Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey,<\/p>\n
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the new Nikodemos, which was full of spiritual food from first to last, including the \u201cfillers.\u201d May God give you the strength to continue giving this spiritual food to those who are starved for it (often without knowing it).<\/p>\n
We received two days ago, with a sigh, Fr. Ephraim\u2019s third letter to you. Before reading it we wondered, \u201cis this really necessary?\u201d And after reading it, of course, we saw that it is not. And. now (after starting this letter) we have received your new letter expressing your being \u201cshaken\u201d over Fr. E s -epistle. This I think I understand, although not perhaps too rationally, and I will try to express something of what I feel you might be going through.<\/p>\n
Of course, the sometimes flippant tone disturbs you, especially as coming from a monastery which is supposed to give precisely the right, serious, (but not pompously solemn) tone. Again, there is much that is totally irrelevant in the letter, as though you are to be awed by the very fact that Lives of Saints and Holy Fathers are thrown at you, quite apart from whether they are relevant or not. Then, the patronizing tone toward St. Nikodemos and St. Nectarius, as much as to say: \u201cwe know better than our own Saints; they are not as sophisticated in theology as we are.\u201d Yet again, the citing of Metr. Anthony and Bolotov, which means the authors think they are in the full Russian tradition, and therefore you have no ground to stand on at all (more on this below). Again, the letter contains much quibbling over words, in a rather \u201cscholastic\u201d spirit. And perhaps most of all: their approach and assumptions are so different from yours (and ours) that you probably just don\u2019t know what to say in reply. Their use of Anselm is a variation on the standard joke: \u201cHave you stopped beating your wife?\u201d \u2014 i.e., if you enter into a discussion on their terms, you will never get out of the swamp, but will have to force yourself to be \u201cdefensive\u201d about something that is actually quite unimportant.<\/p>\n
Here I will set down a few impressions which this letter produced on me:<\/p>\n
(1) Positively, it would seem that the Fathers are no longer, as in the second letter, intent on annihilating Nikodemos, but have apparently accepted the fact that you will continue to exist, outside their control. If so, glory be to God for such a measure of peace, at least.<\/p>\n
(2) The whole letter is written in what seems to us an idle, sometimes frivolous tone, and it would really be a waste of your time and energy to make any substantial reply to it. We do not need \u201cdebates\u201d on this level. Obviously, they have certain set ideas which are not going to be changed by any \u201cpoint-by-point\u201d reply. Your best \u201creply\u201d is to continue publishing Nikodemos without letting this static interfere with you.<\/p>\n
(3) It has now become rather obvious that Holy Transfiguration Monastery is quite limited in its theological and philosophical understanding. It is apparently not capable of understanding in full Orthodox context what is happening in the world today (intellectually [or] philosophically), nor of placing in proper perspective the theological writers of the last two centuries.<\/p>\n
(4) The reasons for this, it would seem, lie: (a) in the poverty of the recent Greek theological- intellectual tradition, which must really have been thoroughly paralysed and devastated by the Turkish experience (in a way that the Russian tradition certainly was not). If this is so, then such Fathers as Sts. Nikodemos, Macarius, and Nectarius are evidently rare exceptions who do not really form a continuous tradition (and notice that Fr. E. disowns the theology of even these Fathers!).
\n(b) In the consequent unrootedness of the Fathers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in any Orthodox theological tradition \u2014 they have to \u201cdo it themselves,\u201d with no one and no stable tradition to correct them. Their \u201croots\u201d are rather in 20th-century America, which accounts for the \u201cmodern\u201d tone of their epistles, their failure to understand the whole significance and religious origin and context of \u201cevolution,\u201d the utter ridiculousness of dilettantism of their dabbling in Russian sources. To say that Metr. Philaret of Moscow is not in the Orthodox theological tradition, whereas the academic scholar Bolotov is, and that virtually all our great recent theologians and Saints teach \u201canselmism\u201d \u2014 means that as theologians they are irresponsible and unaware, and their convert translators from the Russian cannot give them the whole context of Russian theological thought which might straighten them out.<\/p>\n
(5) Therefore, let us thank God that Holy Transfiguration is raising up monks in the genuine Orthodox discipline of monasticism, inspiring zealot parishes, and translating and spreading some patristic texts and Lives of Saints. But let us not expect more of the Fathers than they can give; they are not capable of giving the Orthodox theology and philosophy which is needed for our times. (Not unless they change their outlook, that is.)<\/p>\n
(6) This Orthodox theology and philosophy must obviously come from the Russian tradition of the last two centuries, in particular the tradition inspired by Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky. Therefore, there is much for us to do who love this tradition and want to be formed in it!<\/p>\n
(7) Concerning evolution: Fr. E. is quibbling over words, because he simply does not understand the whole question. He obviously misunderstands both St. Nectarius (who certainly is not trying to make a \u201cscientific\u201d statement, but is only, quite properly, ridiculing the pseudo-scientists who find man\u2019s origins in the \u0430\u0440\u0435-kingdom) and St. Basil (who is scientifically correct in his statement on pines and oaks, and he certainly did not intend to say that the seed of one produces the other, since the whole Hexaemeron emphasizes that each kind of creature reproduces only according to its kind). But it is futile to make an answer to these points: rather, the whole discussion must be placed in a different, more serious context. Hopefully, this will be what your future article on evolution will do (whenever God wills!).<\/p>\n
Above all: what we need now are persistent, independent labors, such as you and we are trying to make; and not useless debates.<\/p>\n
The new Orthodox Life, by the way, has an article by Fr. Lev Puhalo which apparently comes from the same theological \u201cschool,\u201d and which we found very unsatisfactory. Not only is such frequent and open discussion of the \u201csex act\u201d distasteful and unnecessary, but the whole context of the discussion is rather pagan-modern than Orthodox. True, marriage is sacred, but the \u201csex act\u201d among fallen humans certainly is not, but should always be bound up with repentance, awareness of sin (as in Psalm 50), and a humble awareness of how short married life falls of the perfect Christian life. (Likewise, one who lives in virginity should be constantly reproaching himself for the vileness of his thoughts; in no state of Christian life is there room for smug self-satisfaction.) Fr. Lev\u2019s \u201cpositive view of sex\u201d would seem to be rather a 20th-century reaction against Victorian prudery than anything patristic or Orthodox.<\/p>\n
A very important point: it is not enough to talk about a \u201creturn to patristic sources\u201d \u2014 that can be just another intellectual fashion, which I\u2019m afraid it is to some extent among some of our new theological \u201cexperts.\u201d There are some tell-tale signs by which these academic theologians reveal their own inadequate patristic foundation, one of the most obvious of which is the attitude: we know what is right and everyone else is wrong, under foreign influence, etc. (including great Saints and theologians). Fr. E. is telling you that he and his group (who are graduates of the pseudo-Orthodox seminaries of Holy Cross and St. Vladimir\u2019s) know more about Orthodox theology than: St. Nikodemos, St. Nectarios, Metr. Philaret of Moscow, Bishop Theophanes the Recluse, St. John of Kronstadt (who also talks about \u201cmerits\u201d of Christ), Archbishop John Maximovitch (who sang the service every year to Blessed Augustine, and in fact commissioned the writing of it!), and also the Elders of Optina! Such presumption can only do harm to the real cause of renewing Orthodox life by drawing from the fresh springs of Orthodox tradition.<\/p>\n
The best advice we can give you is this: do not enter into any further discussion with Fr. Ephraim on his level. You are entirely correct that a public apology for the Shroud article would complicate rather than simplify matters. Indeed, if you were to apologize for publishing a heresy (which you certainly did not do), you would thereby publicly accuse many Saints of heresy, as well as the whole Russian Church (which uses Metr. Philaret\u2019s catechism as an official statement of faith). Fr. E. has gone quite overboard on this subject, thereby revealing the academic amateurish level of his \u201ctheology\u201d; do not allow yourself even to think in the same terms he does. Neither you nor we are \u201cexperts\u201d in theology, and it is not for us to enter into debates with those who think they are. Let us rather follow the stable path which our recent Fathers have trodden before us, and not get excited over issues which did not bother them.<\/p>\n
By the way, it cannot be doubted that the issue of \u201cLatin influence\u201d is real \u2014 our own recent Fathers tell us of this; but Fr. E. does not have the proper, balanced and sober, approach to it.<\/p>\n
We just received the O.C. Witness with the article on \u201cintellectual converts.\u201d I don\u2019t know what use such an article can have. Everyone when reading it will think of his own favorite \u201ccrazy convert\u201d; the first one that came to our mind was Fr. Lev Puhalo! But let us rather be patient with each other and help each other with love and encouragement to overcome our faults and ever strive to enter more fully into the Church\u2019s true spirit.<\/p>\n
It does look as though the winter will be longer and severer than usual. We had snow flurries several times, but with no more than an inch of snow so far; however, the first real snow looks to be close (27\u00b0 this morning, and probably colder down in Platina). We had two solid weeks of rain, which makes one place in our road (very close to us) quite difficult, but so far we\u2019ve managed to get up and down safely. We have almost all our winter supplies, and need just two more trips for paper and gasoline.<\/p>\n
Yes, Daniel left us, which saddened us and makes us realize all the more how strongly the devil is fighting us (for Daniel really belongs here). Our Catechumen John also left last week, without yet receiving what he came for \u2014 another attack of the devil. But we try to learn through our trials, and we have many consolations also. Last Tuesday Fr. Spiridon came and served Divine Liturgy on his namesday, and we all received Holy Communion.<\/p>\n
We will be glad to talk to David, whenever you can bring him. St. Seraphim tells us to sow the seed of the Word whenever and wherever we can.<\/p>\n
Trust in Vladika John\u2019s prayer. Pray for us all.<\/p>\n
With love in Christ our Saviour,
\nS. M.<\/p>\n
P.S. I am enclosing (or maybe sending separately) two cassettes, which you might try to type out. One is the life of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye which I mentioned to you before, which is almost complete on the two sides (there\u2019s a little more on another tape, which we\u2019ll type out). This tape (and the other as well) were translated \u201clive\u201d and so will need some correction before being printed as a whole; but if you want to abridge it yourself you might be able to do so from this preliminary version.<\/p>\n
The second cassette is part of a booklet we may be printing: Vladika Averky s commentary on the Apocalypse, which comes from Vol. 2 of his New Testament Commentary. Vladimir Anderson asked about the Orthodox interpretation of the Apocalypse recently, so we re doing this, which might be able to be printed much sooner than the Orthodox Dogmatics. (40-50 pp.) If they aren\u2019t too difficult to transcribe (I\u2019m doing the Dogmatics with puctuation marks, erasing my mistakes, etc., so it\u2019s easier to follow), then please send us one copy of the complete text of both tapes (8 1\/2×11 paper, doublespaced) so we can make corrections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Brother in Christ, Alexey, Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the new Nikodemos, which was full of spiritual food from first to last, including the \u201cfillers.\u201d May God give you the strength to continue giving this spiritual food to those who are starved for it (often without knowing it). We received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}