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Berdiaev Nikolai, The Spirit of Dostoyevsky, transl. Nikos Matsoukas, P. Pournaras Publ., Thessaloniki, 1972, pp. 246.

The “meeting” of the author with Dostoyevsky on the primeval, of religious order, concept of liberty was detrimental to writing this philosophical work on the personality and work of Dostoyevsky. His aim was to trace Dostoyevsky’s spirit and recreate his world view. He considers him a dialectic genius and the greatest Russian metaphysicist.

            His world view is not an abstract system of ideas. Everything in his work is scorching and dynamic, in continuous motion, conflict and struggle. The Russians are either revelatory or nihilists and these are the characteristics that Dostoyevsky studies in depth. Of course his heroes are his world. He examines humans in the subconscious, in insanity and crime. After all, God’s mystery is not revealed to Dostoyevsky in itself, but through the destiny of human beings.

            After a discourse synthesizing the spiritual portrait of Dostoyevsky, Berdiaev analyses his literary points of departure in particular thematic chapters: people, liberty, evil, love, revolution, socialism.

            The human being is not a physical phenomenon to him but the centre of being. Of course his love for people has nothing in common with humanism, as it preaches to humans the path of pain. The destiny of humans and their painful course are determined by freedom. Dostoyevsky’s “cruelty” is explained by the fact that he did not want to relieve humans from the burden of liberty.

            In the eighth chapter he analyses the “legend of the great Inquisitor”, which he considers the culmination of Dostoyevsky’s creativeness, which distinguishes him as the foremost Christian author. His Christianity however, is not of the historic type but the revelatory.

            In the last chapter of the book “Dostoyevsky and us” he examines the importance and the value of his work in the historic context of the 19^th century but also the crisis of the 20^th century during which Berdyaev writes, and considers his work a stock of hope to help address the problems of history’s future course.

BriaIon- Vassiliadis Petros, Orthodox Christian Witness, EKO series, no 1, Tertios Publications, Katerini 1989, pp. 214.

 The present work is actually the fruit of research and quest of the second writer for the expression of a widely accepted theological articulation of the Christian Orthodox witness, as it results from the authentic interpretation liturgical, biblical and patristic tradition of the Church. As it is mentioned in the preface of the book, the most satisfying response to his research were the then recent inter-orthodox missiology consultations of WCC (1974-1989).

             The book is separated in two parts. The first part constitutes the systematic presentation of the conclusions of the inter-orthodox missiology consultations. This presentation was edited by Fr. I. Bria and circulated as a missiology handbook with the title GoForth in Peace,OrthodoxPerspectives on Mission, WCC publications, 1985. Here we find its Greek translation.

             Fr. I. Bria initially attempts a theological foundation of mission. Then the analysis of the relation between Church and mission follows, and the importance of the comprehension of the Eucharistic Liturgy as a missionary event is described.

             Moreover, the role of the Holy Scripture is highlighted, as well as its interaction with liturgical life, and at the same time, the necessity of the redefinition of preaching as a fundamental element and sign of mission is stressed. In this frame, a thorough examination of the real meaning of evangelic witness is attempted and its necessity in the contemporary world is marked. In this way, the writer introduces the the problem of reception of mission as the Liturgy after Liturgy, that is to say witness, but also the ministry of Christian community in the world. Additionally, he does not omit to underline the need for internal mission. Finally, reference is made to the role of monasticism in mission, as well as the way of mission to the nations.

             The second part is constituted by two studies of P. Vassiliadis with which a biblical view of mission is attempted.

             An annex of texts follows. In the first part, there are documents-orthodox statements with regard to mission, while in the second, WCC documents on the same subject.

Olivier Clément, The truth will set you free.Discussing with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, translated by Keti Chiotelli, (Orthodox Witness Series, no 59), Akritas publications, Athens, 1997, pp. 340.

In the introductory note, the writer explains the way in which the book was written and the proposal that it bears. The three chapters of the first part describe briefly the Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as well as the roots and destiny of Bartholomew I. In the second part, under the title “Views of a message”, aspects of the orthodox faith and ethos are developed: the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, a triune anthropology and ecclesiology, the ecclesiastic, ascetic, eucharistic and apophatic ethos and the festive course of the transformation of Creation.

 In the third part, the writer deals with the orthodox views of the Patriarch on freedom and Christ as liberator, on love and the Church, on the issue of ordination of women, on social problems such as AIV/aids and drugs. Particularly important are Bartholomew’s the analyses on the ambiguous connection of Church with Nation in the course of history but also the explicit condemnation of nationalism, as well as the reflections on the present and future of Europe, on the secularization and its overcoming.

             The fourth part is dedicated in otherness, in the orthodox approach of the others, who may be Christians belonging to a different confession or believers of another religion. Rejecting fanaticism and intolerance, the Patriarch considers ecumenism not as luxury but as a duty and vigorously defends the dialogue between Christian confessions, and also with Judaism and Islam, in the spirit of love and diaconia, so as peace is achieved. Following are the approaches in the challenge of “New Age” and the new religiousness whose roots are found in Far East, India and Buddhism.

             In the conclusive chapter, the writer refers to the renewing and creative role of the Spirit where the critical and prophetic role of Orthodoxy today is found. Texts by Patriarch Bartholomew are presented in the annex.