Christos Yannaras, Jesus Christ, Ch. 8: Elements of Faith

[Olympiada]

Greetings Friends

This is some theology I have just started reading which has to do with Redemption. It is from the book Elements of Faith: An Introduction to Orthodox Theology. Has anyone read it or interested in reading it and discussing it? I can provide you with a link to a PDF version.

In Christ

[John Papadopoulos]

BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go away and resque yourself
New Nikolaitism
"newOrthodoxismus
Learn about what was written from Monk Theoklitos Dionisiates
"Peri thiou ke anthropinou erotos" three books (I don't know if were translated in English

in Christ

[Kosta]

Christos Yannaras is a philospoher who holds un-orthodox opinions. He is an extreme ecumenist. He believes in a kind of one world religion where even hindus and bhuddists and animists will fuse into one. He promotes pre-marital sex, claiming that sin is in God's time and will be wiped away as long as you get married.

And the scariest thing of all, is that Yannarais is taught in the Holy Cross Seminary in brookline. Unfortunately it is in these seminaries which has watered down our faith and send into the world extreme ecumenists. Many graduates of Holy Cross from Greece were in shock that the ideas of Yannaras were espoused by the school. Once again, as the above poster Mr Padopoulos writes and my personal experience with greek seminarians at Holy Cross, the greek people are resisting this innovator while the churches of the diaspora gladly embrace this nonsense.

Yet we still bad-mouth those old calendarists who try to hold onto their Traditions unadultered. While the cowardly bishops of my church (GOA) simply compromise Orthodoxy and infect the rest with their innovations.

[Rick H.]

Greetings Friends

This is some theology I have just started reading which has to do with Redemption. It is from the book Elements of Faith: An Introduction to Orthodox Theology. Has anyone read it or interested in reading it and discussing it? I can provide you with a link to a PDF version.

In Christ


Dear Olympiada,

I would like to read this and would appreciate the link to the PDF version.

Thank You,
Rick

[Mourad Mankarios]

Can anyone provide any evidence to substantiate the slurs being made here?

[Kosta]

I'm sorry that my feelings got the best of me in my previous post. Certain aspects of Yannaras writings are controversial and certain opinions he holds are unorthodox, not all, but it is the controversial ones that are remembered.
And some of these controversial points are taught at Holy Cross.
Even his writing on the heresy of 'pietism ' should not be taken as an Orthodox belief only as his opinion.

Yannaras seems to want to put dogma aside since unity on such matters cannot occur, so he prefers a totally different basis for unity.
The first paragraph of an essay written by Yannaras called "towards a new ecumenism' espouses a universal unity for all faiths



http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/YannarasEcumenism.htm

[Mourad Mankarios]

I'm sorry that my feelings got the best of me in my previous post. Certain aspects of Yannaras writings are controversial and certain opinions he holds are unorthodox, not all, but it is the controversial ones that are remembered.
And some of these controversial points are taught at Holy Cross.
Even his writing on the heresy of 'pietism ' should not be taken as an Orthodox belief only as his opinion.

Yannaras seems to want to put dogma aside since unity on such matters cannot occur, so he prefers a totally different basis for unity.
The first paragraph of an essay written by Yannaras called "towards a new ecumenism' espouses a universal unity for all faiths



http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/YannarasEcumenism.htm

If what I understand Christos Yannaras to be suggesting in the given article as being a healthy dialogue amongst human beings for the sake of peace and concord to put an end to hatred, hostilities and enmity and not any kind or form of religious syncretism or plurality then I would think that his suggestion is quite admirable and I really can't see from an Orthodox dogmatic postion what the problem is really...

The new ecumenism he seems to be suggesting is not one that is based on religion so much as it is based on humanistic values...I think this is an important dialogue especially in any kind of pluralistic society...What is the alternative otherwise to arrogantly ignore each other and shun one another...The very day to day lives that we lead in itself is a kind of new ecumenism as we delve into the cultural and religious melting pot of our everyday lives and dialogue with others with regards to values, ethics, morals, etc...

[Ana Botez]

Christ is Risen!

Dear Mourad,

Thank you for your balanced comment on Christos Yannaras' article. Being familiar with the harsh treatment Western Christianity gets in his works, I simply cannot see Yannaras (or Giannaras, in another transliteration) as an ecumenist heretic.

I have read many of his books and, while some of his works can be interpreted as being un-Orthodox, he is definitely Orthodox, and respected as an Orthodox author in Romania. If someone in the US or elsewhere uses Yannaras' works to support heterodox views, this is another issue. Such people would use the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church, and even the Holy Bible, to suit their ends.

Personally, I am impressed with his work of reconciliating Orthodox theology with Heideggerian philosophy, and I have had no problem identifying when he exposes Orthodox views, when he refers to views outside Orthodoxy (Heidegger being his favorite), and when he tries to express aspects of Orthodoxy in Heideggerian terms. The only problem I can see is that there are relatively few people for whom Heidegger could be a stepping stone towards Orthodoxy, and this, simply because there are relatively few people who are truly familiar with Heidegger's ideas.


If what I understand Christos Yannaras to be suggesting in the given article as being a healthy dialogue amongst human beings for the sake of peace and concord to put an end to hatred, hostilities and enmity and not any kind or form of religious syncretism or plurality then I would think that his suggestion is quite admirable and I really can't see from an Orthodox dogmatic postion what the problem is really...

The new ecumenism he seems to be suggesting is not one that is based on religion so much as it is based on humanistic values...I think this is an important dialogue especially in any kind of pluralistic society...What is the alternative otherwise to arrogantly ignore each other and shun one another...The very day to day lives that we lead in itself is a kind of new ecumenism as we delve into the cultural and religious melting pot of our everyday lives and dialogue with others with regards to values, ethics, morals, etc...

In Christ,
Ana

[Anthony]

Hristos a înviat!



Personally, I am impressed with his work of reconciliating Orthodox theology with Heideggerian philosophy, and I have had no problem identifying when he exposes Orthodox views, when he refers to views outside Orthodoxy (Heidegger being his favorite), and when he tries to express aspects of Orthodoxy in Heideggerian terms. The only problem I can see is that there are relatively few people for whom Heidegger could be a stepping stone towards Orthodoxy, and this, simply because there are relatively few people who are truly familiar with Heidegger's ideas.


There is quite a good book on this by John Macquarrie, who is or used to be a theology professor at Oxford. He discusses a number of writers (those that stick in my memory are Buber, Marcel and Berdyaev) who have developed similar philosophies but overcoming the individualism of Heidegger (or which is commonly attributed to Heidegger). I never completely bought into this existentialist theology (Macquarrie himself warns that it could turn out to be a "new Gnosticism" rather than the "new hermeneutic"), but I found this approach useful upto a point, at a certain time on my way to Orthodoxy.

About Yiannaras himself I'm afraid I have no idea.

Anthony

[Ken McRae]

This is some theology I have just started reading which has to do with Redemption. It is from the book Elements of Faith: An Introduction to Orthodox Theology. Has anyone read it or interested in reading it and discussing it? I can provide you with a link to a PDF version.

I too would like to read Elements of Faith, so if anyone has this link for the free PDF version online, please post it. In exchange for that link, I am posting the following hyper-link to a 500+ (plus) page study (in PDF format) of his political hesychasm, as well Fr. Romanides':

TITLE: The Revival of Political Hesychasm in Greek Orthodox Thought: A Study of the Hesychast Basis of the Thought of John S. Romanides and Christos Yannaras (https://beardocs.baylor.edu/bitstream/2104/4847/1/daniel_payne_phd.pdf) - 500+ pages!

[Ken McRae]

LINK: The Revival of Political Hesychasm in Greek Orthodox Thought: A Study of the Hesychast Basis of the Thought of John S. Romanides and Christos Yannaras (https://beardocs.baylor.edu/bitstream/2104/4847/1/daniel_payne_phd.pdf)

A brief but interesting review of this text may be found here (http://energeticprocession.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/political-hesychasm-the-thought-of-fr-johns-s-romanides-and-christos-yannaras/).