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Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN April 11, 2004 Issue 
The book: "Eastern Orthodox Christianity" By: Daniel B. Clendenin The book: "Eastern Orthodox Theology" Edited by: Daniel B. Clendenin (Second Edition, Baker Academic, 2003) 
 Books Examine Essence of the Eastern Orthodox Church Resurgence of religion has made it a hot and volatile topic today. Incidents that challenge the separation of state and church and loud proponents of various faiths seem to cut deeper into the secular nature of our lives. Perhaps I am more sensitive to this because I came of age in an officially atheistic state where faith was intensely private. Not only that, but the smallest show of religious faith was reason enough for severe reprisals. Prior to the establishment of communism, the official religion of Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and some other Eastern European countries was Eastern Orthodox Christianity. But many of the in-your-face religious zealots today do not even know that the Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian church. Conversation about religion is also in with young people. I frequently overhear the discussions my son Zack and his friends have on that topic. I listen with pride to Zack expound on the history of Christianity in general, Orthodox Christianity, the five original Christian Patriarchates and Holy Sees, Emperor Constantine's vision of the cross, the Council of Nicea and the Julian calendar. At moments like this I know that no matter what other parental failings I might have, I've succeeded in passing on to my son an essential part of his heritage. Since this year the Orthodox Church celebrates Easter at the same time as the Western churches, I thought it fitting to review "Eastern Orthodox Christianity" and "Eastern Orthodox Theology" by Daniel B. Clendenin, currently at Stanford University. Both books are written specifically for the Western reader. "Eastern Orthodox Christianity" explains the essence of Orthodoxy. "Eastern Orthodox Theology" is a collection of writings by Orthodox theologians that underscore the explanations in the first book. "For the most part Orthodoxy in America has had to endure a certain degree of anonymity or cultural invisibility," writes the author in "Eastern Orthodox Christianity." The purpose of these books is to better acquaint Americans with Orthodox Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes itself to be the original Holy Apostolic Church. Theological disputes caused the 1054 schism of the Christian Church into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The most divisive issues were papal supremacy and the filioque doctrine, which has to do with the Holy Trinity. "According to Orthodoxy," writes the author, "the Roman Catholic Church deviated from the true apostolic faith when it introduced the innovations of the papacy and the filioque doctrine." The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 put an end to the resplendent flourishing of the Byzantine Church. By then almost all of the Holy Sees of Orthodoxy were in lands conquered by Islam. While the Reformation raged in Western Europe, the Byzantine Church had to concentrate on just surviving. The word orthodox is a Greek derivative that means the "correct belief" and the "correct way to worship." Orthodoxy is mystical, mysterious and spiritual. It is a faith ruled by Divine Tradition and not by dogma or any other laws. "Orthodoxy does not acknowledge any formal criteria of theological truth that are expressed in an extrinsic, juridical, institutional, or dogmatic form," explains the author. It has no formal authority. This absence of formal dogma, rules and rational explanations drives Westerners - obsessed with objectivity and rational - absolutely crazy. For the East, "the great mysteries of the faith are matters of adoration rather than analysis," Clendenin points out. Repeatedly he makes an effort to clarify the mystical nature of the Byzantine Church: "The creeds describe rather than dissect the great truths of Christianity, such as the nature of the Trinity and the relationship between the divine and human natures in Christ." "The Orthodox approach to religion is fundamentally a liturgical approach," writes Timothy (Kallistos) Ware in the first essay of "Eastern Orthodox Theology." Orthodox Christians do "not ask about moral rules or demand a reasoned statement of doctrine," he emphasizes. Another perplexing Orthodox belief for Westerners is the idea of theosis, or the deification of humanity. Orthodox Christians believe that the ultimate reason for our existence is, in the words of the theologian Nicodemos of Athos, "not only to behold the Trinity, supreme in Kingship, but also to receive an influx of the divine and, as it were, to suffer deification." Adds the author: "The idea of theosis, divinization, or deification speaks directly to the nature of the Christian's mystical experience of God." I have purposefully enclosed numerous quotations here in order to convey accurately the author's explanations. The only personal view I would like to add is that it is precisely those inexplicable spiritual and mystical elements about Orthodox Christianity that have enabled it to survive, whole and unaltered, from the earliest Byzantine times through the adversities of Islam and atheism. This book must not be missed! Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
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