The Heresy of the West

The cave of St. Anthony. The first great monastic in the Christian world. 

The sad reality is that many of us today are living based on a "Orthodox mindset" but instead we are living according to the heresy of the west. Strong words, however, words that are necessary in order for us Christians to wake up from the bubble we call the west. We wake up, eat breakfast, either go off to work or school and then do some more work when we get home and then if we have time or if we are not tired (which we usually 9 times out of 10 make the excuse that we are tried) will fit God into our program for the last 5 minutes before we go to sleep and even then we are not focused or pay attention because there are so many things going on in our minds. Are we even talking to God? What is the point of even giving 5 minutes if we are not solely focused on our prayer? The problem is not that we are wanting to pray to God and focus on the prayer but rather we have built and put our trust into the western society we live in today, a society that no matter what we do will never satisfy us and will always have us coming back for more because there is no fulfillment within this society. A quick example of such a notion is that every couple of years we have to have the new iphone because our old one is just not the same. We need the latest and greatest technology because we feel like this will help us. But we have to ask help us with what exactly? There is a big void with "wanting" something and "needing" something. Unfortunately both the wanting and needing are misconceptions that have been fused into our minds because society has made us think that wanting a needing is how one ought to live there life. This is not the case and because based on how we live our life according to the heresy of the west these ideas then carry over into the life of the church. Let me demonstrate how this is done without us even realizing that the shallowness of western society is creeping into the formula of what the church is.

The church as a physical building must exist within the physical world (a building you go to in order to engage in prayer within the unity of the community of believers). However, the church must not be understood as a physical building because the church stands outside of time. The church is heaven on earth. Liturgy, icons, censing, venerating icons, kiss of peace are all heavenly actions we do because if the church stands outside of time then everything we do within the church must not be of this world. If this is the understanding of what the church is being a place where it stands outside of time then that means it's not of this world. If this is true then we must understand the church as the place where the believers come together to form the body of Christ, not as a separate body but as the unity that unites the believers in the one body of Christ. The church then can be understood as being something that from the beginning of time has never gone through modernity. So why do people make a huge deal that western influence has crept into the church? Because humanity has gone through modernity.

Humans have gone through modernity. Anyone living human in the west carries technology of any sort either a cellphone or laptop or whatever it might be. We have become comfortable with technology that we had to use them as a handicap to support us in life. To a certain degree I would agree with this simply because its good and has helped the growth of humanity. I am not saying I am against technology and western influence on us. Everything around us is good and can be used for the Glory of God. However, the big mistake we all make is that when we start using these handicaps to help our prayer and worship within the church. When you start seeing projector screens and westernized music being used in the church that is when the sweetness and beauty of the church begins to diminish. That is when the church will begin to lose people. People will start thinking that because we sing music and play basketball within the church that the church is represented by those activities. So as a believer why would I go to church? I can play basketball on my front yard and music from my laptop that is used already in the church. I might as well start my own church at home and invites others...This is where the west creeping into the church can be dangerous  When we enter the church we have to leave everything we know about society outside of the doors. We must begin to work on inner silence in order to focus on prayer within the church and at home. If we don't focus on how to increase inner silence, a concept so foreign to the west, then we will begin to lose the sweetness of the church and what it means to be part of the church. You will then get people saying "I need to go to a monastery in order to gain a spiritual revival in my life". However, the point of all of this is that the monastery can be not only the church of the monks but also the church to all of us. Monasticism is not a separate entity within the church. Christianity is a single society that includes monasticism. So then why are the churches of today not reflective of the monasteries? Because we have gone through modernity and forgotten what the church means to us. And this is why people have to go on "spiritual revivals" but nothing changes after the week in the monastery because your thrown to the den of lions (western society) not knowing of how deal with it. It is almost like you have never gone to the monastery to begin with.

Respect for the church is important to understand what the church is. Once we respect the church and understand what the church is, only then will we be able to appreciate the church. If we continue to approach the church with the handicaps we have built into it then the church will be turned into a set of activities while people are begging you to serve in the church because they can't find servants to help with a particular service. If we begin to focus on the inner holiness and spirituality of the believer and start breaking down the concepts in our heads about western society then that is when you will have people coming to the church on their knees begging to serve and to be part of the community. The "I" and the "me" must be taken out of our heads because the church is not about the I and Me but it's about the community of believers united in the body of the one Christ. ONE!!! There are not multiple bodies of Christ but one body. We work in unity within the body of Christ. Only then will the church reflect the monasteries in complete reverence and obedience to the church. Once we have respect, obedience and reverence in the church then we will be able to experience Liturgy in our lives. And I am not talking about only 3 hours on a Sunday morning but liturgy that is lived within the world. Liturgy does not end when the priest says go in peace the peace of the Lord be with you but rather he tells you to go in peace so that you can continue the liturgy in your entire life. Once that is achieved then the beauty of and sweetness of the church will taste like honey that you will never need a handicap within the service of the church. You will then truly feel heaven on earth within the church. You will cease from using cellhpones and asking someone how there week went as the service is going on but rather your heart will be uplifted to prayer to God and to be united in the body of Christ. Once we taste the beauty we can never desire anything else because that fulfillment is more gratifying and everlasting than anything society can ever offer to us. The depth of the church and liturgy is what we need in our lives. Not the newest technology and new hillsong devotion. Once we have tasted this sweetness no one will say I need to go to the monastery for a "spiritual revival" because the monastery will reflect the church. Once we stop doing things "big" and building big churches will we as the community of believers begin to appreciate the church. Once we rid our nature of the "I" and "Me" will we be worthy to approach the Eucharist as the community of believers. Once we realize our brokenness can we as a community come together and ask for forgiveness of our sins as we approach the one body of Christ. When the heresy of the west leaves our minds is only when we will begin to appreciate the church and the Liturgy as truly heaven on earth. But if we continue to use westernized ideologies to influence our worship in the church the church will continue to be a set of activities and doing big events to please the people. Once all this stops will the beauty and sweetness of the church begin to be reflective in our hearts, minds and souls and only then will be a genuine love and only then can we truly live in the west representing the body of the one Christ.    

Here is a beautiful quote that demonstrates what I have been referring to. Keep in mind this was spoken back in the late 1950s. Its 2012 today...

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"My mind is found to be constantly on the Holy Mountain and with every opportunity I try to enlighten my acquaintances about it. I emphatically believe that the revival of Orthodoxy will come only with the restoration of our monastic life. Precisely because the Church in the world is cut off from the monastic tradition, the collapse of spiritual life in our days is manifested. Satan has distorted so much the theology of the heretics and those supposed Orthodox influenced by the West, to the point where some think that (humankind) is saved not from the dominion and grasp of the enemy, but (from the wrath) of God. God became man in order to save us from Himself!

Because of this the West has abandoned the ascetic life. They neither fast nor pray much. They only seek happiness. The manifestation of our monastic life does not benefit, as some thing, the shortage of dedicated youth. There are many who devote themselves to the Church. However, because they have distorted notion of salvation, predestination and sin, for this reason instead of going to Monasteries they go to "Zoe" (i.e. a religious education association based on protestant prototypes but working under an Orthodox banner), or they become monks of the world, that is worldly archimandrites, and unfortunately today from these come our bishops. When theology is false, then Christianity is reduced to activities. Unfortunately we do not have one ascetic or monastery, and there is no living example of Orthodox life. Therefore, the pietism of "Zoe" conforms very much with pietism of the heterodox, to the point where it will wreak havoc if ingrained.  

I wanted to know your opinion about the possibility of establishing a monastic community of 5-10 monks in the land of America. If this does not happen, Orthodoxy will vanish here or will transform into something else, as it has already happened to a great degree. I have tried in my book to say these things which you also say in your book, but here nobody understands these things. You see, Greeks have assimilated with the happiness of the West and in their eyes happiness is the will of God. So why would they go to the top of mountains and do vigils and so on?...I believe the devil will be saddened that we do not like the "Christianity" he is promoting, but what's to be done? Nobody can be like the devil if they want to be like God..."

-Fr. John S Romanides
(Excerpts from his private letter sent in 1957 to Fr. Theocletus the Athonite)