The effort to grow

The Greek Orthodox Church and Greek society in general are experiencing a period of far-reaching transition. It’s a country that only won its struggle for democracy thirty years ago. A European but also a Balkan state, Greece has difficulty in combining tradition with modernity, conservation with innovation. We discussed this with PANTELIS KALAITZIDIS, director of the Academy of Theological Studies at Volos, in the Metropolitanate of Demetria, a forum of research and dialogue between theology and contemporary thought. Many conferences and seminars are held there on issues concerning multiculturalism, relations with Islam and, in general, dialogue between Orthodoxy and modernity. Kalaitzidis recently spoke at the 15th International Ecumenical Conference “The transfigured Christ in the Orthodox spiritual tradition” at the monastery of Bose (Italy). Below we report what Kalaitzidis said to Sir Europe. A PERIOD OF TRANSFORMATION. In Greece, the Orthodox Church is now experiencing a period of major transformation. More generally, the whole of Greek society is emerging from a very traditionalist phase. It’s only thirty years since Greece achieved a democratic system and overcame the political authoritarianism to which it had been subjected throughout the previous century. The country has been a member of the European Union for 25 years, and is slowly learning to live alongside other countries, other religions, and other models of society. If we add that up till twenty years ago Greece “exported” emigrants, whereas today it is having to integrate a large influx of immigrants and that Greece is not only a European but also a Balkan state – a region beset by a very strong identity crisis -, we can understand that the most important challenge that the whole of Greek society, and the church with it, has to face is that of pluralism. ORTHODOXY AND PLURALISM. If, in general, due to precise historical reasons, Orthodoxy has not developed within itself the contents of modernity and has limited itself to absorbing them from outside – with the consequent persistence of a basic mistrust and a defensive attitude towards them -, there’s a further problem within the Greek Church, namely, the prevailing suspicion that to accept pluralism means to betray Orthodoxy. It’s difficult to overcome the ingrained idea that the role of the church in Greece is to safeguard the Greek identity and that “Greece is synonymous with Orthodoxy”, because at the historical level the Church has fought for the independence of the nation and it’s really very difficult – not only for the hierarchy and people of God, but even for non-practising Christians -, to accept the idea that there can be Greeks who aren’t Orthodox. The concept of a “secular state” is completely alien to Greece: the church in Greece can’t accept the idea of a secular state in the French sense; or even the idea of a secularised state. An example in this sense occurred in 2000, with regard to the elimination from identity cards of any specification of church membership or religious affiliation: the Orthodox Church vehemently opposed the reform; the specification of a person’s religion was only removed by virtue of the need to conform to EU rules. The Orthodox Church demonstrated, in this circumstance, that it is more backward than Greek society and that it remains burdened by the weight of history. ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE. It should be emphasized that Orthodoxy is not a monolithic reality; it comprises various local currents and differences, and embraces differentiated and even opposing theological positions. Over the last ten years, in some theological circles in Greece, a certain anti-Westernism has developed. It is entirely consistent with the idea of the close and inseparable bond between church and nation and causes serious problems also for the development of ecumenical relations in Greece. Another crucial questions concerns genuine ecclesial and spiritual life: the question, in other words, whether the Church is heading towards a eucharistic theology, a theology of communion that gives priority to the church as eschatological community struggling and working for the salvation of the whole world, or whether, on the contrary, she is heading towards a type of spirituality that is rather more “therapeutic”: a spirituality, in short, that sees the Church as a kind of clinic where man is cured of his passions. The first position is more open to ecumenical relations, whereas the second is far more self-defensive. In this perspective, it is very important to multiply contacts and meetings with our Catholic brothers – so “foreign”, so “different” from us -, in order to recognize that they too have a very rich liturgical and spiritual life. One of the great problems we experience at the ecumenical level is just ignorance of each other. This also happens within Orthodoxy itself, in the lack of dialogue between Slav and Greek traditions: very often, indeed, we Orthodox wonder whether we ought not to tackle the question of unity among ourselves before embarking on that of unity with Catholics.