Citizen Columns
Question
What role does your faith play in the growth of civilizations?
Answer
One of the strengths of Orthodox Christianity over the 2000 years of its history has been its close identification with the life of the people and their societies and states. This was possible in large part because worship was conducted in the language of the various peoples among whom Orthodox Christianity took root. Until the Arab conquests of the 7th century this was the culture that shaped Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and much of the Middle East. The civilizations of Armenia, Georgia, Ethiopia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Ukraine were—and are still—profoundly affected by their Orthodox past. In Russia, Orthodoxy’s rich liturgical life and its saints, many of whom were figures of immense public stature, helped form the “Russian soul”. It is impossible to read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky without awareness of the spiritual culture that shaped Russian society.
But this bond is also an Achilles heel when Orthodoxy, state interests, power and poisonous nationalism become too closely aligned. Religious minorities did not always fare well in societies where Orthodoxy was dominant. In extreme cases nationalist identity of faith and country can be murderous, as it was in Serbia under Milosevic. In 19th century Russia many intellectuals rebelled against the institutional church for its servility toward the state and only returned to Christianity when they found it was possible to be socially progressive and at the same time follow a spiritual way of life that is not of this world. The national bond remains strong and most Orthodox Christians in Canada would find it difficult to think of their faith apart from their ethnic identity. But here in North America, we are learning to live with all our variety, while sharing a common faith and gradually finding ways that this ancient faith can be equally rooted in this new, pluralistic society.
With love in Christ,
Fr John
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