[This talk was given as part of Diversity Week at the University of Rhode Island. Chaplains of different faiths gave talks on this same theme.]
Introduction
The main point of my remarks today is this: people make a huge and tragic mistake when they see faith – in this case, Orthodox Christianity – as a “religion” rather than a blessed path toward holiness, harmony with creation, and increasing unity with the very wellspring of perfection and love.
Humankind has been seeking this path throughout its history, so we should not be surprised that this path occasionally becomes all but obscured with the accumulated advice of those who have gone before. Like the person who becomes so addicted to the use of the GPS that he never learns the real lay of the land, people mistake following directions for the journey. And as it is what we do along the path – the steps of the journey itself – that draws us onward and upward, this confusion of directions for reality is a tragic mistake.
Before I describe this path – the Stream itself, let me say what it isn’t. In other words, let me briefly describe a couple of the “extremes” found among people who call themselves “Orthodox Christians”.
Fundamentalism
As I alluded to a moment ago, one of the extremes found within the ancient form of Christianity known as Eastern Orthodoxy is to mistake the institutionalized guidance of the Church – what we call Tradition [summary of the sources of Tradition?]- for the faith itself. We have been collecting this guidance for thousands of years. It includes things like how to fast; orders of prayer and worship; calls to simplicity, chastity, & charity; and the need for immersion within the Sacramental life of the Church. And while the resulting Tradition is incredibly useful and true, there is a very real temptation to think that compliance with this Tradition is the actual goal of the well-lived life rather than what it really is: a description of the path and how it can best be walked. The siren call of fundamentalism is so strong that when the Lev Tolstoi wrote his own harmonization of the Christian Gospels, he used the word “Orthodox” where most Christian Bibles use the word “Pharisee”.
A Veneer to Justify Something Else
Let me describe another extreme. Whereas fundamentalists misplace their (often very sincere) effort, there are many others who do not try at all. They pick and choose the things that they like from Tradition and never really dedicate themselves to rooting out their selfishness and living a virtuous life. In other words, they call the path they walk “Orthodox”, but it does not lead toward holiness. Theirs is the endless walk from one set of self-absorbed pleasures and addictions toward the next. The veneer of Orthodoxy then comes to justify every sort of nonsense; from consumerism and radical individualism, to xenophobia and pogroms; to totalitarianism and imperialism (just to name a few). Humans have an incredibly strong ability to justify wickedness with sweet-sounding words, and it is a fact of history that these words have sometimes been wrenched out of Orthodox Tradition.
The Orthodox Path (or Stream) Itself
The Orthodox Christian path – or stream – itself is one that leads us from where we are to the very source of peace, love, and harmony. It is the path, the walking of which, first works out the accumulated impurities and sicknesses that have found their way into our hearts; and then moves us towards becoming the persons and community we were born to be. This path has been made straight and possible through the Incarnation of the God-man Christ. As one of our great Saints, Athanasius put it, God became man, so that we might become as god. The Greek term for the path Orthodoxy describes is “theosis”, an English translation might be “divinization.” And because the Source of Perfection is outside of time, space, and all creation, this path into it never ends… it always leads “onward and upward”, from one joy to the next as we forever grow closer to God in harmony and unity with one another. As the Catholic monastic Fr. Teilhard de Chardin put it; “all things which rise must converge”. It is this convergent rising that all the fasting, prayer, worship, and the very Sacraments themselves (what I have referred to as Tradition) is designed to facilitate. All of these lead us out of a preoccupation with ourselves towards genuine love and service of those around us. By emptying ourselves, the Divine Spirit fills us and brings us peace.
To quote another of our great mystics, St. Serpaphim of Sorov, “The goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Spirit of God. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving and other good works done for Christ’s sake are merely means for acquiring the Spirit of God.… acquire that peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”
Conclusion
Those on the extremes do not rise, nor do they acquire peace. As a result, they cannot bring unity and joy. In fact, they actually spread the opposite of what the Tradition they claim to follow really points towards. To paraphrase St. Paul (1 Corinthians 13) such people may speak using the words of holy men and angels, but because they do not do so out of love, it is nothing but the worst kind of noise.
Please do not join the fundamentalists and superficial believers in mistaking the extremes I have described for the stream itself.
