scholarly journals Doing Orthodox Political Theology Today Insights from the Document For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church (2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-30
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Asproulis
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern Orthodoxy ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Made In ◽  
Social Ethos

Abstract The document titled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Ortho dox Church, authored by a special commission of Orthodox scholars appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is a document that can be definitely understood as a political manifesto of Eastern Orthodoxy for the 21st century, namely for this period of history and not for a by-gone historical setting or a Christian utopia (either the Byzantine Empire or Holy Russia), a period of time with urgent problems and challenges that call for our attention. Therefore, bringing to the fore the personalist anthropological view inherent in the document itself, an attempt has been made in the text to critically reflect and highlight certain relevant aspects of the document (a positive reception of liberal democracy, human rights language, solidarity to the poor, etc.). The goal is to show how theologically important this document is for the Church witness to our pluralistic world.

The Orthodox Preference for Democracy: An American Response to “The Church in the Public Square” (Section II), in For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church

2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-430
Author(s):  
Jonathan Tobias
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The Public ◽  
Clear Preference ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Social Ethos

In For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, there is a clear preference for the “democratic genius of the modern age.” This preference for democracy is due, in part, to the long experience of the Orthodox Church with other governmental forms, especially autocratic and authoritarian states.

Violence, War, and Capital Punishment in For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church

2021 ◽  
pp. 095394682110453
Author(s):  
Philip LeMasters
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Moral Reflection ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
The World ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Causes Of Violence ◽  
Spiritual Resources ◽  
The Church ◽  
Social Ethos

In response to the challenges presented by violence, war, and capital punishment, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church argues that foundational liturgical, canonical, and spiritual resources invite the Church to manifest a foretaste of the fullness of God’s peace amidst the brokenness of a world that remains tragically inclined toward taking the lives of those who bear the divine image and likeness. It also summons the Church to engage people and power structures toward the end of enacting practical reforms that ameliorate the underlying causes of violence, a task especially urgent in light of the powerful weapons and technologies employed by governments today. While reflecting distinctive Orthodox sensibilities on the topics it addresses, the document also presents points of commonality with other Christian traditions of theological and moral reflection, especially concerning the obligation to take realistic initiatives in peacemaking.

For the Life of the World and Orthodox Political Theology

2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-356
Author(s):  
Cyril Hovorun
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Social Doctrine ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The 1960S

The article explores the document For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church ( FLW) in the contexts that had instigated its promulgation. It maps this document in the coordinates of the Orthodox political theology during the long twentieth century. FLW corresponds to a line in “the theology of the 1960s,” which advocated for liberal democracy and against anti-Westernism. The article argues that FLW fulfills the unaccomplished mission of the Panorthodox council in producing a comprehensive Orthodox social doctrine. It compares FLW with the social corpus adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church during the 2000s.

Relations between the Russian Empire and the Orthodox Church of the East as Exemplified in the Collection of Greek Engravings of The Church Archaeological Museum at the Moscow Theological Academy

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Анна Леонидовна Краснова
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Church Of The East ◽  
Holy Places ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Made In

В XVIII в. на основании общего интереса к святыням Востока, а также единой тенденции для крупных монастырей изготавливать гравюры на память для паломников, многие греческие гравюры свидетели русско-афонских отношений попадают на территорию Российской Империи. Сохранились такие гравюры и в Церковноархеологического кабинете Московской духовной академии, собрание которых насчитывает 29 эстампов. Пять гравюр из этого собрания имеют надписи на греческом и на славянском языке. Надписи свидетельствуют о месте и времени создания гравюры, о граверах и заказчиках, являются источниками кратких исторических сведений. В статье приведены выявленные дополнительные факты об этих гравюрах, которые свидетельствуют о наличии церковных, экономических и политических отношений на базе культурных связей между Российской Империей и странами православного Востока. The Russ has always been supporting the relationship with the Orthodox Church of the East. As a result of these connections, we have a lot of icons and other gifts from The Mount Athos, The Saint Catherine’s Monastery and others holy places. There are five Greek engravings in the collection of The Museum of Church Archaeology at the Moscow Theological Academy, which have inscriptions in Greek and Slavic. These engravings were to be spread in Slavic countries. They are dated from the 17th to the 19th century. Some of them were made in Moscow. The images and the inscriptions of the engravings are the subject of a research presented in this article.

The Unity We Seek

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radu Bordeianu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Local Churches ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Eucharistic Communion ◽  
The Church

Orthodox theologians such as Bulgakov, Florovsky, Afanasiev, Staniloae, and Zizioulas consider eucharistic communion to be the sign of ecclesial unity, but their understandings of the boundaries of the church and unity in love, teaching, episcopacy, and Eucharist (including intercommunion) are varied. This chapter analyses Orthodox understandings of the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Una Sancta of the creed, considers the ecclesial status of other Christians, and assesses various models of unity, such as ‘all in each place’ (New Delhi, 1961). Unity is conditioned theologically: Christians need to confess the same faith, though uniformity is not the goal. Churches should enjoy unity in love, common service at the altar of the poor (in ‘the liturgy after the liturgy’), synodal decision-making, and communion among local churches represented by their bishops. These forms of unity do not represent successive stages, but they mutually condition each other.

Neuere sozialethische Entwicklungen in der Orthodoxie

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
Dagmar Heller
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Ethos

Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel möchte das neue, im März 2020 veröffentlichte Papier „For the Life of the World. Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church“ (FLW) vorstellen und durch den Vergleich mit früheren orthodoxen Äußerungen zum Thema in seiner Bedeutung für den inner-orthodoxen Dialog wie auch für das ökumenische Gespräch erfassen. Dabei kommt die Autorin zu dem Ergebnis, dass FLW im Vergleich zu den früheren Texten einen grundlegend positiveren Zugang zu modernen Fragestellungen wie Menschenrechte, menschliche Lebensformen, Wissenschaft und Technik hat und eine größere Offenheit aufweist. Aus diesem Grund hat das neu veröffentlichte Dokument ein wegweisendes Potential nicht nur für die Orthodoxie selbst, sondern auch für die ökumenischen Dialoge der Orthodoxen Kirchen mit anderen Kirchen.

The Cold War, the Unity of the Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, 1948-1966

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurjen A. Zeilstra
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Eastern Orthodoxy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Church ◽  
East West

Chapter 7 traces Visser ’t Hooft’s activity as a (controversial) bridge builder during the period of the Cold War, on the unity of the church, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite the Cold War, which prevented Eastern Orthodox churches from joining the World Council, Visser ’t Hooft held firmly to the direction set by the World Council as a third way between East and West, utilising insights he laid out in earlier publications. At the same time the World Council had to deal with the question of churches recognising other churches as true. In this chapter we see how Visser ’t Hooft inspired people to apply ecumenicity across the East-West divide. The chapter also looks at criticism of Visser ’t Hooft’s approach.

10. The mysteries

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
A. Edward Siecienski
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The Orthodox church has blessings and ceremonies for every occasion, but among the various rites of the church, seven have taken on a special significance. ‘The mysteries’ describes these seven sacraments of the Orthodox church—baptism, chrismation (confirmation), the eucharist, reconciliation (confession), the Anointing of the Sick, marriage, and Holy Orders. The Orthodox conviction is that Christ himself is encountered in each of the seven mysteries, and it is he who provides believers with the grace needed for their particular ministry or state of life. For the Orthodox, sacraments are not just ceremonies or celebrations that mark important milestones in one’s Christian journey; they are manifestations of Christ’s ongoing presence in the world.

Mary in the Hymnody of the East

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
John Anthony McGuckin
Keyword(s):  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Unbroken Line ◽  
The Church

Beginning with a notice of the major Marian hymnal elements in the New Testament text, this study goes on to consider how the most ancient Christian tradition of celebrating the role of the Virgin Mary in the salvific events the Church commemorates at prayer runs on in an unbroken line into the earliest liturgical examples from the Byzantine Greek liturgy. The study exegetes some of the chief liturgical troparia addressed to the Theotokos in the Eastern Orthodox Church ritual books. It analyses some of the more famous and renowned poetic acclamations of the Virgin in Byzantine literary tradition, such as the Sub Tuum Praesidium, the Akathist, and the Nativity Kontakion of Romanos the Melodist, but also goes on to show how the minor Theotokia (or ritual verses in honour of the Virgin), taken from the Divine Liturgy and from the Eastern Church’s Hours of Prayer, all consistently celebrate the Mother of God’s role in the salvific work of Christ in the world.

Negotiating Knightly Piety: The Cult of the Warrior-Saints in the West, ca. 1070–ca. 1200

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. MacGregor
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
The West ◽  
Proper Equilibrium ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Christian Society

Around 1184, Alan de Lille composed a sermon addressed to Europe's knights (Ad milites) as part of a treatise on the art of preaching (Ars praedicandi). In it, Alan condemned the felonious and violent behavior of Western warriors and reproached them for their mistreatment of the poor and the Church—the very groups that knights ought to protect in an ideal Christian society. According to Alan, such actions must cease and knightly behavior must be reformed. Using scriptural precedent, he encouraged knights to consider their spiritual welfare by articulating a difference between internal and external military service. Knights, if they wish to be soldiers of God, must wield both temporal and spiritual arms: the former to protect the Church and their homelands, the latter to combat the enemies of their souls. Balance between the two was essential since external service (earthly combat) was empty and meaningless without its internal counterpart (spiritual combat). By ensuring the proper equilibrium, knights could fulfill their assigned role in the world while actively working to ensure their own salvation.

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