Does the Orthodox Church Love American Culture Enough to Transform It?

As an undergrad, many years before my actual conversion to Orthodoxy, I was blessed to take several Russian History classes. I had been raised an Evangelical. At the time, I had a good understanding of historical Roman Catholicism, but almost no knowledge of Orthodoxy. Early in the course, I was immensely impressed with the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs. In complete opposition to the Catholic German clergy with whom they were in competition, the Greek saints translated the Bible and the Liturgy into Slavonic – a language understandable for the people they were trying to convert.

Compared to the Roman Catholic restriction of sacred texts to Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, this approach seemed amazingly benevolent and farsighted. It was also impressive when compared to my understanding of Protestant missions in the American West, the goal of which seemed to have been the extinguishing of native languages and cultures as part of the process of conversion.

Years later, I would learn as an Orthodox Christian that the actions of Saints Cyril and Methodius reflected the belief that the Orthodox Faith must become incarnated (indigenized) in local cultures to produce authentic fruits of human cooperation with God.

Father Emmanuel Clapsis explained it this way in his book Orthodoxy in Conversation:

The different cultures human communities have produced all have the potential to receive the gospel and be transformed by it because God is already active in them through the omnipresence of His Spirit… The gospel, as it encounters different cultures, affirms some elements of them, rejects whatever is incompatible with essential tenets of the coming reign of God, and challenges them to be transformed through development so that they may come closer to God’s intentions for the world. Theology in its role as mediator between faith and culture has the task of assisting the Church in assessing critically the whole process of conversation between gospel and culture, and of developing principles and criteria of authentic inculturation that maintain faithfulness to the Christian tradition.

All missionaries, to every place that we now think of as “Orthodox,” found a culture there when they arrived. The missionaries sought ways to present the Gospel in terms that the indigenous people could best understand, without changing the essentials of the Faith. The Churches they founded, over time, sorted the “wheat” from the “chaff” (culturally speaking) while transforming those cultures to become “closer to God’s intentions for the world.” The results are the great “Orthodox cultures” we think of today, without usually stopping to remember that there was never a fully-formed, Orthodox culture that just dropped in from Heaven. Every one of them arose from the same historical “conversation” between the Gospel and pre-existing cultures.

This is the pattern of Orthodox missionary activity throughout most of history and in most places. The Russians did thusly with the Inuit in Alaska.  Missionaries such as Saints Herman and Innocent translated the scriptures and holy books into the Inuit languages and blessed the best aspects of the native cultures. The Alaskans saw that they could be Orthodox Christians, and still be who they were as a people.  After the transfer to American rule, almost all the Russian clergy went home. But as this article from the OCA phrased it, “The Orthodox Church in Alaska was able to survive because, from its very beginning, it was envisioned, in the best tradition of Orthodox missionary spirituality, as an indigenous church, not as a “diaspora.” 

In some areas of Alaska, they still say, “To be native is to be Orthodox.”

This pattern of missionary activity is not just ancient history. The Russian Church in Taiwan is actually creating new Chinese words to better express Theological concepts as translations are made of the Bible, lives of Saints, etc..

At the same time, the translators managed to develop Biblical terminology, as many concepts have not developed in the Chinese language, such as “to bless” and “be vigilant.”

 

“’Be vigilant’ could be translated with a long phrase, but we wanted to find one word that could be used and in the imperative mood. And when we came up with it and proposed it, it was accepted by native speakers and it fit with the language very well,” Fr. Kirill commented.

 

Fr. Kirill and the other translators labored over the translation and preparation for publication of the Gospel of Mark for 8 years and they hope it will soon see the light of day. They are currently working on the translation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Not only Chinese falls short in some ways as a Theological language. One writer on this site once explained the hidden depths of the Greek word Παραδοσις (paradosis) when compared to the English word “tradition.” Perhaps the same kind of effort being devoted to Chinese could be beneficial in expanding the Theological and cultural richness of English?

Given the spread of Christianity from a small, Roman backwater to every quarter of the globe, the Orthodox Church clearly understands evangelism. Transforming a culture is a long-term project to be sure, but 2,000 years of history testify that authentic inculturation of the Gospel works.

So when does authentic inculturation start for American Culture?

Over twenty-five years ago, I got my first Orthodox calendar from a GOA parish in which I was a catechumen. The priest there had converted as an adult, and had been a secular historian prior to seminary. He and I were great friends. We often met for lunch as my office was close to the parish. One day I asked him, “Are we supposed to fast on Thanksgiving? Because on the calendar it is a fasting day.”

He laughed and said, “No. They always give us permission not to every year since it is such an important American holiday.”

Perplexed, I asked, “If the bishops give us permission every year to participate in an American holiday, why not just change the calendar to reflect that?” He laughed and patted my arm as if to say, “You poor, poor deluded man.” Every year, I get a calendar. Every year, Thanksgiving is shown as part of the Nativity Fast. Every year, there is some kind of discussion and controversy over it among new converts, catechumens, “online” elders, various jurisdictions, etc. Every year, almost all of us American Orthodox, clergy and laity alike, get together with our friends and family to eat like pigs at the trough.

Fr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou said it this way about how the Greek Archdiocese views Thanksgiving:

As Orthodox Christians, who value the unity and strength of the family, we are inclined to adopt this feast as our own, especially at a time when the institution of the family is under attack from all directions. Considering the traditional Thanksgiving meal, however, which involves turkey, ham and dairy products, Orthodox Christians trying to hold the fast of Christmas are faced with the dilemma: Should I hold the fast and go contrary to the established social and cultural norms associated with Thanksgiving Day or should I break the fast in order to facilitate the need of blending in and not making others uncomfortable with my presence?

 

Several years ago, responding to the request of the faithful under its jurisdiction in America, the Patriarchate of Constantinople applying “economia” discreetly granted its blessing for those who live in America to break the fast on Thanksgiving Day while focusing on the unity of the family and the “eucharistic” aspects of this feast, but quickly return to the observance of the fast immediately afterwards. The non-Orthodox cultural norm is thus transformed through our theology and this pastoral approach to a positive element for the strengthening of family bonds, while keeping with the necessity of our spiritual ascesis of fasting.

So celebrating Thanksgiving is economia – an exception to the letter of the law based on pastoral charity. One of our biggest American holidays, which does have a Christian underpinning, has not been “transformed” or even “adopted” by the Church. It is merely tolerated, because though it is a non-Orthodox cultural norm, the day is kind of important to roughly 330 million people. I suppose inculturation does not include turkey as a holiday food in late November. But as Americans this is our national holiday, regardless of what shade the day is on the Orthodox Calendar – so ham and turkey win.

Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States since 1863. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America was incorporated in 1921. The Russians were here way before then. Orthodoxy in America is not new. At least in this case, the holiday schedule is also not new.  Is this the best we can really do? It seems like such an ad hoc solution, “Oh look! Wow, didn’t expect that Thanksgiving thing to happen again this year. Better let those Americans off the hook for one day of fasting. Sure hope we don’t have to do this again next year.”

Truly embracing Thanksgiving would require the church to change the calendar and clearly, officially say, “This is an American Orthodox Feast Day in what is otherwise a fasting period. Let us celebrate it!” Maybe we could even emphasize a saint for that day? What about icons for the feast? Possibly even write some prayers specifically for church and home use? Alternatively, the Church could proclaim, “Temporarily you can feast on this day, but as we progress towards America becoming an Orthodox nation, Thanksgiving will eventually have to be rescheduled to an earlier date in November. The Nativity Fast is vitally important and it is not moving. When Americans shape up, we’ll fully embrace the feast.” Either solution seems more credible and more permanent than annually renewing economia discreetly because the American national feast day is a non-Orthodox cultural norm.

The Greek Archdiocese constantly talks about the “Greek Diaspora” as if its parishes were filled with recent immigrants from Greece. Here is an example, upon assuming office Archbishop Elpidophoros said this to the President of Greece, “The Greek Diaspora of the United States of America is the pride of our Nation, of Hellenism throughout the world.” But this is not an accurate description of a lot of “Greek” parishes. In fact, quite a few parishes are full of adult converts, non-ethnic cradle Orthodox, and those of Greek or partial Greek descent whose families have been here two or more generations.

The phrases “diaspora” and “omogeneia” just don’t fit the facts on the ground across the entire Greek Archdiocese. Constantly using them seems to indicate that the Greek Archdiocese cares less about “inculturation” of the gospel and “transforming” American culture than it does about preserving Greek culture that is actually foreign to these shores. The primary goal of forever keeping the “Greek” in “Greek Orthodoxy” appears to be encouraging perpetual loyalty to the Ecumenical Patriarchate among a prosperous and influential donor base. The main goal does not appear to be effective evangelism, even though many priests in the Greek Archdiocese are excellent evangelists and apologists for the Faith. In my case alone, five cradle Orthodox children with no ethnic background have been raised in the Greek Archdiocese because of just one such priest.

At the institutional-level, the Greek Archdiocese is clearly not trying to be God’s agent in transforming American Culture into the best possible version of itself. Rather, the Greek Archdiocese promotes American “diversity” so as to justify keeping Greek Americans culturally isolated. Instead of being a foundation for unifying all Americans as Orthodox Christians, the Greek Archdiocese sees a future of Greek Americans keeping their own unique culture in a diverse, pluralistic America:

Today’s omogeneia has overcome that denial and has come to understand that the secret of the American civilization’s success does not lie in the obliteration of one’s cultural background but rather in the free and harmonious co-existence of people and races who have come to this hospitable land seeking a life in freedom, in faith and in dignity.

For purposes of its own, the Greek Archdiocese is clearly in the “Diversity is our strength” crowd.

Now before you get upset with what I have previously written, my family doesn’t walk around the parish complaining about Greek culture. We help out at Greekfest, as best we can.  I taught all the kids the basic prayers in Greek so that they could more fully participate. I’m even a GOYA chaperone, since my kids go to activities. Most of the non-Greeks and “barely” Greeks are the same – keeping their heads down and helping out where they can. Our silence, however, doesn’t imply that there is no problem with essentially ignoring our existence and that of our non-ethnic, cradle children. It also doesn’t mean that we plan to become culturally Greek, or that we don’t dream of a culturally unified American Orthodox Church.

The Greek Archdiocese is not alone among jurisdictions in shortsightedness. Other jurisdictions are just as fixated on preserving foreign cultures rather than on transforming the American one. Some jurisdictions actually suffer from a kind of internal cultural anarchy brought about by smashing together multiple immigrant communities with no single standard for many important activities. Our oldest cradle was baptized in the Greek Archdiocese. When it came time to baptize the second kid, we had temporarily switched to an OCA parish. With the godparents, I approached the priest a couple of weeks in advance to ask for instructions on how to prepare for the baptism and what to do after. I said, “In the Greek parish, they gave us a list of things to do for the parents and the godparents. You know, who bought the candle, the cross, bring the baby in the baptismal garment for three Sundays after baptism, and all that.”

The priest shrugged and said, “You can pretty much do what you want.” He then launched into a long speech about how Ukrainians did this, and Russians did that, but Serbians did this other thing, on the other hand Romanians… Eventually I put my hand up and stopped him. “That’s all great, Father. But what are Americans supposed to do?” He spluttered for a moment, then seemed likely to restart the list of options. There was just no clear answer here. I asked for his blessing, and told him we’d follow the Greek instructions left over from the first kid. The answer of what traditions to follow around a baptism appears to depend on whether your OCA priest is an adult convert, a cradle with a specific tradition, or a non-ethnic cradle (like my own sons would be if called to the priesthood).

Someone reading this far is going to say that these examples are just so much whining by a convert over things that don’t matter. Compared to the fullness of the Faith? Maybe they matter less. But if they did not matter at all, then Orthodoxy would not have developed its own successful model of evangelism. A model that is diametrically opposed to how we are doing things in the United States and much of the “Western” world. The examples I have given are symptoms, not the disease. The disease is that instead of trying to build an Orthodox culture native to these shores, most Orthodox jurisdictions seem bent on propagating foreign cultures indefinitely. And sadly, this applies the same to many jurisdictions that use English as a primary liturgical language. The language may be native, but the cultural context is not.

As one priest confided in me, “How can we Orthodox save something we don’t love?”

This past Christmas, thanks to COVID, my family celebrated the Nativity at a Western Rite parish. Halfway through the service, I actually started crying as I sang, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” After 25 years of Orthodoxy, I was unprepared for how powerfully the singing of a “traditional” Christmas Carol in a church service would affect me. Greek Pascha is amazing. Western Rite Christmas, as we just experienced, is also amazing. It makes me sad that, as Americans, we are expected to choose between all these various competing options because of what was deemed appropriate in other cultures and at other historical times. If we set out to build an Orthodoxy native to the United States, using earlier traditions to which we were faithful but not held captive – what would the result look like?

The United States of America has a history. The United States of America has a culture. A unique one. We aren’t English, or German, or French, or Greek, or Russian. We are even different from Canada, despite our close proximity. Our history, our political institutions, our founding myths – these have all shaped us into a different people than our ancestors were when they arrived. We are not a blank slate, any more than the Serbs or the Russians or the Inuit were blank slates when Orthodox missionaries first showed up. In those situations, the missionaries worked with what they had and the results were native, grounded Orthodox Churches and transformed cultures.

The Orthodox Faith continues to grow in the United States, thanks be to God, but imagine how many more souls could be reached if we made it our task to transform American culture through the Orthodox Faith into the best possible version of itself.

Nicholas – member of the  Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America, a COVID refugee from the Greek Archdiocese

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