This is the second article in Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s Faith & the Arts series.

Elisabeth Moss as June/Offred

The Hulu Original series, The Handmaid’s Tale, is almost excruciatingly painful to watch, but not so much for its aesthetic as for its premise. Based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, the story places us inside the oppressed regime of a misogynist, totalitarian theonomy: the new state of Gilead has overthrown American democracy and prevailed. 

We follow the protagonist, Offred (whose real name is June, but she is the property of Fred), a handmaid specifically used for her reproductive agency in a landscape where—for unclear reasons—sterility has become a problem and children are a valuable commodity for those in power. Ritualized sex and procreation that completely dehumanizes the handmaid, valuing her only for her fertility, becomes the right and approved method of procreation for privileged couples.  The consistent display of state sanctioned misogyny pulls no punches, which is what makes this sometimes a difficult and almost effortful show to watch.

When the United States is overthrown, June (Offred) is separated from her husband and child and subjugated to sexual slavery as a handmaid, whose only value is her capacity to give birth. Social constructs that define moral ideas such as right and wrong suddenly conform to a distorted view of religious propriety, and the terrors of this oppression are made known: loss of freedom, the public execution of rebels, the tearing apart of families, religiously sanctioned rape, and more. Read More

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