~ Orthodox Theological Digital Library I.M.D. ~

Synoro, Orthodoxy and Nationalism, issue 38 (1966), pp. 89.

A big hommage in the relation of orthodoxy and nationalism is included in the pages of the 38^th issue of Synoro magazine. Am. Alivizatos opens the hommage with his text “The pain of Orthodoxy” in which he attempts a short retrospection in the relationship of nationalism and the church starting from the age of Constantine the Great until today. The second published essay written by E. Chryssos refers also to the same historical dimension of the problem and brings the title “Orthodoxy and nationalism - a short contribution to the history of the problem”.

G. Theotokas in his text “Church and Nation” is recording the relation of church and nationalism during the Ottoman occupation and also the period of transition from the 19^th century to the 20^th century.

Chr. Yannaras in his text “De Oecumenismo decision and the nationalism of orthodoxy” deals with the theological and historical dimensions of the decision of Vatican Council II, which despite the fact that it presupposes the distinction of the Roman-Catholic Church from the “schismatic” ones, focused on the issue of the Church’s catholicity, recognizing it outside the canonical boundaries of the Roman Church to the Eastern churches on the base of the Eucharist, celebrated by bishops whose apostolic succession is undisputed. In this interesting text Yannaras records the weakness of churches to deal with the issue of the consolidation of their catholicity; with regard to the western church, there is the perseverance in and the temptation of papal primacy, while as far as the orthodox church is concerned, there is the reality of the transformation of the church in crutch of ethnism.

Following is Jean Daniélou’s text “The christian people according to Péguy”, translated by Keti Chiotellis, in which the detachment of culture and church in the modern world is examined. The christian people of Péguy, the immense human crowd, does not exist, because the church lost its relation to it and changed into a church of a race eg of the intellectuals or the bourgeoes. Péguy denounces as a prophet this rupture of culture and Christianity stressing the necessity of one for the other.

T. K. Papatsonis attempts to infiltrate in the thought of the famous Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno in his text entitled “Peoples whose soul is deep buried” on the occasion of the abstract from Unamuno’s essay “Practical Problem”  published in the next pages of Synoro. The 100 years from the birth of the Spanish thinker (1964) who sought the purification of Christianity from are honoured with this text by Synoro magazine.

The poetic hommage of the volume concerns Matthew Mounte whose six poems are published. The volume closes with the short story by T. Romanos with the title “A usual history” and a traveler’s reflection by K. Iasonidis.

Following are the small notes on various issues of the permanent column Comments and book-reviews.

Synoro, Orthodoxy and modern-Greek life, issue 39, (1966), 83 pages.

The 39^th volume opens with two notes regarding the death of G. Theotokas, by Ag. Koyrtesis and Chr. Yannaras. G. Theotokas, collaborator of the magazine and one of the biggest intellectual statures of Greece, was the person that sought the self-consciousness of modern Hellenism in the sources of the Orthodox tradition. His loss marked negatively the publication of the journal.

Tassos Zannis refers to the work of the recently (at the time) ordained f. Kallistos Timothy Ware referring to the doctor from Chios and “apologist” of Orthodoxy Eustratios Argentis. Zannis presents to the readers the systematic work of f. Kallistos on Argentis which, besides the points that lights up with regard to him, offers a picture of the occupied under Turks Hellenism during the 18^th century.

Chr. Yannaras in the next essay deals with the notion of “the people of God” in the work of Makrygiannis. Observing initially in his text the development of this notion in Israel, Byzantium and Dostoyevsky, he focuses on Makrygiannis, who without contradistinguishing the religion and the homeland, does not comprehend them as terms of ethnic messianism, but as existential conditions of the individual in the frame of an ecumenical religious consciousness. He sees a kind of junction of identity and idioprosopia through which each one is placed in the cross-national entity of Christians.

Extracts of opinions of T. Papatsonis on the famous Skiathite and his contribution to the recognition that the Greeks owe to the Christian East for the configuration of the identity of the modern Greek-Orthodox man,are published under the general title “Alexandros Papadiamandis”.

Ap. Alexandridis then publishes his text “a phenomenon of modern-Greek religious life: the Christian organizations” and approaches this crucial issue (particularly during that period) first historically, by considering the organizations as offspring of the weakness of the institutionalized Church to follow her main theological and functional work disorientated from her ethnical role during the Ottoman occupation. Then he mentions the autocephalous and to Pharmakidis, passing on to Papoulakos in order to identify in the face of Kosmas Flamiatos  the first link in the chain of organized movements that later played a significant role in modern-Greek Orthodoxy. However, Alexandridis reports Ap. Makrakis as the dominating figure with which we enter the phase of organizations. His students advanced in the establishment of large Christian movements (e.g. Zoi) and of their precursors (e.g. Anaplasis). The text follows the course of organizations from the division of Zoi into Zoi and Sotiras, up to the “Orthodox Christian unions of young men and women” by Fr. Markos Tsaktani and Angelos Nissiotis. In the end, the text does not hesitate to evaluate with boldness the positive but also negative work and role of these Christian organizations.    

Iak. Mainas in the next essay “The possibilities of Christian presence in Greece today” attempts to record the causes of weakness (considering the lack of genuine Christian self-consciousness as a basic one) and to propose solutions (the end of aphasia) for the relation of Christians and society in modern Greece.

The volume is completed with five poems by N. Triantafyllopoulos, an extract from the travelling impressions ofLeonZander entitled “Pictures from Greece” and the permanent columns Comments, the Book and Letters.

Synoro, Orthodoxy and Politics, issue 40, (1966-1967), pp. 92.

The question of “Orthodoxy and Politics” is part of an ongoing discussion about Orthodoxy and nationalism and Orthodoxy and Modern Greek life that started in the issues 38 and 39 of the journal Σύνορο. In the issue number 40, five articles written by prominent scholars from all over the world are dedicated to the relationship between Christian Orthodox theology and tradition and politics.

The historians Ph. Sherrard and J. Campbell examine the special circumstances that conditioned the emergence of the Modern Greek state and stress the idea that from very early on the foundation of the reality called “Hellenism” was not racial but intellectual.

            The Russian philosophers N. A. Berdiayev and V. Soloviev discuss the triptych of revolutionary spirit, authentic Christianity and social reality. For Berdiayev, the essence of Russian revolutionary atheism is the idea that revolutionists deny God in order to affirm and realize the Kingdom of God on earth.

            In turn, the Russian thinker S. Bulkakov claims that the Church-State relation has been through many faces in history and argues for the separation of the Church from the State that is in accordance with Church’s dignity.

            The Greek theologian P. Nellas proceeds with an exploration of the Biblical criteria for dealing with politics. His main point is that, though politics is necessary in our human society after the Fall, it is totally ineffective for Ecclesia in her ecclesiological perspective.

            The issue includes five poems of Th. Merton, five book reviews and the regular comments on contemporary issues and theatrical productions.