Eastern Orthodox Power Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith With Wisdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/files\/2012\/01\/Amen1-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Jesep\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Jesep\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/\",\"name\":\"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6\"},\"description\":\"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/\",\"name\":\"Faith With Wisdom\",\"description\":\"This blog is a spiritual reflection that faith and religion must be balanced with logic, science, and common sense as guided by Holy Sophia, the Holy Spirit.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6\",\"name\":\"Paul Jesep\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Jesep\"},\"description\":\"Paul is an attorney and corporate chaplain. He experiences the world as a Christ-centered Sophiologist. Paul believes the Holy Spirit is Holy Sophia (Divine Wisdom). He embraces Holy Sophia's invitation as a partner and co-creator for a better world balancing logic, faith, science, religion, spirituality, and common sense. Paul is also an Orthodox priest and served as the U.S. designated spokesperson and governmental representative on behalf of His Beatitude Metropolitan Myfodii of Ukraine, who died in 2015.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/author\/pauljesep\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics","description":"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics","og_description":"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/","og_site_name":"Faith With Wisdom","article_published_time":"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/files\/2012\/01\/Amen1-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Paul Jesep","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Jesep","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/","name":"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-19T14:47:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6"},"description":"Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 Its","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/","name":"Faith With Wisdom","description":"This blog is a spiritual reflection that faith and religion must be balanced with logic, science, and common sense as guided by Holy Sophia, the Holy Spirit.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6","name":"Paul Jesep","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Paul Jesep"},"description":"Paul is an attorney and corporate chaplain. He experiences the world as a Christ-centered Sophiologist. Paul believes the Holy Spirit is Holy Sophia (Divine Wisdom). He embraces Holy Sophia's invitation as a partner and co-creator for a better world balancing logic, faith, science, religion, spirituality, and common sense. Paul is also an Orthodox priest and served as the U.S. designated spokesperson and governmental representative on behalf of His Beatitude Metropolitan Myfodii of Ukraine, who died in 2015.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/author\/pauljesep\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/969"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1031,"date":"2012-01-19T14:47:51","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T14:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experts.patheos.com\/expert\/paulpeterjesep\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2012-01-19T14:47:51","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T14:47:51","slug":"eastern-orthodox-power-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2012\/01\/eastern-orthodox-power-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Orthodox Power Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Orthodox theologian and philosopher Fr. Alexander Men<\/a> said that the use and pursuit of power is one of the most corrupting forces in humankind.\u00a0 $\"\"$ <\/a> Its misuse and manipulation is seen at the workplace, in relationships, within families, and unfortunately among high ranking church officials of all denominations.<\/p>\n

Those with the experience of seeing secular political power up close and the Machiavellian maneuverings of church leaders behind the scenes often conclude that religious politics is far worse then its secular counterpart.\u00a0 There is ruthlessness to church politics draped in the appearance of piety not found among elected politicians.\u00a0 Few denominations are immune from it.<\/p>\n

Emperor Constantine should be blamed.\u00a0 He made Christianity the official $\"\"$ <\/a>state religion.\u00a0 It formalized and corporatized God.\u00a0 Servants of the people became princes of the church.<\/p>\n

There is a power struggle now occurring in the Eastern Orthodox world.\u00a0 Its outcome not only has ramifications for Orthodox theology, but foreign policy as well.\u00a0 The titular head of world Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew<\/a> of Constantinople and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow, Patriarch Kirill<\/a> have publicly clashed over the arrest of a prominent Greek monk<\/a> at Mount Athos.<\/p>\n

The Ecumenical Patriarch is a bit like Queen Elizabeth II who heads the British Commonwealth, but Her Majesty is much better at her role.\u00a0 In addition, the title of Patriarch is comparable to a Roman Pope accept each Orthodox nation often has their own Patriarch.<\/p>\n

The Russian Patriarch has been publicly spirited in his denunciation of the monk\u2019s arrest by Greek authorities while the Ecumenical Patriarch has been very restrained.\u00a0 The monk, accused of an improper real estate transaction, $\"\"$ <\/a>has close ties to Moscow.\u00a0 He recently arranged for a belt worn by the Virgin Mary<\/a> to tour Russia.\u00a0 The relic was seen by millions.\u00a0 No doubt the Ecumenical Patriarch saw this as undermining his international authority.<\/p>\n

The ancient monastery the monk oversees is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch.\u00a0 After the monk\u2019s arrest the Ecumenical Patriarchate reminded the Moscow Patriarchate that it does not have \u201ccanonical\u201d jurisdiction over the territory in question.\u00a0 In short, mind your own business.\u00a0 Don\u2019t interfere.\u00a0 It was a rare public rebuke of the leader of the world\u2019s largest Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

Russian Orthodoxy always has had a messianic mission to save the world.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a student of Eastern Slavic literature that especially comes through in Dostoevsky among others.\u00a0 The Russian Patriarch has been aggressive in furthering the mission of Russkiy Mir<\/a> or Russian World.\u00a0 It is an institution that promotes throughout the world Russian faith and culture, much of it from non-ethnic Russians subjugated by the tsars and Soviets.<\/p>\n

The Russian Orthodox Church, not having learned its lessons of collaboration $\"\"$ <\/a>with the tsarist regimes or the Communists, is again closely linked to the government.\u00a0 It initially chided demonstrators that rocked Moscow\u2019s streets protesting voter fraud, but pragmatically backed off seeing that it was potentially on the losing side<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Russian Patriarch\u2019s maneuverings on behalf of the monk speak to a greater issue \u2013 leadership of world Orthodoxy<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s about power and prestige.\u00a0 In addition, the Ecumenical Patriarch, while not showing much leadership on the issue but not taking Russia\u2019s side, has publicly taken a neutral view toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which Moscow seeks to subvert.\u00a0 After all what is Russia without Kyiv?\u00a0 Kyiv is the cradle of Eastern Slav Orthodoxy.\u00a0 Without canonical control over Kyiv Russia faces a spiritual identity crisis.<\/p>\n

Lost in all this intrigue, cultural chauvinism, and bedazzling ceremonial ritual of Orthodoxy is Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.\u00a0 And the devil said to him, \u2018To you I will give their glory and all $\"\"$ <\/a>this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.\u00a0 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.\u2019\u00a0 Jesus answered him, \u2018It is written, worship the Lord your God, and serve only him\u2019\u201d (Luke 4:5-8).<\/p>\n

In 2012, modernism and answers to long held scientific questions have not quenched the spiritual thirst that millions have throughout the world.\u00a0 Other major Christian denominations struggle with similar issues caused by hierarchal structures.\u00a0 Rather than spiritually empower people these structures have corporatized Christ and sought to control souls rather than free them.<\/p>\n

The empowerment that Christ offered over 2,000 years ago is as fiery, dynamic, and all consuming today as it was back then not because of religious politics, but in spite of it.\u00a0 It\u2019s a testament of the living God in our lives at every moment that cannot be suppressed by the follies of men.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"