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by Fr. Robert M. Arida, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David Dunn, Maria McDowell, Teva Regule, and Bryce E. Rich
The authors of ‘The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World’
are to be commended for framing our shared ecclesial mission as one of
making present the eschatological hope of the new creation in which
“race, gender, age, social, or any other condition” are no bar to shared
eucharistic celebration.
The document rightly reminds us that “the
purpose of the incarnation … is the deification of the human person”
which establishes the dignity of all persons, and demands its
protection. As co-workers with God, the church and its members enter
into “common service together with all people of good will,” seeking to
establish peace, justice (3, 6), and social solidarity (6.4, 6.5, 6.6),
gifts of the Holy Spirit which come from God (3.2) but “also depend on
human synergy” (3.3). These gifts, and this work, is required for the
flourishing of human dignity.
The document would be strengthened by making an unqualified
commitment to human rights, while simultaneously acknowledging that such
rights, as they are understood by the international community, are the
minimum required for the flourishing of human dignity. The church’s
mission then, is aligned with shared works of justice and peace, but
also extends to both persons and communities, embodying and encouraging
communities that bear the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control,” (Gal 5:22-23) which form the virtues of the Christian
life.
The document leaves the impression that the Orthodox mission is to
defend human dignity only when it does not conflict with its own
interest. This is especially found in the condemnation of
discrimination. Denouncing violence and injustice, hatred, enmity or
intolerance (5.1), “The Orthodox Church confesses that every person,
regardless of color, religion, race, gender, ethnicity, and language, is
created in the image and likeness of God, and enjoys equal rights in
society” (5.2). What follows in the section 3 is, then, surprising: “The
Church, in the spirit of respecting human rights and equal treatment of
all values the application of these principles in the light of her
teaching on the sacraments, the family, the role of both genders in the
Church, and the overall principles of Church tradition. The Church has
the right to proclaim and witness to her teaching in the public sphere.”
In other words: since tradition appears to teach practices which
advocates of human rights consider discriminatory, the church not only
maintains the application of its own principles, but reserves the right
to preach these publicly.
The document could be strengthened by acknowledging that some
traditions found in the church, itself, are historically and culturally
dependent and have, at times, diminished the dignity of the other. For
instance, the boldness, honesty, and humility of the Inter-orthodox
Rhodes Consultation of 1988, “The Place of Women in the Orthodox
Church,” acknowledges that “owing to human weakness and sinfulness,
Christian communities have not always and in all places been able to
suppress effectively ideas, manners, and customs, historical
developments and social conditions which have resulted in practical
discrimination against women” (The Place of Women in the Orthodox Church, B.VII.24).
Furthermore, Section 6.14 is overly broad. It condemns efforts “to
legalize and in certain Christian communities to justify theologically
other forms of human cohabitation” as undermining the “divinely-granted
institution of the family,” without ever mentioning that such
arrangements may be desired or necessary for companionship, financial
stability, or especially in response to the threat of family violence
which puts women and children in particular jeopardy. Such living
arrangements, when undertaken with love and mutual respect, can also
include meaningful religious development for the people involved:
committed parish/ecclesial involvement, shared devotional piety, and
the cultivation of life lived in the service of love of God.
Thus, the document’s claims to solidarity, shared anxiety and
commitment to compassion for all of God’s creation are undermined by its
selective understanding of human rights and its refusal to acknowledge
the shortcomings of Orthodox in these areas. It undermines the
longstanding engagement of Orthodox theologians and pastors with the
world, shaped by the world, so that it may exist and live for the life
of the world. Unfortunately, by repeated contrasts between the church
and a secular, violent, morally-lax world, this document tends to
encourage a church turned in on itself rather than turned outward to
engage truly in service. It is unfortunate, but perhaps telling, that
“freedom understood as permissiveness” (8.13) is corrected simply by a
reminder that freedom comes with responsibility. Rather, in light of the
deifying purpose of the Incarnation, and the hope it offers, would that
this document offered a vision of freedom for the other,
freedom not to fear the “infinite anxiety” (2.2) which fills humanity,
but freedom to love the other with “joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Fr. Robert M. Arida is rector and dean of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Boston.
Susan Ashbrook Harvey is Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University.
David Dunn is an independent scholar who writes on Orthodoxy and religion and politics.
Maria McDowell, an independent scholar of Christian ethics and
Orthodox theology, belonged for many years to the Orthodox Church and is
now a communicant in the Episcopal Church U.S.A.
Teva Regule is a doctoral candidate in the theology department at Boston College.
Bryce E. Rich is a doctoral candidate in theology at the University of Chicago.
This essay was sponsored by the Orthodox Theological Society in
America’s Special Project on the Holy and Great Council and published by
the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University.
