Apologetics
by Archbishop John Shahovskoy
The essence of pastoral Orthodox apologetics is to reveal and expound Orthodoxy. The Lord’s Word is not only Truth, but also Spirit and Life. In the same way Orthodoxy is not only truth, but also spirit and life. St. Paul in the second Epistle to the Corinthians (1,20) says that the Lord Jesus Christ is “Yea” and “Amen,”— and the whole depth of the Orthodox apologetics as positive speech and action is expressed by these words.
A pastor who has preserved the spirit of the Chief Shepherd in himself and in his parish has done truly apologetical work, especially in our day when wolves of every kind make ample use of the smallest stain upon the Orthodox in order to estrange from Orthodoxy people who seek light.
We are convinced that when adequately revealed in life, Orthodoxy is an indestructible rock, not only in history, but in the human soul as well. It is the sharpest weapon against the world’s unrighteousness, the most fragrant drink for those dying of thirst in its wilderness, the most healing remedy for all who have tasted suffering.
If the light of Christ is reflected in the pure mirror of the soul, there appears the Light of Orthodoxy, the triumph of which the Church celebrates on the first Sunday in Lent. It is not accidental, of course, that this light shines forth after prayer and fasting.
If we contemplate the Gospel image of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall see how He spoke and how He was silent. We study Christ’s words, but His silence is equally instructive. An apologist who knows how to keep silent knows the value of the true word and will never utter it in vain, or fill a vivid word with a colourless mental content.
An Orthodox apologist is a guardian not only of dogmatic symbols, but of spiritual life and faith. The Orthodox Creed is real only within the trinity of faith, life and spirit. Before taking part in a religious dispute about Truth or about certain aspects of it, an apologist must take stock not only of his ideas and knowledge but of his own spiritual condition as well. If his spirit is clouded with vanity, bitterness, irritability, pride, contempt for others (even if they be heretics), an Orthodox apologist cannot count himself worthy to come forth as a champion of Orthodoxy.
When approaching Truth, i.e. the Divine flame burning in the midst of a bush but not consuming it, an apologist ‘puts his shoes from off his feet.’ He puts off carnal feelings, thoughts and desires. Touching the flame of Truth, i.e. becoming a preacher of it, he bums with its fire everything in himself which is out of keeping with its spirit. Again, Truth is seen to be not only a ‘two-edged sword’ (Rev. 1,16) but a ‘flaming sword’ (Gen. 3, 24) which guards the way to Paradise — and the apologist becomes like an angel possessing the power to inspire and persuade.
Truth is imparted through testimony and inspiration. The soundest arguments and ideas remain dead and dry abstractions if they are not transmitted by a living soul — a witness to the Truth. This applies to preachers as well as to apologists. And a living soul is, first and foremost, a loving soul— one that loves man in spite of his errors and imperfections. Only such a soul has the right and the power to teach, to clarify, defend and transmit the Truth.
The Apostles had not only wisdom but love and spiritual power as well. The Lord Who is Love worked through them the same miracles of healing, renewing and raising to life as He had worked Himself. The Apostles not only persuaded men to accept the Truth, but by means of that Truth they actually freed their minds from falsehood. All that was left for man to do was to accept this liberation. Truth descended upon the hardened hearts and, like oil, softened them, opening them up. Truth warmed and enlightened the hearts of men.
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” ( John 15, 3). Marvellous are the words of the Lord! We are accustomed to regard ‘words’ as something different from ‘deeds.’ And yet, a Divine word is at the same time a deed, and so is God’s word which is spoken through man. This is how a true preacher and apologist is recognized.
Many ‘weak’ words are said in the world and in churches. They are ‘weak’ not because there are no profound ideas behind them—the ideas are sometimes quite subtle and eloquently expressed—but because there is no power of the spirit in them. That power is lacking in the men who utter them. One can only give what coins there are in one’s purse. The spiritual purse filled with living Christian truth contains precious coins; but a purse filled with abstract thoughts, however profound and subtle, has only “sounding brass” in it.
People who seek real truth are not attracted to it by victorious disputations and wordy arguments. A person who is attracted by these is not a member of the Church.
An apologist must never pride himself on possessing the Truth — this is a very important feature of Orthodox apologetics. Truth must never belong to the apologist and thus be considered his truth. What is needed is that the erring soul should agree not with the human but with the Divine Truth, and then that Truth will be firmly established in it. Full agreement with the Truth is attained through the apologist’s humility and his simple and straightforward attitude to people.
Some apologists are like the publican in the Gospel parable (these are of the apostolic type), and others like the Pharisee, priding themselves on their truth and making use of their ‘rightness,’ not in order to serve men but to dominate and look down upon them. Not infrequently ‘Antisectarian’ disputes were conducted in this spirit. Believers of every denomination felt broken-hearted after those meetings. Professional missionaries argued there with professional ‘pundits’—Old Believers or ‘Stundists.’ People used ‘the word of God’ like a stick with which to beat one another.
We may and indeed we should meet people who interpret the Scriptures differently from us, or even follow a different path in their search for the primary Truth — God. But the Orthodox should always bring to such meetings the spirit of goodwill to man, regardless of how far the others at these meetings have strayed from Truth.
An Orthodox must feel confident that there is no need to defend the Truth of the Church of Christ— all that is necessary is to reveal it. It is the human soul that needs defending against its own errors, both voluntary and involuntary. A fire needs not defending but kindling; a blind man needs healing and not persuasion.
The signs of the Orthodox apologists are: to “heal the sick” (in mind), “cleanse the lepers” (in heart), “raise the dead” (the spiritually dead), “cast out devils” (from their own and other people’s souls). “Freely to give” (Matt. 10,8) the Truth to men, without demanding any recognition of ‘being in the right.’ In the Truth the “great” is the servant of all.
These are the ways of the Kingdom of God appointed to the preachers and apologists of Orthodoxy.
+++
SOURCE: Archbishop John Shahovskoy, “The Orthodox Pastor: A Guide to Pastoral Theology” 2nd Edition (Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008) 67-71.
by Archbishop John Shahovskoy
The essence of pastoral Orthodox apologetics is to reveal and expound Orthodoxy. The Lord’s Word is not only Truth, but also Spirit and Life. In the same way Orthodoxy is not only truth, but also spirit and life. St. Paul in the second Epistle to the Corinthians (1,20) says that the Lord Jesus Christ is “Yea” and “Amen,”— and the whole depth of the Orthodox apologetics as positive speech and action is expressed by these words.
A pastor who has preserved the spirit of the Chief Shepherd in himself and in his parish has done truly apologetical work, especially in our day when wolves of every kind make ample use of the smallest stain upon the Orthodox in order to estrange from Orthodoxy people who seek light.
We are convinced that when adequately revealed in life, Orthodoxy is an indestructible rock, not only in history, but in the human soul as well. It is the sharpest weapon against the world’s unrighteousness, the most fragrant drink for those dying of thirst in its wilderness, the most healing remedy for all who have tasted suffering.
If the light of Christ is reflected in the pure mirror of the soul, there appears the Light of Orthodoxy, the triumph of which the Church celebrates on the first Sunday in Lent. It is not accidental, of course, that this light shines forth after prayer and fasting.
If we contemplate the Gospel image of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall see how He spoke and how He was silent. We study Christ’s words, but His silence is equally instructive. An apologist who knows how to keep silent knows the value of the true word and will never utter it in vain, or fill a vivid word with a colourless mental content.
An Orthodox apologist is a guardian not only of dogmatic symbols, but of spiritual life and faith. The Orthodox Creed is real only within the trinity of faith, life and spirit. Before taking part in a religious dispute about Truth or about certain aspects of it, an apologist must take stock not only of his ideas and knowledge but of his own spiritual condition as well. If his spirit is clouded with vanity, bitterness, irritability, pride, contempt for others (even if they be heretics), an Orthodox apologist cannot count himself worthy to come forth as a champion of Orthodoxy.
When approaching Truth, i.e. the Divine flame burning in the midst of a bush but not consuming it, an apologist ‘puts his shoes from off his feet.’ He puts off carnal feelings, thoughts and desires. Touching the flame of Truth, i.e. becoming a preacher of it, he bums with its fire everything in himself which is out of keeping with its spirit. Again, Truth is seen to be not only a ‘two-edged sword’ (Rev. 1,16) but a ‘flaming sword’ (Gen. 3, 24) which guards the way to Paradise — and the apologist becomes like an angel possessing the power to inspire and persuade.
Truth is imparted through testimony and inspiration. The soundest arguments and ideas remain dead and dry abstractions if they are not transmitted by a living soul — a witness to the Truth. This applies to preachers as well as to apologists. And a living soul is, first and foremost, a loving soul— one that loves man in spite of his errors and imperfections. Only such a soul has the right and the power to teach, to clarify, defend and transmit the Truth.
The Apostles had not only wisdom but love and spiritual power as well. The Lord Who is Love worked through them the same miracles of healing, renewing and raising to life as He had worked Himself. The Apostles not only persuaded men to accept the Truth, but by means of that Truth they actually freed their minds from falsehood. All that was left for man to do was to accept this liberation. Truth descended upon the hardened hearts and, like oil, softened them, opening them up. Truth warmed and enlightened the hearts of men.
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” ( John 15, 3). Marvellous are the words of the Lord! We are accustomed to regard ‘words’ as something different from ‘deeds.’ And yet, a Divine word is at the same time a deed, and so is God’s word which is spoken through man. This is how a true preacher and apologist is recognized.
Many ‘weak’ words are said in the world and in churches. They are ‘weak’ not because there are no profound ideas behind them—the ideas are sometimes quite subtle and eloquently expressed—but because there is no power of the spirit in them. That power is lacking in the men who utter them. One can only give what coins there are in one’s purse. The spiritual purse filled with living Christian truth contains precious coins; but a purse filled with abstract thoughts, however profound and subtle, has only “sounding brass” in it.
People who seek real truth are not attracted to it by victorious disputations and wordy arguments. A person who is attracted by these is not a member of the Church.
An apologist must never pride himself on possessing the Truth — this is a very important feature of Orthodox apologetics. Truth must never belong to the apologist and thus be considered his truth. What is needed is that the erring soul should agree not with the human but with the Divine Truth, and then that Truth will be firmly established in it. Full agreement with the Truth is attained through the apologist’s humility and his simple and straightforward attitude to people.
Some apologists are like the publican in the Gospel parable (these are of the apostolic type), and others like the Pharisee, priding themselves on their truth and making use of their ‘rightness,’ not in order to serve men but to dominate and look down upon them. Not infrequently ‘Antisectarian’ disputes were conducted in this spirit. Believers of every denomination felt broken-hearted after those meetings. Professional missionaries argued there with professional ‘pundits’—Old Believers or ‘Stundists.’ People used ‘the word of God’ like a stick with which to beat one another.
We may and indeed we should meet people who interpret the Scriptures differently from us, or even follow a different path in their search for the primary Truth — God. But the Orthodox should always bring to such meetings the spirit of goodwill to man, regardless of how far the others at these meetings have strayed from Truth.
An Orthodox must feel confident that there is no need to defend the Truth of the Church of Christ— all that is necessary is to reveal it. It is the human soul that needs defending against its own errors, both voluntary and involuntary. A fire needs not defending but kindling; a blind man needs healing and not persuasion.
The signs of the Orthodox apologists are: to “heal the sick” (in mind), “cleanse the lepers” (in heart), “raise the dead” (the spiritually dead), “cast out devils” (from their own and other people’s souls). “Freely to give” (Matt. 10,8) the Truth to men, without demanding any recognition of ‘being in the right.’ In the Truth the “great” is the servant of all.
These are the ways of the Kingdom of God appointed to the preachers and apologists of Orthodoxy.
+++
SOURCE: Archbishop John Shahovskoy, “The Orthodox Pastor: A Guide to Pastoral Theology” 2nd Edition (Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008) 67-71.
