[scrierile] Fr. Michael Pomazansky: "Dogmatic Theology" - foreword and biography by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose
Kyrill
This article by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) was first published as the
foreword to the book by Fr. Michael, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, 1984.
http://www.stherman.com/catalog/chapter_eight/OrthDogmTh_book.htm
Hieromonk SERAPHIM (Rose)
THEOLOGY IN THE ANCIENT TRADITION
Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky is unique among contemporary
Orthodox theologians. At over 90 years of age, he is surely the oldest
of those still writing theological articles; but more important, he
received his theological formation not in any of the theological
academies of the pre-sent day, all of which reflect to some degree the
theological uncertainties and divisions of today's Orthodoxy, but in
the pre-Revolutionary academies of Russia, when Orthodoxy was still
one in spirit, was still rooted in the age-old past of theological
tradition, and did not suffer from the "identity crisis" that plagues
so much of Orthodox theological literature today.
Some Orthodox writers today seem to have so little awareness of the
distinctness of Orthodoxy that they lead people into the false opinion
that Orthodoxy is scarcely different from Western confessions at all,
and if only a few more "joint theological committees" will work out a
few more "agreed statements" about the faith, we can all be one again
and even share the same Holy Mysteries; this is the aim of the various
societies and activities of the "ecumenical movement".
The reaction to this movement, on the other hand, even when it goes
under the name of a "patristic revival", sometimes produces a
definition of Orthodoxy so narrow that it proclaims all but a small
group of today's Orthodox to be without grace, or breaks off contact
with its own Orthodox roots by declaring that only today are a few
Orthodox theologians becoming free of the "Western captivity"
(dominance by Roman Catholic or Protestant ideas) in which Orthodoxy
has supposedly been held in recent centuries.
Both of these extremes are perilously close to losing their very
identity as Orthodox. Perhaps the crucial test for the extremists of
either side is that of continuity: Are they teaching the same teaching
they received from their own fathers in the faith, who in turn
received it from their Fathers, and so on in an unbroken line with the
past? More often than not, the extremists will have to admit that —
no, they themselves are "correcting the mistakes" of their fathers,
that 19th-century theology (for example) is too narrow and
anti-Western or (in the opposite extreme) too "scholastic" and
pro-Western; that some respected Orthodox theologians of earlier
centuries are "out of date" and inapplicable to today's "ecumenical"
Christianity, or (in the opposite extreme) are "Western-izers" who
"didn't understand the real Orthodox teaching" and should be rejected
as Orthodox authorities.
Meanwhile, the genuine Orthodox tradition continues as it has always
been, trying to preserve its integrity in the midst of these
conflicting currents. Fortunately, this tradition has a way—with the
help of God, Who looks after His Church—of preserving itself from the
extremes that often try to deflect it from its course. This
self-preservation and self-continuity of the Orthodox tradition is not
something that requires the assistance of "brilliant theologians"; it
is the result of the uninterrupted "catholic consciousness" of the
Church which has guided the Church from the very beginning of its
existence. It is this catholic consciousness which preserved the
wholeness of Russian Orthodoxy in the 1920's when the extreme reforms
of the "Living Church" seemed to have taken possession of the Church
and many of its leading hierarchs and theologians; this same catholic
consciousness is at work today and will continue to preserve Christ's
Church through all the trials of the present day, just as it has for
nearly 2000 years. Those who speak for it are often not the "brilliant
theologians", who can be led astray as easily as anyone else, but more
often humble laborers in Christ's vineyard who would be surprised and
even offended that anyone should make anything of their labors or even
call them "theologians".
One of such humble laborers in the Russian Church today is Father
Michael Pomazansky.
Father Michael was born on November 7/19, 1888, in the town of Koryst
in the province of Volhynia in the west of Russia. His father's family
had been parish priests for generations, and the simple impressions
from the churchly way of life of his childhood set their seal on Fr.
Michael's whole life, influencing him more—as he himself has said—than
all the theological schools he attended.
Fr. Michael's years of attending the theological preparatory school
and seminary (1901-1908) coincided with the Russo-Japanese War and the
first Russian Revolution of 1905, which threatened the end of the
Orthodox way of life in Russia, but also made evident the need for
faithfulness to Orthodox tradition in those who, like Fr. Michael,
were church oriented. During these same years a great hierarch of the
Russian Church was transferred to the diocese of Volhynia—Bishop
(later Metropolitan) Anthony Khrapovitsky, a highly educated
churchman, a flaming preacher, a devoted son of the Church and an
ardent Russian patriot, but at the same time an enemy of mere routine
and "taking for granted" in church life, a man of warm heart who had
an especially close contact with and influence on young people, and
especially future monks and clergy. Bishop Anthony had a great
influence on the soul of the young student Michael.
Fr. Michael entered the Kiev Theological Academy in 1908, graduating
from it in 1912. The Kiev Academy had long been a center for the
defense of Orthodoxy in Western Russia, especially against the Latins,
and had produced five Metropolitans who were numbered among the
saints. The emphasis in the Academy in Fr. Michael's time was on solid
theological and historical knowledge, and none of the professors was
noted for special eloquence or "popularity". Fr. Michael's
dissertation was on a technical historical subject: "Particularities
of the Divine Ser-vices in the Church of Western Russia According to
the Printed Service Books of the 17th Century". Here he was able to
study in detail the ques-tion of "Western influences" in the Russian
Church.
After graduation, Fr. Michael spent two years in the south of Russia
as a missionary among the sects that flourished there; this experience
made him for life a zealous student of the New Testament, which the
sectarians distorted for their own ends, but which rightly understood
contains the profound teaching of the Orthodox Church. In 1914 he was
appointed an instructor in the Kaluga seminary not too far from
Moscow. Here he remained for three years, until the outbreak of the
Revolution. With the closing of the seminary at that time, he returned
with his small family to his homeland in the south; he had married the
daughter of a priest, Vera Theodorovna Shumskaya, and had several
children.
By an agreement between the Polish and Soviet government, Fr.
Michael's native village fell within the boundaries of Poland (only
ten miles from the Soviet border). Fr. Michael received a teaching
position in a Russian high school in Rovno, where he taught Russian
language and literature, philosophy, and Latin. In this position he
was able to send his children through high school, and once this
responsibility was discharged he was able to receive ordination to the
priesthood, in 1986.
His first assignment as a priest was to the Warsaw cathedral of St.
Mary Magdalene, where he served as a diocesan missionary; and when the
main church in this cathedral was given over to Ukrainian services, he
went with other clergy to the lower church, where Slavonic services
were continued. Near the end of the Second World War (1944), he was
also to go with his family to Germany, where he entered the clergy of
the Russian Church Outside of Russia under Metropolitan Anastassy.
While in Warsaw, Fr. Michael was the unofficial editor of the church
newspaper, The Word, and after its closure he was official editor of
the magazine Sunday Reading. In these years (1936-1944) he also
published articles in the Messenger of Orthodox Theologians in Poland.
In Germany he was entrusted with the organization of the official
organ of the Russian Church Abroad, Church Life; he was in charge of
this from 1947 until his departure for America in August, 1949. Since
that time he has lived at Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville, New
York, teaching in the seminary there for many years, from the very
beginning of its existence in 1950, and writing numerous articles for
the mon-astery's periodicals (these have now been collected into two
volumes in Russian: "Life, Faith, and the Church", Jordanville, 1976)
in addition to his major work, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, which for
long has been the seminary's textbook for its course in dogmatic
theology.
Father Michael's writings have been on various church subjects:
apologetics, defenses of the faith against modern errors (Bulgakov's
"Sophiology", the "ecumenic movement", "renovationism" in liturgical
theology, etc.), on various feast days and church services, on aspects
of the teachings of the Holy Fathers (in particular, two enlightening
comparisons of ancient Fathers with St. John of Kronstadt: St. Basil
on the Six Days of Creation, and St. Symeon the New Theologian on
grace), and many other subjects.
Especially helpful to present-day Orthodox Christians who are
sur-rounded by the non-Orthodox are his careful distinctions
(especially in Orthodox Dogmatic Theology) between Orthodox beliefs
and those of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, even on some points
which may seem outwardly identical. This he does without any tone of
irritation against the non-Orthodox — something so common in polemic
writings today — but, always after describing their views with
fairness, he sets forth the Orthodox teaching in an objective manner
that helps Orthodox Christians to understand their own faith much
better.
In all his writings, Fr. Michael is not trying to discover anything
"new" in Orthodox tradition, or to stand out for the sharpness of his
criticisms — common faults in today's academic theology. Rather, he
attempts to give only his own humble, serene reflections on the wealth
of Orthodox teaching which he accepts as already established and
experienced by centuries of theologians and simple Christians before
him. Even when, for the sake of truth, he does find it necessary to
criticize a view, whether inside or outside the Orthodox Church, he
does it with such gentleness and good intention that it is impossible
for anyone to be offended by him.
Most of all, in Fr. Michael's writings one may see a characteristic of
genuine Orthodox theology that is so often lost sight of in our cold,
rationalistic age. Theology is not primarily a matter of arguments,
criticisms, proofs and disproofs; it is first of all men's word about
God, in accordance with the Divinely-revealed teaching of Orthodoxy.
Therefore, its first purpose and intent is always to inspire, to warm
the heart, to lift one above the petty preoccupations of earth in
order to glimpse the Divine beginning and end of all things and so to
give one the energy and encouragement to struggle towards God and our
heavenly homeland. This is certainly the meaning and spirit of the
theology of Orthodoxy's three preeminent "theologians": St. John the
Evangelist, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Symeon the New Theologian;
they, one may say, have set the tone for Orthodox theology, and this
remains the tone and the task of theology even in our cold-hearted and
analytic age.
Father Michael's theology is in this warm-hearted and inspiring tone.
He is not the only one to write Orthodox theology with this intent
today, but he is one of the few, in an older generation that is fast
vanishing, who can serve as a link between us and the genuine theology
of the Holy Fathers. Fr. Michael himself would be offended to hear
such words, or even to discover that we have written this much about
him; but that in itself is only another sign that he is someone
totally penetrated with the true spirit of Orthodox theology. May the
younger generations learn from him!
DracuGol
"Kyrill" <ortod...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:85254ddd.04103...@posting.google.com...
>
http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/legacy/serrosethology.html
>
> This article by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) was first published as the
> foreword to the book by Fr. Michael, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, 1984.
De ce nu spui toata istoria lui Pomazansky, saralatanule?
Nascut la Korist in 1988, fiul unui ilustru informator al Oprichinei, pe
numele lui Ioan Pomazansky, la rindul sau fiul unui venal camatar ucrainian
pe numele lui Ioan Ambrosecic, caterisit popa ortodox desi era evreu. (Sa-
botezat dup un progrom si dupa aia si-a zis, de ce nu sa ma fac eu popa, sa
le iau banii la boii astia de goim)
S-a casatori cu Vera Feodorovna Shumsky, c carei familie tinea un bordel in
Kiev.
Ambii escroci au fost nevoiti sa se refugieze in Polonia dupa Marea
Zapaceala din Octombrie.
Pomazansky a deschis o circiuma in Vlozlazeck, oras invecinat, care inca mai
exista (La Motanul Negru), oar Vera un nou bordel chiar Rovensk, unde sotul
ei "preda" la seminar.
S-au mutat amindoi la Varsovia mai tirziu, unde Pomazansky si-a reluat
activitatea de informator, de data asta in sluba Vaticanului. Acest
excrement spiona impotriva propriilor lui colegi ortodocsi de la Catedrala
Ortodoxa din Varsovia.
Frecentind prea des stabilimentele nesesti-si a capata sifilis. In 1945 s-a
refugiat la Muenchen.
Nemtii insa i-au refuzat sederea -avind in vedere gloriosul lui trecut de
informator venal -asa ca in 1949 s-a refugiat, din nou, de data asta in SUA.
Sifilisus l-a rapus in cele din urma in 1988. Ultimii 15 ani din viata i-a
petrecut inchis in mamanstire (Vera crapase) , semi-constient dar
incontinent. Ceilalti calugari se rugau pentru moartea lui, caci trebuiau
sa-l curete in fiece zi.
Acetsa este idolul lui Kuril.