Orthodoxy in Dialogue Presents…

One of the extremely complicated issues with which Orthodox parents must contend these days is that of heterosexuality. How do we talk to our kids about opposite-sex desires and relationships and how do we do so with the sensitivity, nuance, and frankness that the topic requires? At the request of Dr. David Ford, Professor of Church History at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, I offer this response to Bobby Maddex’s interview on Ancient Faith Ministries with Dr. Philip Mamalakis, an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, about how to talk about marriage, intimacy, and heterosexuality with your children.

Early warning sign of possible heterosexuality.

Study after study has shown the alarming frequency with which the active practice of heterosexuality results in a wide range of emotionally, spiritually, and medically disastrous outcomes. Because every parent-child relationship is unique, we cannot propose a one-size-fits-all way for Orthodox parents to warn their children about the dangers of the straight lifestyle. Yet the following list of heterosexual activities and attendant risks should convince all Orthodox parents to protect their kids from growing up to become actively straight. Loving parents must say whatever it takes to scare or shame their kids away from heterosexuality straight into the back of the closet.

Other studies show that a child’s self-awareness of his or her sexual orientation begins to develop very early, usually before the age of ten and often by the age of five or six. While there is no evidence that parents can talk their kids out of their orientation, and much evidence that such kids will become “fragile teenagers” (as one of my correspondents put it) who take their own life, statistics be damned: an Orthodox parent must do what an Orthodox parent must do. We must persuade our children to struggle with their OSA their whole life long and to embrace the joyful cross of soul-destroying loneliness. This is what our loving, merciful God demands of them. Read More

On April 25th, Orthodoxy in Dialogue reprinted an article, “An Increasingly Unorthodox World,” that originally appeared in U.S. News and World Report on the preceding St. Nicholas Day. The article documents the decline in growth of Orthodox Christianity. The author observes that, currently, “Orthodox followers account for 12 percent of Christians worldwide, down 8 percentage points from the levels in 1910.”

This could sound alarm bells for those who see numbers as indicating something about the health of Orthodoxy. While it is debatable precisely what these declines signify, they at least might provoke a useful conversation about how the Church can move forward, avoid extinction, and possibly grow as we move into the 21st century. In this spirit, I would like to propose several points for consideration. They each reflect upon the question, “How might we pass on Orthodox tradition?” These thoughts are preliminary, intended to encourage discussion rather than offer definitive answers.

1) To pass something on, we need to know what it is that we are passing on.

In our current mode, the Church often refrains from making itself understandable. Not just converts, but cradle Orthodox are encouraged to see comprehension of the Church as something fundamentally unattainable. Many people engage in church activities or partake of the sacraments without developing a coherent understanding of how doing so relates to the big picture of spiritual life. We encourage a notion of humility and obedience that makes people shy even to approach the question of why they are doing what they are doing. Parishioners fear that if they develop a rationale that is personally compelling to them, regarding how and why they participate in Orthodox life, it will inevitably be one filled with prelest––with spiritual delusion—or contaminated by Protestantism, Scholasticism, or a variation of some Frankish heresy. The result of our mystification and obfuscation is that parishioners may eventually learn what to think, but not how to think. We haven’t considered them worthy of possessing a means by which they themselves might evaluate the healthiness of spiritual teachings. Read More

On 5-7 May 2018, the 11^th meeting of the Joint Commission for Orthodoxy-Islam Dialogue took place in the capital of Iran. This year its topic was Religion and Environment. The commission holds meetings once in two years alternately in Moscow and Tehran.

In compliance with the decision of the Holy Synod of 7 March 2018, the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church consisted of Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan, head of the delegation; Archimandrite Alexander (Zarkeshev), rector of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Tehran; Archpriest Lev Semenov, head of the Chair of Theology of the Moscow State Linguistic University, head of the Religious and Educational Centre of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University of the Humanities; Rev. Dimitry Safonov, secretary for interreligious relations of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Rev. Alexy Sorokin, acting rector of the Church of the Blessed Xenia of Petersburg in Beskudnikovo, Moscow; Mr. Alexei Osipov, distinguished professor at the Moscow Theological Academy; Mr. Oleg Kalimullin, consultant at the Department for External Church Relations; and Ms. Yelena Dunayeva, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Metropolitan Feofan was accompanied by the rector of the Church of the Holy Dormition in Kazan, Archpriest Alexy Krayevsky.

On May 5, the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church met with Dr. Abouzar Ibrahimi Torkaman, head of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO). The participants in the meeting which took place at the ICRO Centre for Dialogue between Religions and Cultures in Tehran discussed various issues pertaining to the longstanding dialogue between the two religious communities and its prospects. Read More

On April 28, 2018 Jim Forest delivered a 2-part lecture called “Becoming a Peacemaker” at Voices for Peace, an ecumenical conference held in Toronto and sponsored by the Anglican Church of the Redeemer, the Henri Nouwen Society, Citizens for Public Justice, and the Basilian Centre for Peace and Justice. In the promotion for the conference Mr. Forest was described as preparing to “speak on the spirituality of peacemaking and the framework for non-violent resistance to evil.” The present brief reflection is a snippet from his lecture.  

Jim Forest speaking at Voices for Peace

At the absolute core of Christ’s teaching is the commandment to love God and to love our neighbor, not one or the other but both, with the understanding that our neighbor is whoever is standing in front of us. This sometimes turns out to be our enemy—someone we would rather avoid, maybe someone we even wish were dead. 

All the people who have helped me see the way ahead in my own life put great stress on love, with a special emphasis on love of enemies. 

The key word is love. Peacemaking is the work of love, Henri Nouwen put it very simply. 

To understand love of others, including love of irritating neighbors and dangerous adversaries and intellectual opponents and politicians who make our blood boil, you first need to unsentimentalize the word. You have to understand love in its biblical meaning. For Jesus, love is not a feeling. Love is not an inebriating emotional high, or rejoicing in an intense romantic relationship. Love is how you relate to others, no matter how you happen to be feeling at a particular moment. You don’t stop caring for others—that is, doing what you can to help keep them alive—because you’re tired or don’t feel like it or are having a bad day.  Read More