Radio transcript: Th. Anastasiou Translation: A. N.
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Η πλάνη του Αδογματισμού
1.
The
misinterpreting of the true meaning of “dogma” causes serious rifts in
Christianity
We
shall focus for the time being, on just how opportune and how serious a
matter the place of the dogmas is in the Christian faith; that is to
say, how much importance a Christian should place on the dogmas and what
their value and their place is, with regard to their salvation. In other
words, just how necessary are the fundamental teachings of the Faith,
for the increment and perfecting of a person in Christ?
As we
have already stressed, the word “dogma” is an extremely misunderstood
and notionally distorted word. It is this precise notional distortion of
the word “dogma” – accompanied by the personal perceptions and the
personal passions of many – which, after having alienating them from the
middle path of the truth, hurls them to the one extreme or the other.
Thus,
we observe two groups of people, where the one believes that the dogmas
alone can save Man, provided he is acquainted with them with precision
and is mentally attached to them. At the extreme opposite of this group
are many who not only do not believe that the dogmas may have a
certain place in our salvation, but on the contrary, they reject them
altogether and regard them as dangerous, harmful, and the main causes
that divide Christians, fanaticize them and at times even bring them to
fight amongst themselves.
As
mentioned previously, these groups have each taken up one extreme, after
having deviated from the middle path. Even though there are quite a few
elements of truth in both groups, nevertheless neither of them is
absolutely correct. Both of them have missed the target of
comprehending the more profound and essential significance of the
Christian dogmas and their role in salvation. One can find in
practically every Christian confession some representative examples of
people who belong to the one or the other category. Of course,
Orthodoxy is unfortunately not exempt of this phenomenon, although the
Church – through Her Holy Fathers and Teachers – has always been
highlighting the correct, middle path; the correct and balanced
perception of what dogmas are all about. But it is worth noting, that
there are numerous heretical groups who officially accept and support
the one or the other approach. There are, in other words, Christian
confessions whose existence relies on scattered gnosiological
differentiations from the others and who convince their followers that
they will be saved, simply and only because they possess this
theoretical knowledge, without paying much attention to the application
of the practical commandments of the Christian Gospel. On the other
hand, there are other groups in the realm of Christianity who owe their
existence to the union of smaller groups, which have previously rejected
and disregarded not only the insignificant, but even the basic dogmatic
differences between them, given that they have regarded good works the
exclusive means for salvation.
2. A
dogma is not an idea or an intellectual theorizing,
but
rays of divine revelation in Mankind
We have
pointed out elsewhere, that these extreme situations originated, not
only from the mistaken interpretation of the word “dogma” but also from
its misuse by many people, for satisfying their impassioned, personal
objectives and especially their ego and their vanity. The word “dogma”
has been used, both in the past, but also by the authors of the Holy
Bible, to denote every God-revealed theoretical but also practical truth
of the faith, which is simultaneously an obligatory prerequisite for
Man’s perfecting “in Christ”. These dogmas have always been expressed,
or, in other words, formulated – but above all experienced - by all the
members of the Church who have reached the stage of deification and
perfection through the Holy Spirit. And we stress that the dogmas are “experienced”
and not “studied” or “researched” or “recited”, because they are the
fruit of divine revelation and not of human discovery. The genuine
Christian dogmas are not “discovered” by people; they are revealed by
God to those living “in Christ”; in other words, to the genuine members
of His Church. Thus, the Saints of the Church have a direct knowledge
of the dogmas and not an indirect one: through a personal experience,
and not through study and contemplations.
A
genuine, therefore, knowledge of the dogmas is an empirical and direct
one, and not an intellectual and indirect one. But because many have
severed themselves (or were severed from) the Body of Christ (the
Church) which is directed by the Paraclete Spirit, and as such are
deprived of the direct and empirical knowledge of the dogmas, they feel
the need to cover this spiritual barrenness, so they resort, not to
Christ Himself and the Church, but to a story that records divine
revelation (the Holy Bible), or even to secular History. The Holy Bible
was written by holy persons and it contains their personal experiences
and testimonies of divine revelation. Thus, it is a very handy guide and
gnomon for the Truth; but the Holy Bible itself is not –per se- a divine
revelation.
Let’s
present an example from daily life, in order to better understand this:
Some
people leave for a foreign land, entirely unknown to us, and each one of
them writes a few pages describing what he saw and heard there. When we
read their narrations, we each adapt them to our own experiences and we
each form our own particular image of this unknown land. However, the
image that we each form might be a far cry from reality. In fact, it
differs so much from reality, as does our own personal experience from
that of the eyewitnesses. You can therefore perceive how far off they
are in their interpretation of the Holy Bible outside the Church, if you
bear in mind that the eyewitness Saints had described images of the
Kingdom of God, whereas we can envisage (and experience) only the images
of this fallen world. And as the Apostle Paul writes of himself and the
remaining Saints, “we
did not receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that originates
from God, so that we may acquaint ourselves with those things that were
bestowed on us by God. We speak of these things, not with words that
human wisdom taught us, but with words that the Holy Spirit taught us,
interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people. The worldly person
does not accept those things that originate from the Spirit of God;
because for him, they are folly. He cannot comprehend them, because they
need to be examined spiritually.”
(1 Corinthians 2:12-14) It is not, therefore, possible outside the
Church and with only the Holy Bible and dictionaries as aids, to acquire
a precise knowledge of the dogmas of the Faith – i.e., the fruits of
divine revelation.
It
becomes clear from what we have said so far, but also from what we said
last time, that the dogmas of our faith are NOT human ideas, thoughts,
views, theories or philosophies; they are truths revealed by God, which
are imperative for our salvation. And they are not just the theoretical
truths, such as –for example- the Savior of the human race is the Son
and Logos of God, Who became incarnate, was crucified for our sake and
rose from the dead etc… Dogmas are also the practices involved; i.e.,
precisely how a Christian should live, so that the Grace of God does not
abandon him and reversely, what he must do in practice, in order to
receive Grace and salvation gratis – for example, be baptized, partake
of the Body and the Blood of Christ, pray, etc.. Thus, we read in the
Acts of the Apostles for example, that “dogmas” are the decisions of the
Apostolic Synod, which, among other things, instructed the remaining
Christians to abstain from “sacrificial
meats and blood and strangled animals and fornication”
(Acts 15:29). These purely practical aspects of Christians’ lives are
characterized by Luke the Evangelist as dogmas of the Church, and in
fact “approved
by the Apostles and the elders”
(Acts 16:4).
3. The synods
as expressers of divine revelation – the dogma – against heresies
Many
may rightly ask: «Since
the Faith was delivered once only, to the Saints»
(Judas 3), why do we observe the Church occasionally convening, several
centuries after Christ, to formulate dogmas? The question finds an
answer quite easily, if one carefully examines the tract in the Acts of
the Apostles that concerns the first Apostolic Synod that we just
mentioned. This Synod took place just a few years after the Day of the
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon the Church and had
led Her to the full Truth. The problem that was confronted by that
Synod was whether the Mosaic Law –and more specifically circumcision–
had to be observed by Christians. In other words, if it was compulsory
for one to be circumcised in order to be saved. As was to be expected,
the Synod’s decision was negative, because the Mosaic Law was abolished
(as far as its compulsory provisions were concerned), with the crucified
death of the Lord. The Apostles, and all those who were steadfast in the
faith and had received the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit were fully
conscious of this. However, when certain Jewish-minded Christians had
begun to preach the opposite, a problem was created in the Church, and
in fact among those who were as yet unstable and new in the faith.
That was the reason the Church had dogmatized explicitly on the
issue, through a Synod. It was not because the dogma itself was
discovered just then (that one must not observe the Mosaic Law to be
saved); it was only after a problem had actually reared its head,
that the Church synodically formulated the dogma officially. Up until
that moment, that truth of the faith was experienced and was known by
the Apostles and by all those who partook of it, as revealed to them by
the Holy Spirit. Thus, the first (Apostolic) Synod – just like all the
other synods of the Church that were convened in the Holy Spirit – did
not discover or invent new dogmas, but merely revealed and formulated
officially those facts that were standing and already known to the
Saints. Synods would therefore take place, only in cases where heretics
threatened to alter those standing facts and lead astray the unsupported
faithful and eventually dissemble the Church.
However, throughout the ages and with Christ’s tolerance, the Body of
Christ (the Church) underwent schisms and divisions so that the ‘tried
and true’ ones would become apparent. In fact, the largest schism
occurred when the Western section of the Church (which was under
Frankish domination and influence at the time), having been led astray,
abandoned the Body of the Church for political, initially, reasons.
This was fulfilled around the end of the first millennium A.D..
Obviously, in every instance, the dogmas –and especially the theoretic
ones, i.e. those that pertained to theological and not practical issues
of Christian life– proved to be the most effective weapons in the hands
of heresy leaders, both for the solicitation of followers, as well as
for the creating of new movements and systems. The recipe was easy and
simple: by philosophically and theoretically processing the dogmas of
the faith they belonged to, they would isolate one or more items that
they disagreed with; they would then support this disagreement of theirs
by means of certain apparently logical arguments, then proceed to
convince a number of others of the veracity of their placement, thus
forming their own group. Thus, from being God-revealed, theoretical and
practical truths of the Faith, the dogmas were turned into philosophical
positions and views and subsequently, into pretexts for thousands of
divisions within the space of the Church. In this sense, however, the
dogmas also comprised the fuel that fed the horrendous fire of religious
fanaticism that scorches the souls of Christians and does not allow them
to be refreshed by the love and the peace of Christ. When dogmas break
away from the Holy-Spiritual life that is experienced within the Church
(whose characteristics are the love, the docility and the humility of
Christ), then they are converted to mere intellectual ideas and
cognitions that rarely express the Truth. And then, unfortunately, they
are kneaded into the egotism, the vainglory and the other passions that
lurk inside Man’s heart, and they incite him towards a hatred of every
opposition; to malicious slander, perhaps even to murder. We know that
numerous and bloody battles and slaughters were committed by
(inappropriately called) “Christians”, in the name of a certain dogmatic
difference.
As we
have mentioned many times before, the dogmas are NOT the causes, but the
pretexts for all divisions, battles and murders. The causes are far
deeper, and they are not located in the brain, from where all
philosophical and theological perceptions spring and are therefore
wrongly labeled “Christian dogmas”. These causes are located inside the
heart of Man, as the Lord Himself had pointed out: “…for
it is from within the heart, that wicked contemplations, murders,
adulteries, thieving, false witnessing, blasphemies come forth…”
(Matthew 15:19). So, the heart is the instrument that we must first
cleanse, in order that our intellect may thereafter become clean, to
perceive the true Christian dogmas.
4. Fanatic
dogmatism can cause an equally catastrophic a-dogmatism
The
last time, we had outlined the historic course that the distortion of
the term “dogma” had followed; in other words, how the dogmas – from
God-revealed theoretical as well as practical truths of the Christian
Faith – were almost entirely stripped of their practical aspect, to
degenerate into mere philosophical views, on which all heresy leaders
based themselves (and continue to), so that they can create their own
groups and systems.
Obviously, therefore, these “dogmas” (with the misconstrued sense of
the term of course) provoke resentment and denial in many people,
precisely because they comprise the means of dividing and fanaticizing
most of those who belong to the Christian world. There are many who
react to the very sound of the word “dogma”, because they link it to a
certain leader-inspirer, to whom are (almost blindly) obeisant a group
of fanatic followers, who look upon the “others” as (at least) lacking
in Christian truths and deserving of eternal damnation.
Thus,
when most people notice this warped usage of the term “dogma” and its
tragic outcome, but continue to remain ignorant of the proper and
“middle path” of the Truth, they are led passionately to the other
extreme, by maintaining that the dogmas in general - regardless of their
origin – are harmful and catastrophic. They even go as far as sometimes
declaring that the dogmas actually alienate Man from God, because they
“inflate” his intellect, they become fanatic, and finally, they obstruct
Man from focusing his endeavors to uphold Christ’s practical
commandments. In fact, they often say that “what you believe” is of no
value; only finally “what you do”. In this way, they are gradually led
to the rejecting of every theological dogma, always with the reasoning
that it divides people and does not unite them, and they thus proclaim
the path of good deeds; in other words, the path of the good and benign
person.
A
perception and predisposition such as this, initially seems good and
proper and praiseworthy; especially to those who have felt the pain and
the sorrow that comes from the results of fanaticism that originates
from the barren and venomous hyper-dogmatism that we mentioned
previously. Nevertheless, a perception such as this, (i.e. of a denial
of every dogma and its replacement by the theory of good deeds), is
equally catastrophic and harmful and perhaps even more dangerous than
the aforementioned one, for reasons that we shall explain right away.
Because, if the former (placement) is a distortion of the words of the
Gospel, where anyone can interpret it the way he wants, the latter
(placement) is, essentially, the denial of God’s Logos – of the Gospel
of Salvation – and its substitution with a humanist-type purpose of
life; in other words, with a system whose center is not God (Who offers
salvation to the sinner, gratis), but Man, who strives to perfect and
fulfil himself on his own. You can see now, that although externally
and superficially, the rejecting of dogmas as an ideology (that
supposedly divides people) may seem appealing and good, deep down at its
core is hidden the serpent of apostasy and the erroneous choice of Man
to strive for perfection on his own – to become god on his own. The
thorough denial and rejection of dogmas - in other words “a-dogmatism”,
which essentially has humanism as its façade - is probably more
dangerous than its other, sickly antipodes: hyper-dogmatism.
5. A-dogmatism
leads to relativizing, levelling and spiritual desolation
We live
in an extremely difficult yet extremely noteworthy era, from the point
of view of how rapidly historical events develop. Knowledge has
multiplied; communications connect people instantly, in whichever part
of the world they may be; information is exchanged “en masse” and
rapidly, at every corner of the earth, and it is only natural that Man’s
History has entered into a new phase.
It is
now difficult for us, even to simply observe scientific, technological,
or political and religious developments that are taking place in our
time. Let us just pause for a moment on the latter – i.e., on the
political-religious developments – and draw from them some information
that pertains to the topic we are examining.
In our
day, one observes an –assuredly disproportionate– “outbreak’ of new
religious groups and organizations with the Christian faith at their
center, but also of eastern religions and esoteric and occult trends.
Some of these groups are characterized by a fanaticism that is
attributed to the intense and religious adherence to their dogmas.
However, a vast number of these religious groups – regardless whether
Christian or not – all project the perfecting of Man as their epicenter,
either to oppose, or perhaps even as a reaction towards, the other
groups. And the thing we should notice here is that they do not present
themselves as opposing the others; in fact, they acknowledge the other
groups as being “other paths” that likewise lead towards the same goal
as them. In other words, they are telling us that it is of no
significance, if you are a good Evangelical or a good Roman Catholic, or
even a good Buddhist or Hindu; the important thing is for you to be a
good person. What you essentially believe in, is of no importance, since
all religions say the same things more or less, and their objective is
Man’s perfection. They are therefore arguing that all religions are
simply different paths that have the same destination.
The
results of this perception, this ideology, this religious, after all,
teaching of “a-dogmatism” are of course unifying and concentrative. That
is, we observe a tendency to no longer divide or split religions into
smaller ones, but exactly the opposite. Many small religious groups are
seen to approach one another and to finally merge - in essence, but
quite possibly formally also, just as we can observe the same thing
slowly happening in the political sphere – at a state level. In other
words, following the nationalist (that is, the divisive) outbreaks that
were defused with wars, one now observes a tendency towards unification
(in essence a levelling) of peoples in large, uniform complexes with a
uniform economic, administrative, but also cultural system. One such
example, in which our own country is incorporated and daily experiences
the deterioration of its traditional civilization and its assimilation,
is the European Union. But the two movements of a worldwide character
have names. The levelling, cultural unification is called “New World
Order” and the corresponding religious unification is called “New Age”.
The combination of the two trends may promise a peaceful world, but this
peace in no way resembles Christ’s peace; rather, it resembles the peace
that one sees in a sleeping or a deceased person. And naturally, the
world that will eventually be embracing the Antichrist will be –thus–
somehow unified and doped – or spiritually dead.
The
Apostle John narrates: «…And
I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast
and the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits resembling
frogs; for they were the spirits of demons that performed signs which
proceeded from them, to the kings of the universe, in order to
congregate them all for the war of that terrible day of God the Almighty…”
(Revelation, 16:13-14). All those kingdoms will be grouping together
before the End, and they will all join forces against the Saints, being
incited by the Devil, the demons and their terrestrial instruments.
6. The
contradictions in a-dogmatism
But
this is not the proper place to expound on this matter. We simply wish
to stress two things: (a) that unification is not necessarily a good
thing on its own, but that it depends on the objective it aspires to,
and (b) that a lawless and catastrophic convergence will unite everyone
against God and the Saints. Let us not, therefore, strive towards this
kind of unity and confluence. A-dogmatism is a truly disturbing
phenomenon of our time. And of course we are not implying that all those
who have embraced it are also aware what the end of that path is, and
that they are purposely pursuing it. Quite simply, most of them are
totally ignorant of the truth and have reacted against erroneous
hyper-dogmatism by altogether rejecting the dogmas of the Faith, one
after another, indiscriminately, as though they are useless, human
inventions. But are they right? Are things actually like that? Doesn’t
the Christian teaching include theoretical dogmas, only practical
instructions and admonitions? How can one who believes that God is only
the Father be accepted – as a Christian – equally along with the one who
believes that God is three equal Persons, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit? In other words, how can both sides be in the Truth
of Christ, when the one believes that Christ is God and the other
believes that Christ is only one of the creations, i.e., that He is just
another creature? Or, even worse, when the one believes that the Holy
Spirit is God, and the other believes that the Holy Spirit is just a
faceless and will-less thing, like a stone? Could it ever be possible,
for both sides to be right? Obviously not!
If we
go even further, we could ask: “How can it be of no importance, when the
one believes that Baptism removes sins and that the Divine Eucharist is
a communion of the Body and the Blood of Christ, whereas the other side
believes that both these sacraments are merely external symbolisms and
public displays and proclamations?” The one side sees them as a means
for one’s salvation, whereas for the other side, they are merely an
optional (and quite possibly even obsolete) means of expressing their
personal beliefs, which could easily be substituted by a sworn
statement. And if these so significant dogmatic differences are
unimportant, then why should it be important if the Savior is called
“Jesus Christ” or “Buddha” or any other name? Where can a dividing line
be drawn?
Indeed,
nowhere. This is the point that a-dogmatism inevitably leads to: the
thoughtless and instinctive reaction that results in a levelling of the
dogmas. But Christianity is not like that. Of course there are
theoretical dogmas in our faith, which, however, have direct
repercussions on our practical stance. For example, the fact that God is
three Persons, i.e., a communion of three Persons, shows us that Man,
who is the image of God, must likewise be a communion of persons.
Between the Persons of God there exists the natural and indissoluble
bond of love and unity; the same should be observed in mankind. If God
were one Person on His own, then love would consequently not be one of
His natural attributes, while simultaneously, the model for Man would be
changed, to a self-centered one.
7.
Christ: Man’s hope, and his redeemer from the storm of a-dogmatism
But for
the time being, we shall not go into more examples. Instead, let us read
the opinions of the sacred authors of the Holy Bible, as to whether
dogmatic teaching is indeed significant.
The
Apostle Paul said: “Therefore,
by leaving behind the initial words (writings)regarding
Christ, let us move towards perfection, without depositing dead acts as
a foundation of repentance and faith in God, but the teachings of
baptisms and of the placing of hands, of the resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment….”
(Hebrews 6:1-2). These theoretical topics or dogmas are therefore the
foundations of Christianity. The center of the Christian sermon is
neither good works, nor humanism or ecology; these are merely the
fruits. The center of the Christian Gospel is Christ. “The
Jews seek miracles, while the Hellenes seek wisdom. We, however,
proclaim Christ, crucified….”
and again: “we
proclaim a secret wisdom of God, which was hidden and which God had
destined before all Time, for our glorification”
(1 Corinthians 1:22-23 and 2:7).
We
should not disregard or reject the Christian dogmas, thus altering
Christ’s Gospel and serving instead the designs of the Devil and his
dark powers - even if unintentionally; instead, we should approach the
steadfast and balanced teaching of our Church, so that through the Grace
of Christ, we may reach the stage of “the
perfected man”
(Ephesians 4:13) and “ready
for every good labour”
(2 Timothy 2:21). And let us not forget that “through
the works of the law alone, no flesh shall be vindicated”
(Romans 3:20); instead, “whomsoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How, therefore,
shall they invoke the One in Whom they did not believe? And how can they
believe in Him, if they have not heard of Him? … therefore, faith comes
through hearing a sermon, and the sermon is the word of God…”
(Romans 10: 13-14 and 17)
Let us
therefore not vacate the sermon of salvation and the work of Christ and
His Apostles by preaching humanism, nor amputate the Faith that is
supported on two legs - theory and practice – by at times cutting off
the one and at other times the other.
Matthew Gallatin: Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells
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