Orthodox Christianity - what is it?
In the 11th century growing differences in theology and practice led to a split between Rome and Constantinople. The other three patriarchates did not immediately take sides in this, but remained in communion with Constantinople, while their links with Rome weakened. In effect, Christianity was divided into Eastern and Western forms, and because of the breach in communion, the theological divergence became more marked, mainly as a result of developments in Western theology that did not affect the East.
As one writer put it:
The East was not influenced by Augustine: its anthropology is different from that of the West.
The East was not influenced by Anselm: its soteriology is different from that of the West.
The East was not influenced by Thomas (Aquinas): its methodology is different from that of the West.
The main theological development in Orthodoxy that did not influence the west was hesychasm, linked to the name of St Gregory Palamas (1296-1359). Hesychasm is the cultivation of inner silence, and the conviction that we cannot describe or define or circumscribe God. We cannot say much about who or what God is, but we can say who or what God is not. This is sometimes called apophatic, or negative theology, as opposed to cataphatic, or positive theology, which makes positive statements about God.
Eastern and Western Christians were also shaped by different history. Since the 7th century a large proportion of Eastern Christians has been under Muslim rule, and the proportion grew even larger when the Turks, who conquered the Arab empire, converted to Islam and proceeded to conquer what was left of the Roman Empire too, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Only in Russia (where Orthodox Christians had just thrown off Tatar rule after 2 centuries) was the Orthodox Church relatively free. In the West, on the other hand, to be a Christian was accepted as a normal thing, and as Western nation states expanded into world-wide empires in the 15th century and later, they took their form of the Christian faith with them. Orthodox Christians had a far more indirect experience of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, which directly shaped Western Christianity.
In the 19th century many Orthodox Christians in the Balkans and Eastern Europe were liberated from Turkish rule, only to be subjected again to communist rule, which was in many ways harsher than that of the Muslims, and opposed all forms of religion, and propagated
Latest Articles