The Challenge of the Enlightenment and the "Kollyvades" Fathers

By Protopresbyter George D. Metallinos

In the 18th century, a new adventurous meeting of the Orthodox East and the West took place, which in its basic points is a repetition of the similar process of the 14th century. The successors of the Hesychasts of the declining Byzantium were the Kollyvades Fathers of Mount Athos, while in the place of the "Latin-Greek" Barlaam the Calabrian, that is, the bearer and exponent of the "European" consciousness, stood the most official representatives of the Greek Enlightenment, mainly clergy and monks as before. This was a new phase of our long-standing national division, of the long-running "spiritual dualism" which permanently devours our national flesh. This spiritual crisis is understood - correctly to a point - as a crisis of national identity. It is important, however, that again Mount Athos, a place more sensitive to issues of tradition, becomes the focus of the new conflict, since it has now been accepted (eg. Demetrios Apostolopoulos) that Mount Athos, in the figures of the Kollyvades, not only influenced, but also directed the struggle of the National Center in those truly crucial historical choices.

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos, as an Enlightener of Orthodoxy

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos is a great personality with timeless value and importance. Many texts have been written about him, but he still remains inexhaustible.

His memory is celebrated on the 24th of August, because it was on this day he was martyred in Northern Epirus. But because his personality is timeless, this is why we can talk about this sacred figure any time. Besides, here in Roumeli, where he was born and raised, and taught also in schools and later journeyed, his memory remains strong.

I would now like to present some thoughts on the educational work of Saint Kosmas.

The Political Vision of Athanasios Parios and His Disputes With Koraes

Athanasios was indeed a restless spirit. This made him use a thematology that did not remain within a narrow theological framework, but was broader socially and politically. He was simultaneously a polymath and polyglot, that resulted in him realizing the deep upheavals brought about by the Enlightenment in Europe. Thus he began with fairly conservative language to determine the polar events and constructs in Europe and attacked their heretical arbitrariness, as he called it. So he wrote a book (Patristic Teaching) which opposed the liberal proposals of the Enlightenment revolution. This book was published by the Patriarchate and seemed aimed at expressing the political considerations and requirements of the Gate, and for this reason may not fully reflect the views of the author. This book is the cause for attacks against the Church by the Enlighteners, who accused them of being Turkophiles with a slave mentality, even though it was obvious that it reflected the views of the vast majority of Phanariotes, who lived with the constant fear that a local revolt, even if successful, would also expose the rest of the Greeks to the vengeful fury of the Turks. This was a fear not at all unfounded, since it was based on events that preceded this time (e.g. Orlov Revolt) and continued until 1922.

A Confrontation Between Eugenios Voulgaris and Voltaire

By John Sanidopoulos

Archbishop Eugenios Voulgaris (1716-1806) was the greatest Greek scholar of the 18th century, whose fame crossed the borders of Greece into Europe. In 1771 he left Constantinople and settled in Leipzig, due to a disagreement with Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril Loukaris.

King Frederick IV of Prussia admired the knowledge and wisdom of Voulgaris, and called him in 1772 to his court in Berlin to discuss such metaphysical questions as "Is there a hell?" and "Does paradise exist?". There, Voulgaris met Voltaire (1694-1778), a deist and rationalist who was among the famous thinkers of the French Enlightenment, and they discussed many theological and philosophical issues.

Both Voulgaris and Voltaire were invited to the royal dinner. Because that particular day was a fasting day in the Orthodox Church, a discussion on Orthodox fasting took place. Voltaire, who was a strong critic of the Roman Catholic Church, thought it ironic how such a wise and knowledgeable man as Voulgaris embraced such a superstition as fasting. A "confrontation" ensued.

"I do not believe in paradises and hells," began Voltaire. "I enjoy my life like a party! I eat meat whenever I want, without fretting if it is Wednesday or Friday or Lent! On Sundays and feasts I sleep to my content, without being concerned with having to go to church! I make love with any woman I want, and I go to the taverns where I dance and frolic without the fear that I will go to hell, because I do not believe in such a fairy tale."

Eugenios Voulgaris then responded to Voltaire:

"You say that you enjoy your life, because of this and that. But I also enjoy my life. When I eat fasting foods instead of meats on Wednesdays, Fridays and during Lent, and when I wake up and go to church on Sunday mornings and feasts, my soul is filled! When I pray for this or that reason, my soul rejoices! So what is the difference between us?

I doubt that you have peace in your heart. Let alone the fact that you are tormented by the nightmares of hell! Well? Is this what it is to live? And if after death there does exist a paradise and hell, woe to you! You will lose out in the other life as well! And even if after death there is no paradise and hell, I will still come out the winner! I win in this present life! I enjoy it! Neither does anxiety eat me up about what happens after death. Well? Who is the most fortunate? I who believe in eternal life, or you who do not believe?"

Voltaire had no response.