The Living Christ

The Theological Legacy of Georges Florovsky

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• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780567701855
• eBook ISBN: 9780567700490
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The only comprehensive critical anthology of theological and historical aspects related to Florovsky's thought by an international group of leading academics and church personalities. It is the only book in English translation of Florovsky's key study in French – "The Body of the Living Christ: An Orthodox Interpretation of the Church". The contributors tackle a broad range of subjects that comprise the theological legacy of one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. The essays examine the life and work of Florovsky, his theology and theological methodology, as well as ecclesiology and ecumenism. A must-have volume for those who study Florovsky and his legacy.

PART I

Georges Florovsky
Life and Work

Chapter 1

The Theological Legacy of Archpriest Georges Florovsky

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Ecumenical Patriarchate paid special homage to the fortieth anniversary since the repose of Fr. Georges Florovsky by organizing a special international conference in the city of Constantine and the historical Center of Orthodoxy in honor of this eminent personality of the Church and Theology, a distinguished scholar of the patristic tradition, a professor and author, a renowned theologian, and, according to his student Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, an “ecumenical teacher,”¹ who made such an immense and invaluable contribution to the Church of Christ and its sound witness in our age, as well as to the ecumenical movement and to the favorable presence of the Orthodox Church therein. The Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement published by the World Council of Churches describes Florovsky as “a universally recognized Orthodox spokesman in the ecumenical movement.”²

The Holy Great Church of Christ always regarded the cultivation of the abundant harvest of patristic wisdom as an extremely profitable task inasmuch as the literature of the Fathers “discloses the excellent interpretation and perfect expression of our doctrinal teachings and moral precepts.”³ This is why, in 1965, it established the Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies with its offices in the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Vlatadon on the Acropolis of Thessaloniki with the objective of studying and researching the writings and theology of the Church Fathers. The work of Fr. Georges Florovsky undoubtedly contributed to this decision of the Ecumenical Throne. The admirable publications of the Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies—which include the journal Kleronomia and the series Analekta Vlatadon, the reprinting of Ekklesiatike Aletheia; the precious archives of microfilms and copies of manuscripts that preserve the splendid and scarce treasures of patristic wisdom; the magnificent library; the regular organization of conferences, seminars, and lectures; the academic programs; and other initiatives—all these comprise and characterize the identity of this institute, in which the Ecumenical Throne rightfully takes pride.

The work of Fr. Georges Florovsky is and will remain for generations to come a source of inspiration and orientation for the theological enterprise. The central axis of his thought and witness was the “creative return”⁴ to the Fathers, and it was for an accurate apprehension and application of this return that he invested over fifty years of theological scholarship. The Fathers are “witnesses of the true faith”⁵ in the life of the Church. This is why invoking the Fathers is not simply a reference to the past. “The ‘mind of the Fathers’ is an intrinsic term of reference in Orthodox theology, no less than the word of Holy Writ, and indeed never separated from it.”⁶ The teaching of the Fathers constitutes “a permanent category of Christian faith.”⁷ In this sense, “‘To follow the Fathers’ does not mean simply to quote their sentences. It means to acquire their mind, their phronema.”⁸

Authentic patristic theology is the word about God in the Church, in the divine-human communion of God’s union with man and man’s union with God. “Likewise, by its existence, the Church is the permanent witness of Christ, the pledge and revelation of his victory and his glory. One can say that the Church is the recapitulation of all his work. Christianity is the Church.”⁹ Theologizing by “following the Fathers” implies “to return creatively to the ‘ancient experience,’ to re-live it in the depth of our being, and to incorporate our thought in the continuous fabric of ecclesial fullness.”¹⁰ In this perspective, the opinion of then Prof. Joseph Ratzinger and later Pope Benedict XVI, articulated in his article in the first issue of Kleronomia (1969) is striking: “The theology of the Eastern Church never sought to be anything other than patristic theology.”¹¹

According to Florovsky, a definitive factor of the history and identity of the Church and of theology lies in the encounter of Christianity with Hellenism, whose principal architects are found among the chorus of the prominent Greek Fathers. Florovsky described how they succeeded in formulating—skillfully and without minimalistic banter—“a new, completely new, experience”¹² through the language and terminology of Greek philosophy.

The “plea for Hellenism”¹³ as an “eternal category of Christian existence”¹⁴ refers to “the Hellenism of dogma, of the liturgy, of the icon.”¹⁵ Hellenism is “something more than a passing stage in the Church.”¹⁶ Florovsky emphatically reminds us: “The ‘good news’ and Christian theology, once and for all, were expressed from the start in Hellenistic categories. Patristic and catholicity, historicity and Hellenism are the joint aspects of a unique and indivisible datum.”¹⁷ In this context we should also understand the famous statement by Florovsky at the First Theological Congress of Athens in 1936: “let us be more Greek to be truly catholic, to be truly Orthodox.”¹⁸

In the life of the Church, there is “an ultimate spiritual and ontological identity,” and also “the same faith, the same spirit, the same ethos”¹⁹ are preserved. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, nurtures, renews, and directs the Church perpetually—throughout its whole journey, “no less effectively as in the ancient times.”²⁰ For Florovsky, the determination of the place of Byzantine theology in the history of the Church is consistent with this approach. “Byzantine theology was much more than just a ‘repetition’ of Patristic theology, nor was that which was new in it of an inferior quality in comparison with ‘Christian antiquity.’ Indeed, Byzantine theology was an organic continuation of the Patristic Age.”²¹

Florovsky’s faithfulness to the “tradition of truth” as the cont inuous presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church did not prevent him from becoming involved in the ecumenical movement, but also inspired and informed his interest in and contribution to ecumenical service. He participated in inter-Christian dialogue; he assumed a critical role in the foundation and promotion of the World Council of Churches; he studied the writings of Western theologians and entertained conversations with them, referring to their work without hesitation; and he advocated the importance of the Church Fathers for a rediscovery and awareness of the common heritage of all Christians.

According to Florovsky, Christians everywhere “somehow belong together.”²² It is not a question of “parallel traditions” but of a single tradition, which was distorted and divided. There is an “original kinship in the common past,”²³ which we are always called to remember. Despite their peculiarities, “East and West belong organically together in the unity of Christendom.”²⁴ They cannot be conceived in and of themselves; they do not comprise “parallel developments”; they are not self-sufficient or self-understood. “And, again, they have had, in the course of their history, rather numerous points of contact, or collision, or conflict. One may call them sister-civilizations. And I venture to suggest these sisters were Siamese twins.”²⁵

East and West are parts of one Christian world, which according to God’s plan “ought not to have been disrupted.”²⁶ “The tragedy of division is the major and crucial problem of Christian history.”²⁷ If we can comprehend this, then there is solid hope for the restoration of Christian unity. On this matter and for the achievement of this goal, the Orthodox Church has a special role and mission: “She is a living embodiment of an uninterrupted tradition, in thought and devotion. She stands not for a certain ‘particular’ tradition, but the Tradition of ages, for the Tradition of the Undivided Church.”²⁸ When Florovsky proclaims that “Christian reunion is just universal conversion to Orthodoxy,”²⁹ he means a return to that Church, which incarnates the unwavering faithfulness to the common tradition of the undivided Church.

This is the self-consciousness also championed by the Holy and Great Council of Crete:

The Orthodox Church, as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, in her profound ecclesiastical self-consciousness, believes unflinchingly that she occupies a central place in the matter of the promotion of Christian unity in the world today . . . . The Orthodox Church, which prays unceasingly “for the union of all,” has always cultivated dialogue with those estranged from her, those both far and near. In particular, she has played a leading role in the contemporary search for ways and means to restore the unity of those who believe in Christ, and she has participated in the Ecumenical Movement from its outset, and has contributed to its formation and further development.³⁰

Such was the spirit of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout its extended participation in the ecumenical movement, not only as a mere partner but as one of its founders. Without theological minimalism, we approach the Orthodox tradition in its historical reference to the rest of the Christian world, in a shared conviction with Fr. Georges Florovsky that “all reaches of the Orthodox tradition can be disclosed and consummated only in a standing intercourse with the whole of the Christian world.”³¹ We believe that the official inter-Christian theological dialogues are strengthened by the involvement of Theological Schools and academic circles, through the “dialogue of life” in the daily life of Christians, but also through a communication and encounter with leaders of other Churches and Confessions. In general, we maintain that the e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• FOREWORD
• CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS
• ABBREVIATIONS
• Introduction
• PART I Georges Florovsky: Life and Work
• PART II Neopatristic Synthesis: Theology and Methodology
• PART III Theology and Ecclesiology: History and Mission
• PART IV The Body of the Living Christ: An Orthodox Interpretation of the Church
• CONTRIBUTORS
• NAME INDEX
• SUBJECT INDEX
• Copyright