POETIC HONESTY ABOUT THE CHURCH
O strange Orthodox Church, so poor and weak, with neither the organization nor the culture of the West, staying afloat as if by a miracle in the face of so many trials, tribulations and struggles; a Church of contrasts, both so traditional and so free, so archaic and so alive, so ritualistic and so personally involved, a Church where the priceless pearl of the Gospel is assiduously preserved, sometimes under a layer of dust; a Church which in shadows and silence maintains above all the eternal values of purity, poverty, asceticism, humility and forgiveness; a Church which has often not known how to act, but which can sing of the joy of Pascha like no other.
These words were spoken by Father Lev Gillet in 1937 at the funeral of Archimandrite Irénée Winnaert, the founder of the Orthodox Church of France. Who speaks like this today? Although the Orthodox Church might be a little better organized these days than it was in 1937, everything this wonderful spiritual father spoke in this paragraph is perennially true of the Orthodox Church, and it is indeed the miracle of our existence. Everything that people criticize about the Orthodox is here, in Lev Gillet’s words. Yes, we are traditional, archaic, ritualistic! And yet, parallel to these perennial negatives, is the richness of who we are: free, alive, personal, where purity, poverty, humility, forgiveness are ingrained in our tradition. And how poetically honest the statement about our preservation of the Gospel truth, even if “sometimes under a layer of dust”! Yes, there’s a lot of dust in the Orthodox Church; but it’s the dust of faith that is lived, just like the dust of a living room that is used and not covered in plastic as some of our mothers liked to do. We are not a plastic church! And yes, we Orthodox many times don’t know how to act in confronting challenges and new situations, or in proselytizing and outreach. But Oh, how we “can sing of the joy of Pascha like no other”!
We are not an artificial church with an artificial message. And though we are traditional, we are not outdated – unless we choose to be. We preserve the pearl of great price of Gospel truth. So let’s keep blowing away the dust that tends to collect and keep the message of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection always fresh, always moving us forward. Praise God for his gift of a church that celebrates his presence in so many ways. As Father Alexander Schmemann, said at the conclusion of his very last sermon at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, just two weeks before his death: “Lord, it is good to be here! Amen.” These were the last words he preached and they continue to inspire more than 35 years later; and so do the words of Father Lev Gillet quoted above.