Saint Nicholas of Japan on Buddhism

By Deacon Giorgi Maximov

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Archbishop Nicholas (Kasatkin; 1836-1912), an outstanding missionary to Japan where he labored for over fifty years, was the founder of the Japanese Orthodox Church. Of the tens of thousands of Japanese converted to Orthodoxy thanks to his labors, a significant portion were former Buddhists, and amongst his assistants were former Buddhist monks (Bhikkhu), for example, Paul Savabe. The saint studied Buddhism during the first eight years of his time in Japan, when, in his words, he “strove with all diligence to study Japanese history, religion, and the spirit of the Japanese people.”[1]

St. Nicholas offered an integral study of Buddhism in his work, “Japan from the point of view of Christian mission,” published in 1869. This was the first description of Japanese Buddhism accessible to the Russian language reader. It was clear from this work that the author studied Buddhism quite seriously, but for understandable reasons, limited his sources to those in the Japanese language.

A Monastery of Five Widows and a Buddhist Who Became Orthodox

Holy Monastery of Saints Marina and Raphael in Xylotymbou

By K. Triantaphylou

From my five-day stay in Cyprus I will record due to brevity only what lessons I learned at the Holy Monastery of Saint Marina and Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene in Xylotymbou of the Holy Metropolis of Kition. The spiritual father, serving priest and founder of this Monastery was Protopresbyter Kyriakos Panagiotou, who among other things has a sweet voice. Because of his sweet voice, the late Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus had him ordained as his deacon, but he refused, saying he preferred to serve as a priest in his village.

The Birth of Christ Celebrates the End of the Sickness of Religion

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos
of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The feast of the Birth of Christ cannot be confined to a few sentimental situations: festive decorations, an intellectual and rationalistic interpretation of events, a moralistic framework; rather it has a very profound meaning and existential significance. If one remains at an external level, then they are leaving themselves hungry and thirsty, deprived of a life of meaning and existential freedom.

The incarnation of Christ was considered and was celebrated by the Fathers of the Church and the worshipping ecclesiastical community as the abolishing of religion and its transformation into a Church. In fact, the ever-memorable Father John Romanides had said in the most categorical way that Christ became human, in order to free us of the sickness of religion.

The Reception of Orthodox Hesychasm in Far Eastern Missions

"The Buddhists and Taoists for the first time are hearing about noetic prayer and the mysticism of Orthodoxy, as something higher than their own monasticism, because they know Christianity primarily from Protestants, who do not teach such things. They asked my permission to translate the book A Night In The Desert Of The Holy Mountain and The Way Of A Pilgrim, which I granted."

- This quote is from a letter from Fr. Jonah, an Orthodox missionary in Taiwan, in the magazine Saint Kosmas Aitolos (2001 issue 45).

Teachers of Orthodox Christianity and Teachers of Other Religions

The Path Towards the Light: 
Orthodoxy's Holy Teachers and Teachers of Other Religions

By Theodore Riginiotes

In a certain village of Messaras lives an elderly lady called G***, who, to those who know her, it is well known that God has bestowed her with exceptional charismatic gifts. Once, for example, the Archangel Michael appeared to a certain sick person in Athens who did not know her at all, and announced to him: "I came to heal you, because G*** sent me to you in her prayer."

The elderly G*** said to me: "I am no saint; just an old lady who beseeches God for her salvation. If you want a Saint, you should go to so-and-so the ascetic who lives over there, or the other one, *****, who lives in that area", giving me the names of four or five contemporary ascetics - mostly unknown - who live in various regions of Crete.

Characteristics like those of the elderly G*** - on their own - do not mean anything. They can quite easily be imitated by a con artist, although, people like the old lady are not frauds, as she never profited in any way from those charismatic gifts; in fact, all that preoccupied her was the fear that she might lose that mystical relationship with Christ in her heart. Instead, we can find such abilities in teachers of other religions: Buddhists, Hindus, and even witch doctors or shamans. Nevertheless, we need to mention that in our spiritual tradition there are quite a number of people who have reached the elderly lady's "level". For example, the inconceivable, miraculous charismatic gifts of contemporary Orthodox saints such as the Elders Porphyrios, Paisios, Iakovos and others, who not only had the gift of insight and healing, but also had experiences of the "warping" of space and time, the multiplication of matter, teletransportation, communication with animals, and many other signs. What is even stranger however, is that similar phenomena as well as appearances of such Elders continue even after their death - or, to use the Orthodox term - after having fallen asleep in the Lord. Even in Crete, there are such Elders, as, for example, the Elder Eumenios from the Roustikoi Monastery of Rethymnon, and others.

These wonderworking saints are descendants of a previous generation of wonderworkers, to which belonged people such as Saint George Karslidis († 1948), the sightless Saint Matrona of Moscow († 1952), Saint John Maximovitch († 1966), and many others in the world, who in turn were descendants of another generation, which included Saint John of Kronstandt († 1908), Saint Nectarios of Optina (Russia † 1937), Saint Matrona of Anemniasevo († 1932), Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian († 1924) and many others.

Proceeding in this manner backwards into history, we can see holy wonderworkers living in every Christian generation, right through to the Disciples of Christ, whose miracles have been described in the New Testament (in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles).

***

These holy and charismatic teachers of Christianity differ immensely from the respective Lamas, Swamis, Shamans, etc. However, I would like to mention three points, which perhaps reveal those elements that I desire to point out to you.

First of all, there is no "method" in the lives of these Christians which they follow in order to attain such characteristics, nor were they initiated in any kind of mystic teaching. The only thing they did was to open wide their heart to Christ, as God, and to their fellow man. Their way of life does not include the practicing of a certain method (for example: yoga, meditation or martial arts), but rather, we would say that theirs is a path which includes a descent into two intelligible realms - which the contemporary saint, the Elder Sophrony Sakharov, characterizes as "Hades": the "Hades of repentance" and the "Hades of Love". The first "Hades" is the complete rejection of my old self and its acts and desires (which are characterized by selfishness), and the second "Hades" which contains an unconditional love, to the point of self-sacrifice for each and every human being individually, even my enemy (whom I have forgiven completely). This love culminates in (or begins from) a love for Christ, with Whom a proper communication is maintained through prayer, as well as participation in the Divine Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Communion; a communication that can even reach a vision of the Divine Light, not only during prayer, but also during one's ordinary everyday life. This vision may sometimes last for entire days, and one can continue with his daily activities and simultaneously find himself inside the Divine Light - which reveals itself to him as a personal being, as Christ.

Given that there is no method by which one can strive to attain a certain result, such major spiritual experiences can be experienced not only by monks or priests, but also by common people, family men and women, or even children (who may not even be aware of what they had experienced). Christian spiritual experiences - miracles, or visions of Christ, the Panagia or certain saints - can be experienced by non-Christians, who may well remain faithful to their religions, but some find the courage to convert to Orthodoxy, by placing themselves at the starting point of that new course. What all of them have in common, however, is the "Hades of repentance" which gives birth to a humble heart, and the "Hades of love", whose prerequisite is a humble heart.

A second characteristic of Orthodox wonderworking saints is that they do not in the least desire to attain any exceptional spiritual gifts, or to have any special spiritual experiences. They do not desire any increase in knowledge, or the acquisition of "wisdom", or a "higher consciousness", or to become "one with the universe", to become "attuned" to it, or something similar. They desire only Christ. Their desire directs them outside their own self, towards another Person - which they love and to which they are inclined to be joined to, by following His path, the path of humble and selfless love towards God (the Holy Triune God, not some subjective notion "of a God", or a fantasy that "god" is a symbol of beauty or of love, or a spark that exists inside us or inside every being, etc.) and towards our fellow man. This is the reason that they do not immerse themselves inside their own self - like yogis do - but instead they look to Christ, as God, and ask for His mercy and His precious help in cleansing their heart of passions and in becoming transformed into the kind of being that He wants them to be.

Furthermore, they do not strive to carve "their own path towards perfection", but rather, dedicate themselves to the path that Christ taught and be incorporated in the Body that He founded: the Church. Christians never pursue any personal struggle for perfection; they dedicate themselves and their spiritual and moral struggle within the Church: they congregate with their brethren and they partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, from the same holy chalice. Christ is also a member of this community - its Head, to be precise - and it is within that community that I can meet with Him. Even a hermit is always a member of the community; he too becomes joined to it, through his prayer to Christ (a prayer for all people, and in fact for all beings), and he also partakes of Holy Communion, which renders it possible.

Given that Christ is the One that I love, because He is the One that I desire to be joined to, and because I know that this union is feasible (as known to all the saints of Orthodoxy, who already experience from this lifetime that this union is what renders them wonder-workers with the spiritual gifts that the Triune God bestows and retracts appropriately, without man's ability to selfishly "recall" them with his own methods), this is the reason I am not interested in the possible existence of "other paths" for the acquisition of wisdom, knowledge, or supernatural powers. Even if someone teaches me how to awaken or manipulate these powers, I do not desire them. I desire only Christ.

Deep down I do desire such powers, which is why I am not in the state to see Christ; and if I do see something, it will likely not be Him, but "someone else" who will want to entrap me. Saints, who have attained perfection, have actually rid their inner self of egotism and do not desire any powers, but only Christ.

A favorite example in Orthodoxy that reveals the manner of approaching Christ is the Parable of the Prodigal Son, who, after allowing himself to become totally crushed, afterwards fell at his father's feet and begged him to count him among the servants. That is just how a humble Christian feels, when realizing the abyss that separates him from the absolute purity of Christ, i.e., he is fully aware that he is not without sin; but we see that the prodigal son's Father (symbolic of Christ) restored the prodigal one to the status of son and honored him with a ring and resplendent garments, dismissing not only the son's request to become a servant, but also his previous life of debauchery where he had squandered the inheritance that he had demanded (and received) from his Father without having toiled for it.

We might mention here that most of us are very sinful; our intentions deep down are not in the least pure and, if possible, our ego would lead us down very dark paths, regardless if we harmed people or "benefited" them. And yet, we do not admit anything like this (often not even to ourselves), but instead we present our self as "worthy" of receiving spiritual gifts from Christ - albeit not even admitting that Christ is God, or that He does commune with man - and instead maintain that there is merely an impersonal "divine essence" or a "universal soul", thus turning our back to the True God, Who has appeared to countless saints.

Two examples of different paths to approaching God are the holy Elders Porphyrios and Sophrony. The former had visited the Holy Mountain from his early teenage years and never distanced himself from Christ, thus most probably not having to experience the anguish of repentance to a large degree. Oppositely, the latter had denied Christ, become an atheist, indulged in transcendental meditation, and had even entertained almost morbid thoughts that he himself was a god (thoughts that were influenced by oriental philosophy); thus, when he experienced the sighting of the Divine Light, God's absolutely humble love made him feel like an unworthy traitor, never having imagined that God could be so humble and condescending. The Elder Sophrony experienced the "Hades or repentance" with extreme anguish, which, however, "regenerates, and does not cause despair nor does it exterminate man".

Most of us are more akin to the Elder Sophrony - relatively speaking - rather than the Elder Porphyrios; by the way, this is why it is of incalculable value to raise our children the Christian way: so that they may find Christ in the easier manner, not the more painful one - nor reach the end of their life not having found Him at all.

The third characteristic of saints, which I would like to mention, is the knowledge (through experience) of all spiritual situations, which allows them to discern between the positive and the negative ones, even if externally they may present the same characteristics. This spiritual science is called the "discerning of spirits" and it allows the saints to distinguish between a real experience or spiritual gift that originates from God, and an "exact replica" that originates from the devil and is given to people as bait, with the intention of flattering their ego and drawing them even further away from their purpose - which is their "in Christ" union with God.

The discerning of spirits is especially apparent in saints who have also "tasted" exo-Christian experiences, after having been initiated in other spiritual traditions prior to discovering Orthodoxy. One such personage is the Elder Sophrony that we mentioned earlier, but, there are other similar cases which are recorded throughout the history of Orthodoxy - even with ascetics who had never ceased being faithful to Christ, but had been caught in a moment of egotistic weakness and had acquired "spiritual gifts" that led them into numerous torments.

The discerning of spirits is a Christian contribution that is necessary for a real evaluation of spiritual experiences, as well as of "powers", of "spiritual gifts", of "contacts with other beings", of "revelations", of "wisdom" and all the other elements that the various spiritual traditions safeguard and impart, as though they are priceless treasures. If I may be allowed to make an observation here, given that this spiritual gift is absent, even in the non-Orthodox versions of Christianity (which is why we observe "spiritual experiences" and "charismatic displays" in various heresies such as Papism and Protestantism - phenomena which according to Orthodox criteria are seen as suspicious, and even purely demonic), Orthodox Saints have experienced similar situations as those experienced by the teachers and the sages of various religions. Reversely, however, the teachers of other religions who may have "broadened their consciousness" or have "communicated with entities" etc., have not savored the experience of a union with Christ. This is the reason why an Orthodox Saint (who can immediately perceive the presence or the absence of divine Grace) is far better "equipped" to evaluate a spiritual phenomenon... and, quite frankly, this evaluation is not favorable as regards the quality of the "powers", the "spiritual gifts", the "revelations" etc., even within Christianity and within Orthodoxy, and even more so within the various religions where people worship spirits of an indeterminable identity (quite possibly malign or threatening ones, or deities that fuse "good and evil" together, as if they are supposedly the different aspects of the same thing, or supplementing each other) and they open up towards these entities, striving to become joined to them or be possessed by them, whereas God, the Angels and the souls of the reposed Saints - i.e. the benign spirits - never possess a person.

The religions of the Far East - such as Hinduism or Buddhism - regard as the perfect state and redemption the elimination of the human personality and its annihilation or its assimilation into the "universal psyche", because they regard the present world as a self-deception. Christianity on the other hand knows, from the personal experience of the saints, that an individual's personality is never lost; that it remains alive after the body's death and also that the body likewise anticipates its resurrection, as pre-announced by Christ in many parts of the New Testament.

So, where does this "elimination" that the oriental religions strive for lead to? Or, what exactly are the spirits and the entities that come into contact with people, either as "gods" or as "ancestors" or as beings "from other worlds" (for example elves and fairies), or even in the modern-day West (which is presently in a spiritual confusion), as "wise extraterrestrials" with divine qualities?

The above are just a small chapter in the huge topic of the differences between religions. Religions are not paths that "all lead to the same finishing point"; they do not say "the same things with other words", nor can they all lead Man to the Truth and to perfection. We Christians are fully aware of this, because experience has reassured us that the Truth is Christ, and that perfection is one's union with Him - which involves the in-Christ participation of imperfect man in the perfection and purity of God. Without Christ, there is no perfection and no Truth; only solitude (like in Buddhism), or paths that lead to the unknown. An "unknown" that is very well known - thanks to the experience and the wisdom of true peaceful warriors and teachers of mankind, who reached the highest point of spiritual progress that is possible for human persons: that of the saints.

All of the above, my brethren, you need not blindly accept as dogmas. Examine them in depth, and you will discover for yourself what the truth is. Be careful, however, in case you fool yourself that "truth" is whatever accommodates your ego (by telling you that you will find God "within you", or that you and God "are one", or that you will become virtuous, luminous, prescient and omnipotent by means of rigorous exercise), just because that which invites you to the thing most hated by fallen man will seem unpleasant to you, i.e., repentance and humility.

Source

A Statement on a Buddhist Workshop in Greece

A statement issued in March 2013 by the Holy Metropolis of Glyfada on a Buddhist workshop that took place later that month.

On Saturday 23 March 2013 there will take place in the area around Parliament a "workshop on Natural Farming", which is advertised as a "philosophical-practical workshop". Faithful Christians, as well as every citizen, should be aware that this is a Buddhist workshop based on so-called "Natural Farming".

"Natural Farming", a method developed by the Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka[1], is "a Buddhist way of farming which is derived from the philosophy of 'nothing' and the return to a natural state of 'non-action'."[2] The teachings of Buddhist teacher Fukuoka are characterized as "a spiritual guide that uses farming (or gardening or agriculture) as a path that can lead to enlightenment."[3] Agriculture, therefore, in this system becomes a spiritual path and the farmer is taught that we become "one" with nature, identifying himself with the crops and eliminating the "I".[4]

The invitations sent to faithful Christians speak of an "unmethodical method (as Fukuoka himself calls it) which is based on the holistic view of agriculture, nature and man." It should be noted that the holistic view of man and the world is an anti-Christian doctrine that includes belief in the existence of an impersonal God and universal energy. Therefore, Christians should prevent themselves from attending this workshop.

1. See the magazine 'DIALOGUE' issues 23 and 48.

2. http://fukuokafarmingol.info/fover.html

3. op. cit

4. op. cit

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Japanese Fighter Baptized Orthodox Christian

Aimilios Polygenis

September 29, 2012

Romfea

From his childhood years he focused on the martial arts, which led him to study traditional Eastern religions, especially Buddhism.

After a period of many years, Tokashi Kishi came to know Christianity, the result of having read very many books. Christianity for Tokashi was another ethical teaching and appeared to him something like Buddhism.

After a visit to Russia he felt an inner desire to learn more about Orthodoxy. His desire to become a Christian became even stronger when he returned to Japan, where following his Catechism in the Japanese language, he accepted the Orthodox Church.

A short while ago he visited Russia again, and announced his desire to be baptized an Orthodox Christian. With the blessing of Metropolitan John of Belgorod, the Japanese martial arts fighter was baptized and received the name of Saint John the Baptist.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Elder Sophrony: On Eastern Religions

By Elder Sophrony of Essex

- For a Muslim to become a Christian, he must wait until he receives great Grace, so that he is prepared to be martyred for Christ. If he does not receive this Grace, let him wait.

- Someone passed sequentially through Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and black magic. In all these religions at the same time he did magic. As soon as he became Orthodox, he wanted to practice along with this magic, but he was unable to do it. From this he realized that magic is the foundation of all religions and that religions are dead, their leaders are dead, but Christ is the living God.

- For many years exorcisms must be read for those who came from doing magic. This is what the early Church did.

- Buddhism has some truths, but it has one human truth, which reaches to "zero", that is, with concentration-meditation man reaches the non-being from which we came from. It is an existential suicide. Christ leads us to theosis, to communion with the Triune God.

- Some say that Buddhism has nothing to do with demonism. However, those who speak thus know Buddhism only from books and speak theoretically. Action is different.

- Some say that meditation brings them a certain peace. Externally this appears good, but these people are possessed by conceit and this results in carnal warfare. Even if they leave Buddhism, they again have carnal warfare. This shows the satanism of this method.

- There is a difference between Buddhist and Orthodox asceticism. In Buddhism they try to make a disclaimer and they reach nirvana. They confuse a reflection with mystical vision. They see created light with their mind. This was best done with Plotinus, in Neo-Platonism. The Fathers know this, and we can call it the "cloud of unknowing", but they went beyond this and reached the vision of the uncreated Light. Then they experience that the Light comes from a Person and not from an idea, and they feel a personal relationship with God and, at the same time, there develops a great love for God and the whole world until martyrdom and "self-hatred".

From I Knew A Man In Christ: The Life and Times of Elder Sophrony, the Hesychast and Theologian (Οίδα άνθρωπον εν Χριστώ: Βίος και πολιτεία του Γέροντος Σωφρονίου του ησυχαστού και θεολόγου) by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

A Young Buddhists Path Towards Orthodox Christianity

My name is Johan Trisanjaya. I am of Javanese ethnicity in Indonesia. I was born in 1982 in the village of Prigi in Central Java. I was raised in a Buddhist family; my father is a government servant and my mother is a house wife. Most people in our village are Muslim, but many adhere to Buddhism. As a Buddhist, I was so active that I was appointed as the President of the Buddhist Youth Association.

The essence of Buddhist teaching is “to love without limit”, where the law of deeds (“karma”) is emphasized, in which all our deeds in this life will bear fruit in our next reincarnation. The love is not limited to only humans either, but in loving plants and animals too, since they could have formerly been human. When you die with a good karma you will be born in the next body in a high state of being. When you die with bad karma, you will be born either in a lower status of life in society, or even as an animal or in the demonic realm.

As I was about to start high school my cousin, Fr Alexios, came to my village and told me to go with him to Solo and to go to school there. He had been a Buddhist before becoming an Orthodox priest. I agreed. I felt that it was okay to be exposed to Christianity only for three years, because it would help to widen my horizon. I had always attended Church worship and gatherings, but I always sat at the back row since I felt guilty about being a Buddhist but praying as a Christian.

Finally, out of my confusion, I left Fr. Alexios’s house and returned back home for two weeks without even a leave of absence from school. During these two weeks, I lost all direction in my life and felt confused. I began to act in a mindless way. I started to do things that I have never done before to the surprise and embarrassment of my father since he is considered a pillar in society.

One day I felt as though someone whispered to me and commanded me to go back to Fr. Alexios in Solo, so I went back. After some days in Solo, I began to learn about Orthodoxy again. I felt the urge to be baptized, and Fr. Alexios agreed. I was surprised that even though I did not go to school for two weeks I was not even reprimanded or punished by the school, as would be expected. After I was baptized with the baptismal name of “Johanes” (John), I have been helping the ministry of Fr. Alexios. In the year 2006, I was elevated by Metropolitan Hilarion to “Reader.”

What I found liberating in Christianity is that Christ had defeated the power of death through His resurrection so that there are no more endless cycles of birth and death in reincarnation, and it is no longer the law of karma that has power over you, but the power of grace though Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil. The Buddhists are so frightened by karma, because they are frightened by the prospect of reincarnation into a lower realm, but there is no fear of God, since God does not exist. But in order to achieve good karma there are so many difficult regulations and requirements to be achieved; it is as if there was no grace of God.

Having understood the beauty of the teaching of Orthodoxy, I now have a very strong desire to serve Christ, either as a priest or as a layperson. I am preparing myself to go to seminary either in Russia or in the United States in order to realize this dream. I have been spending time with Fr. Daniel during his last visit, driving him across Java and up to Bali. Please pray for me. Thank you.

Source

Why A Chinese Buddhist Became an Orthodox Athonite Monk

By Fr. Libyos

On my last trip to Mount Athos I visited the Monastery of Simonopetra. It is a majestic monastery and the sky was fully blue. There I met a graceful novice monk from China. In truth, he surprised me by his presence. An Orthodox cassock on a Chinese man? I was moved somewhat. I had never seen this before up close, only in pictures of missions. An inheritor of a great cultural tradition and for him to embrace Christianity? My friends and I got curious to ask him about this.

"Brother, how did you, a Chinese man, embrace Orthodox Christian monasticism coming from such a great cultural tradition? Were you a Buddhist?"

"Yes, of course, I was a Buddhist."

"What won you over to Christianity?"

"Divine companionship!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, yes, Father, hahahahaha!", he laughed, since out of every three words the Chinese seem to laugh at two. "In Buddhism, my Father, you are very very much alone. There is no God. Your entire struggle is with yourself. You are alone with yourself, with your ego. You are totally alone in this path. Great loneliness, Father. But here you have an assistant, a companion and a fellow-traveler in God. You are not alone. You have someone who loves you, who cares about you. He cares even if you don't understand Him. You speak with Him. You tell Him how you feel, what you would have hoped for - there is a relationship. You are not alone in the difficult struggles of life and spiritual perfection.

I realized things in those days. A severe fever bound me to bed. No doctor could find anything wrong with me. The clinical picture wasn't clear, at least the doctors couldn't see anything. The pain was unbearable and there was absolutely no pain killer that could stop it. I changed three different pain killers and still the pain was not alleviated.

At this time I got the news that the brother of my father, whose name I bear, had an advanced form of cancer in the vocal cords and larynx. He had a largyngectomy. It was the result of chronic alcohol consumption and smoking. Generally he lived a bad life, without any quality.

Then I felt something a former Buddhist and now a Christian monk on Mount Athos told me, that you need to have a God you can talk to; to perceive and to feel someone besides yourself Who hears you.

I don't know if it's wrong or right. I only know it is a deep need of man. This is evidenced by life itself. Even these Buddhists, who are from a non-theistic religion, created various deities. Even in dream language and worlds. But they have a need to refer to someone, to something, someone beyond and outside themselves, even if it's dreamy. Besides, reality and truth is something very relevant and will always remain so. It is an enigma, a mystery."

With this I remembered the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, who had a sensitive and melancholic nature, when he said: "When you are not well, or not feeling so, speak. Speak even if it is to the wind."

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

A Note Concerning Saints Barlaam and Joasaph

By John Sanidopoulos

1. In the Greek listing of Saints, Barlaam is celebrated on May 30th, and Joasaph is honored on August 26th. His title is "Saint Joasaph, Son of Abener, King of India." In Georgia they were initially honored on May 19th together. In some Slavic sources, they are honored together on November 19th.

2. Icons of the two Saints are rare, but where they are both depicted they both have halos.

3. According to Prof. Rhys Davids: "When and where they were first canonized, I have been unable, in spite of much investigation, to ascertain." The oldest list of saints in which he finds the name is that of Petrus de Natalibus, Bishop of Equilium (1370-1400).

4. Despite contrary scholarly opinion, there is actually a good case the story of Barlaam and Joasaph was authored by the highly educated St. John the Damascene. For example, we know he did not object to writing about foreign extraordinary tales, such as we see in his studies on dragons and evil fairies or ghosts. He also defined man as "a rational animal, liable to death, and capable of intelligence and knowledge," whose bodily nature consists of "four elements: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile". In the story of the Unicorn found in the tale of Barlaam and Joasaph, we find mention of dragons and these same four elements represented as serpents. Whatever the case, the tale of Barlaam and Joasaph certainly contains influence from John of Damascus.

5. The tale of Barlaam and Joasaph takes place in "the interior regions of the Ethiopians called India." Homer speaks of two Ethiopias, one towards the rising sun and one towards the setting of the sun. At the time of John of Damascus, it had this same extensive meaning, where Ethiopia could mean the majority of North Africa or even parts of Asia - it was designated by their darker skin. K.S. Macdonald writes about this and the historicity of the tale in her study The Story of Barlaam and Joasaph: Buddhism and Christianity:

"Alexander the Great expected to discover the source of the Nile in India. Shinar or Sennar figures largely in the story, as the place in whose desert Barlaam lived. Accepting Sennar as a country of which the writer had some correct idea as being around the upper reaches of the Nile and Blue Nile, we must conclude that the writer of Barlaam considered India not very far from the confines of Abyssinia which was regarded as part of Ethiopia. To this day the Abyssinians call themselves Ethiopians, thus connecting our Joasaph, prince of India, with Dr. Johnson's story of "Rasselas, or the Prince of Abyssinia". And it is here likely that we will find the truth in the story. When the Thebaid was crowded with hermits or monks, very likely a prince of Ethiopia was converted and betook himself to the desert after much persecution from his father, as described in the Barlaam story."

6. A hypothetical evolutionary explanation of the name Joasaph is as follows: The original name 'Buddha' or 'Bodhisatta' in Sanskrit, turned up as 'Bodisav' in 6-7th century Manichean literature in Ancient Persian, which in turn appeared as Budahsaf in 8th-century Arabic literature, which turned into 'Iodasaph' in 10th-century Georgian literature (perhaps by influence of John of Damascus in the 8th century, who spoke Arabic). At least from 11th-century Greek literature, it showed up as a Christian monk 'Ioasaph,' which finally became the Christian Saint 'Josaphat' in Spain. In the Latin Church, Joasaph is known as Josaphat.

7. Though there are similarities between the tale of Joasaph with that of Buddha, this does not negate the historicity of either figure, but only shows a similarity in the origin of the tales. Though it is true the early story of Joasaph is colored with imagery from the life of Buddha, the latter part of the story is similarly colored by the life of St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Anthony the Great. And the theology of the story is influenced by John of Damascus, and the entirety of the "Apology" of the Athenian Philosopher Aristeides is contained within. The lives of Barlaam and Joasaph are primarily told as a literary tale with the seeming purpose of catechizing those of the Far East with a familiar tale. This was often done by ancient writers to steer a story of what may have elements of truth towards a higher didactical purpose.

8. Evidence points to the fact that the first Christianized adaptation was the Georgian epic Balavariani dating back to the 10th century. A Georgian monk, Euthymius of Athos (May 13), translated the story into Greek, not John of Damascus, some time before he was killed while visiting Constantinople in 1028. There the Greek adaptation was translated into Latin in 1048 and soon became well known in Western Europe as Barlaam and Josaphat.

9. Wilfred Cantwell Smith traced the story from a second to fourth-century Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist text, to a Manichean version, to an Arabic Muslim version, to an eleventh century Christian Georgian version, to a Christian Greek version, and from there into Western European languages. He traced Joasaph's name from the Sanskrit term bodhisattva via the Middle Persian bodasif (Georgian Iodasaph, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf.

Greek manuscript of Barlaam and Joasaph, Iveron Monastery, Mount Athos, No. 463, around 12th century. It depicts the scene where Joasaph announces the abdication of his throne to start his monastic life.

The Dalai Lama Is Wrong

By Stephen Prothero
CNN

I am a big fan of the Dalai Lama. I love his trademark smile and I hate the fact that I missed his talks this week in New York City. But I cannot say either "Amen" or "Om" to the shopworn clichés that he trots out in the New York Times in “Many Faiths, One Truth.”

Recalling the Apostle Paul—“When I was a child, I spoke like a child”—the Dalai Lama begins by copping to youthful naivete. “When I was a boy in Tibet, I felt that my own Buddhist religion must be the best,” he writes, “and that other faiths were somehow inferior.” However, just as Paul, upon becoming a man, “put away childish things,” the Dalai Lama now sees his youthful exclusivism as both naïve and dangerous. There is “one truth” behind the “many faiths,” and that core truth, he argues, is compassion.

Like the Dalai Lama, who writes of how he was influenced by Thomas Merton, I believe we can learn greatly from other religions. I too hope for tolerance and harmony in our interreligious interactions. I am convinced, however, that true tolerance and lasting harmony must be built on reality, not fantasy. Religious exclusivism is dangerous and naïve. But so too is pretend pluralism. The cause of religious harmony is not advanced in the least by the shibboleth that all religions are different paths up the same mountain.

If you ask religious universalists what lies at the top of the mountain, the answers they will give you are not one but many. Gandhi and philosopher of religion Huston Smith say that at the top there is the same universal God. But when others describe this religious mountaintop they invariably give voice to their own particular beliefs and biases.

Followers of the Dalai Lama revere him as a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. So it should not be surprising that he sees compassion at the heart of all religions. But this is a parochial perspective, not a universal one. And like any form of pretend pluralism it threatens to blind us both to the particular dangers of individual religious traditions and to their unique beauties.

To be sure, all religions preach compassion. But it is false to claim that compassion is the reason for being of the great religions. Jesus did not die on a cross in order to teach us to help old ladies across the street. The Jewish milieu in which he was raised already knew that. And as the Dalai Lama points out, so did the rest of the world’s religions. Jesus came, according to most Christian thinkers, to stamp out sin and pave the path to salvation. Similarly, the Buddha did not sit down under a Bo tree in India in order to teach us not to kill our brothers. The Hindu milieu in which he was raised already knew that too. He came, according to most Buddhist thinkers, to stamp out suffering and pave the path to nirvana.

As I argue in my new book, "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter," religion is an immensely powerful force both personally and politically. So if we want to understand the world we must understand the world's religions. This includes reckoning with both similarities and differences, and with the capacity of each of the great religions to do both good and evil.

I know that when it comes to the Dalai Lama we are all supposed to bow and scrape. So I am happy to applaud his project to find “common ground” across the world’s religions. But I also know that the Buddha said to worship no man. And I cannot agree with the Dalai Lama’s claim that “the essential message of all religions is very much the same.”

The Dalai Lama was doubtless naïve when, as a boy, and before learning about other religions, he arrived at the conclusion that only his religion was true. But it is no advance out of innocence to make the equally fantastic claim that all the religions are at heart vehicles for compassion. If we are to build a world of interreligious harmony, or even a world of interreligious détente, it will have to be constructed on a foundation of adult experience rather than youthful naivete.

Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.

The Conversion of Klaus Kenneth to Orthodoxy

Klaus Kenneth was born in Czechoslovakia in 1945. He had a troubled childhood which eventually lead to criminal behavior and imprisonment as a teenager and young adult. Afterwards he began a spiritual search and embarked on many travels. He participated in the occult, Transcendental Meditation, drug-taking, levitation, ecstasies, etc. All this lead him on a path towards Hinduism, and to learn Hinduism he moved to Calcutta, India. In India he met many gurus and even Mother Theresa. In 1978 he became disillusioned by Hinduism and went to the Holy Land. Soon after he was attracted to Buddhism. In 1983 he met Elder Sophrony in Lausanne and England, and by 1986 he was baptized Orthodox in Geneva with Elder Sophrony as his spiritual father.

To read more about his life, see here.

To view a talk he gave on 15 April 2010 in Greece, see below (it begins in Greek, but at 11 minutes in the talk turns to English).

Can Orthodox Christianity Speak To Eastern Religions?

by Kevin Allen

I recently had a conversation with a dear Eastern Orthodox priest, whose twenty six year old son had left home the day before to live indefinitely at a Buddhist monastery. He was heart broken. His son was not a stranger to Eastern Orthodoxy or to its monastic tradition, having even spent two months on the holy mountain of Mt. Athos.

His son's journey is not an isolated event. Eastern religious traditions are a growing and competing force in American religious life. Buddhism is now the fourth-largest religious group in the United States, with 2.5 - 3 million adherents, approximately 800,000 of whom are American western "converts"? There are actually more Buddhists in America today than Eastern Orthodox Christians! The Dalai Lama (the leader of one of the Tibetan Buddhist sects) is one of the most recognized and admired people in the world and far better recognized than any Eastern Orthodox hierarch? Have you looked in the magazine section of Borders or Barnes and Noble lately? There are more publications with names like "Shambala Sun", "Buddhadharma", and "What is enlightenment?" on the shelves than Christian publications!

In addition to losing seekers to eastern spiritual traditions (many of them youth), eastern metaphysics has also seeped into our western cultural worldview without much notice. They are doing a better job (sadly) "evangelizing" our culture than we Eastern Orthodox Christians are!

The Lord Himself commands us clearly "that repentance and remission of sins (baptism) should be preached in His name to all nations" (Luke 24:47). Buddhists (of which there are many sects) and Hindus live among us in America in ever-growing numbers, in our college classrooms, on our soccer fields, and in our "health foods" stores - they are right in our own backyards! They are a rich, potential "mission field" for the Eastern Orthodox Church in the United States. Unfortunately with few exceptions, like the writings of Monk Damascene [Christensen] and Kyriakos S. Markides, we are not talking to this group at all.

As a former Hindu and disciple of a well-known guru, or spiritual teacher, I can tell you Orthodox Christianity shares more "common ground" with seekers of non-Christian spiritual traditions of the east than any other Christian confession! The truth is when Evangelical Protestants attempt to evangelize the eastern seeker they often do more harm than good, because their approach is western, rational, and doctrinal, with (generally) little understanding of the paradigms and spiritual language (or yearnings) of the seekers of these eastern faiths.

There are three "fundamental principles" that Buddhists and Hindus generally share in common:

1. A common "supra-natural" reality underlies and pervades the phenomenal world. This Supreme Reality isn't Personal, but Trans-personal. God or Ultimate Reality in these traditions is ultimately a pure consciousness without attributes.

2. The human soul is of the same essence with this divine reality. All human nature is divine at its core. Accordingly, Christ or Buddha isn't a savior, but becomes a paradigm of self-realization, the goal of all individuals.

3. Existence is in fundamental unity (monism). Creation isn't what it appears to the naked eye. It is in essence "illusion" and "unreal". There is one underlying ground of being (think "quantum field" in physics!) which unifies all beings and out of which and into which everything can be reduced.

What do these metaphysics have in common with our Eastern Orthodox Faith? Not much, on the surface. But in the eastern non-Christian spiritual traditions, knowledge is not primarily about the development of metaphysical doctrine or theology. This is one of the problems western Christians have communicating with them. Eastern religion is never theoretical or doctrinal. It's about the struggle for liberation from death and suffering through spiritual experience. This "existential-therapeutic-transformational" ethos is the first connection Eastern Orthodoxy has with these traditions, because Orthodoxy is essentially therapeutic and transformative in emphasis!

The second thing we agree on with Buddhists and Hindus is the fallen state of humanity. The goal of the Christian life according to the Church Fathers is to move from the "sub-natural" or "fallen state", to the "natural" or the "according to nature state" after the Image (of God), and ultimately to the "supra-natural" or "beyond nature" state, after the Likeness. According to the teaching of the holy Fathers the stages of the spiritual life are purification, illumination and deification. While we don't agree with Buddhists or Hindus on what "illumination" or "deification" means (because our metaphysics are different) we agree on the basic diagnosis of the fallen human condition. As I once said to a practicing Tibetan Buddhist: "We agree on the sickness (of the human condition). Where we disagree is on the cure".

Eastern Orthodoxy - especially the hesychasm (contemplative) tradition - teaches that true "spiritual knowledge" presupposes a "purified" and "awakened" nous (Greek), which is the "Inner 'I'" of the soul. The true Eastern Orthodox theologian isn't one who simply knows doctrine, but one "who knows God, or the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. " As a well-known Orthodox theologian explains, "When the nous is illuminated, it means that it is receiving the energy of God which illuminates it..." This idea resonates with eastern seekers who struggle to experience - through non-Christian ascesis and/or through occult methods - spiritual illumination. They just don't know this opportunity exists within a Christian context.

As part of their spiritual ascesis, Buddhist and Hindu dhamma (practice) emphasizes cessation of desire, which is necessary to quench the passions. Holy Tradition teaches apatheia, or detachment as a means of combating the fallen passions. Hindu and Buddhist meditation methods teach "stillness". The word hesychia in Holy Tradition - the root of the word for hesychasm - means "stillness"! We don't meditate using a mantra, but we pray the "Jesus Prayer". Buddhism, especially, teaches "mindfulness". Holy Tradition teaches "watchfulness" so we do not fall into temptation! Hindus and Buddhists understand it is not wise to live for the present life, but to struggle for the future one. We Orthodox agree! Americans who become Buddhist or Hindu are often fervent spiritual seekers, used to struggling with foreign languages (Sanskrit, Tibetan, Japanese) and cultures and pushing themselves outside of their "comfort zones". We converts to the Eastern Orthodox Church can relate! Some Buddhist and Hindu sects even have complex forms of "liturgy", including chant, prostration and veneration of icons! Tibetan Buddhism especially places high value on the lives of (their) ascetics, relics and "saints".

The main difference in spiritual experience is that what the eastern seeker recognizes as "spiritual illumination", achieved through deep contemplation, Holy Tradition calls "self contemplation". Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), who was experienced in yoga (which means 'union') before becoming a hesychast - monk and disciple of St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain wrote from personal experience, "All contemplation arrived at by this means is self-contemplation, not contemplation of God. In these circumstances we open up for ourselves created beauty, not First Being. And in all this there is no salvation for man."

Clement of Alexandria, two thousand years ago wrote that pre-Christian philosophers were often inspired by God, but he cautioned one to be careful what one took from them!

So we acknowledge the eastern seeker through his ascesis or contemplative methodologies may experience deep levels of created beauty, or created being (through self-contemplation), para-normal dimensions, or even the "quantum field" that modern physics has revealed! However, it is only in the Eastern Orthodox Church and through its deifying mysteries that the seeker will be introduced to the province of Uncreated Divine Life. It is only in the Orthodox Church that the eastern seeker will hear there is more to "salvation" than simply forgiveness of sins and justification before God. He will be led to participate in the Uncreated Energies of God, so that they "may be partakers of the divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). As a member of the Body of Christ he will join in the deifying process, and be increasingly transformed after the Likeness! Thankfully, deification is available to all who enter the Holy Orthodox Church, are baptized (which begins the deifying process) and partake of the holy mysteries. Deification is not just for monks, ascetics and the spiritual athletes on Mount Athos!

Eastern Orthodoxy has much to share with eastern spiritual seekers. Life and death hangs in the balance in this life, not the millions of lives eastern seekers think they have! As the Apostle Paul soberly reminds us, " ... it is appointed for men to die once but after this the judgment." (Heb. 9:27).

May God give us the vision to begin to share the "true light" of the Holy Orthodox Faith with seekers of the eastern spiritual traditions.

References

1. Makarian Homilies; Glossary of The Philokalia
2. Hierotheos Vlachos, Life after death; 1995; Birth of the Theotokos Monastery
3. On Prayer; Sophrony; pages 168-170

Kevin Allen, is a former Hindu practitioner before becoming an Eastern Orthodox Christian.

Source

The Jesus Prayer and the Hindu Mantra

by Dionysios Farasiotis

One of the greatest spiritual gifts that Elder Paisios gave me was his guidance along the mystical path of the Jesus Prayer. This started at the beginning of our acquaintance and continued until his repose twelve years later. The Jesus Prayer consists of the repetition of the phrase "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." The Jesus Prayer is not recited as a Mantra, but as a prayer to the Person of Christ.

Prayer, as I learned, is a relationship between two persons, God and man, who move towards each other. Thus, the swiftness or slowness with which a person advances in prayer depends on both the human and divine wills. Neither the freedom of God in His sovereignty nor the freedom of man in his free choice are ever violated. For his part, man offers his good intention, his labors, and his desire to draw near to God. God, in turn, offers His grace....

When yogis claim that the Jesus Prayer resembles their own mantras, they are in fact trying to fit the Jesus Prayer into their own Procrustean bed. Of course, there are similarities, but there are also enormous differences-both a table and a horse have four legs, but to conclude that they are consequently the same would be an error of the crudest sort. But this is just the kind of error the yogis make when they claim that the Jesus Prayer is a kind of mantra. A brief examination of the essential differences between the Jesus Prayer and a mantra should provide those with an open mind the wherewithal to draw the proper conclusions.

First, consider how the Orthodox tradition understands the meaning of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." The word "Lord" is the name for God most frequently encountered in the Old Testament in the oft-repeated formula "Thus saith the Lord ..." or in the commandments: "I am the Lord thy God". When Orthodox Christians call Jesus Christ, "Lord," they are confessing that He is the God of the Old Testament Who spoke to the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Word is the Person who gave the law to Moses. In other words, the One who spoke to the prophets was none other than the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who later took flesh and was united with human nature in the Person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, when we say "Lord Jesus Christ"-with faith, with all our heart's strength-we come under the influence of the Holy Spirit, as Saint Paul says: "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3).

Having recognized the existence of the true personal God outside and beyond his own self, from this God a Christian asks "mercy." The elder once told me, "Mercy contains all things. Love, forgiveness, healing, restoration, and repentance all fit within the word 'mercy."' It is the mercy of God that brings about repentance, purification from the passions, the illumination of the nous, and, in the end, theosis. From my journey I have learned that salvation comes from the mercy of Christ, the unique Savior of mankind, rather than from my intelligence, my prideful endeavors, or the techniques of yoga. Salvation and theosis are so very precious that it is impossible for anyone to make any effort or do any ascetic labor that would be equivalent to even the smallest fraction of their value.

Indeed, from my conversations with other fathers who were laborers in the Jesus Prayer and from my own experience, I know full well that prayer is a gift from God. Nothing is accomplished by human labor alone, for Christ said, "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5), and as the Apostle James bears witness, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17) Even as God granted us existence, in the same way He gradually grants us to know Him and be united with Him through prayer, leading us ultimately to life eternal.

Now, consider how the yogis view a mantra. First of all, there are many mantras, and each refers to one of the many gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Krishna, Rama, Vishnu, or the goddess Kali. There is not one standard explanation given by yogis for the mantras; rather, their explanations are tailored to the receptivity of each listener. For beginners who are not disposed to worship idols, yogis give a pseudo-scientific, mechanistic explanation: they claim that the benefit accrued by repeating the mantra is due to certain frequencies produced by its pronunciation, which cause spiritual vibrations that activate spiritual centers within man. (However, the existence of such centers in man can only be taken on faith-if someone willingly chooses to believe such a claim.) For those who are inclined towards psychological interpretations, the yogis present the repetition of a mantra as a type of auto-suggestion that enables the practitioner to program his inner world according to positive models. When addressing those who have become more involved with Hinduism and now believe in many gods, the yogis claim that the worshipper receives the blessing of whatever god is being invoked.

What constitutes the infinite distance separating the Christian Jesus Prayer from the Hindu mantra, however, is that which lurks behind the name of the god being invoked in a mantra and invited into the soul. Through the mouth of the Holy Prophet David, God declares, "All the gods of the nations are demons" (1 Psalm 95:5)––In other words, behind the names Krishna, Rama, or Shiva are demons lying In wait. Once they are invoked by the use of the mantra, the door is open for the devil to begin his theatrical productions, using sounds, images, dreams, and the imagination in general in order to drag the practitioner deeper into deception.

Another significant difference between the Christian Jesus Prayer and the Hindu mantra is the diametrically opposed viewpoints of the two faiths regarding techniques and the human subject. I recall a conversation I had with Niranjan after he had given me permission to begin to practice some supposedly powerful yoga techniques. I said to him, "It's fine practicing the techniques, but what happens to the human passions of greed, lust for power, vainglory, and selfishness? Aren't we concerned about them?" "They disappear," he replied, "through the practice of the techniques." "Do they just disappear like that, on their own?" I asked. "Yes, they disappear automatically, while you are practicing the techniques."

What an astonishing assertion: physical exercises can wipe out the inclinations that a person's soul acquired in life through conscious choices. But, in reality, man, as a self-determining and free moral agent, can change the conscious aspect of his personality and his moral sense only by the use of his own free will to make conscious decisions in real-life situations. Any external means to automatically induce such a change in a person's consciousness without his consent circumvent man's free will, obliterate his volition, and destroy his freedom, reducing man to a spineless puppet manipulated by a marionettist's strings. Hinduism's relentless insistence on properly performed techniques with automatic results degrades man by depriving him of his most precious quality: the self-governing free will. It restricts the boundless human spirit within a framework of mechanical methods and reflexes.

Orthodox Christian Faith, on the contrary, recognizes and honors the gift of human freedom as a divine trait. This recognition and approach help man to be actualized as a free being. Precisely on account of the human freedom to choose, man's often- unpredictable responses can't be limited to the mechanical reflexes of a closed system, but can innovatively turn in any spiritual direction that he, as a free subject, wills. This is why Orthodoxy is not adamant about techniques and methods. In freedom and with respect, Orthodoxy seeks the human heart, encouraging the individual to do what is good for the sake of the good, and pointing out the appropriate moral stance of the soul before God, which an individual can then freely choose to embrace.

Genuine spiritual development entails a deepening familiarity with God and with one's own self, acquired through moral choices that a person freely makes in the depths of his heart. Spiritual progress is a product of man's way of relating to himself, to his fellow man, and to God by the good use of his innate moral freedom. This is why Christ calls out, "If any man wills to come after Me, let him freely deny himself" (Matt 16:24)––that is, without being deceived, without being psychologically compelled, and without being forced, all of which are inappropriate to the spiritual nobility of Christian life.

Father Porphyrios had a small parrot that he taught to pray in order to illustrate the absurdity of some Christians' empty repetition of the words of prayer, as well as the ridiculousness of the opinion commonly presented in Eastern religions that someone can make moral advances by physical exercises or breathing techniques. Every so often, the parrot would mechanically say, "Lord, have mercy." The elder would respond, “Look, the parrot can say the prayer, but does that mean that it is praying? Can prayer exist without the conscious and free participation of the person who prays?"

The Gurus, Young Man, and Elder Paisios by Dionysios Farasiotis, St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2008, pp 276-285.

LOVE VERSUS FEAR: The Uniqueness of the Orthodox Message

Note to reader: This article is a two-part series written by Avgerinos in response to a three-part series on fear written by Fr. Jonah Mourtos of Taipei, Taiwan.

By Avgerinos

The last three issues of The Censer carried an article of unusual brilliance and perception. Father Jonah Mourtos, who is in charge of St. John's parish in Taiwan, shared with us his experiences and views on Chinese and Eastern society and religion after spending about two years in Taiwan. His article "Aspects of Fear in an Asian Context" (The Feeling of Fear in Chinese Society), which makes many perspicacious points about Eastern and Chinese culture and beliefs from the viewpoint of an Orthodox thinker, is like a breath of fresh air across a sea of learned and usually very polite tomes authored by Western or Christian scholars on East Asia and its traditions.

Father Jonah does not mince his words. He comes to the point and in most instances tries to call a spade a spade. The love he has for the people he is scrutinizing is evident, though, as one has to care deeply to observe deeply and feel deeply. And I, as an Asian, cannot but applaud his conclusions which are both helpful and Orthodox. We live in a missionary diocese, and in time, with thinkers like Father Jonah, hopefully the development of an Orthodox theology of mission will become more complete.

These words are written with hopes to fuel and enliven the thinking processes which have begun with Father Jonah's observations. In this issue and subsequent issues of The Censer, one would hope to see views and contributions from different people on the subject of the Orthodox message and practice and their impact on and interaction with East Asian civilization. It is written, "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom". St. Paul, unmistakably also, teaches that "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". Our task is to bring the uniqueness of the Christian message to peoples who have been following other paths so they may have the option of choosing a life and a way which is free from senseless fear. Coming to know the one true God will give us a spiritual wisdom which frees us from ignorance and fear.

Is fear unique to Chinese or East Asian civilization?

Certainly not. A conscientious consideration of the world's major religions and belief systems shows that fear is everywhere. If anything, it is less pronounced in Chinese Confucianist civilization than in some others. Nevertheless it is there. What is unique is its absence, or rather lack of a place, in Christian civilization, which incorporates Judaic and Greco-Roman elements.

Of the world's six or seven major belief systems, Christianity is the only one which teaches the banishment of fear through joy - the joy of the Resurrection, the supreme manifestation of the power of love.

And this is the main message of Orthodoxy. The Mourtos article refers to fear affecting its author upon exposure to certain manifestations of Tantric (Lamaistic) Buddhism. This is a good case in point. Next to Christianity, Buddhism is probably the most peaceful religion in the world. Experienced Asia hands never fail to observe, usually with approval, the mild, compassionate and peaceful character of the Buddhist faith and of its practitioners. Indeed, the supreme patriarch of Tantric Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetans, Mongolians and Manchus alike, is one of the distinguished winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. His patience and principled rationality in dealing with the Communist armies and authorities which have come to control his land is legendary and widely ad mired.

Yet the element of fear mentioned in the Mourtos article is real. In the Buddhist religion evil does not prevail over good, but demonic images abound in its Tantric manifestation. There are even deities that are usually identified in terrifying images of anger. In painted or crafted images, and even in religious song and dance, one is reminded of the power and presence of demons.

This helped to expose Tibetan culture to the Marxist propaganda of liberation. Standard Marxist literature to this day proclaims that Tibetans were freed from enslavement by fear and by tyrannical feudal and clerical overlords, who blinded them intellectually and sometimes physically to keep them in check.

Tantrism (the quest for religious enlightenment through the repetition of incantations) as a religious approach is not restricted to Buddhism. It originated in India, where a number of religions sprang up on the soil and foundation of Hinduism.

The Hindu sensitivity to life is shown in its encouragement of vegetarianism. Of course there could be the element of selfinterest (the Mourtos article points out that the doctrine of reincarnation, which is common to all the Hindubased religions including Buddhism, is a "cycle or terror") as clearly one would not want to have one's deceased grandmother for a meal. Nevertheless the sensitivity to all animal life is not in dispute. In spite of this, Hinduism is not without its fair share of demonic images. In fact Shiva, the Destroyer, is one of the three main deities in the Hindu pantheon. His cult enjoys a greater following than that of Brahma, the Creator deity. It is The Censer reasoned that Destruction leads to new life. It is also believed that Shiva's wife, the goddess Kali, enjoyed animal sacrifices - blood sacrifices which in the Christian religion was ended with Christ.

Most Christians do not think about the issue, but fear does occupy a place in other major religions. There could be a number of reasons for this. First we must acknowledge that fear has played a part in Christian belief. It was in fact one of the hottest subjects of theological debate in centuries past. Theologians who regarded themselves as representing the true Gospel message assailed believers who practiced good works out of fear of the fires of hell or a vengeful Judgment Day. These theologians taught that salvation came solely through faith in Christ, not through earthly good deeds that went towards pardons and remission from the punishment of hell. They said true and sincere belief in Christ (and not a hypocritical mouthing of it) would orient the person towards behavior that leads him Heavenward, away from hell. Fear of hell has no place and hell does not come into the picture. In our age, a clear understanding of soteriology might teach that while faith in Christ is indispensable for salvation, Christian belief and practice would include sensible choicemaking for the avoidance of evil and hell. The Orthodox Church, with her age-old compassion for Man and his human weaknesses, would emphasize the help and healing that God gives to man through the sacraments and forgiveness, freeing man from the guilt-ridden, fear-driven creature that he can become without the grace of Christ.

The place of fear in the non-Christian religions may reflect a difference in orientation, and a dif ference in approach. Orientation, in that Christians have always taken an affirmative attitude towards the world and Creation (a very easily perceived difference may be found in Buddhism, whose soteriology is mainly negativist or even nihilist). The positive Christian understanding of the universe may be seen in their interpretation of the Genesis account of the Creation: when God completed His work of creating the universe, it is recorded, "Behold, it was very good." Christians today often lament that the world is not in good shape, but it only proves the point: they believe it ought to be in better shape. The oftenunconscious subtext of this lament comes from the tradition that the world has deteriorated from its original mint condition, because of something Christian theologians call "the Fall."

This is why Christ God came to fix the problem, in the first place. For two thousand years, Christians have believed that the problem is smaller than the solution, because the solution is the Divine Economy, the Salvific Plan, of their God. In the Christian religion, therefore, problems have solutions, Good triumphs over Evil, and fear is replaced by joy. The same cannot be said of other religions in which, as the Mourtos article pointed out, reincarnation (and consequently the dominance of fate) is a central belief. The same cannot be said of secular systems that dismiss the supernatural (Marxism or Confucianism, for example), in which the destiny of Man is delimited by the end of earthly life, or is unknowable. The same cannot be said even of religions which may be Abrahamic in lineage, but in which the main manifestation of God is His power, but not His love.

The Christian religion also has a unique approach in its teachings. Every single one of today's major religions arose in Asia. Among them, Christianity came out of Palestine and became the dominant religion in Europe. The New Testament was written in Greek, a European language. Christian teachers and thinkers from generation to generation have always had a unique approach to the interpretation and understanding of their faith. This has a lot to do with the Greco-Roman stamp and heritage of the Christian Church, which are characterized by an attitude of rationality and enlightenment. This went hand-in-hand with the affirmative attitude of the Christian faith to the universe and Creation. For the Christian religion, the Supernatural and the Holy Mysteries are not to be feared; rather, they are to be respected and venerated as a Help to Mankind. God is good, and the lover of Mankind. God is knowable, revealing Himself as the Son of Man. God is reasonable, and the teacher of Mankind.

From its earliest days, therefore, the Christian Church understood its religion in a manner that was free from irrational fear. In the fourth century, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and the dominant influence of the Hellenistic world at that time, a perfect marriage of faith and doctrinal teaching had taken place. Earlier, the pagan pantheon of Greece and Rome had run out of steam because of its amoral and shallow spiritual base, left behind by a highly developed civilization of philosophical and legal learning. This Greco-Roman philosophical and legal learning craved for something more sophisticated, which it found in the irresistible new Judao-Christian religion spreading across the Empire.

In short, when the Church grew to want to better understand herself and her teachings, Greco-Roman philosophy arrived at a point when it needed something truly profound and worthwhile to understand. It was consequently a natural marriage, and quite possibly conceived in Heaven, because its fruits have benefited Mankind to this day.

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The Feeling of Fear in Chinese Society

By Fr Jonah Mourtos

"The people who are in darkness and under the shadow of death."

By living in Taiwan during the founding of the Orthodox Church there, my love for the Chinese people has deepened. I had this feeling as a university student, and by the grace of God, I am able to remain here and officiate the Divine Liturgy. As a result, the grace and the love of God are perceptible in Taiwan.

Having had discussions with various people from Taiwan, whom I met at various times, I realized their unhappiness. This became even more obvious after a remark made by a friend, after he saw wedding photos in some shop windows. I have to explain here that a Chinese wedding takes place in a restaurant; they just eat together, no singing or dancing. The bride changes dresses several times to show that she is rich. The significance of these details will come into play later.

Within the wedding ceremony, there is no concept of mystery. They bow to their ancestors. However, they do take artistic photos before or after the wedding, dressed as brides and bridegrooms, with the most famous sights of the city or countryside as the background.

"But they don't smile!", said my friend, surprised. "There is so much fear deep inside them." Indeed, I have looked at so many wedding photos and they are all the same. This was my first experience with fear in Taiwan.

Little by little, fear started intruding more visibly into my heart, from several hidden places that had been broken and hurt before and had not yet quite healed. I am Chinese now, you see. I love these people so much, I love this place. It feels so familiar that some people continually tell me that I am a reincarnated Chinese. I just smile kindly and explain to them that there are other reasons, too, which can make someone feel this way, apart from being reincarnated. Fear indeed established itself in my heart when I visited the exhibition of Tibetan Buddhism at the Museum of Religions. There my polite friend, the museum's guide, explained about the exhib its: "You see these drums? They are made of the skulls of little children and the membrane is made of their skin. These trumpets are made of human bones, and this lama's uniform is made entirely of human skin and bones, from dead people, of course." I felt something cold and bad. Even afterwards, at the exit, where small commemoratives were sold, something stopped me from buying one. I asked, "What is this little comb made of?" -" Of human bones, of course", the lady said, "everything is made of dead people." -" O. K.", I said, "never mind, I'll buy something another time."

I remembered the verses of T. S. Elliot: But our lot crawls between dry ribs to keep our metaphysics warm (Whispers of Immortality). Then, as if a veil was drawn from in front of my eyes, many things inside me started becoming clear.

Fear governs Chinese society and, generally speaking, Eastern societies. Fear is everywhere. First of all, there is the fear of ghosts. Ghosts are everywhere, and many people have told me that they have seen them. In a hotel, for example, it's very likely to hear someone shouting "ghost!". Everybody will believe it, they will panic, they will burn paper money and will beg the ghost not to hurt them. The phrase "please, don't do any harm to me..... please accept these......" is very typical. At first, I didn't believe them, but now, I am not so sure anymore. I remember the biographies of the martyrs and especially the biographies of the saints of the desert and how the monastery of the Great Lavra was built, on Mount Athos, by St. Athanasios, and so on. Yes, this is a country where evil dominates. Yet, thanks to the people who help the Orthodox mission, the Divine Liturgy takes place here and the grace of God comes to this place.

What are these ghosts? People who died violently, people whose relatives didn't offer them the proper sacrifices. Those who were buried on the wrong date or whose grave is wrongly oriented or upsetting to several devils -out of the many- of the Chinese pantheon. It is obvious how unbearable the domination of nature on the human fate is here. The so- called feng shui (geomancy)- that is the proper combination of the properties of a building, its orientation, illumination, the position of the door or the window, etc.- must be in harmony with the powers which regulate the universe, such as the yin and the yang. Thus, nature dominates the human fate inexorably and it can destroy people's lives without any reason and without any sense.

Going more deeply, to the family, we see the real drama. You must offer the proper sacrifices to the ancestors, about every two weeks. Every family has a special table for this reason at home. If you don't offer your sacrifices in the right way, the soul of the father or the mother will become a hungry ghost and will give you a hard time. It seemed unbelievable to me, a classical Greek thinker. We can’t imagine that the souls of our dead people will try to harm us, even if we don't remember them, or commemorate them correctly. On the contrary, when we are in trouble, we call out to them; we empty our pain to them. Afterwards, I thought that it could be a subconscious reaction of the children towards their ancestors, because of their attitude.

In the Chinese family, there is no private life, you see. "Family" is above everything and everyone, and parents control their children’s life, "padre padrone." They decide what you are going to study and whom you will marry. If they don't like him/ her they turn them down and expect you to marry someone else. Polygamy not only used to be the rule in the past here, but it still is common and wives get to know each other. And, of course, to kiss or stroke children is forbidden. After all this, the parents, hungry ghosts that suck out their children's lives in this world, are projected to be - subconsciously, since nobody dares to do so consciously - ghosts in the other life, too.

Fear is also expressed through the admiration of power. Although I did not want to believe this at the beginning, I accepted it when I visited a temple which is devoted to the founders of modern Chinese democracy, Dr. Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek. Their statues were on the altar and people offered sacrifices to them because they had power. Of course, they were definitely important men, but they were not gods. As I was told, in China, many people worship Mao as God, despite the efforts of the government to prevent this. They even pray to dogs and devote temples to them. They worship anything with power, because power counts here.

Gradually, I am trying to uncover the dark and cold story of Chinese fear. Behind all these, the fear of death is hidden. Even when you die you need money and thus they put a lot of money in the pockets of dead people. When you are alive, you must make preparations for your funeral. It has to be a good one and take place at the right time because otherwise, you will become a ghost and torture all those people that you used to torture anyway, during your life on Earth. (The dead person can be kept at home, in the coffin, for 3- 4 months.) Also, you must find and even adopt a boy if you don't have a son, because only male children have the right to bury you. Thus, buying and selling children is very common. If you are an unmarried woman and you die, then a wedding, involving your ghost, takes place. They throw money into the street and the first male person who picks it up is obliged to marry the ghost in a proper wedding ceremony.

In my opinion, the most dramatic element of this fear is the lack of love. It is unbelievable that in such a civilization the expression of love is so rare. It is considered to be very bad, even rude, to say "I love you", even to the person you are going to marry! In fact these words are never said. I attended a university where I learned Chinese. When we learned the word "love", we were also told that Chinese people don't use it. In Japan this word was imported from China, in the 5th century, as it did not exist before then. Why is it that we hear the phrase in songs, soap operas, and TV commercials? Maybe it is because Chinese people don't dare express their emotions. There is neither dancing nor singing. Psychology should have a lot to say about this prohibition and the compulsory behavior of not expressing yourself in China. What about karaoke? It's strange, a kind of prescribed way of sing ing in a limited context, in a closed room. People almost never just sing out spontaneously. Imagine the reaction of the poor taxi driver when our Orthodox Reader Olga and I are in the car and start to sing!

In Taiwan, especially, there is a deep fear of the future. They are afraid that Communist China will attack and destroy everything. This is why they try, by any means, to find a second passport to flee abroad. Very often, this nightmare does not allow you to think longterm about the future of family and/ or business. Marriage here is understood more as a fulfillment of a requirement, as obedience to parents, a financial agreement or a means of survival. It is much less a communion of love between two people, at least as love defined by Christianity. Here, the persons are really closed to themselves; they suffocate from fear of death and insecurity and, eventually, they close themselves off from this life in a grave.

How can you love, then? Persons who are afraid and think only of themselves are literally dead Individualism is death and death leads to fear. As a result, the person lives in the dark, creating vicious circle of death. As St. John the Evangelist says: "The perfect love dismisses fear.... because he who is afraid does not become perfect in love". Yes, there is no love in Chinese society. To be precise, it has never existed, in the Chinese way of thinking. Only Mo Tse, a philosopher who lived around 479- 381 B. C., spoke about universal love, which is different from Christian love. It has a clearly utilitarian character, and is necessary for peace in society and among states. However, this idea has never been accepted. It was also opposed by Confucianism and, generally speaking, was rejected by Chinese society.

When the Chinese people talk about "love", they don't mean what we mean. They have in mind a relationship of profit. They don't even love their god or gods. The way they pray has been a earthshaking experience for me: "Oh, my god, give me money and I will give you a percentage! Help me to win in the lottery and I will give you a part of the money or I will send a woman to dance for you" or something similar. Last year, they brought to Taiwan a small piece of a Buddha's finger for worship, from China. Thousands of people passed by to genuflect. However, I saw a newspaper article in which the head monk who accompanied it said: "Please, don't ask Buddha to help you win in the lottery, ask for peace, etc." People here don't love any god, they can't even think of such a thing. (I am talking about the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people, who believe in a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, ancestor- worship and superstitions.) These people use their god( s) because it seems to them that they can take advantage of the power the gods have. They invoke god, promising several things, in order to flee from the fear of fate.

This lack of love is tragic. Of course, they try to control fate, through fengshui, that is, geomancy or earth predictions, the power of crystals, etc. Perhaps the fact that they don't have a relationship of love with their god(s) can explain why the demons and gods in their temples have such ugly and repulsive countenances. Another is their deep guilt that cannot be expressed and cured since they ignore confession. Thus their fear is deepened and they try to buy redemption by donations to the temples. It is the fear of punishment and hell and the threatening faces of the demons in the temples that keep people in fear. The more spiritual people ask only for peace and harmony, because they know what living in fear means. They don't know anything about love. They don't ask to love god. They cannot even imagine it. Besides, according to Confucius and Buddha, seeking god has no meaning. It is not right to wish to find out who god is and, eventually, you will never find out, because searching is wrong. People should care about the present, about today and how they can live better and they should not be interested in something they can't understand. Thus, to love someone you don't know does not have any meaning.

Moreover, this fear becomes deeper because of the hidden psychological consequences of reincarnation, which is the theory that dominates the Far East. I pay for sins that I don't remember and that I committed in another life. I live in a cycle of reincarnations; this law governs my life ruthlessly, because I can't change it. I have to pay. There is no forgiveness and remission. This circle of terror can never be broken. I have my body, but I can't love it. As a Chinese person, I cannot love it since it doesn't have any value. Only the soul has value, yet it is imprisoned in the body.

The influence of reincarnation is one of the most important reasons for the lack of love in Asian people. That is, when a human heart loves, it says to the other person, "I love you forever". But, how can you imagine loving anyone forever, when you know that soon you will be reincarnated into a woman, a man or an animal, and then how many men, women and animals will you love? What is the quality of your relationship, then? Behind all this, the absence of the "person" becomes obvious. This concept does not exist in Chinese society and, generally speaking, in the Eastern societies. Nevertheless, this is the revelation of our God, of the Holy Trinity. It is the revelation of the "person", because only if I am a person can I truly love. For the Eastern people, god is not love; god is anything that has power and that I can take advantage of. Even in Buddhism, which is considered to be the most spiritual expression of the East and which talks about love, there are the so called bodhisattva – those who refuse to become buddhas before they save the world. The notion of love is emotional and not deeply ontological/ existential, because the person -the hypostatic principle/ element, according to Fr. Sofronios- doesn't exist. You must save yourself, this is what matters only, by being absorbed by nirvana (by eliminating yourself in nirvana). The person does not exist, it is just an entirety of continuously changing characteristics. Since there is no person, there is no love.

Feeling love is different than being love. Our God is love, because He is a communion of three persons. He is the Father, not because He loves us, but only because He has a Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Buddha did not know anything else other than the human way of life -people in contrast with each other- and he created his theory. However, there is another way of being, the Trinitarian way, the way of being in communion. This is our deepest contribution and missionary method to the Chinese people. Chinese people talk about unity and think of Christianity as a fragmentation, but they live under the heavy shadow of the law of nature and particularly under dualism, the yin and yang theory and energy theories, which don't have any sensible sup port/ basis. The only unity is the communion of persons, which is shown by Trinitarian theology. Because for the Chinese people, the truth is not a person; it has become a mixture of strange, contradictory theories.

The theology of divine light is the only salvation of the Chinese and, generally speaking, Eastern way of thinking, which is really stuck in nature, especially in Japan. It is not harmony, which is the reason that everything is beautiful in nature, but the presence of God, the presence of the divine light. This light changed the clothes of Jesus Christ to light, too, on Mount Tabor, as well as the bush on Mount Sinai. The divine light is the only salvation from the Far Eastern fear of hell, of the horrible hell of the 18 stages (bad teachers are sent to the last stage), because for us, the divine light is the fire of hell.

We have a lot to give to the people of East, even this late in time. When I am asked why I came here, when some Protestant friends of mine ask me why I don't do missionary work (that is to knock on doors, holding the Holy Scriptures, and saying to people "if you don't believe in God, you will go to hell"), I answer that I don't want to convert/ proselytize people, but to give the meaning of love and freedom to them. Only Orthodox theology can offer this. Only in the Divine Liturgy can someone become love and spread it to the others afterwards. Thanks to "St. Kosmas", the Divine Liturgy takes place in Taiwan, in our little church devoted to the Holy Trinity. This is the most important thing in a mission and is why I share my conclusions and my humble thoughts with you. I need your prayers. I live among so many temptations and battles, because of my own mistakes and sins, and in such loneliness.

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