Tuesday 6 November 2012

Reccomendation: Journey to the Kingdom

An Insider's Look at the Liturgy and Beliefs of the Eastern Orthodox Church

I intend to write a detailed review of this book in the not so distant future. For the time being, I just wish to say that this is an excellent book, equally suitable for both inquirers into the Orthodox faith and those who are already members of the Orthodox Church. For more information, sample pages, and reviews, please see the Amazon.com entry.

7 comments:

  1. I am a catechumen in the Orthodox Church (in Canada), and am hoping you can help me make sense of something. How does your endorsement of this book stand in harmony with your post "Come and See"? And, for that matter, how does Fr. Vassilios' endorsement of that post stand in harmony with his writing of that book? Doesn't the Disciplina Arcana mean that we shouldn't use the liturgy to *introduce* people to the Orthodox faith (especially a detailed description of the Liturgy of the Faithful)?

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  2. (I should just say that a] it looks like a *great* book; and b] my Calvinist Father-in-law just bought the book to learn more about this 'Eastern Orthodoxy' thing. So for these reasons I am very interested in your answer!)

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  3. Many thanks for your comment. In my "Come and See" post I was not arguing for a total re-institution of the Disciplina Arcani. As I wrote there, detailed explanations of both the Symbol of Faith and the Holy Mysteries have been widely available to anyone for centuries, and that is not going to change. It is therefore much better for us Orthodox to publish openly on these subjects than to leave inquirers subject to the alternative: misinformation.

    My point was rather that we should first, cease unnecessary and improper "parading of the Holy Mysteries before the unbaptised" (I certainly do not consider Fr. Vassilios' descriptions of the Liturgy to be unnecessary or improper!) - pictures, youtube videos, etc. - and second, not undermine the fact that the purpose of the Liturgy is our participation in it. Since the unbaptised are unable to partake of Holy Communion, around which all the prayers of the Liturgy of the Faithful are centered, their attendance at that half of the Divine Liturgy is somewhat out of sync with this. Thus, while I wrote that I understand that excluding the non-baptised from the Liturgy of the Faithful is perhaps not workable (many would misunderstand and would feel offended, which is obviously not desirable), I think it would be far better if inquirers were encouraged to "come and see" a Vesper, Matins, or Liturgy of the Catechumens - where they could participate in the prayers - rather than the Holy Mysteries. A written explanation, while perhaps not ideal by the standards of the 4th century, is appropriate for the needs and realities of our own times.

    I hope I have managed to clarify somewhat. I wish you the best of luck with your catechumenate, and pray your father-in-law will soon follow your example!

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  4. That's helpful - thank you. It always feels a bit wierd at that point in the liturgy when I am told to leave but yet not expected to leave. For a while I made a point of keeping my mouth shut for the rest of the liturgy - but I was encouraged to join in with my voice. The Disciplina Arcana (or another lighter modern manifestation) makes perfect sense to me. I have appreciated your thoughts on the matter. I hope sometime soon to be able to read Fr. Vassilios' book; it looks very helpful for a catechumen!

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  5. Hi Joel. I found Kristian's Cme and See post very interesting and thought-provoking. It indeed made me think about my own attempt at calling outsiders to experience the Liturgy, not to mention trying to explain it to them. I know many have turned to Orthodoxy through the Liturgy, and not simply the Liturgy of the Word, and I don't believe we can or should return to the secrecy of the early Church. I commended the post because it made an interesting point, and it is worth remembering how the Church once worked and taught catechumens. Often we teach the sacraments to people while leaving them biblically illiterate. We begin with subjects that can't be properly understood until they have become very familiar with scripture. That's a reminder I took from Kristian's post. Furthermore my book began life as sermons on the Liturgy during the Lturgy for the Faithful. It seemed a good idea to make this instruction available to a wider Orthodox audience, but that is not possible without also making it accessible to those outside the Orthodox Church. Basically, while I open the Liturgy to outsiders in my book and use the Liturgy to teach the faith, that does not mean that I don't think Kristian makes some very good points in his post on that subject. It was food for thought, and it is something we should keep in mind.

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  6. Father Vassilios,

    Thank you for your respose. I for one am grateful for the book that you have written, and I hope that it is instrumental in drawing my Calvinist father-in-law (whose recent purchase of the book was my introduction to it) to take a closer and more open look at the Holy Orthodox Faith. I have yet to actually read more than a chapter or two in your book, but I could see it as one to give to family and friends who want to learn more about the Eastern Orthodox Church into which I am being catechized.

    Again, thank you.

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  7. I really hope you and your family find the book edifying! God bless!

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