This text is the
result of my long years of effort, learning to
pray in the Eastern Orthodox Church[1],
seeking to understand why in the modern EOC
only the so-called “non-emotional,
dispassionate” way of a prayer is considered to
be correct while all other forms of prayer are
labelled as “spiritual delusion”. The query was
conducted in order to find the solution for the
persistent problems experienced while practicing
the “correct” way prayer. Unexpectedly, the
wholly practical question of private prayer
appeared to be a string which, being pulled up,
brought to the surface numerous formidable
subjects attached to it, like the Christological
debates in the Early Church, the doctrine of
uncreated light by St Gregory Palamas and his
followers, the deterioration of Eucharistic
practice in the modern EOC etc. Such a great
“catch” is probably not as surprising after all
considering that private prayer, the
Christological dogmas, mystical experiences and
Eucharistic customs are all expressions of
our relationship with the Person of Jesus
Christ– something I did not perceive before
then.
“I am the Way; I am
Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father
except through Me”[2];
it is my conviction which grows only stronger
with a time that it is impossible to be a
Christian without constantly being pulled by
Christ up to Himself, out of the “Old Testament
man” which is ever-resisting. Therefore a
Christian has no choice but to have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything in
this paper is driven by this realisation and by
the urge to overcome the obstacles which prevent
a common believer in the EOC from developing
that relationship.
Christian theology
is discussed here only as much and only in a way
that it affects the spiritual life of a common
Christian believer. For this reason I am not
providing an academic analysis of various ideas
or doctrines but write about them simply as they
are usually presented to/ experienced by a
common person in todays’ EOC.
The discourse is the
literal record of my search, edited only
slightly.
How Jesus Christ is presented in
the prevalent practice of the Eastern Orthodox
Church
My starting point is my own experience of the modern EOC both in ROC MP[3] and in local churches under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Everything here is considered through the need as a Christian, to relate to Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of God as a person to the Person, to encounter Him as the reality here and now.
My starting point is my own experience of the modern EOC both in ROC MP[3] and in local churches under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Everything here is considered through the need as a Christian, to relate to Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of God as a person to the Person, to encounter Him as the reality here and now.
