The Problem of Church’s Defensiveness and Reductionism in Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s Ecclesiology (Based on His Journals)

Abstract

This article analyzes Schmemann's ecclesiology in the context of his attempt to give an assessment of the Church's attitude to life; as well as the problem of defensiveness in Orthodoxy; reductionism of ecclesial culture; "rejection" of the world and traditionalistic isolation. The author focuses upon the socio-cultural interpretation given by Schmemann to such important categories of the ecclesial language as "piety," "humility," "churchliness," "spirituality," etc.; showing that in real life these categories express the isolation and stereotypification of Orthodoxy. In the context of "lived" religion, these categories deliver a protective and reductionist message, justifying a kind of anthropological pessimism, "religion of guilt" and psychological self-closure of a person. The theologian juxtaposes two religious traditions: one based on the defensiveness and the other based on a sense of joy; the feeling of God's presence and affinity to the Kingdom of Heaven. According to the author, the accents put by Schmemann in his ecclesiology can promote the formation of ethics of laity and a more adequate attitude towards the world in the 21st century Orthodoxy.Keywords: Orthodoxy; Russian Church tradition; ecclesiastic culture; defensiveness; Orthodox piety; cultural attitudes; behavioral preferences Theologians as well as ecclesiastical journalists have said much about protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann's ecclesiological legacy and its relevance for the present times, so there is no need to reiterate their arguments here. Notably, Fr. Alexander is a rarity among Orthodoxy due to his deep-seated sensitivity to developments in the modern world. In his works he pays specific attention to the Church's vision of the world (Agadjanian 2016, pp. 255, 262, 271-72). Within this framework, he insistently asks how Church mentality affects behavioral stereotypes in this particular milieu and analyzes how loyalty to Orthodoxy shapes believer's lives. In fact, he raises the question how to bear witness to one's faith and thus how to attest to the truth of Orthodox Christianity and the Church.Schmemann articulates these issues most naturally and explicitly in his Journals (composed from a number of diary notebooks that document the last ten years of his life, from 1973 until 1983). The genre of diary allows the writer to talk freely and to express various and contradictory ideas that would be difficult to present in their natural variety in an analytical essay. A key feature of the genre is that the writer feels entitled to question an idea even while trying to explicate it. In the case of Schmemann, his Journals present the greatest range of his thoughts by affording him the freedom of speech rarely permitted in an essay, which normally is constructed around and substantiating just one specific idea.We shall here consider Schmemann's ecclesiology from the perspective of social theology, and partly also that of social psychology. Anthropological issues with which Schmemann engages in his Journals are vital for our evalua...

“Militant Piety” in 21st-Century Orthodox Christianity: Return to Classical Traditions or Formation of a New Theology of War?

“…Therefore, the military consciousness, the tendency to see the worldly life as a kind of war and struggle with both spiritual and earthly enemies, serves as a general attitude in post-Soviet Church culture. Besides, specific Orthodox militancy may base on a defensive stance peculiar to Church culture outlined in Journals by archpriest Alexander Schmemann, who notes that the Church holds itself as a kind of a fortress which aims "to keep, to guard, to protect the Church not only from evil, but from the world as such, from the contemporary world" (Schmemann 2000, p. 144;Knorre 2018).…”