Tradition: fire or ash?

What do a French socialist, an Austrian composer, and an American Orthodox theologian have in common?

They all have very similar views about tradition:

Être fidèle à la tradition, c'est être fidèle à la flamme et non à la cendre. [To be faithful to tradition is to be faithful to the flame and not to the ashes.] (Jean Jaurès)

Tradition ist die Weitergabe des Feuers und nicht die Anbetung der Asche. [Tradition is passing on the fire not worshipping the ashes.] (Gustav Mahler)

Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition. (Jaroslav Pelikan, interview in US News & World Report, 26 July 1989)

John Webster on dogmatics

John Webster was a very fine dogmatic theologian (Rowan Williams once described him as 'the finest Anglican theologian of his generation) and an acknowledged expert on the theology of Eberhard Jüngel. He was also a good friend.

Today is the anniversary of his death, so I thought I would remember him with a memorable quote about the nature of theology:

Dogmatics is often caricatured as the unholy science that reduces the practices of piety to lifeless propositions. But far from it: dogmatics is that delightful activity in which the Church praises God by ordering its thinking towards the gospel of Christ. Set in the midst of the praise, repentance, witness and service of God's holy people, dogmatics . . . directs the Church’s attention to the realities which the gospel declares and attempts responsibly to make those realities a matter of thought. (Holiness, p. 8)

Tito Colliander on faith and action

Today is the 35th anniversary of Tito Colliander’s death, so it seems appropriate to quote something from his little book The Way of the Ascetics:

Faith comes not through pondering but through action. Not words and speculation but experience teaches us what God is. To let in fresh air we have to open a window; to get tanned we must go out into the sunshine. Achieving faith is no different; we never reach a goal by sitting in comfort and waiting, say the holy Fathers. Let the Prodigal Son be our example. He arose and came. (The Way of the Ascetics, p. 1)

Dromocracy

Far from allowing us to take the time to do things properly, much of modern life (even the academic life) is conducted at breakneck speed dictated by others. You know you’re not in control when someone hands you a tight deadline; or that hospital appointment you’ve been waiting for turns up and forces you to rearrange your week; or you are forced to queue for hours to go through passport control or speak to a bureaucrat; or someone cancels your train/plane.

In our society, the ones with the power are the ones who can force you to slow down or speed up. More generally, power belongs to those who control the speed at which things happen. And here is a quotation from Paul Virilio that suggests ’twas ever thus:

Every society is founded on a relation of speed. Every society is dromocratic. If you take Athenian society, you’ll notice that at the top there’s the hierarch, in other words the one who can charter a trireme. Then there’s the horseman—the one who can charter a horse, to use naval language. After that, there’s the hoplite, who can get ready for war, “arm himself”—in the odd sense that the word armament has both a naval and a martial connotation—with his spears and his shield as a vector of combat. And finally, there’s the free man and the slave who only have the possibilities of hiring themselves out or being enlisted as energy in the war-machine—the rowers. In this system (which also existed in Rome with the cavalry), he who has the speed has the power. And he has the power because he is able to acquire the means, the money. The Roman horsemen were the bankers of Roman society. The one who goes the fastest possesses the ability to collect taxes, the ability to conquer, and through that to inherit the right of exploiting society. (Virilio and Lotringer, Pure War. Translated by M. Polizzotti. New York: Semiotext(e). 1997, pp. 49-50)

Alexandria restores Order of Deaconesses

About seven years ago the Patriarchate of Alexandria decided that it needed to revive the ancient order of deaconesses within the Orthodox Church in order to better serve the pastoral needs of the Church in Africa. There is a parody of an Anglican hymn that runs ‘Like a might tortoise moves the Church of God’. That may be so, but the Church does move slowly and surely in response to the needs it faces. And just last week Metropolitan Seraphim of Zimbabwe ordained Angelic Molen to serve as a deaconess in the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. 

It is good to see a Church of the Global South taking the lead in revisiting our ancient traditions and adapting them for use in the present. Of course, this move has already generated a good deal of heat among the more conservative elements of the Orthodox Church. For example, one critic dismisses Metropolitan Seraphim as ‘Yet another white man teaching the natives modern Western ways’. Whatever one might think about the re-emergence of deaconesses, this is a grossly unfair characterization. As I understand it, the initiative came not from the Greek hierarchy of the Church but from African priests concerned about an influx of women converts and the pastoral needs of widows (both aspects of the life of the Church that were traditionally within the remit of deaconesses).

Pascha: all are welcome at the feast

The ‘Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom’:

If any be pious and a lover of God, let him partake of this fair and radiant festival. 

If any be a faithful servant, let him come in rejoicing in the joy of his Lord. 

If any have wearied himself with fasting, let him now enjoy his reward. 

If any have laboured from the first hour, let him today receive his rightful due. If any have come at the third, let him feast with thankfulness. If any have arrived at the sixth, let him in no wise be in doubt, for in nothing shall he suffer loss. If any be as late as the ninth, let him draw near, let him in no wise hesitate. If any arrive only at the eleventh, let him not be fearful on account of his slowness. 

For the Master is bountiful and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him of the eleventh hour even as to him who has laboured from the first. He is merciful to the last and provides for the first. To one He gives, and to another He shows kindness. He receives the works and welcomes the intention. He honours the act and commends the purpose. 

Enter ye all, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and let both the first and those who come after partake of the reward. Rich and poor, dance one with another. Ye who fast and ye who fast not, rejoice today. The table is full-laden: do ye all fare sumptuously. The calf is ample: let none go forth hungry. 

Let all partake of the banquet of faith. Let all partake of the riches of goodness. 

Let none lament his poverty; for the Kingdom is manifested for all. 

Let none bewail his transgressions; for pardon has dawned from the tomb. 

Let none fear death; for the death of the Saviour has set us free. 

He has quenched death, who was subdued by it. 

He has despoiled Hades, who descended into Hades. 

Hades was embittered when it tasted of His flesh, and Isaiah, anticipating this, cried out saying: Hades was embittered when it met Thee face to face below. It was embittered, for it was rendered void. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was despoiled. It was embittered, for it was fettered. 

It received a body, and it encountered God. It received earth and came face to face with Heaven. It received that which it saw and fell whence it saw not. 

O Death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory? 

Christ is risen and thou art cast down. 

Christ is risen and the demons have fallen. 

Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. 

Christ is risen and life is made free. 

Christ is risen and there is none dead in the tomb. For Christ is raised from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept. To Him be glory and dominion from all ages to all ages. Amen.