WHY YOU CANNOT BE A FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN AND STILL BE AN EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN.

Understanding the Orthodox difference in light of the slow "Protestantization" of Orthodoxy in this country

by Bishop Elias.

First we need to define fundamentalism as a phenomenon: It is the extremist application of religious doctrine into simply two categories: Yes/No, Right/Wrong, Saved/Unsaved. If you watch and listen to such evangelical preachers such as Jimmy Swaggert or Benny Hin you will not find any middle ground. There cannot be any discussion of doctrine or law, because someone, in this place God, has established a law that knows no middle ground. Either one observes the law or one doesn’t. This is really a product of rational thought formulated in Aristotelian Thought and Logic. There is no need for mystery, because Holy Scripture (as interpreted by the fundamentalist preacher) has the answer to all questions.

Orthodox Christianity, on the other hand looks at all of this as a process, a “path” or a “way” to God. Salvation is a goal that we seek, and the Church, through its understanding of Scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers, and contemporary understanding of human nature, gives us the tools to reach the goal. There is no concept of “being saved” in the Pentecostal sense. Because the Orthodox Church is more a way of thinking rather than a mass of inflexible rules and regulation, we see the search for salvation as a group effort, rather than in individual effort.

Orthodoxy says that there are rules, and the rules are there to help us on our path to salvation. However, Orthodox also tells us that in cases other than those found within Dogma, the rules and regulations are not fast and cut into stone. Orthodoxy tells us that there is a spectrum of application on any given rule or law. This allows for a more personal application of law, but also makes us think… and think is the essential word here.

In the Fundamentalist mindset, everything is black or white. Rules need to be followed or severe consequences occur and you are lost. It requires no thought, you need not think about any thing other then Yes or No. The rules are there… obey them. Don’t question them. Don’t understand them, just follow them and everything will be right.

Orthodoxy tells us that all that we are is found within a mystery and in a Path. The mystery is the Eucharistic Community and the Path is Theosis.

The Protestant reformation as it absorbed the legal structure of the Roman Church led the people away from the idea that a community commitment and that a sanctified Priesthood was necessary. It said that ever person had the right to read scripture and interpret what it said. After all, didn’t St. Paul say were a “Holy Priesthood”? Didn’t God give us the spiritual gift of discernment? Wasn’t scripture easily read as it appeared in the vernacular? ( I have actually had Pentecostal Christians tell me that the King James edition of the Bible was the only Bible that was authentic because it was dictated by God, Himself, in English.) Protestant ministers set themselves up as “interpreters” and taught that we were “born in sin”, and were nothing more than tools of the Evil One. It taught “guilt” was inherent in humans. We were damned form the moment we left our mother’s womb. Ironically, this is a legacy of their original connection to the Church of Rome. The one agreement that Orthodoxy has with Fundamentalist Christianity, is that the Roman Concept of “Original Sin” is wrong, but other than that nothing else finds togetherness.

As I have watched the progress of Orthodoxy in this country, I has seen a slow Protestantization of Orthodox Thought. As Orthodoxy in this country opened its doors to non-ethnic seekers, Orthodoxy encountered a mindset that is truly alien to the way Orthodoxy thinks.

There are many reasons that this is happening, but the most prominent one is the absorption of ill trained protestants into The Church. Many Protestants coming from very liberal confessions, where there were women being ordained to the Holy Priesthood, and other such issues were in the forefront, sought a more conservative Christianity Since most of them came from Religious Groups that were, more or less, liturgically minded, they couldn’t drift into the Evangelical/Pentecostal groups. As they looked for a Church to match their mindset, they encountered ancient Eastern Christianity. On the surface that saw a Faith structure that was “the last bastion of conservative Christian Values”. They were received into the Church carrying all the Protestant mindset that they could carry. They didn’t bring a suitcase or two of former beliefs, but steamer trunks full. They brought enough baggage to block out the Light of original Orthodoxy

The Hierarchy could have done a lot to re-educate these folks, but it saw the influx as a way of showing that the Church wasn’t just an Ethnic Country Club, but rather an accepting Organization… something the Orthodox Church has always been, but wasn’t shown much in the USA.  Lets not forget that these folks brought with them the reality of "tithing" to the Church... increasing donations and allow for fuller coffers, didn't go unnoticed and a lot of Hierarchs "didn't want to rock the boat", but trying to make people believe correctly; but isn't that what Orthodoxy is all about?.

All of a sudden bible-thumping Protestants were now Pedalion Thumpers. In their (formerly) narrow understanding of Christianity, they saw the Pedalion as a Book of Rules and Regulations for the Community of Believers… and nothing could be further from the Truth. Reading Bibles in Church, along with the Priest has, in many communities, become the norm. I remember one Priest coming into the congregation to give his Homily, with a Bible under his arm, and the first words out of his mouth were “Do you have a personal relationship with JEEEEZUS? I was a bit shocked and taken back. Of course I have a personal relationship with Jesus, every Orthodox Christian should espouse this. But that relationship blossoms only when placed in a community setting. Here I saw Jimmy Swaggert in a Phelonian preaching in Pentecostal style… all we needed was an Altar Call.
Although there was no “Altar Call” at the Liturgy, there was a kind of Revival Meeting on Wednesday night, carefully disguised as a Vespers with Healing prayers. Glossolalia (speaking in jibberish) abounded in the Wednesday night services.

Sadly this type of thinking is becoming more and more the norm, and it is as alien to Orthodoxy as good act are to Satan. It stands for the antithesis of everything for which the Orthodox Church stands. It stands in defiance to the way Orthodox Theological thought developed and has introduced ideas that are uniquely western. It is trying to make Orthodoxy in a western mold. It is really trying hard to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Small Jurisdictions like ours may well be the last place where real Orthodoxy is taught. We receive converts and make sure that they are guided into a new understanding of what Humanities’ relationship to God really is. There is no rush to Baptize and Chrismate catechumens. We want them to learn, think and understand what they are leaving behind, and how they must re-adjust their way of thinking, not just their way of acting.

Orthodoxy is traditional not conservative. Orthodoxy is a “opening” up of the mind, body and soul, not confining it to a series of boxes. Orthodoxy is a way, a path to salvation, not a set of rules and regulations. The rule in Orthodoxy is compassion and love, not guilt and punishment. We Orthodox see God, as we read in St. John, the “One who so loved the world, that he gave His only sSon” to lead us to salvation. Is God a judge? Yes, God is the ultimate judge, but in His judgment is His limitless compassion and love. We in Eastern Christianity innate goodness and not perversity in all of God’s creation. Orthodoxy is the only completely Holistic approach Christianity that maintains 1700 years of theological thought and experience. Don’t you think its time that someone “reclaim” the real Orthodoxy?

If you want to read a great book on Orthodox thought, written for non-Theologian, let me recommend “Light Through Darkness” by John Chryssavgis. It’s the first book written for the average person, and not some other theologian. It doesn’t deal with the history or time tables, not even the obvious differences with other Christian Confessions. It deals with Orthodoxy as a different way of thinking. Buy it, read it and let its words enlighten you. The book is available through both Light & Life publishers and Amazon.com. Let me know what you think?