Eastern Orthodoxy and Europe

This chapter considers the relationship between ‘Orthodoxies’ and ‘Europes’, highlighting the multiplicity of Eastern Christian Orthodox approaches and attitudes towards Europe, from one majority Orthodox national context to another and one historical period to another, ranging from anti-Europeanism (and anti-Westernism) to Europhilism. It also draws attention to differences in Orthodox stances on the idea of Europe, on the one hand, and the political reality of the European unification project, on the other. A temporal perspective is particularly relevant in changing attitudes to the European Union. Special attention is paid to external perspectives on the relationship between ‘Orthodoxy’ and ‘Europe’, often politicized and influenced by the political turmoil in the Balkans. The chapter closes with reference to the situation of flux characterizing contemporary conceptions of Europe, and the impact of the latter on ‘Orthodoxy’ in relation to ‘Europe’.

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Europe offers a detailed overview of religious ideas, structures, and institutions in the making of Europe. It examines the role of religion in fostering identity, survival, and tolerance in the empires and nation-states of Europe from Antiquity until today; the interplay between religion, politics, and ideologies in the twentieth century; the dialogue between religious communities and European institutions in the construction of the European Union; and the engagement of Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, and Eastern religions with the idea of Europe. The Handbook closes with an overview of European nation-states, focusing on history, demography, legal perspectives, political authorities, societal changes, and current trends. Written by leading scholars in the field, the Handbook is an authoritative and up-to-date volume which demonstrates the enduring presence of lived and institutionalized religion in the social networks of identity, policy, and power over two millennia of European history.

Liberal Democracy, Human Rights, and the Eucharistic Community: Contrasting Voices in American Orthodox Ethics

The relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and the political ethos of the West is of crucial importance for contextualizing the Church’s social engagement in the present day. Aristotle Papanikolaou and Vigen Guroian highlight points of tension in their respective accounts of the relationship between the Orthodoxy and western democratic social orders. Analysis of their argument provides a context for examining their contrasting understandings of human rights as a dimension of the public engagement of Orthodox Christians with the political realm. While neither completely rejects appeals to human rights, neither claims that such rhetoric manifests the full truth about the dignity of the human person according to the theological anthropology of Orthodox Christianity. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos of Albania, the statements of the Council of Crete (2016), and several other contemporary Orthodox voices place appeals to human rights in a theologically nuanced context that affirms their legitimacy while refraining from identifying them with the fullness of the moral and spiritual vision of Orthodox Christianity. Analysis of the debate between Papanikolaou and Guroian gives rise to a tentative affirmation of the critical use of the language of human rights in Eastern Orthodox social ethics.

A Russian National Idea and the International System

Vladimir Putin and his governing team have operated out of a weltanschauung that offers a twenty first century Russian national idea that animates the Russian federal government’s post-1999 policy program. This article explores the Russian national idea, illuminating the syndrome of pillars that comprise it, and tying the national idea to the Putin government’s policy program. We apply an interdisciplinary case study approach, relying on a modified process tracing analysis, to identify the national idea and its direct relevance to policy making. The notion of a Russian national idea has long preoccupied Russian intellectuals and even officials, and we focus on Vladimir Putin’s thinking and the Putin team’s actions as a national idea emerged and drives policies. Putin’s Russian national idea is comprised of four pillars, the consolidated state, a functioning market economy, a re-established social welfare system, and Russia’s return as a Eurasian leader. We understand these four pillars as constituting a syndrome, signifying that these four pillars reinforce one another. In this article, we give attention to the fourth, international, pillar of the twenty first century national idea. We consider the Russian Federation’s return as a natural Eurasian leader, with a longer-term, historical notion of foreign policy honor that entails Russia’s continued long-term commitment to Eastern Slavs and Eastern Orthodoxy. We link the notion of national honor with a contemporary consideration of a so-called Russian civilization that is relevant to both domestic and foreign policy interests. We highlight various policies, domestic and foreign, that are inherently related to this Russian national idea, and while we acknowledge a complex array of policy successes and dilemmas, we posit an overall Russian Federation programmatic advance. The theoretical significance of our article rests with its exploration of a regime’s worldview and programmatic priorities in advancing policies intended to advance the society it governs. This article is guided by the judgment that the Russian national idea, as articulated by Putin and as applied in policies by the Putin team, merits our serious attention.

Divine Incomprehensibility in Eastern Orthodoxy and Reformed Theology

This article examines the views of the Eastern Orthodox and the Reformed on the subject of divine incomprehensibility. The two regard God to be entirely incomprehensible, but differ in the way that he can be known or experienced. The Eastern Orthodox maintain that God is not ultimately known intellectually but experienced mystically. Mystical experience, according to this view, is theology par excellence. The key means by which this mystical experience is enjoyed is theosis, or deification. The Reformed, on the other hand, eschew mystical experience and instead focus on the archetypal/ectypal distinction. God cannot be known as he is in himself (archetypal theology), but as he reveals himself to his creation (ectypal theology). Ectypal theology is not identical to, nor intersects at any point with, archetypal theology. It is, instead, analogous to it. With these different views on divine incomprehensibility, this article also briefly considers how these views affect other areas of study in theology (such as anthropology, hamartiology, soteriology, and pneumatology).

Russia and the Melkites of Syria: Attempts at Reconverting into Orthodoxy in the 1850-s and 1860-s

Having entered into union with Rome in the 18th century, the Melkite Arab community of Syria preserved their Eastern rites and traditions. The attempts at Latinization in the mid-19th century brought a split in the community and provoked a diplomatic effort by Russia to bring the Melkites back to Eastern Orthodoxy. The raise of Arab nationalism in the 1850-s and traditions of church independence created a fertile soil for separatism. The relative weakness and inconsistency of Russian support, and especially a lack of material resources and strong diplomatic pressure from France, resulted in most of the newly converted Melkites returning to Rome by the early 1860-s. The article argues that Russian church policy in 19th century Middle East, strongly bounded by the limits of Orthodox canon law was largely ineffective. The Melkite affair was the last attempt to integrate the Arab Christians in the traditional system of the “Greek” Patriarchates. Thereafter Russian diplomacy took the course of Arabizing the Patriarchate of Antioch. The episode did, however, contribute to the elaboration of a new Vatican policy towards the Eastern Catholics: respect for their rites and traditions.

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

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.