LASS at Church, for the summer, is a discussion group: watch a short snip from a DVD or the leader pops a question and off we go. A couple of times, I’ve needed to draw comparisons between East and West, but this time (at Trinity Church) is the first time in a while I’ve had to explain things in a “progressive” context. The resultant conversations are usually along these lines:
Trinityite: Well, we reject that here, so we’ve got no other choice to but to make something new up.
Me: Actually, have you ever heard of the (this doctrine) ….
T: No, is that from the Jesus Seminar?
M: No - it’s Orthodox.
T: Bah. Christianity teaches that XYZ.
M: No, really. Some Christians don’t believe that - and haven’t for a thousand or more years.
T: That can’t be right…
What’s brought this to my mind is the Jesus Prayer. Over and over (as Orthodox or not) I’ve had a conversation where it gets pointed out that “a sinner” is not in the early Greek versions of the prayer. The prayer ends “have mercy on me”, eleison soi - an echo not only of the Bible but also the liturgy’s eleison emas, “have mercy on us”. And That brings up the meaning of mercy. “Have mercy on me, a sinner” sounds like (in English) “don’t whip me too much, master, have mercy on me!” But the Greek word “eleison” is related to the word for olive oil.
“The word mercy in English is the translation of the Greek word eleos. This word has the same ultimate root as the old Greek word for oil, or more precisely, olive oil; a substance which was used extensively as a soothing agent for bruises and minor wounds. The oil was poured onto the wound and gently massaged in, thus soothing, comforting and making whole the injured part. The Hebrew word which is also translated as eleos and mercy is hesed, and means steadfast love. The Greek words for ‘Lord, have mercy,’ are ‘Kyrie, eleison’ that is to say, ‘Lord, soothe me, comfort me, take away my pain, show me your steadfast love.’ Thus mercy does not refer so much to justice or acquittal a very Western interpretation but to the infinite loving-kindness of God, and his compassion for his suffering children! It is in this sense that we pray ‘Lord, have mercy,’ with great frequency throughout the Divine Liturgy.”
Source
When you read “I screwed up, don’t beat me” into the Jesus prayer you’re missing the point.
The only thing wrong with much of liberal Protestantism is that they don’t realise the treasures of the East. Having rejected the erroneous enormities of Augustine’s heirs, they think they must depart fully from the tradition. In this mindset, there is only one “traditional” way of being Christian - which we reject. Another way to look at it is how people will refer to “fundamentalists” as if all of them were the same: accusing an uberpious Roman or Orthodox of Biblical Literalism is rather like accusing the British of having an US-style Constitution. I think this is also why, in many cases, Orthodoxy finds itself still able to talk to Anglicans or other liberal bodies. Yes, there is a lot of commonality with Rome - especially on social issues - but Rome still has some hangups the liberals don’t have (and vice versa). The Anglican communion has the most Orthodox polity of any church body outside of the Orthodox.
To be certain, this is not a simple case of East vrs West: the lines are not so clearly drawn in the modern era. But it *is* a question of catholicism - meaning “wholeness”. The streams highlighted and rejected by many modern liberals are only one stream among many available within the broader spectrum of the Christian Talmudic tradition. One can reject the opinion of (Christian) Rabbi X without needed to reject the entire tradition. It is, as I’ve said elsewhere, rather like “reformatting your hard drive” from windows to mac: everything is the same, but *everything* is different.
I love this post, Hew! I think this is what I originally thought I was getting into when I became Orthodox. I now consider it my mission to transmit the treasures of the east that I have taken from my sojourn in Byzantium and impart them to an Anglican Church that I believe has ears to hear. I think many in that church are starting to realize some of the emptiness and dead ends of liberal protestantism (then again, I hail from the Dioceses of Chicago, which tends to be more Catholic when it comes to theology and worship while maintaining a progressively social edge).