A slightly revised version of this essay appeared in the Spring/Summer 2021 edition of Jacob’s Well with the title “The Church as a Living Organism.” Orthodoxy in Dialogue reprints it with the author’s and the editor’s permission.

We often encounter situations that raise the question of where Orthodoxy draws its borders—how it defines what’s in and what’s out. These situations include questions about how to respond to non-Orthodox visitors to church who eagerly approach the chalice, fellow parishioners who spotlight their political views in coffee-hour conversation, or the priest whose academic work broaches topics that, were they discussed in Sunday school, would scandalize. Raised to their ultimate level, these questions impinge on our understanding of salvation itself. “Who is in the Church and who is out?” “Who will be saved?”

The conversation and controversy sparked by David Bentley Hart’s recent book, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation, indicates how near to the surface such questions reside for us. While I cannot, in this article, answer the question of where such borders need to be drawn, or enter into dialogue with Dr. Hart, I will attempt to say something about the spirit of our border drawing—some principles I believe should inform our perspective when, inevitably, we must draw them. I will also offer an image I find useful when thinking about how a tradition such as Orthodoxy can interact with the surrounding world while maintaining its essential identity.

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As we approach the end of Pride Month, Orthodoxy in Dialogue recommends the following readings to the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and laity of the Orthodox Church, and to those looking to our Church for guidance and insight. Each reading, in its own way, addresses one of the most pressing theological, spiritual, and pastoral questions of our time: how to provide a welcoming spiritual and ecclesial home to persons of variant sexual and gender identities, and to articulate a profoundly Orthodox vision for the transformation of every person’s sexual and gender identity into a site of growing day by day in the greater likeness of Christ through the Holy Spirit. These readings, listed in alphabetical order, in no way imply Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s endorsement of every aspect of Pride celebrations. See the Sexuality and Gender section in our Archives 2017-19 and Archives 2020-21 for a complete listing of the titles that we have published.

As usual, we invite our readers to submit an article or letter to the editors on these questions. See our Write for Us and Letters pages for submission guidelines.

We assure our LGBTQI brothers and sisters of our love, prayers, and untiring advocacy within the Orthodox Church.

At Age 13 I Begged God to Kill Me

A Bed Undefiled: Foundations for an Orthodox Theology and Spirituality of Same-Sex Love

Bishop to Bishop: Straight from Confession to Suicide

 The Church, Homosexuality, and Personal Experience

Conjugal Friendship

Conjugal Friendship and the Sacrament of Love: Father Pavel Florensky’s Orthodox Theology of Same-Sex Love

Dialogue at Last? Metropolitan Nathanael (Symeonides) on Same-Sex Orientation

Eric Iliff on Chastity: The Full Text  

Father Pavel Florensky and the Sacrament of Love

From the Fathers: The Kingdom of Heaven Is like…Two Men in Bed Together?

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This brief essay appeared earlier today at Commonweal. We reprint it with the author’s permission as part of Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s frequent critique of Russian-style, 21st-century “Byzantine symphonia.”

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has served as chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations since 2009. He is an outspoken critic of the independence granted to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which—in his frequently bombastic and belligerent statements—he associates with the alleged corruption of the West and the perceived geopolitical dominance of the United States. His reactionary and parochial worldview centers on a denunciation of modern culture and a return to an imagined golden age of Russian Orthodoxy. But has the Russian Patriarchate effectively become a department of Sergey Lavrov’s Foreign Ministry? Are the Department for External Church Relations and the Russian Foreign Ministry acting on behalf of global Orthodoxy or of Russian state interests?

Some years ago, a neoconservative theologian and cultural critic observed that “Metropolitan Hilarion does not always speak the truth.” Since I have on several occasions witnessed the Russian prelate’s unabashed dishonesty before his peers and seniors, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attribute his persistent misbehavior to a mere lapse in judgment. There must be some other reason for the abject shamelessness of a powerful clergyman and prolific scholar. Surely his words have a purpose.

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There’s no doubt that religious tolerance is a great need we have in our world today. And while I could make a few philosophical points, or even preach about the human aptitude to love and accept others, I will not do that. In fact, I believe we are far from being philosophical, or even accepting of another’s religion; and that’s because, before we do any of that, we need to be children whose faith can move mountains.

I was born in communist Albania, at the peak of religion denial and of spiritual poverty. These are big words that I use now, but as a child, I knew not of religion or of the human need to believe. I only knew that there was something, deeper than myself that constantly called me, and every time I responded to that call, I found peace in darkness.

My knowledge of God was nonexistent. What I remember are bits and pieces of conversations in hushed voices that adults would have, and somehow, the concept of “God” became real in me. I knew not to ask about God, for anyone who mentioned Him was in danger, taken away, imprisoned; put to death whose face held an irrefutable truth. Death was never abstract. It was real without anyone ever explaining to me what it was. And so, with this understanding of God being dangerous, yet somehow good, I believed ever since I can remember. In fact, I have no memories without God. He was always present and constant, good and dangerous.

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