Nature Theology Within Russian Orthodox Christianity, by Christie Gibbons, page 2

Let us now take a closer look at Russian paganism. Tsar Aleksei’s reign, in the mid-1600s, ushered in the Russian Orthodox Church’s attempt to rejuvenate itself spiritually and to eradicate every vestige of paganism among the Russian people. 6 Among those who clung to these vestiges of paganism were the skomorokhi. They were Russian minstrels, whose origins reach far back into the pagan past of the Eastern Slavs, “to an age when myth and reality merged in the minds of the people; when the phenomena and mysteries of nature were personified as malevolent beings that had to be appeased lest they wreak havoc on mankind.” 7 The skomorokhi were persecuted by both church and state, as people embodying both Christian and pagan elements. These Russian minstrels were living examples of dvoeverie. 8 Today the Russian Orthodox Church’s attempt to eradicate every vestige of paganism is not nearly as intense as it was in the seventeenth-century. Perhaps this is because residual pagan elements have so manifested themselves within the Church traditions it would be difficult to distinguish them, let alone eradicate them.

            Let us now return to inspection of the Russian Orthodox Church and its core beliefs and practices. Though not a convert, JÜrgen Moltmann, a well-known Protestant theologian, avidly turned to Orthodox Christian sources throughout his career as a writer. The irony of this theologian so avidly turning to Orthodox sources is that Orthodox Christians believe that there is no separation between academic theology and worship. Frankly, they view worship as theology, and vice versa.  For Orthodox believers, theology is an intellectual endeavor, which can (if indulged in) become a hindrance that leads to “abandoning oneself to the feverish illusion of concepts.” 9 For Orthodox Christians, theology is “a loving word of praise to the God who first speaks his Word to us in Christ and by the Spirit draws us into the church.” 10 They basically understand theology to be “commentary on the saints’ commentary on scripture for the sake of the church’s worship.” 11 As Evagrius of Pontus, the 4th-century Orthodox monastic writer, once said: “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian.” 12

            In addition to holding these worldwide Orthodox Christian views, Russian Orthodox Christians attest to a notion of silent gnosis, which is wisdom that comes in the form of silents (moments of quietness and contemplation), which are deemed true theology, a theology which can’t necessarily be expressed through language. 13 These moments of silence are encouraged as part of one’s true faith. Vladimir Lossky, one of the most beloved leaders and theologians of the Russian Orthodox church, urges Orthodox believers to revere silence while maintaining a leeriness of theological thought, saying:

One must avoid it [theological thought] becoming a flight before the necessary “contraction” of prayer, to replace the mystery lived in silence with mental schemata easily handled, certainly, and whose use can intoxicate, but which are ultimately empty…A theology that constitutes itself into a system is always dangerous. It imprisons in the enclosed sphere of thought the reality to which it must open thought. 14

            This encouraged leeriness to embrace systematic theology is not particular to the Russian Orthodox Church, but it is a prominent theme within Russian Orthodox Christianity, in which the accepted view of theology is that outside of faith, it has no sense. Lossky has more to say about the controversy of theology, claiming:

For the theologian, God is someone Who reveals Himself and Who cannot be known outside of revelation. One must open oneself to this personal God, to encounter Him in a total involvement: that is the only way to know Him….Philosophy itself, on its summits, demands the renunciation of speculation; questing God, it attains the moment of supreme ignorance: a negative way where the failure of human thought is acknowledged. Here, philosophy ends in a             mysticism and dies in becoming the experience of an Unknown God Who can no        longer even be named. 15

Here, Lossky, in accordance with St. Augustine, advocates for a sort of learned ignorance of God, believing that the only way to know God is by not knowing God, claiming: “Such is the only natural theology for a Christian.” 16

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  6 Russell Zguta, Russian Minstrels,(University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), 56.

7 Zguta, Russian Minstrels,(, 100.

8 Zguta, Russian Minstrel, 94.

9 Vladimir Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, (NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press , 1978), 14.

10 Jason Byassee, The Christian Century, Looking East: The Impact of Orthodox Theology, 28 Dec 2004.

11 Byassee, The Christian Century, 28 Dec 2004.

12 Byassee, The Christian Century, 28 Dec 2004.

13 Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, 13.

14 Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, 15.

15 Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, 20-21.

16 Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, 23.

17 Byassee, The Christian Century.

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