I am reading:-
- FOLLOW ME, By Augoustinos N. Kantiotes - Bishop of Florina, Greece
To introduce the work I could not do better than quote a short extract from the translator's foreword, "Our Lord calls us on two seperate, yet connected levels. The first is a general call: "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." The second is more specific, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
Taking the reader through Christ's earthly Ministry he challenges all - clergy and laity alike - to share in the Church's missionary role to the whole world. He uses practical and actual examples and is not afraid to compare favourable examples of westerners' activities to that of the Orthodox. (One example is the son of the Deputy Fuhrer, Martin Adolf Borman). Nor does he skirt addressing those who shamelessly use the Church to facilitate a life of boundless luxury.
This bishop from, perhaps, the most isolated diocese of the Church of Greece is her oldest heirarch. During the Second World War he courageously remonstrated with the Gestapo on behalf of Greek hostages. He is very strict in regulating Church life in his diocese.
An accessible book written by a remarkable heirarch.
- Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ. By Archimandrite Justin Popovich
This is a collection essays on a variety of theological issues.
It is characterized by an uncompromising adherence to Orthodoxy. The essays on 'Reflections on the Infallibility of European Man', and, 'Humanistic Ecumenism', remind me very much of 'Against False Union', by Dr Alexander Kalomiros.
While some may have dismissed Dr Kalomiros' work as being the fruit of a 'Greek Old Calendarist', they will not be able to use this against these erudite works. The author was a scholar and priestmonk of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Tito regime forced him to live in monastic seclusion from 1948 until his death in 1979.
He has subsequently been canonised by the Serbian Church.
Both books are very different, but I draw from them a common thread; Orthodoxy is Christ's invitation to all mankind, and the inclination of some to 'constrain' her to purely local 'national' boundaries is a denial of the Church's mission to the world, a world beyond Europe and Europeans
