{"id":2596,"date":"2014-03-05T14:29:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T19:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/orthodoxyandheterodoxy\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2024-10-17T16:11:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:11:13","slug":"is-orthodoxy-the-same-everywhere-understanding-theological-controversy-within-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/orthodoxyandheterodoxy\/2014\/03\/05\/is-orthodoxy-the-same-everywhere-understanding-theological-controversy-within-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Orthodoxy the Same Everywhere?: Understanding Theological Controversy Within the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"patriarchs\"<\/p>\n

W<\/span>hat do we mean when we say that Orthodoxy is the same everywhere?<\/p>\n

One of the “features” of Orthodoxy that is commonly put forward especially by converts as proof of the truth of the Orthodox Christian faith is that Orthodoxy is the same everywhere. They may point to the unanimity of liturgical practice, that all Orthodox look to the same councils and patristic sources for exegesis of the Scriptures and theological thought, or that you can hear very similar sermons or at least similar homiletic themes on any given Sunday throughout the Orthodox world.<\/p>\n

But are all those things really the same? One might get the impression from some Orthodox Christians that they really are. And one might also get the impression from some critics of Orthodoxy that those who say such things are fooling themselves, that there are major divisions in Orthodoxy that belie her supposed unanimity.<\/p>\n

Since this coming Sunday is the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which has not only the theme one will hear preached about in most Orthodox churches\u2014the restoration of the icons, which happened historically in AD 843\u2014but also has the theme of the unity of the Orthodox faith (witnessed to by the anathemas against heresy that are sung in some Orthodox churches), I thought it might be useful to reflect here on what the unity of the Orthodox faith really means, at least from my own perspective and experience.<\/p>\n

When I first encountered Orthodoxy, I very much believed that Orthodoxy truly was the same everywhere\u2014same liturgy, same theology, same doctrine, same dogma. And in my limited experience, it pretty much was indeed the same. Everyone seemed to be celebrating the same liturgical services (allowing for differences in language and musical style). Everyone talked about salvation as theosis<\/i>. Everyone said that the Ecumenical Patriarch was “first among equals,” that no bishop was truly higher than any other. Everyone fasted the same way and was serious about fasting to the same degree.<\/p>\n

But after I spent a few years in the Orthodox Church, I learned that things like fasting customs actually have some variety to them, and that not everyone was serious even about the tradition that was their own. I even encountered a very large parish where very few people fasted at all, such that those who did were actually referred to by an odd adjectival phrase\u2014they were said to be “on Lent.” I guess most folks were “off” it.<\/p>\n

When I went to seminary, my exposure to the variety of Orthodox practice increased significantly. It was there that I learned I was something called “Antiochian,” a term which had been in parentheses on the sign outside my home parish but didn’t really mean much to us overall. I also learned there that Antiochians (and Greeks, who were off somewhere in the wings, apparently, despite being more numerous than all other Orthodox in America put together) did certain things “wrong,” that we were “liberal,” etc. (These things were not taught by professors in class, mind you.)<\/p>\n

I also eventually learned that there was something called the “Western Rite,” an entirely different liturgical tradition which differs from just about everything else in Orthodoxy. I’ve subsequently learned that there are folks who hold it up as a major force in Orthodoxy (although it is a very, very tiny number of parishes, really), and there are also folks who think it is a major problem. (I think it’s neither. I have great respect for my Western Rite Orthodox brothers and sisters, few though they be.)<\/p>\n

Further, I learned that the current near-unanimity of liturgical practice in Orthodoxy was not the rule for more than a millennium of Church history. We all largely now live in an age in which the liturgical traditions of Constantinople have mostly replaced the native liturgical traditions of most of Orthodoxy. The much-lauded “I can go to liturgy anywhere in the world and figure out what part of the service I’m in” is not the experience of most Orthodox Christians in the history of our Church.<\/p>\n

Another thing I learned is that there are ecclesiastical controversies in Orthodoxy. One patriarchate puts a bishop on territory claimed by another. One Orthodox delegation walks out of theological dialogue while others do not. Some churches are willing to participate in the World Council of Churches while others are not. Some folks break communion over the calendar and other issues. There are squabbles, fights and outright retaliation. And there’s even overt racism and an almost mafia-like atmosphere in certain quarters.<\/p>\n

Most converts eventually do learn about all that\u2014they learn there is a certain variety in Orthodox practice. And while certain folks think it’s the end of the world when the priest does not hold the Gospel book vertically in front of his face when from reading it (yes, I had someone tell me that that was Holy Tradition and heretical if not practiced), most Orthodox really don’t have an issue with that. And when we encounter fights and squabbles and even outright evil, we can chalk it up to there being sinners in the Church, something that doesn’t have any direct bearing on the truth of the Orthodox faith. After all, we have the same faith, the same theology, etc.<\/p>\n

Right?<\/p>\n

Eventually, Orthodox Christians who read more than just saints’ lives and their parish bulletin (and perhaps some ecclesiastical tabloids on the Internet) may come to discover that there is also theological variety in Orthodoxy, too.<\/p>\n

The first place they may encounter it is in debates about hierarchical primacy or relations with other Christian bodies. Is the Ecumenical Patriarch an “Eastern Pope”? (Is he actually claiming to be?) Are all autocephalous Orthodox churches absolutely independent? What does this mean for ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church? Is it permissible to join in prayer with the non-Orthodox? If so, in what ways? Will there ever be a Great and Holy Council (now in the planning since the early 20th century)? If so, how will decisions be made there?<\/p>\n

There are some who point to the different answers to these questions given by the Orthodox and see there an ecclesiological crisis with fundamentally distinct and contradictory faiths being preached by different Orthodox Christians. Most Orthodox don’t even bother with such questions, of course. But some do. And this variety is a favorite point of attack for critics of Orthodoxy. This variety has even been the occasion for the departure of some ex-Orthodox.<\/p>\n

Another place that readers may encounter variety in Orthodox theology, perhaps a much more disturbing place, is in questions of soteriology (theology of salvation) or cosmology (theology of creation). Some can probably write off issues of ecclesiastical primacy and ecumenism as just the squabblings of bishops, that there is nothing really deep at stake in their debates and that it will all eventually work itself out. But when you have different answers to questions like “What happened on the Cross?” or “Is biological evolution compatible with Orthodox Christianity?” the path through the variety can be harder to find.<\/p>\n

And the weeds and brambles get even harder to navigate when one begins reading up on questions like the Sophiology of Bulgakov, the personalism of Zizioulas or the Neo-Palamism of Lossky. And what exactly does “Neo-Patristic Synthesis” mean? There is no single, unanimous consensus to be found here, not even for the astute reader who has the needed philosophical, historical and theological background to make sense of these writers.<\/p>\n

So what are we to do?<\/p>\n

The point of this post is not to provide a sort of “answer key” to all these questions, if only because I don’t even know what I think about some of them yet. But I believe some guidance here from Fr. Georges Florovsky is apt. Here’s a brief passage from a translation by Fr. Matthew Baker which we published here in November<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Unity in faith, of course, does not require uniformity in theology. A certain freedom in theological interpretation remains, but under the condition of the living and organic conjugation of those things which are interpreted. Of course, we must strictly distinguish between levels: dogma, doctrine, theology. The distinction is not so easy to hold, in fact, for all levels are related to each other in the unity of ecclesial consciousness. In any case, in the dogmatic realm, there can be no room for pluralism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s hard to break down exactly what Florovsky means here (this is part of a larger passage on whether the “Unia” is an appropriate means to Orthodox unity with Rome). But here at least is how I understand the distinctions he’s making and how I think they can apply to the issue of what a faithful son of the Orthodox Church is to do when he encounters what at least look like major fractures in the unity of the Orthodox faith.<\/p>\n

Note first that Florovsky does not simply appeal to a kind of empirical ecclesial unity. The solution to this problem is not simply to say, “Well, we all belong to the same one Orthodox Church, and that’s what really matters.” There is a certain incomplete truth to that, of course, but that’s not enough and should not be enough for any Orthodox Christian, because theology really does matter, and it matters enough that merely having membership in the same organization is not the solution. And, if I may say so, such a solution is really a kind of crypto-papal solution, in which catholicity and therefore ecclesial identity is ultimately defined by submission to the Pope of Rome, which is why even major departures from Catholic teaching such as Liberation Theology or from liturgical decorum such as the “clown mass” can be tolerated. Except here we Orthodox would just put our identity in the body as a whole and not in reference to one man. “I don’t believe in organized religion; I’m Orthodox” becomes more than a joke about the messiness of ecclesiastical polity. It devolves into a claim that I belong to a church that doesn’t know what it believes.<\/p>\n

Instead of an appeal to mere institutional membership, Florovsky makes the point that there is no room for pluralism in dogma. And that really is where the unity of the Orthodox faith lies. There is no room for pluralism in the content of the Creed. We have Ecumenical Councils that have ruled decisively on dogmatic issues, and they are really where we find that unchanging unity. The content of that dogmatic unity is not difficult to point to and not the subject of debate in Orthodoxy.<\/p>\n

Historically, Orthodoxy actually does not<\/i> merely point to a “consensus of the Fathers” (which is actually a Reformed idea, by the way), if only because that leaves a lot of room for ambiguity as to who has properly identified that consensus. Yes, there is a remarkable similarity between the Fathers on many questions, but not on everything. Does the human person have two parts or three? What about the soul? Is theosis<\/i> the primary model for soteriology or an atonement theology? (One can even get more abstruse here: What do “economy” and “strictness” mean in interpreting and applying the canons? Does the wine in the chalice change to the Blood of Christ when the Presanctified gifts are placed in it? Those are theological issues, too.)<\/p>\n

Florovsky does not here define exactly what the differences are between dogma, doctrine and theology, and he notes of course that such a distinction is “not so easy to hold, in fact, for all levels are related to each other in the unity of ecclesial consciousness.” That said, I’d like to attempt a brief set of definitions here as I might understand them and as I have attempted to explain them in educational settings:<\/p>\n