The following is a brief summary of the talk given by His Grace Bishop Irinej on Saturday 5th April at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Blacktown, Sydney. It does not do justice to the Bishop’s entertaining speaking style and unfortunately does not include many of His interesting and humorous anecdotes but it does (hopefully) outline the basic concepts of the seminar.
• Great Lent is a time of:1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Charity (Love, Agape)
• God is Love, therefore Love is at the centre of the Orthodox Faith. There are four types of love, derived from Greek:
1. Storge (στοργη) – Unconditional love, such as between a mother and child. “fondness through familiarity, especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance. It is described as the most natural, emotive, and widely diffused of loves.” (Wikipedia)
2. Filia (φιλια) – Friendship love, between friends, siblings, neighbours, etc. “strong bond existing between people who share a common interest or activity. It has the least association with impulse or emotion. In spite of these characteristics, it was the belief of the ancients that it was the most admirable of loves because it looked not at the beloved (like eros), but it looked towards that "about"--that thing because of which the relationship was formed.” (Wikipedia)
3. Eros (έρως) – Love in the romantic sense, between husband and wife. “This is distinct from sexuality. It is good because it promotes appreciation of the beloved regardless of any pleasure that can be obtained from them.” (Wikipedia)
4. Agape (αγαπη) – Love that comes from God. We show this love through sacrifice, praise and Eucharist (Holy Communion or Pri~est). “Unconditional love directed towards one's neighbor which is not dependent on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses. Seen as the greatest of loves, and as a specifically Christian virtue. The love of God, who is full of charitable love. C.S. Lewis states that "He is so full, in fact, that it overflows, and He can't help but love us." (Wikipedia)
• Activity: Two groups were formed and individuals from each group paired together to discuss the following questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Who are you?
3. Who is God?
• Bishop Irinej shared a story with a group about how he conducted the activity above in Serbia with a group of troubled young refugees from the Bosnian war. Many of them had never thought about God before and had never discussed the subject. It was discovered that 17 of them were not baptised. Bishop Irinej later baptised all of them together at the Monastery of the Entrace of the Most Holy Theotokos (Manastir Vavedenje) in Belgrade.
• God is Love, Life is Love, God is Life. There is no good without God. Humanism, a philosophical movement, tries to replace God with good values. This is impossible without God, as we can see in many examples throughout modern society and the world.
• Orthodoxy is not a religion but a FAITH – religions are man-made, faith comes directly from God. Orthodoxy is The Way.
• Definitions of 4 core concepts of Orthodox Faith, derived from Greek:
1. Orthodoxia – Orthos (Correct, true, straight, Pravo) and Doxia (Glory, worship, Slava). True Worship – how you pray is how you believe.
2. Orthopraxia – Praxia (Practice, action). True Practice - Orthodox faithful are called on to transfigure (change) the world around them, to make bad things good.
3. Orthokoinonia – Koinonia (Community, communion). True Community – Orthodox faithful are persons, rather than individuals. We belong to a community of Faith and ignore selfish concepts of individualism.
4. Orthokrisia – Krisia (Judgment). True Judgment. Orthodox faithful must always be alert and spiritually and mentally sober so that they are able to make correct or true judgments. Acquire the “mind of Christ”: I Corinthians 2:16:
• End of Lecture – Questions and Answers. Main points:
1. Main Differences between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism:
• Filioque – Western Christianity (Roman Catholics) changed a part of the Creed (Verujem) from “And in the Holy Ghost (Spirit), the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father” to “proceedeth from the Father and Son.” This ruins the equality of the Trinity, diminishing the Holy Spirit.
• Papal Infallability – the belief that the Pope is infallible when he pronounces matters of faith ex cathedra and can make no mistakes. Orthodox Christians saw the Pope as the Patriarch of Rome, no more infallible or greater than the other Patriarchs.
• Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary – Roman Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary was of perfect birth just like Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Orthodox Christians believe that the Virgin Mary had an ordinary birth.
2. Differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism:
• Protestants concept of “Sola Scriptura,” i.e., faith can only be derived directly from the bible. They believe that Orthodox tradition, saints and church fathers and their teachings are irrelevant. However, the bible itself was finalised by church fathers in Carthage in 397 AD, where it was decided which books were truly legitimate and which weren’t.
• Protestants also place much more emphasis on individuality and financial pursuits. Capitalism is a by-product of protestant views on business and profit (Max Weber’s theory).
3. A question was asked about the Balkan wars and the Church’s position. Bishop Irinej described how His Holiness Patriarch Pavle has always set a personal example of Christian Love and peaceful nature. He related an anecdote of the time a feminist group confronted him with the accusation that men were the cause of all wars in the world. Patriarch Pavle immediately responded with his answer that this was the reason why, upon his resurrection, Christ greeted the women who found him with the word “Rejoice,” and the men with the word “Peace.”
Ilija Bilic
Canberra