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A F O R G O T T E N M E T HO D O F T H E O L O G Y: I N SIG H T S
F R OM A N E A ST E R N O RT HO D OX P E R SP E C T I V E 1
Philip Kariatlis
Saint Andrews Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney College of
Divinity, New South Wales
4 See, for example, St Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Divine Names 7, 3 PG 3, 872A:
Hence God is known in all things and apart from all things; and God is known though
knowledge and unknowing; and on the one hand He is reached by intuition [],
reason [], encounter [], understanding [], perception [],
conjecture [], appearance [], name [].
5 Notwithstanding the many fractures within the Christian Church during this time,
such as the divisions caused by Arianiasm, Nestorianism and Monophysitism, Georges
Florovsky, for example, argues that, from the Orthodox point of view, it was the division
between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches that broke the unity of the one
Church within the consciousness of Christians. On this, he wrote: The division of the
Churches begins precisely with the break between Byzantium and Rome. The unity
of the Christian world was shattered at that very point. Georges Florovsky, A Sign of
Contradiction: A Reflection on the Meeting of the Pope and the Patriarch, in Dialogue
of Love: Breaking the Silence of Centuries, ed. John Chryssavgis (New York: Fordham
University Press, 2014), 62.
6 An insightful article giving a historical trajectory of the debate over method in the East
and West is A. N. Williams, The Logic of Genre: Theological Method in East and West,
Theological Studies 60 (1999): 679707. An Eastern Orthodox perspective is provided by
Kallistos Ware, Scholasticism and Orthodoxy: Theological Method as a Factor in the
Schism, Eastern Orthodox Theological Review 5 (1973): 1627.
7 See, St Dionysius the Areopagite who highlighted the communal approach to theology
when he wrote that truth is that everything divine and everything revealed to us is
known only by way of whatever participation is granted. On the Divine Names 2, 7 (PG
3, 645A). Patriarch Bartholomew, Orthodox Theology, offers a number of Patristic
references which highlight theologys existential character. This understanding of
theology is widespread in Eastern Orthodox theology. Several examples include: Andrew
Louth, Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic,
2013); Andrew Louth, What is Theology? What is Orthodox Theology?, St Vladimirs
Theological Quarterely 51, no. 4 (2007): 43544; Constantine Scouteris, Doxology,
the Language of Orthodoxy, The Greek Orthodox Theology Review 38 (1993): 15362;
Alkiviades Calivas, Orthodox Theology and Theologians: Reflections on the Nature,
Task, and Mission of the Theological Enterprise, Greek Orthodox Theological Review 37
(1992): 275307; and Boris Bobrinskoy, Theology and Spirituality, in The Compassion of
the Father (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2003), 12132.
8 , the Greek word for encounter etymologically made up of the pronoun
meaning together with and the noun meaning opposite, signifies a coming
together of two parties which are entirely different or opposite to one another (not necessarily
against each other as the English etymology of encounter might suggestcoming from
the Old French noun lencontre meaning adversary or confrontation. Approached from
the perspective of an encounter, theology is essentially understood in terms of an experience
or meeting of created human beingswho are perishable, circumscribable, limited, etc
with the uncreated God who is eternal, uncircumscribable and beyond any limits. The
beauty of such a depictionor even definitionfor theology is not only its broadness
including the experience of the entire created realm with God, but more importantly its
existential character highlighting that theology is ultimately a meeting in which one comes
to experience the indwelling presence of God and subsequently comes to trust and believe
in Godsomething infinitely greater than mere intellectual understanding of certain
propositional truths about God.
9 John Chryssavgis, The Way of the Fathers: Exploring the Patristic Mind (Thessaloniki: The
Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1998), 100.
10 St Gregory the Theologian, Oration 23, 12. (PG 35, 1164C).
11 Cited in Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Orthodox Theology, 7.
12 In his chapter on methodology in the Fathers, Chryssavgis highlights the important
contribution of St Gregory the Theologian. John Chryssavgis, The Way of the Fathers:
Exploring the Patristic Mind (Thessalonika: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies,
1998), 77106.
15 In his seminal study on St Gregory the Theologians theological vision, Beeley makes note
of the Theologians biblical understanding of purification. An excerpt from Oration 11,
cited by Beeley exemplifies this forcefully: Let us free ourselves [the NT text reads Let us
purify ourselves ()] from every defilement of body and spirit (2 Cor 7:1). Let
us wash and become clean () (Is 1:16). Let us present our very bodies and souls
as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship and
petition (Rom 12:1). For nothing is so precious to the One who is pure ( ) than
purity and purification ( ). Oration 11, 4, cited in Beeley, Gregory
of Nazianzus, 7576.
16 St Gregory the Theologian, Theological Oration 1, 3 (PG 36.13C-D). Unless otherwise
stated, the English translation of the original text of the Five Theological Orations is that
of Frederick Williams (Oration 27) and Lionel Wickham (Orations 2831) (Crestwood,
NY: St Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2002). All Patristic citations were checked and adapted
against Patrologia Graeca.
36 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 8. Also see Andrew Louth, The
Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1989), xi: mystical theology provides the context for direct apprehensions of the God
who has revealed himself in Christ and dwells within us through the Holy Spirit.
37 Nicholas Sacharov, I Love Therefore I Am: The Theological Legacy of Archimandrite
Sophrony (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2002), 50.
38 St Gregory the Theologian, Oration 2, 71 (PG 35, 480B).
39 For a more detailed analysis of the ascensional understanding of theology, see Philip
Kariatlis, Dazzling Darkness: The Mystical or Theophanic Theology of St Gregory of
Nyssa, Phronema 27, no. 2 (2012): 99123.
40 Oration 28, 3 (PG 36, 29AB).