What do Eastern Orthodox believe? A Confessional Protestant Analysis and Response to Ten Beliefs of the EOC

Note: In CRBC's midweek meetings we are currently doing a series on "World Religions" and at present are looking at Christian denominations. Last Wednesday (4.10.24) our topic was Eastern Orthodoxy. Here are my notes:

Introduction:

The Eastern Orthodox Church (EOC), also called the Orthodox Catholic Church (OCC), was distinguished from the Western Church by the Great Schism of AD 1054.

Though we may speak of them as one “church,” they are, in fact, a collection of various national churches (Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, etc.)  united by similar doctrines and practices.

The EOC was greatly affected by the rise of Islam, and especially by the fall of Constantinople in Ad 1453.

In Russia and Eastern Europe, they were also greatly affected by the rise of communism (especially in Russia from 1917-1990).

There has been a major resurgence of the EOC in Russia and Eastern Europe since the collapse of communism.

It is estimated that there are now c. 230 million baptized members of the various EO churches.

It is often pointed out that the EOC never experienced anything like the Protestant Reformation which took place in the West, and some have suggested it has been less affected by modern Enlightenment values than has the Western Church (both RCC and Protestant).

The EOC in the US has been a relatively small presence up to the twentieth century, attributable primarily to migration of persons from EO countries (e.g. Russians, Greeks, Egyptian Copts, etc.). EO are estimated to be less than 0.5% of the population in the US.

There is, however, anecdotal evidence of conversion growth of the EOC in recent years, especially among younger men who are attracted to the traditional beliefs and practices of the EOC. There have also been a number of former Protestants and evangelicals who have gone over to Constantinople.

They include:

Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan (a Slovak Lutheran) converted in 1988.

Frank Schaeffer, son of Francis Schaeffer, converted in 1990 and wrote about his conversion in Dancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion (1994).

Rod Dreher, a conservative political journalist and Editor-at-large for the American Conservative, raised a Methodist, converted to RCC in 1993 and the EOC in 2006. He is the author of The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (2017).

Hank Hanegraaffe, A Dutch Reformed evangelical, the “Bible Answer Man” and head of the apologetic ministry Christian Research Institute (CRI) converted in 2017.

There are also now a growing number of online advocates for the EOC known as “Ortho-bros.”

On the other hand, some have made this move later to regret it.

An example can be found in Joshua Schooping’s book Disillusioned: Why I Left the Eastern Orthodox Priesthood (2022). Read my review here.

Ten Beliefs of the EOC and a Protestant Response and prooftexts:

1.     The EOC denies the concept of the invisible church. The church only exists as a visible institution. Since there is “no salvation outside the church,” those who are outside the EOC cannot claim to be Christians.

Response: Not only is the church found in visible local churches, but there is also an invisible church composed of all genuine believers. Salvation does not come by baptism or by church membership but by faith in Christ.

Prooftexts: 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, 27; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-10.

2.     The EOC claims that it alone exists as a church which embodies universal unity in its beliefs and practices.

Response: The EOC does not, in fact, possess outward unity, given that several of its national church organizations are not in agreement with one another (e.g., the conflict between the bishop of Constantinople and the bishop of Moscow). True unity does not come about by institutional unity but by a common faith in Christ. Absolute unity will only come at the end of the ages when Christ returns in glory, and the saints enter the glorified state.

Prooftexts: Mark 9:38-41; John 10:16; 17:20-23;1 Corinthians 11:19; Revelation 7:9-10.

3.     Like the RCC the EOC looks to its bishops and to tradition as its chief authority over Scripture. It holds that the church chose the Scriptures.

Response: Christ alone is the Head of the church. The highest authority for doctrine and life is Scripture (Sola Scriptura). The church did not choose Scripture, but only recognized its nature and authority (i.e., Scripture chose the church.).

Prooftexts: Colossians 1:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 3:15-16.

4.     Though the EOC affirms the first seven ecumenical church councils, it has not produced its own confessions of faith which might clarify and articulate its doctrines and practices. Rather than reasonably articulated doctrine, the EOC tends to focus on mysticism.

Response: We must be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Our experiences must be regulated by Scripture.

Prooftexts: Luke 16:31; John 10:35; 1 Peter 3:15.

5.     The EOC places great emphasis upon the spiritual uses of icons and religious objects. It refers to the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Nicaea) (AD 787) as “the triumph of orthodoxy.”

Response: God alone is the only lawful object of our worship and devotion. Religious images and objects are not sanctioned by Scripture and misdirect our focus and attention.

Proofexts: Exodus 20:3-6; John 3:30; Acts 17:22-25; Colossians 2:23; 3:16.

6.     Like the RCC the EOC places great emphasis on devotion to Mary.

Response: Mary was an important early disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, but she was an ordinary sinner saved by grace. Devotion should be given to no one other than God himself.

Prooftexts: Exodus 20:3; Matthew 12:46-50; John 3:30; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23; 1 Timothy 2:5.

7.     As with the RCC, the EOC also accepts OT books which are outside the Jewish/Protestant OT canon. Unlike the RCC (Trent) and Protestant churches (WCF) it has no authoritative declaration of the canon of Scripture.

Response: The Apocrypha are a collection of uninspired writings and are not received as Scripture.

Prooftexts: Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Romans 3:1-2; Revelation 22:18-19.

8.     The EOC accepts the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the OT) rather than the Hebrew text of the OT as authoritative.

Response: God’s Word was immediately inspired and written in the OT in Hebrew not Greek. It has been preserved by God. Translations are useful to the degree that they reflect the originals.

Prooftexts: Nehemiah 8:4-8; Matthew 5:17-18.

9.     The EOC ecclesiological structure based on national churches tends to place emphasis on ethnicity/nationality rather than faith in Christ as the standard for inclusion in the church (i.e., phyletism or ethnophyletism).

Response: Inclusion in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ comes about by grace through faith, not according to one’s familial, national, ethnic, social, or gender status.

Prooftexts: Galatians 3:27-29; Colossians 3:9-11.

10.                        The EOC practices not only infant baptism but also infant communion.

Response: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances that are established for believers alone who are part of local churches. Since infants are not mature enough to articulate faith or to be recognized as regenerate members of the church they cannot be baptized or receive the Lord’s Supper.

Prooftexts: Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8:37; 1 Corinthians 11:23-33.

JTR

Book Note: Jacob K. Olupona's African Religions

Jacob K. Olupona, African Religions: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014): 152 pp.

I got started reading this little book last year while preparing to teach a unit on African religions for a World Religions class. Here are some notes:

Olupona is a Professor of African Religious Traditions at Harvard Divinity School. This book is in the popular “Very Short Introductions” series from Oxford.

In the preface, he traces the development of the field of the study of African religions. He begins by acknowledging that Christians missionaries were the first to take up these studies:

“Some of the most serious early writings about African religions were produced by European missionaries sent to Africa to spread Christianity. For these missionaries, the study of African religion was ultimately a preparatio evangelica, a necessary step toward understanding the most expedient way to convert Africans to Christianity” (xxi). He also connects their study to colonialism.

“Gradually, the study of African religions developed as an autonomous field within comparative religions” (xxi).

He later notes the importance of the ancestors in African religions: “Ancestral traditions, the veneration of deceased parents and forebears, constitutes a key aspect of African religions. Some traditions regard ancestors as equal if not superior to the deities within the pantheon; also, it is not always easy to make a distinction between ancestors and divinities” (28).

In a section on divination, Olupona notes how with the advent of Islam and Christianity into Africa the sacred writings of these religions were used as “divination devises.” He describes “bibliomancy” as “divination through the selection of randomly selected passages” and notes it is widespread in Africa (49).

He begins a section on African witchcraft by noting it is “completely unrelated to the religious practices of modern neo-Pagans who sometimes use the word ‘Witchcraft’ (or, more commonly, Wicca) as the name of their religion, sometimes self-identifying as witches” (49-50). Such “goddess-centered religion focused on nature veneration and holistic wellness” has no connection to witchcraft in African religions (50). In contrast, he observes, “In Africa, witchcraft is almost universally defined as the manipulation of occult forces to do harm and achieve selfish ends” (50). He adds that witches are usually marginal people (widows, elderly, outsiders, strangers) and “almost always women” (50).

He defines sorcery as “an indigenous technology implemented to manipulate the sacred for negative ends”, adding, “Indeed, a thin line exists between healers, witches, and sorcerers” (51).

In a section on initiation rites, Olupona notes, “Initiations for adolescent African girls cause great consternation among Westerners, because they often involve female circumcision” (59). He defends the practice, however, by noting that in many cultures it is “less dramatic, involving only partial removal of the clitoris, or only small ritual cuts to the clitoris and labia” (59). One wonders, however, if the author is minimizing the negative aspects of this practice.

Regarding Islam and Christianity in Africa, Olupona begins, “Africa domesticated the two exogenous religions” (89).

While saying that Christianity was “deeply culpable in the African slave trade,” Olupona also observes, “Contrary to the way that it is popularly imagined, the majority of African slaves were not directly captured by Europeans” (95). “Slavery was already endemic throughout Africa, with the enslavement of defeated peoples being common” (96). Thus, he concludes, “both Europeans and Africans were responsible for the Atlantic slave trade” (96).

In the colonial period of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, the author notes that in general Christianity “tended to fare much better under colonial rule than did Islam” (99).

In the modern period he calls attention to the rise of the so-called African Independent Churches (AIC). He notes, “The AIC movement is arguably the most creative and vibrant Christian movement in African history and has led to massive numbers of conversions” (100). While acknowledging that many of these AIC’s have  adopted cult-like practices, he does not offer the assessment that many of these movements hold little semblance to historic, orthodox Christianity.

Finally, he talks about the spread of African religious practices in the African diaspora, so that African religions are now a global phenomenon.

Though it takes an overall relativistic view on theology and religious practices (describing, rather than prescribing), this little book is a succinct, well-written, and insightful introduction to understanding African religions.

JTR