History - Part I

“There is no denying the fact that we moderns do not like being told that [any] one Church is the true Church. It offends our democratic sensibilities.”[1]

            The quote above gets to the heart of the divisiveness Christians have had over the past Millennium. Is there a One Church of Christ? If so, where is it and who is a part of it? These are the questions that have formed the external picture of the Church since the Great Schism in the middle of the 11^th century, essentially splitting the Church in two. I believe that this is a good starting point in our discussion of who the Orthodox Church is; in order to understand her doctrine and practices we must look to history. We must understand why after nearly 1,000 years of Christian unity the Body of Christ seemed to be split in two; and why nearly 500 hundred years after that, the Body of Christ seemed to split again – this time into multiple fragments. The story of the Orthodox Identity begins with an understanding of these divisions among Christians and where it is the Orthodox fit into the picture.

            Of course, when asking a Roman Catholic who the first century Church was, they would answer, “the Catholic Church of course!” And an Orthodox would state that it was indeed the Orthodox. The question then becomes who left who. In the wake of the events of the NT, the Church spread throughout the known world; first to Antioch where we were first called Christians (and Peter’s first Episcopal See), to Alexandria by the hand of the Apostle Mark, to Greece & modern day Turkey by the hand of the Apostle Paul, and to Rome by those Christians who witnessed the Great Wind at Pentecost – and continued later by Peter and Paul. By the End of the first century, Christians were found from one end of the Roman Empire to the other – even as far east as India. Bishops (or Episkopos in the NT) became the leaders of the local Christian community charged with passing on what was taught to them by the Apostles. Among these Bishops in the region was a Bishop whose jurisdiction fell over major cities of the Empire which held large populations of Christians. These Bishops became known as Patriarchs (in later times the Patriarch may be the Bishop of a particular nation’s capitol, ie. Moscow, Rome, Constantinople). These Patriarchs held the same authority as any Bishop; however; being the Bishop of an important city which usually held significance for both Empire and Christian, meant they were given an honorary leadership role among the bishops of the area – the First among equals. It can not be stressed enough that this was only honorary, and that all Bishops within the Church hold the same authority. By the time of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea there were 5 majorly recognized Patriarchates: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome; the Church in all being blessed with hundreds of local Bishops. It is also important to note that the Apostles of Christ were in fact the very first Bishops (Mark in Alexandria, Peter first in Antioch and then in Rome, James the Brother of Jesus in Jerusalem). Those whom they taught then taking their place – but more on that in later blogs.

            The Great and Holy Ecumenical councils of the Church (7 as counted by the East) included all Bishops of the Church, east and west. This is where the Church was able to come together and make sure the whole Church was on the same page. The last of these councils took place in the year 787. There were many factors that lead to the duel excommunications in 1054 between the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) and the Bishops of the East. This was not a sudden split, but rather a gradual building up of tensions over many centuries – many of which was the fault of neither side. Rome would say that the church of the first centuries was inherently Catholic. The East would say the opposite. Who is right? How did they drift apart? What made them stay in communion for so long before splitting? In Part II we will look at how East and West drifted apart, and who left the true body of Christ and why.

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[1] Carlton, Clark, “The Way: What Every Protestant Should Know About the Orthodox Church”; pp. 216

Light from the Christian East

            It was another weekday working at Lifeway Christian Stores; I loved my work, the faithful I served, and my great co-workers. It had only been a week since I was catechized into the Orthodox Christian Church when I began to notice a very peculiar trend. In that week alone I received more inquires about the Orthodox Church than I had in the nearly two years I had worked there previously. I thought to myself, ‘could this be due to the rising political tensions between the US and Russia lately?’ My quick realization was no; these were not questions about the Russian people and what it is the Russian Orthodox believe. I began receiving questions about the early church and what they believed. Questions like, “What is the Septuagint?” and “I was studying about Baptism the other day and came across the Eastern Orthodox perspective; what are your thoughts on these Orthodox?” Not only this, but my coworkers began to tell me about customers we had while I was off shift asking if they knew anything about Orthodoxy. They would tell them that they indeed had an Associate who was an Orthodox Christian and eagerly gave them my schedule so they may come back in to ask me their questions, and they certainly did.

            This in itself is not surprising, since as a student studying Historical Theology at California Baptist University I was the “go to” associate regarding ancient practices, theological paradoxes, and the occasional questions regarding other non-orthodox Christian faiths and their teachings (I did not ask for this, just in my nature I guess). The particularly interesting part is that I was never asked anything about the Orthodox – indeed I had not even learned that the Orthodox Church was still around (at the time I thought they had died out in the east). This only began to happen, as I said, a week after I had become a Catechumen in the Church. I have since had close friends of mine enter an intense query into the faith of the Eastern Orthodox; some of whom turned to me for answers to their burning questions – not that I can adequately answer them, but they ask anyways. It surprised me at first; who am I? But I understood why given my level of Evangelical involvement in the modern church and my friendships with them. It has been my joy to discuss the depths of Orthodox theology, practice, and ancient wisdom with all my inquiring friends; however, I began to lose track of what each of our discussions left off and where to pick up again, which books I had suggested or which they had read already, or least of which trying to find good times for them to visit a service where I could meet them and answer their questions about what they saw, smelt, and heard – Orthodoxy, after all, is not completely understood until it is experienced; it cannot be learned via reading, it much be experienced.

            Let me cut to the chase. I have gotten to the point where I believe it would be beneficial to begin writing about the Orthodox basics and fundamentals for my friends – and others – to look to for a resource and guide. There are many great blogs and websites out there that I often point my friends too if I feel the question needs more than I can offer. However, some of these sites are so large and have so much to offer, I don’t want my friends to (1) get lost in attempting to get their question answered, or (2) go to a site that I have not looked at in depth myself to know if it would answer their questions, or if the site is indeed reputable. So, I have decided to write this series of Blogs designed to help my close friends understand the ancient Christian faith in the most simplest (though there is nothing simple about it), most fundamental, and clear way I could muster up. It will also be designed to confront the most common misconceptions and half-truths that have been floating around Protestant circles for the past couple centuries. 

            I will attempt to walk through the most fundamental Orthodox Christian Doctrines, History, and Spiritual Disciplines in a systematic way. It will in essence be a Systematic Theology of the Orthodox Church; however, to approach such a topic of theology, history, and practice in a systematic way is nearly impossible – and usually unwise. For Western Christendom, a Systematic Theology is much easier to accomplish due to its very scholastic and academic thought process when it comes to Theology. You will find that the East does not usually look at theology with the legal/scholastic mind of the west, but rather with more of a Mystic train of thought. Because of this, it is impossible to ever come to a complete theology of God, or Scripture, or the Incarnation, etc; for all things pertaining to God has such a mystery as to never completely understand its depths or workings 100%. This does not mean, however, that certain things can not be known or that we should not make every effort to understand the things of God with our whole mind or intellect; but it does mean that we have to think of the spiritual realities as being alien to the way we think and WHAT we believe to be possible. The Incarnation of Christ for example. We can study its rich theology and implications and come up with beautiful theology that impacts many other aspects of our faith; however, we will never be able to understand it or its implications 100%. This is what the Church means by the word Mystery.

 

            I look forward to studying the Orthodox Church and its Theology with any that would join me. My goal is not to convert (though it would be welcome), but rather to bring understanding to the modern American Christian about the mysterious, and often peculiar, faith of their Christian brothers in the East. The Orthodox Church is growing at a rapid speed in America, and has been for the past 100 years. There is a growing hunger and thirst with American Christians who want to understand their first century roots better. My goal is to show who the Orthodox Church is and that we are not the scary Heretic of the East; it is very easy for those who know nothing about Orthodoxy to revert to Rome-a-phobia. If you get nothing more out of this than gaining a better understanding of what the Orthodox Church is, than I will have done my job and I will be very happy. I look forward to our discussions together. We shall begin with the History of the Church. Where did the Orthodox come from?

Disclaimer: I did indeed steel this Blog title from an amazing book by James Paton Jr. with the same title. It can be found on Amazon and tells the story of the Orthodox from a Protestant perspective. I do not agree with him 100%, however he does a fantastic job introducing Orthodoxy to the Protestant world – much like I am trying to do now.