The following article is an excerpt from 'Christian Union: An Orthodox Christian's Guide to Ecumenism: Past, Present and Future'
Fundamentalist, Conservative or
Traditionalist?
The words ‘fundamentalist’ and ‘conservative’ are often used
as an insult by religious or political liberals, but Orthodox traditionalism
has nothing in common with right-of-centre politics, fundamentalism or
conservatism. The Oxford English Dictionary defines conservatism as ‘the
tendency to resist great or sudden change; adherence to traditional values and
ideas.’ It defines fundamentalism as a ‘strict adherence to ancient or
fundamental doctrines, with no concessions to modern developments in thought or
customs.’ Both these definitions are accurate in that they portray people’s
perception of conservatism and fundamentalism, but there is much more to both
than simply a refusal to move with the times.
Today, religious fundamentalism is normally associated with
Protestants and Muslims, but there are also Hindu and Buddhist fundamentalists.
In the USSR, the persecution of Christians was justified by a form of atheistic
fundamentalism. The word ‘fundamentalism’ derives from a collection of essays
called ‘The Fundamentals’ published between 1910 and 1915 by American
Protestants opposed to liberal theology.
Although fundamentalism is often associated with bigotry and
intolerance, these are merely
side-effects of the literalism and inflexibility that is associated with it. Another
characteristic of fundamentalism is a shallowness of thought in which
everything, and everyone, can be divided into good and bad, right or wrong. For
example, an Orthodox ‘fundamentalist’ would insist long hair and beards
indicate ‘good’ Orthodox priests, but that short hair and goatees indicate
‘bad’ priests. Although Orthodox clergy should have long hair and beards, this
by itself does not indicate traditional Orthodoxy: Patriarch Athenagoras, for
example, had a long, untrimmed beard. On the other hand, some Orthodox clergy
dress in a nontraditional manner, but are supporters of traditional Orthodoxy
in their hearts who, for various reasons, are unable to make a more public
commitment to it.
It is impossible to strip the Mysteries of the Church back
to some man-made fundamentals that must be conformed to. An Orthodox belief in
Scripture and Tradition is essential to right faith, but it is not right faith.
A simple mental acceptance of these dogmas is not enough; we must live in the
dogmas, not simply recognize them to be correct.
Although we have discussed the
exclusiveness of the Orthodox Church and its perfect exposition of the
Christian Faith, this perfection is not the dogmas of the Church. It is because
the Church is the Body of Christ, that these dogmas are perfect and must be
believed. Believing correctly in Orthodox dogma is essential for salvation, but
it is not how right we believe the Orthodox Church to be that saves, but how
much we put these beliefs into practice.
In other words, the key difference
between Orthodoxy and fundamentalism is that the latter is theoretical, but the
former is practical. In addition, fundamentalism is characterized by pride and
bigotry, but true Orthodox Christianity (and therefore Orthodox traditionalism)
by humility and tolerance. Fundamentalism is incompatible with the Orthodox
ethos of love, compassion, and forgiveness.
The path of Orthodox
Traditionalism is the Royal Path between fundamentalism on the right and
syncretism on the left. In the words of the Patriarch of Constantinople’s 1902
encyclical:
We must guard in its integrity the divine jewel, the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith, which we have preserved intact for all the centuries past. We must preserve every liturgical custom of whatever sort which clearly symbolizes the essence of these dogmas...We must preserve entire the whole external life of Orthodoxy.
This ‘external life’ of Orthodoxy is how we put our Orthodox
Faith into practice. It is by prayer, fasting, by guarding of the senses, and
thoughts, and above all by humility, that we can prevent a lapse from
traditionalism into fundamentalism.
The only reason that the phrase
‘Orthodox traditionalism’ exists is because Orthodox ecumenism exists.
Traditionalism is faithfulness to the traditions of Orthodoxy that are being
betrayed by the ecumenical movement. Traditionalism is Orthodoxy.
Orthodox traditionalism, because it
resists the breaking down of Church tradition by ecumenism is viewed by many as
a form of conservatism. The view that the Orthodox Church is outdated and
crippled by conservatism is held by many ecumenists:
Much of the anxiety Orthodox feel – the fear that they may be “trapped” in an unacceptable prayer – is triggered by the fact that the ecumenical worship does not use predicable and centuries-old prayers…This causes Orthodox worshippers to feel uneasy and uncomfortable. They do not trust new prayers. But is this distrust consistent with Orthodox tradition? Isn’t it the case that, at some point, all Christian prayers were new? The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom was once prayed for the first time, by a community which had never heard it before. Why, then, is there an Orthodox distrust of the “new” today? Has the Holy Spirit abandoned the church and withdrawn inspiration? [1]
However, traditionalism is not just
about rejecting change. The ecumenist quoted above completely misses the point
that the prayers of the Orthodox Church are always new because the Church is
constantly being renewed by the Holy Spirit. The Church is a living theanthropic
organism. Even on a practical level, new hymns are being composed every day to
the many Saints who do not have a service written for them. These hymns are
new, but the Orthodox Church embraces them because they are composed from
within the Orthodox Tradition.
The key difference between Orthodox traditionalism and
conservatism is that the latter seeks to conserve some outward traditions, but
real traditionalism preserves, not only the outward traditions, but also the
dogmas of the Church, not simply to be conservative, but because they are
saving and because the Church is a place to heal our souls from their spiritual
sickness.
Unfortunately, many Orthodox Christians believe in
conservatism rather than traditionalism. Some modernist Orthodox churches are
adorned with ‘correct’ Byzantine iconography and use Byzantine chant, but have
little commitment to the traditional Orthodox Faith. For example, one New
Calendar diocese in the late 90s banned raffles and bingo on church premises,
but at the same time issued the following encyclical:
Converts to our faith, coming to us from the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches that baptize with a Trinitarian formula, are received into our Church through the Sacrament of Chrismation. They are not received through the Sacrament of Baptism. Any one that receives such a convert through Baptism and not Chrismation will be immediately suspended and brought to a Spiritual Court hearing. This is not a new policy or directive. No one has the authority or right to arbitrarily change this practice of our Church. [2]
As we have discussed, ‘the practice
of our Church’ (Constantinople) that the bishop refers to above, was different
in previous years before the heresy of ecumenism reduced Her ability to stand
up for the dogmas of Orthodoxy. The issue of conservatism is not black and
white. The noted ecumenist Fr. Alexander Schmemann, for example, took exception
to the practice of private baptisms held in people’s homes and to other changes
to the baptismal service introduced by liturgical modernists:
It is indeed quite typical of our present situation that while all efforts toward a more liturgical celebration of Baptism are met with suspicion if not outright opposition (they scandalize the faithful!), the non-compliance with even the most explicit rubrics concerning Baptism is accepted as perfectly normal. [3]
Orthodox conservatism, in that it keeps some traditions and
rejects others, is similar in many ways to fundamentalism. Traditionalists, on
the other hand, do not reject any traditions of the Orthodox Church as
unnecessary or outdated. Trying to keep these traditions is part of the
Orthodox spiritual life in which we struggle in obedience to the Church.
Traditionalism can turn into fundamentalism if, through
laziness and pride, we neglect our own spiritual lives and focus on the
failings of others; when we measure our Orthodoxy by how strict we are in
keeping the rules of the church compared to others, rather than by how strict
we are in fighting the passions. We will then, in the words of Saint Maximos
the Confessor, be pursuing a form of ‘theoretical morality’.
We must follow the Royal Path[4]
of Orthodoxy, avoiding destructive doubt and modernism on the left, and
fundamentalism, coupled with pride on the right. In contrast to fundamentalism,
Orthodox traditionalism seeks to keep the traditions of the Church not only
because they are divinely inspired, but because the traditionalists themselves,
as best they can, are struggling with humility in prayer and asceticism,
to become divinely inspired themselves.
True Orthodoxy cannot be separated from personal experience.
Central to this experience must be humility which prevents us from slipping
from traditionalism into fundamentalism. However, in order to avoid pride and
gain true humility we must guard our senses and thoughts by not interacting
with the various suggestions of the demons. This is the foundation of the
spiritual life as Saint Gregory Palamas teaches:
Set this guard, therefore, over your soul and body, for thereby you will readily free yourself from the passions of body and soul. Take yourself in hand then, be attentive to yourself, scrutinize yourself; or, rather, guard, watch over and test yourself, for in this manner you will subdue your rebellious unregenerate self to the Spirit and there will never again be ‘some secret iniquity in your heart’.[5]
This purifying of the nous (the eye or energy of the
soul)
is the goal of all Orthodox Christians. It is this life of
asceticism within the Church that is fundamental to Orthodoxy, and this active
struggle and warfare against the passions that distinguishes theoretical
fundamentalism from active traditionalism.
[1]
Ecumenical Review,
Vol. 54, No. 1, (January-April 2002): pp. 3-27.
[2] The Reception of Converts
into Orthodoxy (Diocese of Pittsburgh:
May 19, 1997).
[3] A. Schmemann, Of Water and
the Spirit (New York: SVS Press 1974)
p. 164.
[4]
cf. Numbers 20:17-21:22.
[5]
G. E. H. Palmer, P. Sherrard & K. Ware
(trans.), The Philokalia,
Vol. 4 (London: Faber
& Faber, 1995) p. 338.
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