AN
ORTHODOX REPLY TO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
OF THE PARIS SCHOOL OF ORTHODOXY AND ITS OPPONENTS
'We're on a road to nowhere'.
Words from a popular song of the late twentieth century, David Byrne of Talking Heads
Introduction
With the deaths over the last twenty-five years of the last pre-Revolutionary and immediate post-Revolutionary representatives of the Paris School of Orthodoxy in various parts of the world, it is time to consider their unwritten 'Commandments'. A list of their modernist reactions, on which their philosophy was based, and the counter-reactions of their traditionalist ideological opponents, may attract the attention of post-modern historians.
As those who were affected by the decadence of the early twentieth century die out, their old-fashioned 'Modernist' and 'Traditionalist' ideologies may be of interest to future generations. We assure our readers that, from various sources which we have not named, we have read or more often heard every single one of the 'Commandments' below, however extreme, over the last thirty years. Therefore, in accordance with our experience, we also give a short reply to their Modernist and Traditionalist 'Commandments' from a balanced, Orthodox Christian standpoint.
We
would like to assure our readers that this is not a jurisdictional article.
'The Paris School', like Traditionalism, is not a geographical or jurisdictional
concept, but a spirit. We have heard and read Modernist, Traditionalist
and Orthodox viewpoints from all jurisdictions and it is clear that extreme
viewpoints can be heard and read in all jurisdictions.
First Commandment: The Contemporary World
The Modernists say:
We must adapt our beliefs to Western humanism. We, the elite, already live and love the Western way of life, we must therefore adapt the Orthodox Church to Western humanism, rationalism, ecumenism and the tenets of freemasonry, to which so many of us belong. By practising intercommunion, we can show our attitude to the world around us - the world with which we are in communion, the world which we sanctify by our presence.
The Traditionalists say:
We will in no way accept anything from the Western world. It lies in evil, outside salvation and cannot be sanctified. It is anathema to us and we will have no dialogue with it in order to avoid being infected by it. We analyse, denounce and expose its heresies in detail. We are only safe in preaching the piety of the past in order to isolate ourselves from the modern world, condemning anything new, for everything new is negative. We must faithfully repeat and reprint everything from the past, discouraging any creativity.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, you speak with a spiritual disease in your souls. Like a two-edged sword, this disease is leading you to fall away from the Church under the subtle spiritual illusion of faithfulness. Having lost the freedom that is in Christ, you are victims of the ideologies to which you have bound yourselves. We should think rather of the love of God and love of our neighbour. We should think of our obedience to the Commandments of Christ, to the Scriptures, the Apostles, the Fathers, the Saints and of the whole Tradition, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Salvation is through the Cross, and we veer neither to right, nor to left.
We are forced to live in an increasingly Westernized world. This is reality. We therefore have to speak to it, setting an example, explaining and, if necessary, defending ourselves and our values. We will not compromise on any essentials, but we have to speak to our neighbours, showing them our Faith, showing them the God of Love. We do this because we believe in the Incarnation and the Resurrection, which mean that we do not quench the Spirit by compromises, such as intercommunion. We follow the Tradition, but we are open to our neighbour. As the Gospel says: 'We are in the world, but we are not of it'.
Second Commandment: Our Faith
The
Modernists say:
We must make our beliefs intellectually respectable to non-believers,
adapting them to modernity by incorporating humanism into them, making
them fit our modern philosophy and way of life. We oppose the obscurantism
of the Tradition. We must invent a humanistic, rational, modern Orthodox
ideology. We must therefore eliminate any mystery from the Faith and any
outdated references to the Devil and hell.
We will re-present the Faith, making it resemble humanism, selectively quoting from saints like Symeon the New Theologian, Nicholas Cabasilas and Seraphim of Sarov. We should also proclaim the glorious gnostics and intellectuals like Arius and Origen, who should be canonized, since they were unjustly denounced for proclaiming that there is no hell. Our model is the philosophy of Bukhariov, Soloviov and Berdyaiev, the Sophianism of Fr Sergei Bulgakov and his spiritual descendants, embodied in the clean, modern lines of Lutheran-like churches in Finland.
The Traditionalists say:
Our beliefs are pure; we will not confuse them with the heresies which the demons who are everywhere inspire. Humanism is self-indulgence. Philosophers are condemned to hell.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, the Psalmist spoke thus: 'Mercy and Justice are met together; righteousness and peace kiss each other'. We follow the Risen Christ, True God and true Man, the Word and Wisdom of God, living in Him by the Holy Spirit. In the Name of the Holy Trinity we preach His Truth with His Mercy.
Third Commandment: Our Church
The Modernists say:
The clergy dominate the Church. We must have a laypeople's Church, glorifying every layperson from the past, Nicholas Cabasilas, Alexei Khomyakov, carefully censoring anything in their writings which is contrary to our philosophy. In particular, we must destroy and discredit all monasteries, which are bastions of obscurantism and mystery-cults. In this way we shall ensure that all the bishops come from the widowed priesthood and then we shall have power over them.
At the very frequent parish meetings and conferences of our brotherhood, we will dominate parish and diocesan councils and minds and have a democratic Church with ourselves in total control. Our anti-clerical victory will be complete when we have made all seminaries into university faculties. There, candidates for the priesthood can study only useful subjects like philosophy, psychology and sociology and be secretly inducted into freemasonry. We must always try to make sure that our jurisdictions are ruled by freemason-bishops or those sympathetic to our brotherhood. Clergy will dress with clerical collars like their Protestant and Catholic colleagues.
The Traditionalists say:
Laypeople are inferior to us. Our salvation is in strict monasticism and episcopal supervision of every detail and activity. Parishes should resemble monasteries, with all control given to priests, who should live like monks. Clergy must be trained in monasteries and wear monastic dress at all times. Although there are not many of us, we are the little flock who alone will be saved.
The Orthodox say:
In the Church we all form one family of brothers and sisters who are saved together. The word 'Liturgy' means the work of the people, the common task, and our whole life is called to be liturgical. Our monasteries need candidates from the people, monks and nuns. Candidates for the episcopate can be drawn from the monasteries. Monasteries help people in the parishes; parishes help the monasteries. In the Church we are together and help each other, for we are called to love our neighbours, respecting the various callings that God plants in each one of us. Our common task, our liturgy, is to do God's will, without ideologies. Clergy are trained in seminaries centred on daily liturgical life, as in parishes, and they wear the normal dress of Orthodox parish clergy.
Fourth Commandment: Our Liturgy
The Modernists say:
The services are too long and too complicated. They are full of layers of late and poor-quality hymns. There are too many saints in the calendar with services written to them. Probably many of those saints never existed anyway. Most of the calendar can be reformed and abolished through modernization. Services must be reformed, shortened and even scrapped, since they are too monastic. Some of the Holy Week services have anti-Semitic phrases - these must be censored. The only service we really need is the eucharistic liturgy. Feasts that fall on weekdays must be transferred to weekends. Also there must be more lay participation. We must have laypeople take part interactively in the Proskomidia in the middle of the church. We must do away with choirs and force all the people to sing simple, modern melodies. We must do away with the iconostasis; it is unnecessary and was only introduced in the tenth century.
We modern, educated people do not need the obscurantism of the sacred and the mysterious. We are rational. We do not really need church buildings in any case; they have too many icons. All we need is a few modern icons. Let us just have eucharistic liturgies and communities in people's houses, simple liturgical vessels and a priest only needs one set of vestments, which too can be simplified. The eucharist itself can be simplified using the Greek parish model of liturgy, which should take no more than fifty minutes. As many chairs as possible should be used, so that everyone can sit down on them, instead of sitting on the floor. Liturgical language should be modernized to the up-to-date language of the street. After the liturgy, we can have parties or discussion groups, where we can eat and drink together. There plans for our all-important social activism can be laid.
The Traditionalists say:
You cannot have a service without a proper Orthodox church, especially a full and closed iconostasis and a great many icons and frescoes, painted in a rigid style. You must not start any liturgical life until you have all this. Nobody except the priest and male acolytes is allowed to enter the sanctuary. The services must not be shortened, but lengthened, to be like monastic services. References to the evil Jews in the Holy Week services should be quoted frequently. Weekday feasts can never be transferred to weekends. If a patronal feast falls on a weekday and you are so weak that you cannot celebrate it then, you miss your patronal feast for that year because of your sins. We must follow the calendar to the letter. The full eucharist cannot be celebrated without all the services before it. Chairs must never be used in Orthodox churches. Liturgical language should be obscure in order to maintain a sense of mystery. The Church is concerned only with spiritual matters.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, each parish should do its best to celebrate the services as fully and faithfully as possible, making allowances for the fact that many of the parish clergy themselves have to work in full-time secular jobs. We must support one another with mutual love. Parish services are shorter than monastic ones. As models, it is best to take services as they are celebrated in other parishes. The texts of our services are inspired, as are the Scriptures. Just as we do not alter the texts of the Gospels, so we do not alter the texts of our services on account of worldly fashion. Part-time, unpaid parish priests must use their discernment in the matter of transferring weekday services to weekends in consultation with their diocesan bishop.
Parish priest aided by laypeople should encourage people to sing in the choir, help the choir leaders, and in sermons and talks, encourage all to discover the lives of the saints. Where we are forced to use rented or non-purpose-built premises for services, we endeavour to make them look like Orthodox churches, at least on the inside. It is useful to have a small number of chairs for small children, the elderly and the sick.
Services
should be conducted with the love and respect for God and man, rendering
back to God His world in thanksgiving. Therefore liturgical language should
be worthy and dignified. Our aim is prayer and we encourage prayerfulness
through liturgical beauty and the spirit of peace, for as we say: 'In
peace let us pray to the Lord'. Through faith strengthened by prayer,
Orthodox Christians can be the instruments of God for good in the world.
For, as the Apostle James says, 'faith without works is dead'. But also
beware of works without faith which do not come from the grace of God,
but from impure and self-interested humanistic beliefs.
Fifth Commandment: Our Conduct in Church
The Modernists say:
As regards dress in church, people should be able to dress just as they are in the street. We must do away with all the anti-woman dress rules, head-coverings and skirts and not trousers, and also the anti-woman churching prayers and the obscurantist idea that women cannot take communion during their periods. Children should be allowed to run around and make noise in church; this is just natural self-expression.
The Traditionalists say:
Those who are shamelessly immodest and insult the faith by not dressing properly when they enter the church must be expelled. We spit on their blasphemies. Notices must be written on every church door with full details of proper dress and where people must stand and how they must behave. Everybody should be dressed in a similar way, wearing as much black as possible. Young women must not be allowed into church, if they are undergoing their menstrual period. If children cannot be completely still, they must not be allowed to enter the church. Segregation in church is compulsory, women standing on the left, men on the right.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, let us learn to dress appropriately for services. There is a godly custom for people to participate in the feast by wearing something of the colour of the feast, for example, something blue for feasts of the Mother of God, something green at Pentecost and so on. As regards head-coverings, the Apostle Paul writes that women are to cover their glory, their hair, in the House of God. This is not an excuse for coercion and unpleasantness, but for gentleness. We must keep both the letter and the spirit of the law.
Clergy should take care to church women after childbirth, so that through the prayers of the Church they may be protected from post-natal depression. Although women can come to church during their monthly periods, given available modern hygiene, it is the pious tradition of our Church that women may not take communion during their monthly periods. Exceptions may be made according to the pastoral discernment of the parish priest, for example at times of illness or at Easter. Children and their parents should be helped and taught how to behave in church. Children may move in church, but they should keep silent. There is a pious custom for women to stand on the left, men on the right, but parish priests must use their discernment, given that most parishioners are families and like to stand together. In all things we keep the spirit of prayer, modesty, respect and love.
Sixth Commandment: Confession and Communion
The Modernists say:
In these days of psychologists, confession to a priest before communion must be abolished. Anyone should be able to take communion at any time. There is no need for any preparation beforehand. Enjoy yourself on a Saturday night, go to the cinema, the theatre, a concert or an opera, eat, drink and smoke, in this way you will sanctify and deify the world around you. Never feel guilty, because God always forgives everyone. If you want a cup of coffee or breakfast in the morning before communion, have it. As regards confession, if you ever want it, just talk to anyone and then go to the priest for the prayer of absolution, if you feel you need it. Communion must take place at every liturgy.
The Traditionalists say:
There can be no communion without a full and rigorous confession with the priest beforehand. The priest must encourage feelings of guilt for their sins among his parishioners who should feel humiliated. They must know they will not be forgiven if they do not repent deeply. The whole monastic rule must be read before communion. The eucharistic fast from midnight is absolute. It is advisable not to take communion more than four times a year, because, as non-clergy, laypeople are too sinful and not worthy.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, our heavenly Father calls all of us as His beloved children to take confession and communion frequently, if possible at least once a month. Although these are separate sacraments, they can be taken one after the other. Anyone who takes communion regularly should have confession regularly. People should be encouraged to read at least the prayers before communion in preparation for the partaking of the sacrament. Before communion we all fast from midnight, though exceptions may be made for the sick who have to take medicine, or in certain other cases, as with small children and pregnant women. Here the parish priest must use his pastoral discernment.
Seventh Commandment: Fasting
The Modernists say:
Concerning fasting and abstention, this is abolished. We have forgotten the fasts and when they are. Fasting is only for peasants, modern people do not need to fast, but if you like, you do not have to eat meat on Great Friday, if you happen to be going to a church where there is a service on that day. Therefore, weddings can therefore take place on any day, on Saturdays, during the old-fashioned fasts and so on.
The Traditionalists say:
All the fasts must be observed to the letter, including the Monday fast, which we impose on everybody, and the abstention for married couples. The slightest infringement of fasting rules is a terrible sin. Always carefully examine the ingredients of food and go straight to confession if you sin by the least lapse from our food and abstention laws. Children conceived during the fasts are cursed by God and their parents will be punished, as all sinners are punished by God. Weddings can only take place outside the fasts. Young people should be encouraged not to marry and take up the monastic life.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, let us all strive to keep the fasts, learning self-control, abstaining firstly from meat and then from other animal products. Remember that we are to keep the fasts faithfully in both letter and spirit. The Lord justified the Publican, not the Pharisee. As regards weddings they take place outside the fasts, since married couples are called to abstention during the fasts. However, with the blessing of the diocesan bishop, during fasting times parish priest may marry couples who have already been co-habiting, especially if they have children, providing that there is no wedding-reception afterwards.
Eighth Commandment: Our National Traditions and History
The Modernists say:
Nationalism and patriotism must be suppressed, for they are evil. The Church is to use the language of the country it is in. Any national or ethnic customs related to folklore must be suppressed. We preach cosmopolitanism, for we are bound to follow the tenets of our freemasonry brotherhood. That is why we rejoiced at the fall of the notorious anti-intellectual Russian Tsarist monarchy in 1917. Those Slavonic monarchists who were killed as a result are not martyrs, simply victims of their own bigoted right-wing ideologies.
The Traditionalists say:
Our national traditions come before all else and our aim is to restore monarchies all over the Orthodox world. We must be very cautious in imposing our national customs in our churches; every single custom from the past must be carefully kept. National flags should be flown both inside and outside churches. We especially venerate all those who supported the monarchy and were killed at the hands of the evil left-wing anti-monarchists, whose souls burn in hell for eternal damnation.
The Orthodox say:
We respect the national traditions of all our brothers and sisters in Christ, inasmuch as those traditions are carriers of the Orthodox Faith. We use different liturgical languages as our people wish. The Church is the mother of us all, embracing each one of Her children and helping us, in the spirit of unity in diversity. We stand all together in the work of salvation of one another. We should encourage the veneration of the New Martyrs and Confessors who were slain for Christ following the horrors of the Russian Revolution. However, we must always remember that Christ told us to love our enemies, who have created so many new and beloved saints. We are not to have the spirit of hatred in our hearts.
Ninth Commandment: Our Customs
The Modernists say:
We must adopt the customs of the world around us, naturally using the new calendar and the Western Easter. We must modernize our funeral customs and allow cremation like everyone else. We must suppress such customs as the use of holy water. Even if it takes us thirty years, we shall finally convert all the ignorant, obscurantist Orthodox to our enlightened, modern and reasonable Orthodox philosophy.
The Traditionalists say:
We fight against everything in the world around us, which is irredeemably evil. Those who use the new calendar are wicked heretics whose sacraments are without grace and whose souls are condemned to hellfire. Also those who are cremated will burn in hell.
The Orthodox say:
Brothers and sisters, the episcopates of a few local Orthodox Churches have adopted the new calendar for the fixed feasts. Like Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky, St John of Shanghai (who had new-calendar parishes in his diocese), St Justin of Chelije, Fr Philotheos (Zervakos), Fr Cleopas of Romania and many other saints and righteous, we call on the members of those local Churches to obey their episcopates. Schism always brings great danger. Obedience is humility, even if we obey that which is mistaken (though not obedience of heresy). The use of the new calendar for the fixed feasts is not a heresy, in the words of the ever-memorable Archbishop Antony of Geneva, written in his diocesan journal and spoken on several occasions, nor was it anathematised by the Fathers.
As regards cremation, let it be known that we are not permitted to cremate the bodies of the departed. However, a parish priest may make a pastoral visit to the families of the cremated departed and help them through their difficulties and back to the ways of the Church.
Tenth Commandment: Our Guiding Principles
The Modernists say:
In all things we must be guided by the humanist, rationalist, politically correct, Western liberal ideology of modern times. Those who do not follow us are simply obscurantist peasant reactionaries who should be locked away in the dust of Byzantine museums together with their outdated canons and rituals. We of the enlightened intellectual and social elite are superior leaders. We do not need to follow the letter of any law, because we have the spirit.
The Traditionalists say:
As members of the Holy Church, in all things we must be guided by the Sacred Canons and the Typikon which must be applied to the letter. Our ideology is the only True Faith which brings salvation; there can be no forgiveness or mercy for those who reject us and their writings must be censored. There is no salvation outside the Church.
The Orthodox say:
The Most Reverend Metropolitan Laurus declared at one of his interviews that for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as part of the Universal Orthodox Church still stand the basic eternal tasks the Lord Jesus Christ has put before His Church: These are first, the preaching of Christ's Gospel to the world, second, the spiritual tending of God's people, and third, the prayerful and penitent expectation of the Lord's glorious and greatly praised Second Coming. We should remember that Christ did not found a static community withdrawn from the world. On the contrary, He commanded His disciples to spread His teachings to all peoples throughout the Universe. You and all of us are called to bear witness to our faith in whatever situation we might be amid the odds in this secular world. Furthermore, Vladyka Lavr said in that same interview that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has chosen to go into the world by the middle path, what he wisely calls 'the royal way', avoiding all those extreme 'isms', whether liberalism, modernism, ecumenism, or militant fundamentalism and the dangerous feeling of proud complacency. This 'royal way' is a thorny and difficult one, but the only right one to follow for you and for all of us. Thus, follow this royal way and bring the teachings of Christ to your fellow men. Do not hide in your cells or homes but offer comfort to the 'lost children of God's world'. There are so many who need your help and their comfort will be your greatest reward.
Quoted
by Professor Marina Ledkovsky on P. 20 of 'Orthodox Life', No 3, 2003
Brothers and sisters, we reject the spiritual pride and hatred of ideologies and 'isms' that are all inherently political and secular. Christ chose simple fishermen to teach the world His love. And we are reminded by the Saints whom we follow that, although we are to hate the sin, we are called to love the sinner. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, in humility of heart we are called to repentance. In all things we must be guided by the Commandments of Christ in the Gospel, that we are to love God and love our neighbour, praying unceasingly for the salvation of the world according to the Tradition of the Church. In the light of Christ Crucified and Risen on the third day, the Church calls all to repentance and salvation through the Holy Spirit. We have only one message: God is Love.
Fr Andrew Phillips
(The above represents the views of the author)
