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.
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