Scientific Progress as Related to Frankish Civilization and Romanity

By Fr. John Romanides

There are clear and distinct boundaries between Theology and Science. Theology, as the Greek origin of the word suggests, is concerned with God - what God is and how one can attain communion with Him - whereas Science is concerned with the created world and is interested mainly in the use of the world.

Medieval Frankish civilization* was destroyed by Europe's scientific, economic, social, political and philosophical awakening. Romanity however, was not only unharmed, but was actually reinforced by this awakening of Europe, and later of America and Russia.

Neo-Greeklings not only cannot perceive the above; rather, they are angered when they hear such a comment, because their basic dogma is that light can be found only in Europe or America or Russia. In fact, they believe that only the Greeks who accept this idea can become enlightened.

Protopresbyter John Romanides's Teaching on Creation

PROTOPRESBYTER JOHN ROMANIDES'S

TEACHING ON CREATION

By James L. Kelley, 2016

Father John Romanides (1927-2001), from his earliest publications in the 1950's to his final postings to the website romanity.org in the early 2000's, never ceased to speak of the Orthodox doctrines about creation as essential to understanding Orthodox Tradition. The core of this Tradition, for Father John, is the healing of man's dissipated noetic energy through the “way free of error”: the threefold path of purification, illumination, and glorification.[1] His presentation of the Orthodox faith, undoubtedly unique in its organization and in some of its applications, is nonetheless not new, but rather remains in essence identical to what the Orthodox have taught at all times. This being the case, our discourse can be read as a general presentation of the Orthodox teaching concerning creation, though it also serves to introduce Father John's rich and enduring oeuvre.

Do the Saints Have Unerring Knowledge of Scientific Matters?

"The non-Christological interpretation of the Old Testament is not only deception, but also heresy."
 - Fr. John Romanides (1927-2001), Priest and Teacher of Theology

By Prof. Fr. John Romanides

When activated by the Holy Spirit the noetic faculty has unceasing memory of God in the Lord of Glory Who is Christ Incarnate. This is a state of liberation from demonic influences and unity in Christ in which the whole person, body and soul, is kept from error and gifted with inspiration in such wise that he does not confuse the energies of God with the energies of creatures and especially of the devil.

Can We Know God Through Mathematics?

The esteemed theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, one of the creators and developers of the revolutionary String Theory which is highly respected throughout the world, claims to have developed a theory that might point to the existence of God. Through this theory he claims that it is through mathematics we can know the mind of God, who he says is a mathematician. He says: "The mind of God we believe is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace. That is the mind of God." You can hear him explain more here. The Orthodox perspective is quite different, however, coming down to how both Science and Theology should be viewed and used. Below Fr. John Romanides and Fr. George Metallinos explain, together with a wonderful quote by Albert Einstein that can be integrated into the Orthodox perspective.

By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

At this point, we come to a crucial difference between the apophatic theology of the Church Fathers and that of the Western Scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages. Even today if we open up a dogmatic textbook written by Roman Catholic theologians, we will come across their claim that there are two ways to theologize – one way involves attributing names to God and the other negative way involves removing these names from God. But what is absurd is that for them these names are not taken away from God in order to avoid attributing them to Him, but in order to purify the names of their imperfections.

A Question Concerning the Knowledge of God and Orthodox Gnosiology

I received the following question via email and below that is my answer.

QUESTION:


Father Romanides taught that when someone experiences theosis, when they experience the uncreated glory of God and His uncreated energies, then "perfection has come" and faith and hope are no longer necessary and only love remains (I Cor. 13.10). Romanides also taught that prayer of the heart is an experience in which the saint is aware of the Holy Spirit praying within them, which is an existential phenomenon and empirical for the person experiencing it.

How does his teaching relate to the following particular idea of Father Alexander Elchaninov in his book Diary of a Russian Priest?

"Those who demand proofs in order to believe are on the wrong track. Faith is a free choice; wherever there is a desire for proof, even a desire hidden from ourselves, there is no faith. The evidences of divine manifestation must not be taken as 'proofs' - this would be to degrade and nullify the great virtue of faith."

Scientific Progress, Frankish Civilization and Romanity

By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

There are clear and distinct boundaries between Theology and Science. Theology, as the Greek origin of the word suggests, is concerned with God - what God is and how one can attain communion with Him - whereas Science is concerned with the created world and is interested mainly in the use of the world.

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (6 of 6)

...continued from part five.

By John Sanidopoulos

In the previous posts there was provided a brief synopsis of the Orthodox teaching on the creation of the world and man, according to the spoken teachings of Fr. John Romanides. Fr. Romanides linked dogma with empirical knowledge, and he taught what can be known about these things from the experience of divine vision as it was granted directly to the Prophets, Apostles, Fathers and Saints. Though we currently have an indirect knowledge of these things, acquired through study, Fr. Romanides always taught that we too can have this direct knowledge if we truly live the therapeutic life of the Church. This is why he called the Orthodox Church a "spiritual hospital", and Orthodox Theology a "medical science". Knowing this is a basic prerequisite when studying the theology of Fr. John Romanides.

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (5 of 6)

...continued from part four.

The previous post was a transcript from a less than clear recording of a classroom lecture of Fr. John Romanides, in which there could be minor errors in transcription and translation. The post below is a summary of the lecture from the notes of a student of Fr. Romanides that is word for word, and fills in some of the unintelligible words due to the unclear recording. Below the translation are the same notes in the original Greek.

By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

Now the problem is whether man evolved from the ape, or if man made his appearance as man from the beginning.

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (4 of 6)

...continued from part three.

From a classroom lecture of Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides delivered on February 4, 1983 at the University of Thessaloniki. The lecture can be heard here. Certain words and phrases cannot be made out, so were left out of the translation below. Keep in mind as well that this lecture is very conversational and not well structured grammatically, and of course the scientific language reflects that of 1983.

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (3 of 6)

...continued from part two.

The Creation of Man

"Now it was necessary that man should in the first instance be created; and having been created, should grow; and having grown, should reach maturity; and having reached maturity, should multiply; and having multiplied, should be strengthened; and having been strengthened, should be glorified; and being glorified, should see his Lord. For it is God Who is going to be seen, and the vision of God procures immortality." (St. Irenaeus of Lyons)

"By this arrangement, therefore, and this rhythm, and this course, man, a created and formed being, comes to be in the image and likeness of the uncreated God: the Father being well-pleased and giving His command; the Son carrying it out and creating; and the Spirit nourishing and increasing; and man gradually making progress, and ascending towards perfection. that is, drawing near to the uncreated One. For He Who is uncreated is perfect, Who is God." (St. Irenaeus of Lyons)

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (2 of 6)

...continued from part one.

E) Recording the Experience of Revelation

- "Revelational experience is formulated in created words and concepts. The God-seeing Prophets, Apostles and Fathers use the perceptions of the people of their era in order to put their experience into words. Their basic teaching is that God created the world and He directs it, but the formulation of the experience in words comes from the knowledge of the period. The teaching is a matter of theology, the wording is a matter of communication. The cosmology of the Old Testament, as regards expression and formulation, is influenced by the Babylonian cosmology of that age. We stress this to avoid any confusion between the theology of the God-seeing saints and the scientific language of each era." (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Fr. John Romanides on the Creation of the World and Man (1 of 6)

I want to begin by presenting the basic position of the Orthodox Church on the Creation of the World and Man, as formulated by the preeminent theologian of our time Fr. John Romanides, whose positions are closest to mine. Below are excerpts from his classroom lectures compiled in the much more detailed book by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos titled Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, which I highly recommend. The excerpts below are from volume two and are actual words of Fr. John Romanides unless otherwise indicated. This will be a six part series that will conclude with my comments. Included will be never before translated material from audio lectures I have on this subject. The next post will be about the Cosmology of the Old Testament.