Resources for learning about Orthodoxy
Timo Pax
Shipmate
It was recently suggested in another thread that my interest in uniting contemplative/meditative prayer with outward action was reminiscent of Orthodoxy - and that, as a relatively new Christian, this was an area I might want to explore more.
My question now is ... how? I know next to nothing about the tradition, beyond the beautiful/scary icons. How does one proceed? Any book/website/church recommendations? Or ... what?
Also, any dangers? I have a feeling Russian Orthodoxy must in political terms be a hot mess right now.
My question now is ... how? I know next to nothing about the tradition, beyond the beautiful/scary icons. How does one proceed? Any book/website/church recommendations? Or ... what?
Also, any dangers? I have a feeling Russian Orthodoxy must in political terms be a hot mess right now.
Comments
In another thread in another category I read this quote from Rohr: "You do not think yourself into a new way of living, you live yourself into a new way of thinking." In another words, Orthodoxy is a way of life more than it is a set of belief. I don't think that comes over clearly in Kallistos Ware's book, written when he was relatively newly Orthodox.
Certainly don't judge Orthodoxy from what you experienced in Estonia or at a Russian wedding. You need to find an Orthodox church where the services are entirely in English - not easy except in North America. I might be able to make suggestions by PM if I knew where you live.
Migration into the UK from Orthodox countries has led to a situation where phyletism is all too common. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you are expected to become quasi-Greek, or Russian or whatever, in order to count as Orthodox.
You may find that the smaller the congregation the better: you need to find a "church family" where you can grow into Orthodoxy. And ideally it needs to be close enough for you to attend every Sunday. Or perhaps initially Saturday evening, if they serve Vespers then, when the priest may be more available to a newcomer than on a Sunday. Don't be put off if the church doesn't have a priest for services every Sunday. See if they have "Reader's Services" when he is absent. It may even be easier to ask questions afterwards then.
There is an online version of an earlier edition of this here: http://www.intratext.com/x/eng0804.htm
An alternative might be The Orthodox Faith by Thomas Hopko. Four smallish volumes in print, or online here: https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith
The most extensive would be the five hefty volumes of Orthodox Christianity by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev
In UK it is much easier outside London. In London currently 2 (out of around 40) churches have their Sunday service in English. In Bristol (where I live), 1 out of 4 uses English as the main language. Over the whole UK it is around 40 out of 200 or so.
If that isn't the case, why are there not just Orthodox congregations, rather than Russian/Greek etc Orthodox congregations.
Wondering how easy it would be for an outsider to integrate (?)
In the U.S. the Orthodox Church in America is pretty much this, although its origins are with the Russian church. I've visited my local parish a handful times, and it seemed to be very friendly and about half converts.
In UK some communities were founded by British converts. Others, such as the church which I attend, have become very multi-ethnic and have dropped the ethnic label. Our church has Georgians, Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, Jordanians, and Latvians, and others, as well as British. We lost our "ethnic" label ("Polish Orthodox" - which described where our founders came from) many years ago. Our growth rate indicates that people can integrate.
Excellent!
While preparing for retreats, I would read devotional books and prayer guides by Anthony Bloom (Metropolitan Anthony). I spent time with Kyriacos C. Markides' The Mountain of Silence: a Search for Orthodox Spirituality and began reading up on hesychiastic mystical prayer and theology with Vladimir Lossky's The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. At about the same time, I was drawn to study icons and read Paul Evdokimov's The Art of the Icon.
Inspired by all this, I plunged into the early mystics themselves: St Gregory of Nyssa
Evagrios Pontikos, Dionysios the Areopagite, St Symen the New Theologian. I have become more and more attracted to the 'bright darkness' and paradoxes of Orthodox traditions of wordless contemplation. But this is just a toe dipped in the ocean...
Many thanks for these recommendations.
The Ware and Hopko recommendations are good starts for general overviews. For a focus on spirituality I highly recommend the book Wounded by Love (St Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia) and The Life in Christ by St Nicholas Cabasilas. Sts Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa are great too (and surprisingly easy to read), though more for general theology/ Christology. If you want to melt your brain pick up a copy of St Maximus the Confessor's Ambigua.
Eh, hot messes can be found in any jurisdiction but I wouldn't say Russian churches are particularly prone to it. If you can find a Russian parish under the AROCWE (based in Paris, but with parishes in Britain) you are likely to find parishioners well-acclimated to Western Europe, with a respectable and open-minded intellectual tradition. They were until recently under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, until the EP tried to dissolve them into its Greek dioceses, which forced them to switch to the Moscow Patriarchate. But again one shouldn't generalize too much. I would guess though that the average parish- in any jurisdiction- is just focused on doing its thing and not on politics.
Although Orthodox churches in the UK were usually founded by people from different ethnic groups, Orthodoxy has put down roots here; in a lot of Orthodox churches you'll find icons of saints of the British Isles, Celts and Anglo-Saxons, from the time before the schism between East and West in 1054. And in most cases there will be at least some English in the service; at Vespers in our local Greek church I think there's more English than. Greek, as the first language of most of the members, either people of Greek/Greek Cypriot heritage or British converts, is English.
I have to admit there are a few scary Orthodox out there; my husband has never been very enthusiastic about Orthodoxy after being shouted at by a Greek priest for having his hands behind his back during a service, which apparently is Not Done - but by and large I've always found people friendly and welcoming.
That it's largely cerebral.
Also, I think that this book is ideal for people who are the beginning of exploring who God is, what faith in God means, and why any of it matters. There is a very generous preview here.
There are also some resources here, (perhaps in need of something of an update, to be fair).
Read in conjunction with visits to Orthodox services in English it could help place the Liturgy in perspective.
As for jurisdictional chaos - yes, in spades.
I attended the Orthodox pilgrimage to Holywell on Saturday and was informed that numbers were down as none of the Russian clergy were there as their current spat with Constantinople means that they can't concelebrate.
They insist that it's not a schism as such as it's an issue of faith buy of politicking.
It's a shame. A crying shame. But as has been said, most parishes get on with doing their thing. I do wonder how sustainable some of them are as they don't quite fit the zeitgeist, but then I admire them for not dumbing things down and going all happy-clappy ...
You've got to have stamina to be Orthodox. 'Let us complete our prayers to the Lord ...' means that there's at least 20 minutes more to go ...
Yes - but is there not the eternal to have in the front of your mind?
It's a crisis and I think there is a new level of craziness emanating from the Phanar, but again, it's probably not going to affect parish life that much in most places.
Outside London the Greek parishes tend to use English from what I can gather but the situation is mixed.
It's interesting that the Exarchate folk are going with Moscow. That won't go down well with many of them, but sadly it would seem that Patriarch Bartholomew suddenly decided to cut them loose. Up until very recently I tended to think he was cool and some of the others were the nutty ones but now I'm even more confused.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate has been making a lot of unhinged statements- for instance, Patriarch Bartholomew's comparison of the EP with the Logos, saying it is "the beginning of the Orthodox Church." They seem to have a self-understanding that is not really too far from Papal supremacy. Of course there are some admirable currents in the EP- its openness to theological exploration and ecumenical exchange- but it is unfortunately mixed up with a lot of Greek/ Byzantine/ Phanariot chauvinism.
I remember this pilgrimage fondly as I used to go every year when times were different.
I shall try to be better next year about organising time off work to get there and to Ilam.
Meanwhile, yes Sir Palomides. Many of the Exarchate people were badly bruised by Moscow after Metropolitan Anthony reposed (see, I'm using Orthodox jargon) and it's the last place they wanted to end up.
The obvious solution - which may happen in 1500 years time (so soon?) would be for the Orthodox to establish a single jurisdiction in the British Isles (not to mention the US, Australia and anywhere and everywhere else with an Orthodox diaspora).
Meanwhile, I s'pose the Exarchate people are going to have to take their chances with Moscow and hope for the best.
I hadn't heard that the Romanians were an option. I wonder why that didn't work out? They're busily establishing parishes across the country and I've met a number who are establishing missions and church planting here and there wherever there are clusters of Romanian migrants.
I hope things work out for them but I can imagine a few will jump ship rather than submit to Moscow. I don't think I've heard any good reports about Moscow, although I'm sure John Betts would disagree. Is he still around?
I think it does now, (or at least it did in my latter years of attending).
It used at start at 10 but Fr Samuel changed it precisely for this reason.
There was an edict a few years ago that the Romanian church would be catering primarily to the Romanian diaspora and that resources ought to be diverted to this end. It caused something of a stir, especially as good inter-jurisdictional relationships and practical arrangements had been established. Whether this is still enforced and might have been a factor I do not know.
Mark, no?
You might find interesting Rowan William's DPhil thesis on Lossky, which was not as hard reading as I feared (I have had to read doctoral & masters' theses over the years and it is a disturbing path of life) and can be found on the web-- while (obviously) not Orthodox, Lord Williams is a very sympathetic student (you might enjoy https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2008/14-november/features/a-student-s-brush-with-orthodoxy"--- forgive me, but repeated attempts at trying to use code correctly have put me on the edge of dementia). A friend of mine recommends his Dostoevsky book, but I've not read it yet.
Many shipmates have been recommending attendance, and nothing beats learning about Orthodoxy than liturgical participation. While I was more on the fringes of Moscow and the OCA many years ago (Patriarch Kirill and I shot a few hoops together, he said namedroppingly), in recent years I've been hanging around the Copts, which is not the same gang, but shares many of their characteristics.
I was told it was an accessible read, so I read it a few years back. "Read." I'm not sure I understood a single sentence. But my eyes passed over therm.
Nevertheless Dostoevsky and Williams remain two of my favourite human beings.
There's a joke about the spirit in there somewhere that I can't quite put my finger on...
--The Way Of A Pilgrim & The Pilgrim Continues His Way, by an anonymous Russian pilgrim. Basically, he learns the Jesus Prayer; implements it in his life; travels all over by foot; and has interesting encounters and adventures. I like the translation by Helen Bacovcin.
I was led to that by JD Salinger's novel, "Franny & Zooey", where someone uses the Jesus Prayer a lot, and IIRC the Pilgrim book is mentioned.
--Poustinia, by Catherine de Hueck Doherty. Non-fiction. Long time since I read it; but I just now did a search, and reacquainted myself a bit. It's basically about developing a personal spiritual life, sitting with God, but also being involved in the world. IIRC, there's a good deal of mysticism. And I remember she mentioned the difference between hermits and poustiniks: hermits stay in their hermitage; but poustiniks will help out in the village and fields, as needed.
She was from an Ortho background, IIRC, and originally from Russia. She converted to Catholicism. I notice that she's credited with introducing the concept of poustinia to the RC church.
--The Kitchen Madonna, by Rumer Godden. This is ostensibly a children's novel; but adults can enjoy it, too. tl;dr: A Ukrainian woman comes to work in an English (?) household. But she feels lost without any Orthodox icons in the house.
All I can think of, right now.
If that doesn't put you off, and you really, really want to understand Orthodoxy, find a church that has services mostly in English, and go to all the Holy Week and Pascha services. Pascha is what Orthdoxy is all about.
In fact, if you are still looking to read about Orthodoxy, you might start with the Creed and the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom. Between the two of them, they really summarize what we believe.
For books, my top five for inquirers would be:
For the Life of the World by Alexander Schmemann. A brief and readable introduction to sacramental theology. Everyone keeps saying "you have to go to an Orthodox church to really understand Orthodoxy" is sacramental -- to understand what we believe, you have to immerse yourself in our worship, because that's where you find what we believe.
The Year of Grace of the Lord by a Monk of the Eastern Church. An introduction to the church year. Lots and lots of footnotes. Because you find our beliefs in our worship, and because our worship varies through the liturgical year and covers a lot of territory, this book functions as a lovely roadmap.
On the Divine Images by St. John of Damascus. These three treatises can help you understand why the beautiful and scary icons (and the saints depicted in them) are so central to our faith.
Marriage as a Path of Holiness: The Lives of Married Saints by David and Mary Ford. Our liturgies, our liturgical year, and the walls of our churches are filled with saints. This book introduces you to a bunch of them. As you get to know the saints, you'll learn a great deal about Orthodoxy.
Dorotheos of Gaza: Discourses and Sayings translated by Eric P. Wheeler. St. Dorotheos provides a lot of practical insight into what it means to live as a Christian, from an Orthodox point of view.
If you've read all of these, I'd suggest adding Mother Maria Skobtsova: Essential Writings, On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius, and On Wealth and Poverty by St. John Chrysostom.
And, approaching Orthodoxy from another direction entirely, you might want to read the picture books Catherine's Pascha and The Saint Nicholas Day Snow by Charlotte Riggle, and The Man and the Vine and The Woman and the Wheat by Jane G. Meyer.
Whenever I have tried to follow a service along with my phone using some pdf of the Divine Liturgy I find online or, where there has been a book of the liturgy provided in the pews, I have found that a lot of what is written is either skipped over or, when it is prayed by the priest, is not prayed out loud so that I easily lose my place in the service.