I have been exploring the roots of our Eastern Christianity. Although Christianity seems very familiar to us and our culture, in actuality it is a foreigner from a different land. Christianity emerged from a history and culture that in many respects is un-familiar to our own. When we treat the Christian faith as though it originated within our culture, we erase the significance of its own   culture, perspective and psychology.

It is important, I believe, that we take time to become re-acquainted with the Christianity we profess and the reality is that we profess an Eastern Christianity. We need to ask the right questions, questions about: the history of Christianity; the cultural womb from which Christianity was born; the fiery faith which fueled our first century brethren; a practical and living our faith. Only this kind of inquiry will give us insight into the Eastern Christian mind.

The Eastern Christian mind refers to the mindset of the early Christians in the Middle East – the home of Jesus and His Jewish Disciples.

The Eastern Christian mind cannot be confined to a specific geographic area. For although Christianity arose in the East, the “Eastern Christian mind” has been enriched by the cultures in which it was planted and grew. Thus it also means understanding how the Slavs incorporated this Eastern mind-set into their culture.

The Eastern Christian mind is an outlook and way of thinking which can exist among any people and within any locale.

God calls us to be “rooted” in Christ, and an aspect of being so rooted demands an understanding of His     revelation – the revelation delivered within an Eastern context. In order to live in the light of this revelation, we must be willing to enter into its frame of reference. Have no doubt, the Eastern Christian way of thinking IS different from the Western way. One is not more Catholic or Christian. But they are different.

A very important point of difference between the Eastern and Western mind is in the way each tends to analyze a subject. The West typically studies a subject by dissecting it into smaller units and then classifying each unit by a set of definitions. The East, on the other hand, studies a matter by observing how the entire subject relates to each of its parts. With this latter approach, a Christian adopting an Eastern perspective would seek to understand a particular Christian teaching from within the context of all Christian doctrine, not as an isolated unit. This is the approach of our Church.
More to come!