have held annual holiday festivities for years already. These celebrations are likely to remain in mid-March, alongside the party in Ireland.

– The Moscow Times

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Triumph of Orthodoxy

On the First Sunday of Lent (March 5th), the Eastern Church commemorates the feast known as of the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”. This Feast was officially established in 843 A.D. The Church joyously celebrates the theological understanding of God’s incarnation amongst humanity in the divine person of Christ. The original reason for the establishment of this Feast served as a commemoration of the victory for the defenders of icons over the iconoclasts in the IX century.

The dogma of the veneration of icons, it turns out, affects the very core of the gospel. Prior to the incarnation, no one had seen God, so it was impossible to depict God in form and art. But the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, took on flesh, becoming completely human. Therefore, it became possible to portray Him, and the icon was an appropriate depiction.

Anyone who denies the use of icons, denies the very essence of the Gospel. If the icon is denied, then the Incarnation is denied. We need only to support the height of biblical theology by not creating idols out of icons. “I saw the human face of God, and my soul was saved” – so said the defender of icons, Saint John Damascene.

This day serves as an excellent reminder of the theological reason and purpose for the veneration of icons in the Orthodox Catholic Christian Church.

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Five Reasons NOT to Observe Lent*

Some years ago my fiancée (now wife) and I found ourselves in a church full of people who observed Lent. With a wedding and honeymoon just a few months away, we had better plans.

We spent our extra money on a Caribbean cruise, while the spiritual pilgrims around us were freely giving their non-extra money to support persecuted Christians in Nigeria. I was, admittedly, on the Look Good Naked diet, renouncing sweets for the sake of vanity. They were on the Good Friday diet, fasting from food to dwell more closely with Jesus Christ. I was feeding my cravings. They were confessing their sins. I was more obligated, but they were more free.

After the luster of the cruise wore off, we decided to give Lent a try the following year. But I was still motivated by self-improvement and a fear of missing out. Several years later, it has taken some trial-and-error for me to learn the heart of Lent. Along the way, here are five reasons I’ve learned not to observe the season:

1. To slim your waistline.

Lent is not a season for weight loss. Yes, Lent involves a taming of the physical appetites. But the goal is to cultivate a spiritual hunger for God, not a slimmer physique.

If you turn Lent into a season of self-improvement, you’ll miss the greater vision of drawing close to Jesus Christ and becoming like him. Besides, lenten fasts and fish Fridays are ineffective methods of losing weight — if that’s your goal, it’s better to try the Whole 30 diet and exercise three times a week.

2. To make God happy.

Sometimes I like to think I can control God, making him happy (or just less angry) simply by taking up the classic Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and generosity towards others.

At its heart, this is a “hunger strike” approach to God — going without food to get the attention of the prison warden.

I’ve found out the hard way that God does not play along with that silly game. This will just leave us either proud or depressed:

“Why have we fasted, and you see it not?” (Isaiah 58:3).

3. To cure an addiction.

While Lent is a great me to address the bodily cravings that have enslaved us, the spiritual journey will not cure addictions.

If you feel powerless to break a dependence on alcohol, sexual activity, gambling, drugs, overeating or any other vice, seek professional help from a licensed counselor and an addiction recovery program in your church or community.

The spiritual benefits of observing Lent with the people of God will be a support and encouragement as you walk the road of recovery.

4. To showcase your spirituality or virtue.

Let’s be honest: Most of us want to be admired for our virtue and recognized for our hard work. I know I do. But Lent is a time for us to seek a greater reward: the blessing of God the Father which is ours through the free gift of his Son Jesus.

“Beware of practicing  your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,” Jesus warned, “for then you will have no reward from your Father who is Heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

Whether we’re fasting, praying more regularly or giving our money to the poor, Jesus warns us against showcasing it for “likes.” By all means seek support for the journey, just don’t broadcast it for the ego-boost.

5. Because it’s the cool trend.

In all honesty, I fell hard for this one. I started practicing Lent because everyone at my new church observed the season. Increasing numbers of people from all walks of life are jumping on the Lent bandwagon. Maybe they are feeling far from God and want a tangible way to reignite their spirituality. Or perhaps they’re feeling adrift in the modern world and want to reconnect with ancient practices.

In any case, don’t join the herd out of a fear of missing out. The mystique will wear off faster than the dirt on your forehead from Ash Wednesday.

In the last 14 years of practicing Lent, my motives have been all over the place. But by God’s grace I’ve come to see that Lent is not a forced march of works-righteousness, but rather a joyful pilgrimage, even better than a cruise.

It’s been good medicine for my autonomy, self-indulgence, spiritual independence and the painful split between what I know about God and what I experience of him. At the end of the day, however, Lent is about Jesus — becoming closer to him and becoming like him.

*Authored by Reverend Aaron Damiani, pastor of Immanuel Anglican Church in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood and the author of The Good of Giving Up: Discovering the Freedom of Lent.

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Prayer for the Departed

Remember, O Lord, our parents and brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection, and all those who have ended their lives in piety and faith. Forgive them all their transgressions, both voluntary and involuntary, committed by them in word or deed or in thought.

Set them in bright places of light, in places of green pasture, in places of rest whence all pain, sorrow and sighing have fled away, and where the light of Your countenance shines and gladdens forever all the saints.

Grant to them and to us Your Kingdom and participation in Your ineffable and eternal blessings, and to delight in Your unending and blessed life.

For You are the Life, the Resurrection and the Repose of Your servants who have fallen asleep, O Christ our God, and we render glory to You, with Your Eternal Father, and with Your All-holy, Gracious and Life-giving Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

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Why Do We Fast and Abstain

It is the custom of Orthodox Catholic Christians to fast (abstain) during Lent as a self-discipline and an offering to God. By fasting and abstaining, we offer God our entire being as an expression of gratitude and submission.

Jesus instructed us to fast and taught that our fasting should be done discreetly:

“When you are fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to let people know they are fasting. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put scent on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18).

Saint Seraphim of Sarov, one of our beloved our patron saints, taught:

“Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, before setting out on the feat of redeeming the human race, fortified Himself with a lengthy fast. And all ascetics, proceeding to work for the Lord, armed themselves by fasting and did not set out on the path of the Cross without the feat of fasting.”

Despite their fasting and to the surprise of others, the holy fathers and mothers did not know weakness but remained hearty, strong, and ready for the task at hand. Illnesses were rare among them and their lives were extraordinarily prolonged. Not everyone, however, can take upon oneself strict rules of abstinence from everything, nor deprive oneself completely of all that serves to relieve infirmities:

“The person that is able to receive it, let receive it” (Matthew 19:12).

Our spiritual ancestors in the Faith instructed us that one should take enough food everyday to strengthen the body, so that it can be a friend and helper to the soul in accomplishing virtues; otherwise it can happen that through the exhaustion of the body the spirit can weaken. On Wednesdays and Fridays, particularly during Great Lent, let us strive to the best of our ability to follow the disciplined example of the ascetics.

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Lenten Spiritual Reading

Lent is observed in many Christian denominations, beginning on Clean Monday in the East and Ash Wednesday in the West. The approximately six-week period is a time of spiritual preparation for commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus on Easter (Pascha). Common practices during Lent include increased prayer and church attendance, abstinence, fasting, and almsgiving.

In his monastic rule, Saint Benedict instructed monks and nuns to read a book during Lent:

“During the days of Lent, they (monastics) should be free in the morning to read until the third hour… each one is to receive a book from the library, and is to read the whole of it straight through.”

If reading is not part of your regular spiritual practice, please consider heeding Saint Benedict’s instruction to read a religious book during Lent.

Saint Jerome suggested that when we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.

Regarding spiritual reading, Saint John Chrysostom wrote:

“When you immerse your mind and heart in spiritual books, you will always be filled, for spiritual reading gives you a foundation in God” (Third Homily on Lazarus).

May all of your Lenten observances be blessed and fruitful!

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