Religion and Public Life

On November 10, 2017 Orthodoxy in Dialogue published Sotiris Mitralexis’ “Questions à Propos Pew Research Center’s Report on Orthodoxy,” in which he critiques the Center’s methodology of combining “Eastern” and “Oriental” Orthodox for its November 8 report, “Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century.”

Section 4 of the report, entitled “Orthodox Take Socially Conservative Views on Gender Issues, Homosexuality,” contains some nevertheless surprising facts:

1. 50% of Orthodox Christians in Greece believe that homosexuality should be socially acceptable.
2. 25% of Orthodox Christians in Greece support the legalization of same-sex marriage.
3. 62% of Orthodox Christians in the United States believe that homosexuality should be socially acceptable.
4. 54% of Orthodox Christians in the United States support the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The results for Romania seem confusing: while it has a much lower rate of acceptance of homosexuality than Greece (10%), it has a slightly higher rate of support for same-sex marriage (27%).

The rates of acceptance are also higher in Serbia and Bulgaria than, for instance, in Russia and Ukraine. Read More

Robert Lentz, OFM with his “Christ of Maryknoll”

This article is inspired by Aidan Hart’s “Icons and Culture: Transformation or Appropriation?” where the author attempts to define the icon and to make sense of what it should be like in this day and age. He mentions the art of Brother Robert Lentz, the Roman Catholic Franciscan, writing: ‘‘The artist is using the icon format to legitimise his personal opinion rather than reflect the life of the Church.’’ Admitting that most artists nowadays use whatever historical style or mix of visual means they wish to express themselves, I would like to reflect a little more upon “the icon format” and “art.”

It is understandable that we Orthodox tend to define our Church’s art as something that does not belong to the world of art—that it has no part in its kaleidoscopic and traumatising diversity. We say that the icon should be a window, the window to heaven, and should not contain any impurity of this fallen world. Looking at what we call correct icons, praying in front of them, we break free from all the sin that surrounds us and focus on holy things.

However attractive this approach to understanding church art may be, it is rather irrational, not to say wild. There is little surprise in this, given the sorry state of the science of the history of church arts. The collective mind constructs a spiritual and lofty self-defensive justification, ignoring the complexity of the surrounding world. The best scientific name for what we call “the icon” that I have heard so far is “Byzantine portraiture.”  Read More

Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God,

who hast revealed the fishermen as most wise

by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit.

Through them Thou hast drawn the world into Thy net.

O Lover of man, glory to Thee.

With prayers for peace and joy for all of our brothers and sisters around the world,

From Orthodoxy in Dialogue

THE CORRECT UKRAINIAN FAMILY: 1 man + 1 woman

In June 2013, at the venerable old age of almost 58, I graduated from York University in Toronto with an Honours BA in Sexuality Studies. During my subsequent MA in Theology program at Regis College, University of Toronto, I was permitted to take for credit the graduate seminar at University College’s Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. To my theological studies in sexuality and gender I bring a foundation in the insights of medicine, psychology, philosophy, and the social sciences as they have evolved over the past century and a half. I also bring the never finished task of a lifetime of working through these questions on a deeply personal level. 

From the outset of any sexuality studies program one is introduced to the inextricable link in the literature between sexuality and nationality, or more clearly, sexuality and citizenship. I greeted this notion with initial skepticism, but also with a determination to keep an open mind; and of course,  the connection between the two quickly became so obvious to me that I wonder how I ever doubted it.

In this light, and as the grandson of a Ukrainian priest and ardent nationalist (in the good sense of nationalism), I found the above graphic instantly fascinating—and terribly disheartening—when it passed through my Facebook news feed on March 30. On multiple subliminal levels it conveys a forceful, unmistakable message: Sexual minorities have no place in 21st-century Ukrainian nationhood and culture.

I offer the following deconstruction of this graphic:

Read More