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Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiologies in the Era of Confessionalism Heith

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Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiologies in the Era of Confessionalism Heith Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiologies in the Era of Confessionalism Heith-Stade, David Published in: Theoforum 2010 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Heith-Stade, D. (2010). Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiologies in the Era of Confessionalism. Theoforum, 41(3), 373- 385. https://www.academia.edu/1125117/Eastern_Orthodox_Ecclesiologies_in_the_Era_of_Confessionalism Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Theoþrum, 4l (2010), p. 37 3-385 Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiologies in the Era of Confessionalism "[I believeJ in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church." Creed -Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan DAVID HEITH-STADE Lund University, Sweden The Eastern Orthodox Church was a self-evident phenomenon in Byzantine society. It was the dominant religion and established church of the Byzantine Empire. This milieu did not further theological reflection on ecclesiolory. St. John ofDamascus (d. ca. 750), the most influential systematic theologian of the Byzantine era, did not treat ecclesiology at all in his Expositionofthe Orthodox Faith.The situation drastically changed, however, after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Eastem Orthodox Chruch became a tolerated religior¡ its members merely one of many officially protected re- ligious minorities (Arabic: ahl al-dhimmø; Ottoman Turkish: zimmi) among the sultan's subjects.t The Eastem Orthodox Church was also influenced by the drastic changes in the rJVest that were caused by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the 16th century. The Roman Catholic Church influenced Eastem Christianity through the activities of De Propaganda Fide established by Pope Gregory nil 0572-1585) to promote uniatism among the Eastem and Oriental churches (i.e., subjection to papacy). The Protestants also took an interest in Eastern Christianity in their propaganda war with the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern and Oriental Christians, fi.rrthermore, became pawns tnthe Realpolitik of theWestem Roman Catholic ' On the concept of protected religious gtoups (ahl al-dhimma) in Islamic law see Joseph ScHAcHT, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Cla¡endon Press, 1982) 130-113. 374 THEoFoRUM I 41,2010 and Protestant powers.2 This new situation confronted the Eastem Orthodox Church with ecclesiological issues. How should the four marks of the church (notae ecclesrøe) found in the ninth article of the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed be understood in this situation?3 This question was answered by various official and quasi-official Eastern Orthodox confessions and catechisms produced during the era of confessionalism. The present study will analyze ecclesiologies found in a representative selection of these monuments of post-Byzantine Eastem Orthodox theology. The documents chosen for the present study arethe Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church (1625) by Metrophanes Kritopoulos,a the Orthodox Confession of Faith (1653) by St. Petro Mohyla,s the Confession of Faith (1672) by Patriarch Dositheos tr (Notaras) of Jerusalem,6 and the Longer Catechism (1839) by St. Filaret @rozdov) of Moscow.T The two most influential documents here mentioned are St. Petro Mohyla of Kiev's Orthodox Confession of Failå and Dositheos' Confession of Faith. Mohyla's Orthodox Confession is a catechism originally composed in Latin and later revised and translated into Modem Greek by Meletios Syrigos. The revised Greek translation was approved by the pan-Orthodox council of Jassy, I 63 3, and again by the council of Jerusalem, 1672. Dositheos' Confession of Faith contains the articles adopted by the same council of Jerusalem. These two theological monuments served as doctrinal norms (norma normata) for Eastem Orthodox theology until the beginning of the 20th century. The second most important document is the Longer Catechism of the Russian 2 For ageneral history ofthe Greek Orthodox Chwchduringthe Ottomanperiod, see Steven RUNcMAN, The Great Church in Captivity (Cambridge; Cambridge Universþ Press, 1968). For an overview of Greek Orthodox theology during the Ottoman period see Gerhard PoDsKALsKy, Theologie in der Zeit der Türkenherrschaft (1453-182 I) (Mtinchen: C. H. Beck, I 988). For a general historical overview ofEastem Orthodox fheology, see Jaroslav Prlxalt, The Christian Tradition 2: The Spirit ofEastern Christendom (600-1700) (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 197 4). 3 It should be noted that "catholic" refe¡s to the mark ofcatholicity in the Nicaeno- Constantinoplitan creed throughout the a¡ticle and not to the Latin or Roman Catholic Church. The Eastem Orthodox Churches usually refer to themselves as "catholic" since they consider themselves to represent the Church mentioned in the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed. 4 The edition used in the present study is found in Ioannis KARMFJS, Ta Dogmatika kaiSumbolikaMnëmeiatësOrthodoxouKatholikësEkklësias 2(Athens: 1953)498-561. 5 The edition used in the present study is found in Kanumls, Dogmatika 2,593-686. 6 The edition used in the present study is found in KARùflRIs, Dogmatika 2,7 46-73. 7 The edition used in the present study is Prostarnnyj Hristianskij Katihizis Pravoslavnyja Kafoliðeskija Vosðnyja Cerkvi (7th ed., Kiev: Tipografija Kievo-Peðerskoj Uspenskoj Lavry, 1907). English translation in R. W. BLAcKMoRE, The Doctrine of the Rwsian Church (Abeñeen: A. Brown & Co.,1845)29-142. MITH-STADE:EASTERNORTHODOXECCLESIOLOGIES 375 Church, which was not received by the Greek-speaking churches but was used as doctrinal norm by the Slavic churches. The confession ofKritopoulos, a private document somewhat influenced by Lutheranism, has been influential as a theological monument among some Greek theologians. These theological monuments represent the most influential attempts at constructing Eastem Orthodox ecclesiology in the era of confessionalism.s As Professor Jaroslav Pelikan notes, the Eastem Orthodox Churches regard the symbolic books and their status with a certain ambivalence.e The symbolic books do, however, represent attempts by the theologians and the hierarchy to handle theological problems that confionted the Eastem Orthodox Churches.ro The Confession of Kritopoulos The church is treated in the frrst part ofchapter seven ofKritopoulos' confession.rr The rest of this chapter deals with written and unwritten revelation (i.e., scrþure and tradition) and baptism. Kritopoulos begins the chapter by stating that some people think that the church is the assembly of all those who in some way believe in the proclamation ofthe Gospel (sustëma pantõn tõn to euangelikõ kërugmati hopõsoun peisthentõn): both Orthodox Christians and heretics. He continues, however, by stating that others think that the church is only the assembly of the Orthodox Christians who are completely sound in their Christian dochine (sustëma monon ton Orthodoxõn kai peri ton Christianismon kata panta hugiainonton), for which reason the church is called holy. After giving these two contradictory opinions about the church, he quotes the ninth article ('I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church") of the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed and proceeds to discuss the four marks ofthe church. He states that the church fathers call it "one" because ofits uniformity and simplicity of faith (dia to monoeides kai haploun tes pisteõs), and he quotes Ephesians 415 ("one faitl¡ one baptism"). It is "holy" because of the saints who constitute it and are sanctified by the Holy Spint (dia to hagious einai, ex hõn sunistqtai, hagiasthentas tõ panagiõ tou Theou Pneumati)'Itis s Jaroslav PELtr<AN and Valerie HorcIil<ISS have published English translations of these th¡ee Greek doctrinal monuments with introductioninCreeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition.l (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003) 245-68. On the Longer Catechisn of the Russian Orthodox Church and its author St. Filaret of Moscow, see Georgii Fr-otovsrv,Wøys of RussianTheolog't I (CollectedWorlø,5), trans. Robert L. NIcHoLs (Belmont, MA: Norland Publishing Company, 1979)212-20. e PELKAI.I-HorcH<Iss, Creeds,246-5l. f0 See PELIKAN , Eastern Christendom , 280-95 . 1t Homologia tës Anatolikës Ekklesias tës Katholikês kai Apostolikës,7 (KAR}trRIS, Dognatika 2,527-31). 376 THEoFoRUM / 41,2010 "catholic" because the unity ofall the local churches spread out everywhere, through the bond of the Holy Spirit, constitute the one and universal church (dia tën henõsin ton hapantachou diesparmenõn merikõn ... ekklësiõn, hai pasai tõ sundesmõ tou pønagiou Pneumatos mian kai lcatholën apostelousin). It is "apostolic" because it teaches
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