Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind Paperback – November 16, 2020

It has been said that after people find Jesus and a church, Jesus leads them to The Church. When discovering Orthodoxy, there is generally a list of must read books for making acquaintance. If I could only recommend one single book for an inquirer or catechumen, this would without a doubt be that book. For those who are already Orthodox, especially cradle Orthodox, this book is still essential reading.This book may be the definitive source on what it means to develop and have Orthodox Phronema. While developing Phronema is a lifelong process, and this is not a how-to for dummies type of guide (no such thing), it is a pretty good map on how to proceed. This book does a great job explaining the differences between East and West thinking. Patristics, Holy Tradition, and true Theology. There is a rather odd low score review on here that seems confused over the word "Phronema" supposing it to be a recently invented word, or word invented just for this book. Nothing could be further from the truth. Orthodox Phronema is long held and core to the faith.

At the very heart a genuine Orthodox phronema is living the Faith of Christ within the Body of Christ in oneness of mind, having been Baptized in-Christ, and being in-Him, through the ancient Sacramental reality given to the Apostles. (Eph 4:4-10). Though the laity and clergy receive the same Spirit of Truth, it is the clergy whose purpose is to vouchsafe the Sacramental life of the church, and especially for the bishops to vouchsafe the Faith, both living and taught, hence they are of one mind in the Holy Spirit and are found to be in accord with the Church, always, and everywhere. As St Vincent of Lenins eruditely put it, but I paraphrase….in that which is truly Orthodox one finds oneness of mind being taught, and lived, by “all the faithful, at all times, and in all places.”This is not the case with modern, world-orthodoxy. The author is widely respected, but not for her experience of Christ, but for her “theological” degrees gained by the very rationalism of the West she repudiates. It is rightly stated that Papism is foreign to the Orthodox mindset yet the bishops currently regarded as Orthodox have that same hierarchical structure with their Ecumenical Patriarch, who is now regarded as the Pope in the East. If the laity start to ask questions about the direction their clergy are now steering they are told to obey, not question. Legalism is seen as a western way of thinking, however, this same thinking is behind the use of the terms “canonical” and “non-canonical”when applied to the Old Calendar Orthodox; meanwhile the New Calendar bishops conveniently trample over the historical Anathemas and ratified conciliar statements of The Church. The very principle of Faith was overturned for the letter of the law in the 1924 persecutions of the Faithful and their courageous clergy. The foundation laid then by those in “authority” led to an innovative doctrine on sin redefining unity, ushering in the Mutual Lifting of the Anathemas (of 1054) in 1965 without the repentance of the Catholics for all their heresies; unity in-Christ which is a fundamental phronema of Orthodoxy is now taught as possible without restoration to the Truth. The authority of the Church is denied. The Holy Fathers never wrote such things, our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ never taught such things, and yet this doublethink of modern “orthodoxy” claims to be the “fullness of Truth”.Throughout this book an attempt to set out what the Orthodox Christian Mindset is. However, the “Orthodoxy” to which she belongs does not live it. Many in the author’s position believe they are “resisting” the heretical mindset predominant in the West, yet have no other recourse than to be obedient to their bishops. This is Papism. Modern rational thought processes are capable of all sorts of gymnastics, while life in-Christ is truly simple, and simply…Truth.A frank question for Americans, at the very least, when considering the claim of being united in Orthodox phronema would be this…What does the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox in America, Archbishop Elpidophoros, teach, is it truly Orthodox and are the Orthodox under him all in agreement with what he teaches? Does his example meet the testing of the spirits (required of us in 1John 4:1) and the criteria of St Vincent? Is the phronema of the bishops drawing people closer to Christ or is it subtly doing the opposite and over time desensitizing them to more and more innovation?A book worth reading, with a discerning lookout for the doublethink.

All of my life when encountering Protestants and the Latin rite church I've had the strong sense that "something's off here for me, and very different" and couldn't put my finger on it. Dr. Constantinou has given me a vocabulary to express the differences and perhaps maybe even to explain them to those who don't understand my Christian tradition or "soul" as I've called it (now I have a term - phronema). What a relief to finally have the words to go with the truth of my tradition and why the understanding is so different. Now my mind can articulate what my soul has always sensed and I can stop wondering if it's just me or if there really are some big differences here. When I've encountered some converts from Protestantism to Orthodoxy I've sometimes sensed that there's still been some core of Protestantism left, something hard to put your finger on, and again this book helps to articulate what that might be. It's as if our tradition and its mysteries have to permeate our bones, and perhaps the process can take a long time for someone who's been steeped in a Protestant way of thinking or "being" (but don't give up!). At any rate, I think that this book gets at the fact that there is a "certain something" in the Eastern tradition that may take a while to acquire or "become". An important work.

If you're interested in Orthodoxy or have spent years in the Faith this book will be an invaluable tool.