It’s amazing how I, and seemingly everyone I’ve ever met, don’t know a thing about the world’s second largest Christian denomination, the Eastern Orthodox Church. Perhaps all the protestants in America thought, Catholicism’s as exotic as it gets for me, and left it at that. But in so doing, most of the Christian West has forgone an infinite treasure of theological history and ideas.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, in addition to mothering a vast portion of our Christian brothers and sisters, has held central many of the mystic traditions of the faith. They’ve remembered a God beyond gender, both immanent in nature and transcendent, simultaneously personal, spiritual, and abstract. They have recognized humanity as the mediators between the visible and invisible. They understand the dynamics of both sin and the Church. They also have something to say about the Bible.
I am presently in the beginning stages of my Master’s Thesis. In the most general of terms, that very-long-essay will be about the Bible and the concept of revelation—so you can therefore expect a lot of blog posts about revelation in the coming weeks. However, as a part of studying the phenomenon that is the Holy Bible, I’ve become fascinated with the phrase “Word of God.”
It’s as if for each appearance of that phrase in the Bible, there is a different understanding of what those three little words mean. For some, it’s power; for others, it’s grace; and for still other, it’s knowledge. Yet for almost all Christians in the West, they connect “Word of God” with the Holy Scripture.
Yet not so with the Eastern Orthodox Church. For them, “Word of God” is not just another theological phrase but a title, a title reserved for Christ.
And for the Orthodox, it can only refer to Christ, because Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, is the only one who can take on that mantle. You see, if there’s anything the Bible makes clear about the Word of God, from Genesis 1 to the first chapter of John, God’s Word is not hollow—it is not like human words. When “God said, ‘let there be light,’ there was light.” With his words, God spoke the universe into being, and his voice resonates in creation without diminution throughout all history—God’s Word is a word of divine power.
And this isn’t to diminish the prominence of the Bible in the Eastern Orthodox Church. For those Christians, Scripture attests to the work of God in history. The sixty six books are then a witness to the Word of God. They are not that power but reflect that power.
These truths are just a taste of the mysteries to be found in the history of our faith and from those practicing it around the globe. They teach us what revelation really is: not an epistemological theory about how we know the totally-other divine Being, but a claim in itself that God has chosen to speak to us, not only in the Scriptures which reflect his glory, but in the flesh, as a man.
Feels like this discounts the inspiration of the Bible as seen on the spectrum you posted on a while back. I would have to say that the Word of God is equally qualified in both scripture and Christ. Would you agree? I use to substitute Christ in for places in scripture where God is made physically manifest, but it doesn’t always work and God must be shown as separate from Christ and can also have a physical presence in this world. (I will try and find something to back up this statement)
Also, the Eastern Orthodox faith may have fostered some believers, but there is enough in their doctrine to separate them from Christ’s church.
I’m glad you wrote this. The Orthodox Church, in my opinion, never gets enough credit. I have found it to be true as you said: they have an infinite treasure of theology.
In my studies, they are one of the three groups of Christians that resemble the Pre-Nicene Church… along with the Restoration Churches and the Anabaptists.
What I like most about the Orthodox Church is that, unlike every other group of Christians, they continue to use the same version of the Old Testament that Jesus and the apostles used: the Septuagint. I would also like to point out (since you said “sixty six books” in your article) that the Orthodox Church has more than 66 books in their Bible. And I believe they are correct in doing so.
I look forward to most posts about revelation and I sincerely hope your Thesis goes very well!! Peace out, my bro.
PS. I agree with Stephen that the Word is both Scripture and Christ. (But if there is an emphasis that the New Testament gives, I believe it is Christ.)
No matter what, the church must breath with both lungs. Though from the western lung, I have embraced the eastern lung to better prepare for worship and it has been helpful.