Evangelism by Allurement

“Orthodoxy does not persuade or try to compel, it charms and attracts” (Fr. Sergius Bulgakov)

Odd but true. So many people I’ve known have found their way to Orthodox Christianity by fascination. Bp. Kallistos Ware is one of the many who tell their tale of having visited an Orthodox church and been caught up in the rituals and ways of worship. It seems like a feminine method of garnering devotees, but the word for the Church is feminine, and maybe that’s appropriate. Even the manner in which we go about presenting ourselves is feminine. The Old World adage: “He chased her until she caught him” applies. We don’t really go on the prowl for converts; they come to us. It’s not normal, it’s not what the Lord demands in the passage that closes the gospel of St. Matthew (28:19):

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you—.”

Evangelical Christians, Baptists and others fulfill that order in ways more obvious than our people. And unfortunately they do quite well, incorporating many of those baptized in the Orthodox Christian faith. I often wondered why we don’t go and do likewise. I have a few explanations, not one of them justifying our non-evangelical attitude:

1. Many of our clergy and people come from regions like the Balkans where they have been conquered, dominated and oppressed by followers of Mohammed. They had imposed on them the warning not to seek converts or else they will pay with their lives. The Moslems instituted the Millet system, whereby one was born into a culture, ethos and religion in which he was defined by his tradition. It’s kismet. One doesn’t question it.

2. Elsewhere, something similar was considered the normal way things were. In a nation where nearly everyone was Orthodox except minorities and strangers, there was felt no real need to seek out converts.

3. Here in America with the great immigration at the beginning of the last century and augmented by the new immigrants set free to leave their homelands after the fall of communism, an anti-evangelical attitude sets in. Those who come in search of the faith tradition they left behind in the Old World look for a church which is as near to their parish as the place from whence they came. English polluted the purity of the liturgical language they grew up in, and ordinary Americans without the nationality and cultural upbringing can be tolerated at best, but they only dilute the purity of the ethnic traditions.

4. The spirit of complacency settles in a parish and smothers the vision of outreach to others. Priests, choirs and laity feel their only task is to enjoy the beauty and spiritual wellness derived from worship, and nothing else is required of them. As long as they can go on celebrating the liturgy, bringing others to the celebration is not a vital concern. Bills are paid, obligations are met, and nothing else is needed.

The above explanations do not satisfy me. They fall short of the demand to evangelize by our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither am I prepared to accept the reasons for the anti-evangelical attitude of so many Orthodox Christian parishes. We are far beyond the frontier spirit of existence as strangers in a foreign land. We can and are accommodating immigrants to our churches and making a spiritual home for them, but that is not the reason why we are blessed with the true faith of our spiritual parents. I agonize when I read the judgments in Revelation: “I have this against you; that you lost your first love” (2:4), and “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (3:1). “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (3:13).