A Letter of Saint Daniel of Katounakia to a Student of Theology on How to be a True Theologian

To my beloved Mr. George [Papageorgiades, a student of Halki Theological School],

Blessings from my soul.

Having perused with lively interest and abundant spiritual revelry the general contents of your last letter, which is in my hands, and having ascertained your good thoughts and meditations, full of prudence and reverence, I greatly approve your prudence, by thoroughly wetting your letter with paternal tears.

I praise, as it deserves, your Christian and evangelical zeal and the vigilance you have for your future life, for which I hope and will always hope, even if unworthy, that it turns out fruitful and salvific.

The Patristic Basis of Theology (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

It is very significant that Saint Maximus the Confessor at the beginning of his theological struggle spoke about hesychast and neptic issues. He began, that is, with the texts that speak about love and more generally the texts that speak about the healing of man. The second phase of his struggle he was concerned with transmitting the terminology of the Cappadocian Fathers regarding the Trinitarian God in the Person of Christ. And the third phase of his theological struggle he was concerned with the topic about how every nature has its own will, that is, it was against monothelitism in Christ.

Extreme Positions in Theology and Life

Emeritus Professor of Theology George Mantzaridis offers profound insights on extremist positions in Life as well as in Theology.

St. Paisios the Athonite on Confronting Difficult Ecclesiastical Issues

- Elder, what is the right way to confront difficult ecclesiastical issues?

- We must avoid extremes; extreme solutions will never solve a problem. In the old days, the grocer would add little by little with the scoop on the scale until he got the exact weight and the scales were balanced. In other words, he did not add or remove large amounts abruptly. Extreme positions always cause suffering for our Mother the Church, as well as for those who hold those positions, because an extreme stance has a way of nailing people into place.

On the Application of the Term "Theologoumenon"

By John Sanidopoulos

The term "theologoumenon", or its plural "theologoumena", is an ancient Greek word that means either "something that is theologized" or "that which is said about God or divine things", and in the scant use of the word from patristic writings, this is how it was understood. In theological literature today, the word "theologoumenon" takes on a different or added meaning, usually summarized as being an "individual theological opinion". But this is not how the term was ever meant to be used, at least from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

The Method By Which St. Cyril of Alexandria Corrected a Theological Error of a Holy Elder

The same Abba Daniel told of another great old man who dwelt in lower Egypt, who in his simplicity, said that Melchizedek was the son of God. When blessed Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, was told about this he sent someone to him. Learning that the old man was a worker of miracles and that all he asked of God was revealed to him, and that it was because of his simplicity that he had given utterance to this saying, using guile the Archbishop said to him,

The Spiritual Twilight of the West

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Saint Paisios was a blessed ascetic and eventually a saint of the Church who had clear theological thoughts, he had prophetic and apostolic gifts, which is why his words are timeless.

Once he talked about the spiritual preconditions needed for the Holy Spirit to act. He said:

"The word of the mind does not transform the soul, because it is of flesh. The word of God, born of the Holy Spirit, has divine energy and transforms the soul. The Holy Spirit does not need engines to descend. This is why theology has nothing to do with a sterile scientific spirit. The Holy Spirit descends on His own volition, when He finds the right spiritual preconditions in man. And these conditions exist when we remove the rust from our spiritual cables, and become good conductors for the spiritual current of divine illumination. It is then that we can become a spiritual scientist, a theologian. By 'theologian,' I mean those theologians who have theological reserves, whose degree has value, not those who only carry a diploma as worthless as the paper money we had during the German Occupation."

Theology and Secular Education

By Fr. Panteleimon Krouskos

I notice that academic theology is consistently demonized and degraded with an almost sensual-like pleasure and with maxims. Of course not everyone who is educated theologically is illumined by God, but it also doesn't mean that every uneducated person who makes two or three patristic quotes on the internet is heavenly illumined and charged with a mission. Let's not get crazy!

The Message of the Teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas for our Times

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

(May 2010)

Hesychasm1 is the quintessence of the Orthodox tradition, identified with what it encompasses and expresses, the term ORTHODOXY. Outside of the hesychast tradition Orthodoxy is non-existent and inconceivable. The practice of hesychasm, moreover, is the "touchstone" for the recognition of authentic Christianity. Through "fasting, vigils, prayer" - with the practice of hesychasm, the heavenly gifts are acquired, according to the Orthodox patristic tradition. It should be made clear from the outset that Hesychasm means mainly the path to theosis and the experience of theosis, and secondarily examining and recording this path and experience, which is the academic meaning of the term "theology".

The Dangers of Parisian Theology

Orthodox Ecclesiastical Theology

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

When we speak of Parisian theology, we mean that theology which was formed from various Russian theologians that had opposed the reforms of Peter the Great, and which was expressed in the West by Russian slavophile immigrants. The Theological Institute of St. Sergius in Paris cultivated the basic concepts of this theology, because many Russian theologians fled there.

It is, of course, known that these Russian theologians had a sense of the Orthodox hesychastic tradition and, observing the humanistic principles of western civilization, entered into dialogue with the various philosophical and religious movements of the West and tried to help. That is, they sought to do what the Church Fathers of the fourth century did, namely to respond to the inquiries of westerners, and to solve, by means of Orthodox Revelation, the existential, philosophical, anthropological, social, and other such problems prevailing in the West.

Topical Issues of the Church Today (Interview with Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

The following interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou was done by the journalist George Mylonas, and published in the newspaper Ark of Orthodoxy (Κιβωτός Ὀρθοδοξίας) on November 12, 2015. It is supplemented with the following lecture: "The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life".

In the paper you presented before the Hierarchy, you spoke of a theological crisis. Do you think the Pan-Orthodox Synod in 2016 will have fruitful results in this direction?

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (6 of 6)

...continued from part five.

f) "The Prophetic, Royal and High Priestly Office of Christ"

In the Old Testament there are three different types of bearers of grace through whom God led His people, namely the Prophets, Kings and High Priests. Christ with His incarnation has the fullness of Grace as the Son of God in bodily form, as the Apostle Paul says: "For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him" (Col. 1:19), and "in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). Therefore He is a Prophet through His preaching, a King through His guidance, and a High Priest with His sacrifice and offering. This means that Christ has these three qualities/features, and they are united between them.

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (5 of 6)

...continued from part four.

e) "Ontological and Existential"

These two words, "ontological" and "existential", are often used in spoken and written words by people who know Orthodox theology. Apparently they do it in the sense that "ontology" means what is real, what exists, and not something insubstantial and imaginary. Also, "existential" implies existential problems related to the beginning and end of existence, what is life, what is death, what happens after death, what is the meaning of existence; they are the answers to the "borderline" issues of human life. In this sense I also used these two words in the past, especially in discussions with scientists and young people, pupils and students, and they made a particular impression.

However, from my studies of both patristic and western scholastic theology, existentialist theology and Russian theology, I understand that these are problematic to the Orthodox patristic tradition, and in fact those who use them negate Orthodox theology or differ from it.

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (4 of 6)

...continued from part three.

b) "The Human Person"

Many studies have been made in our day about the "human person", and the features are even identified, which are self-knowledge, otherness and ecstasy/eros.

The idea that man is a person began with the Russian theologian Vladimir Lossky, who clearly wrote: "For my part, I must admit that until now I have not found what one might call an elaborated doctrine of the human person in patristic theology, alongside its very precise teaching on divine persons and hypostases." But he continues: "Thus I shall not put forward an historian’s examination of Christian doctrines, but simply some theological reflections on the questions which must be answered by the notion of the human person in the context of Christian dogma."

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (3 of 6)

...continued from part two.

3. The Impact of the Theological Crisis on Daily Ecclesiastical Life

What was said previously needed to be said desperately to detect the impact of the theological crisis in the life of the Orthodox Church. I will now stress in particular how an altered terminology and theology alters the entire climate of ecclesiastical life.

When one examines the theological movements circulating in Theological Schools, they will find that the theological generation that preceded ours was brought up on the views of scholastic and protestant theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas, Wellhausen and Harnack. Our generation was nurtured on the theories of Barth, Brunner, Bultmann and Tillich, as well as German Idealism. The next generation after ours grew up on the views of Russian theology and existential theology, such as the theology of Evdokimov, Lossky, Meyendorff and the philosophy of Berdyaev, Heidegger and the existential philosophers.

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (2 of 6)

Fr. George Florovsky

...continued from part one.

2. The Alteration of Theology

The issue of the alteration of theology is great and one can explore it from different angles. I would prefer to start with how we see this alteration in the second millennium of ecclesiastical life, in the relationship between lex credendi and lex orandi. In the first millennium, after many struggles, there was basically a balanced relationship between dogmatic theology and the prayers of the Euchologion.

Andrew Sopko has argued that in ancient tradition there was a close relationship between doctrine and prayer, as shown in the Proceedings of the Ecumenical Synods, Holy Scripture, the Mysteries and worship. Over the years a dichotomy was created between these two factors. This is shown clearly in that the language of worship, with its terminology, its purpose and its aim has remained steady, but from time to time the dogmatic terminology of some theologians varies. This is shown in Orthodox doctrinal manuals that have been affected by other traditions, particularly scholastic, while worship was the same. An example of this are the western influences on the theological work of Eugenios Voulgaris (George Panagopoulos).

The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life (1 of 6)

The following lecture titled "The Theological Crisis and Its Impact on Daily Ecclesiastical Life" was delivered before the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece on October 8, 2015.

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Introduction

Your Beatitude the President,

Your Eminences the Hierarchy,

I thank His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece and the members of the Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece for choosing together this topic for the Meetings of our Hierarchy, and also for allowing me to present it, the least of all.

Admittedly, it is a serious issue that has two sections. The first is the "theological crisis" and the other is "its impact on daily ecclesiastical life". The issue, upon initial examination, is theoretical, but it also has practical consequences, moreover it closely associates theoria with praxis, and they cannot be divided between them.

In recent years, there has been constant talk about an economic crisis, and this has absorbed all our thoughts and activities, ignoring the fact that the crisis is deeper - it is geopolitical, cultural and at its depth theological. Max Weber has shown that the capitalist mentality came from the Protestant ethic, and places where it prevailed there developed factories, banks and the banking system. But this will not be the topic I am presenting, but I will limit it to the crisis in theology in the Church and the consequences created by this crisis.

From the outset I would like to emphasize that I will, as much as I can, make this short and concise, as an introduction before the hierarchy cannot cover the whole issue, but I will say that I have finished a massive 600-page book on this issue, in which I present the related bibliography.

For now I will emphasize three key points. The first is "The Theology of the Orthodox Church", the second "The Alteration of Theology", and the third "The Impact of the Theological Crisis on Daily Ecclesiastical Life". I ask for your indulgence.

Chrysostom Koutloumousianos on his new book 'THE ONE AND THE THREE'

Chrysostom Koutloumousianos on his new book

THE ONE AND THE THREE: 

NATURE, PERSON AND TRIADIC MONARCHY 

IN THE BYZANTINE AND IRISH PATRISTIC TRADITION

(James Clarke Co., Cambridge 2015).

What was the cause or occasion that prompted you to write The One and the Three?

I was participating in a well-attended liturgy in a major country. Many bishops, priests, a huge congregation and the wonderful ritual, all created a sense of heaven on earth, but at the same time I had a strange and unwelcome impression. Instead of living the encounter between the Church, as the people of God, and God Himself, it was as if there were three orders, or even 'worlds', in a descending hierarchy: God, the clergy, and the laity. And the most formidable barrier was the one which separated the laity from the clergy. The first among the bishops displayed his high status in every possible manner. "Is this the right way?," I asked myself. And this thought was re-enforced by the fact that the same kind of barrier was to be found outside the sacrament. Was this a game? Subsequently, looking through contemporary theological writings I realized that this 'game' was well on its way to becoming established as a transcendental truth, a reflection of a heavenly structure, of God Himself. I came to understand that the key was a certain interpretation of the Trinity. That was the reason that I decided to explore patristic Trinitarian thought, and to juxtapose a modern school of theological thought (presumed to be patristic) with patristic theology and anthropology. This also led me to the understanding that monasticism is the best expression of patristic Trinitarian theology and anthropology.

Purification, Illumination and Glorification Are EVERYTHING in Orthodoxy (3 of 3)

...continued from part two.

By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

Definition of Glorification

Man was created to be in a state of illumination or glorification. Glorification is an empirical state. It has nothing to do with metaphysics. The glorification of man means union with God, or theosis. It is divine theoria, divine vision. Man becomes god by grace during the vision of God, if he reaches this point. The aim of Holy Scripture is to lead man to divine vision, to glorification, that he might see Christ in glory.

When man is glorified it means he sees the glory in which he stands. Only someone who is within the uncreated Light sees the uncreated Light. One must be in God to see God. Man sees God through God.

Purification, Illumination and Glorification Are EVERYTHING in Orthodoxy (2 of 3)

...continued from part one.

By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

Definition of Illumination

What is illumination? Essentially, illumination is not illumination of the rational faculty. Of course there is illumination of the rational faculty: one prays, goes to church, fasts. One orientates the rational faculty towards doing the right thing: liberating slaves, helping the poor, going voluntarily to give blood, all those sorts of things.

To the Fathers, illumination is not the enlightenment of the rational faculty, but of the heart. There is the purification of the heart, then the illumination of the heart, which is not a rational enlightenment but a spiritual enlightenment - this is illumination. This is the cure. The illness is when the nous is darkened and the cure is when the nous is illumined.