Catechizin2 the Pries

Catechizin2 the Priest

Introduction: The Role Of Holy Tradition in Orthodox Religious Education

I have been asked to speak for a few moments on the subject of the continuing catechesis of the priest. My only expertise in this area is based upon over 32 years of making mistakes and having to learn things the hard way. Thomas Groome in his work “Christian Religious Education” informs us that the word catechesis comes from the Greek verb katechein which means to resound, echo, or pass down. Within the context of the Church the process of resounding or passing down began on Pentecost when Peter proclaimed the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and announced that Jesus was both Christ and Lord. The plan of God was now made manifest in His Son Jesus Christ. The kegyma had now been proclaimed.

Our Lord was certainly the One who proclaimed the Kingdom, but He was also the teacher. He as addressed as “Teacher”. The Church has carried out both ministries of kergyma and teaching since its inception. The church has long been aware of its ministry of catechesis.

I do not claim any special expertise in the theoretical issues of cathecesis or religious education, but it does seem that as Orthodox Christians our methodology in matters of religious education is going to differ from that of other churches, especially those of the Reformation tradition.

If one holds to the Reformation position that Divine Revelation is contained completely in the written scriptures, then religious education is largely the study of the bible. It will also tend to discount or marginalize all that has happened since the close of the New Testament era. This does not mean that they would ignore doctrinal or moral questions, but the context of their teaching would be only biblical. The more one holds to the so/a Scriptura position, the less one speaks of the history of the Church. This is not just a matter of preferring one catechetical method to another. It is rooted in a very important theological position.

Orthodox religious education, like Orthodox theology must necessarily be concerned both with the self-revelation of God in the mystery of the Incarnation (or Christ event) and also with the process whereby the Holy Spirit has been leading the church in all Truth down through the centuries. Our methodology must be historical because God has acted and continues to act in human history. “it is time for the Lord to act.”

b~1,eve f~aa-t ~ ~ ~ ‘~“~ –

All these constitute what the Church calls the Holy Tradition. We believe that they have been ~Y~TI ~ us ‘oy ~he lloXy ~pirit, who, true to the promise of the Lord was to be with the church forever. As Orthodox Christians we believe that the various elements of Holy Tradition all witness to the same Truth. What is proclaimed in the Gospels is professed by the Councils and Creed, sung and prayed in the services of the Church, and depicted in the Icons.

St. Athanasius and the later Cappodocians did not teach a new revelation or a new truth when they fought for Nicea and insisted on the full divinity of both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But I believe that they were led by the Holy Spirit to a deeper understanding of these holy mysteries. The Troparion of the Feast of the Annunciation –which proclaims “today is the beginning of our salvation”—does not teach a new revelation about our salvation, but it does reaffirm that the Augustinian emphasis of salvation as a new legal status for man before God–is incomplete. This little troparion reaffirms the important of the Incarnation, that our salvation needed our reunification to God and that the mystery of our salvation began at the instant of the Incarnation in the body of the Theotokos.

Religious education in the Orthodox Church should include all the elements of Holy Tradition. And the fact that the Holy Spirit is present within the life of the Church today means that our catechesis is not simply the “history” of Holy Tradition. It is a contemplation of the Mystery of God creating, revealing, saving and sanctif~ring us. THEORJA. This process must involve not only the church— in the person of the teacher– but also the student. How many times have we met some person who says, “well, I attended such and such a church for 20 years and they never taught me about Jesus.” Right!

Continuing Education of the Priest

How do we as priests, deacons and teachers continue this process in our own lives? How do we go about the process of continuing education. No doubt there are countless ways. (The first is to attend a seminary that makes its students life long learners, My first introduction to the study of theology was in the area of scholastic theology. Later I was introduced to historical theolo2v

We believe that God’s revelation in history was His Living Word, His Divine Son. But we also believe that this revelation is witnessed and made present to us through the Holy Scripture, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, The Ecumenical Council with their creedal, canonical and dogmatic statements, The Liturgical and Sacramental life of the church with their prayers and hymns, as well as what the church calls its “theology in color”, the Holy Icons. (See Sheet No~

All these constitute what the Church calls the Holy Tradition. We believe that they have been given to us by the Holy Spirit, who, true to the promise of the Lord was to be with the church forever. As Orthodox Christians we believe that the various elements of Holy Tradition all witness to the same Truth. What is proclaimed in the Gospels is professed by the Councils and Creed, sung and prayed in the services of the Church, and depicted in the Icons.

St. Athanasius and the later Cappodocians did not teach a new revelation or a new truth when they fought for Nicea and insisted on the full divinity of both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But I believe that they were led by the Holy Spirit to a deeper understanding of these holy mysteries. The Troparion of the Feast of the Annunciation –which proclaims “today is the beginning of our salvation”—does not teach a new revelation about our salvation, but it does reaffirm that the Augustinian emphasis of salvation as a new legal status for man before God–is incomplete. This little troparion reaffirms the important of the Incarnation, that our salvation needed our reunification to God and that the mystery of our salvation began at the instant of the Incarnation in the body of the Theotokos.

Religious education in the Orthodox Church should include all the elements of Holy Tradition. And the fact that the Holy Spirit is present within the life of the Church today means that our catechesis is not simply the “history” of Holy Tradition. It is a contemplation of the Mystery of God creating, revealing, saving and sanctifying us. THEORIA. This process must involve not only the church— in the person of the teacher– but also the student. How many times have we met some person who says, “well, I attended such and such a church for 20 years and they never taught me about Jesus.” Right!

Continuing Education of the Priest

How do we as priests, deacons and teachers continue this process in our own lives? How do we go about the process of continuing education. No doubt there are countless ways. (The first is to attend a seminary that makes its students life long learners, My first introduction to the study of theology was in the area of scholastic theology. Later I was introduced to historical theology that focused on what we would call the T-Iolv Tr~iifinn T t*in’t th~nL that T buxrc. c.~r~r c~”.’~

A. Example From the Fathers

I asked myself if there is a method to be found in the history of the Church. I think in one sense that there is. The fathers of the Church entered into the mystery of revelation and salvation–and reflected on those mysteries– not because they had nothing else to do. I am certainly not equating us and what we do with the Fathers, but there is a parallel here. Both we and the Fathers reflect upon the mysteries of faith. They did so because the circumstances of their lives “forced” them to do so. Ignatius was confronted by those who would divide the church.. He was also confronted by his own impending martyrdom. We are the beneficiaries of his reflection. Clement was confronted with the questions about the presbyters at Corinth; the Greek Apologists were confronted with the hostility of the empire. Irenaeus was confronted by the Gnostics. He was compelled to address the issue of methodology– of how one would go about answering such challenges–using Christian sources both scripture and tradition. Athenasius was challenged by Anus. Basil and Gregory Na.zianzus were challenged by the rejection of the Nicean theology. Would we have the theological orations of Gregory the Theologian had he not been compelled to go to Constantinople to bring the city back to the faith of Nicea and away from Anianism. The point I am making is all this is that as the challenges of the early church produced the theology of the Fathers, the challenges of our own times can draw us into the reflection upon the same mystery of revelation and salvation.

Do such challenges exist today? We are surrounded by thousands of denominations all claiming orthodoxy of belief The issues of our times can compel us to do what the Fathers did–to go back to the sources of our faith. That is certainly one approach to the problem.

B. Adult Education As A Method Of Personal Catechesis

In what other ways can we continue what was begun when we were catechized? There are a number of possibilities. One can take courses in continuing education. One can attend institutes and symposia. One can read theological books. One can meditate on the Holy Scriptures. One can pray. I am sure that everyone here has done these things and continues to do these things. But what I am going to speak about for a few moments is the method that I have come to use over the past 20 years. It was not anything that I really thought out, it just simply happened. In a certain sense you don’t have to wait for a problem to force you into this process of continued priestly education, you can begin it on your own. I think that this is what I have done.

Over the past 20 or so years, in each pastoral situation, I have tried to plan some kind of adult education for interested people. Here is the secret.., it ou want to learn about somethin . . .teach

Sometimes circumstances just seem to hand you an “assignment”. You may be asked to make a presentation on a particular topic. But you can always give yourself the assignment. You can do this by offering a series of talks on some aspect of Orthodox faith. Thisw~u1±hhe-m.~~ic

C. The Importance Of Holy Tradition

If you focus on the fundamentals of Holy Tradition, you will always be going back to the very same Holy Mystery. You don’t always have to do biblical topics or just the basics of Orthodoxy. You certainly can and should do these, but Holy Tradition offers us a way of teaching others and at the same time giving us a program of continuing education. All you need is a decent library, the willingness to do it, and the announcement in your church that you are going to do it. One likes to have a nice group of students but sometimes you only get two or three. This does not matter. What is important is if you do the study, you will be the beneficiary yourself I am going to give you a number of example of how I have done this over the years.

HOLY TRADITION

SCRIPTURE

ICON>/

CANONS

FATH ERS

CREED

7 COUNCILS

SACRAM ENTS

A Little Course In the Fathers Of The Church

How can a priest in a parish offer a course in the Fathers. The task seems overwhelming. It does not have to be, especially if you limit yourself to something reasonable. I recently did a series of about six evenings on the earliest of the Fathers. I called the series “Early Christian Writings”. This seemed a better name for the series than the Fathers. The people who came were mostly recent converts or non-Orthodox people. The format was to read the selections aloud and then address questions that I thought would be of interest, or to allow the participants to raise their own questions. One method than can be used is to ask three questions: what does the document say about Christ, what does the document say about the church, and what does the document say about ethics.

1. The Didache

A. The importance of an ethical life

B. Did the early Christians fast

C. How did the early Christians worship

D. How did the early Christians baptize

E. Did the question of abortion concern the early Christians

2. Selections from I Clement

A. The permanence of the Hierarchical ministries

3. The Letters of Jgnatius ofAntioch (2 evenings)

A. The issue of unity in the church

B. The issue of correct belief (as opposed to the Docetists)

C. The issue of the eucharist

D. The issue of the role of the bishop, presbyter and deacon

4. The Martyrdom of Polycarp

5 Selections from Justin’s First Apology

A. His defense of the Christian faith

B His teaching about Jesus Christ

C His teaching about ethics

D. His witness to early baptism and eucharist

E. The significance of the Old Testament

6. Selections from Irenaeus Against Heresies (Book III)

A. The importance of both Scripture and Tradition

B. The issue of Apostolic Succession

Bibliography:

Early Christian Fathers, edited by Cyril C. Richardson, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., New York 1970 (can be bought used through the internet)

Pairology, by Joharmes Quasten (Four Volumes) Christian Classics Inc., Westminster MD, 1992.

CHRISTIAN WRITERS OF THE 1ST AND SECOND CENTURIES

THE TYPES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN WRiTINGS

Described by Cyril Richardson in (EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS (Edited by Cyril C. Richardson. Collier Books. Macmillan Publishing Co.. New York. 1970)

1. Letters The Dominant form of early Christian writings (sim. to NT)

2. Apologies Writings in defense of the faith (Quadratus, Justin)

3. Sermons II Clement (before 750 AD)

4. Briefs (a short official statement, a summary) Letter To Diognetus (750-200 AD)

5. Apocalvpses The Shepherd of Hernias (95-100 AD)

6. Church Manuals The Teaching Of The 12 Apostles