“The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church” (3)

By Father Lev Gillet
From Chrysostom, Vol. VI, No. 5 (Spring 1983), pp. 151-159.
(Continued from Part I and Part II)
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IV. Let us now consider more closely the attitude of the Russian Church towards the question of the Immaculate Conception.
Every Russian theological student knows that St Dmitri, metropolitan of Rostov (17th century), supported the Latin ”theory of the epiklesis” (10); but young Russians [...]

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“The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church” (2)

By Father Lev Gillet
From Chrysostom, Vol. VI, No. 5 (Spring 1983), pp. 151-159.
________________________
(Continued from Part 1)
III. I shall begin by quoting several phrases which cannot be said with absolute certainty to imply a belief in the Immaculate Conception but in which it is quite possible to find traces of such a belief.
First of all - the patriarch Photius. In his [...]

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“The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church” (1)

By Father Lev Gillet
From Chrysostom, Vol. VI, No. 5 (Spring 1983), pp. 151-159.
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I. It is generally agreed, I think, that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is one of the questions which make a clear and profound division between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Is this really the case? We shall try to examine quite objectively what Orthodox [...]

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For us blog warriors

To a disciple who had quarreled with those around him, [Elder Nicodemus] said: “It is not good or Christian to lose time in discussions that lead to argument and disunity. He who is victorious in discussions is he who in the beginning seems to be conquered but to the end remains peacefully and lovingly disposed [...]

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A few reminders

First, forgive me for being such a stickler, but I have this little pet peeve about off-topic comments. Each combox exists solely for the purpose of discussing the actual blog post to which the combox is attached.
Second, let’s watch the tone of the comments we leave. Definitely, no ad hominems. Let’s also watch the sarcasm.
Finally, [...]

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More on the Immaculate Conception in Eastern Orthodoxy

A bit of historical background on the Immaculate Conception in Eastern Orthodoxy, from Casimir A. Kucharek’s The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (Allendale, NJ: Alleluia Press, 1971), pp. 354-7. I would love to see an Orthodox historian’s rebuttal of Kucharek (a Greek Catholic) on this topic.
The Byzantine Church calls [Mary] Panagia, “the all-holy one”, [...]

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On Original Sin and the Immaculate Conception

Not all [modern] Orthodox theologians deny [the Immaculate Conception], though some do very explicitly deny it, thereby illustrating the different development which took place in the West and left the East comparatively unaffected. The development of an explicit doctrine of the Immaculate Conception originated in the Pelagian denial of original sin, which denial forced Latin [...]

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Disintegration and reconciliation

The very problem of Christian reconciliation is not that of a correlation of parallel traditions, but precisely that of the reintegration of a distorted tradition.  The two traditions may seem quite irreconcilable, when they are compared and confronted, as they are at the present.  Yet their differences themselves are, to a great extent, simply the results of disintegration: they [...]

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More catching up …

I was out of town again last week and came back to find an interesting combox discussion of what “modernity” is and how the Church ought to engage it. As always, the most valuable aspect of this blog is the discussion from readers, and yours truly is merely a facilitator.
I’m also catching up with some [...]

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Theology, Liturgy and Silence

Thanks to the blog Diligite Iustitiam, here’s a link to the Ecumenical Patriarch’s recent lecture at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, entitled “Theology, Liturgy and Silence.”

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