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John Romanides

2025-05-08T23:32:03Z

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{{Short description|American Eastern Orthodox priest}}
{{over-quotation|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]]
| name = John Romanides
| birth_name = John Savvas Romanides
| birth_date = 2 March 1927
| birth_place = [[Piraeus]], [[Greece]]
| occupation = [[Theologian]]
| death_date = 1 November 2001
| death_place = [[Athens]], Greece
| alma_mater = [[Yale Divinity School]]<br />[[University of Athens]]
}}

'''John Savvas Romanides''' ({{langx|el|Ιωάννης Σάββας Ρωμανίδης}}; 2 March 1927{{spaced ndash}}1 November 2001) was a theologian, [[Eastern Orthodox priest]], and scholar who had a distinctive influence on post-war [[Greek Orthodox]] theology.

==Biography==
Born in [[Piraeus]], Greece, on 2 March 1927, his parents emigrated to the United States when he was only two months old. He grew up in Manhattan, graduating from the [[Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology|Hellenic College]], Brookline, Massachusetts. After attending [[Yale Divinity School]], he received his Ph.D. from the [[University of Athens]].

From 1956 to 1965 he was Professor of [[Dogmatic Theology]] at the [[Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology|Holy Cross Theological School]] in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1968 he was appointed as tenured professor of Dogmatic Theology at the [[University of Thessaloniki]], Greece, a position he held until his retirement in 1982. His latest position was Professor of Theology at Balamand Theological School, in [[Lebanon]]. Romanides died in Athens, Greece on 1 November 2001.

==Theology==
{{See also|History of Eastern Orthodox theology in the 20th century|l1=History of Eastern Orthodox theology in the 20th century|Theological differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church#Neo-Palamism: theoria and hesychasm|l2=Differences with Catholic theology}}

Romanides belonged to the "theological generation of the 1960s", which pleaded for a "return to [[Church Fathers|the Fathers]]", and led to "the acute polarization of the [[East West Schism|East-West divide]] and the cultivation of an anti-Western, anti-[[ecumenical]] sentiment."{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=144}} According to Kalaitzidis, his early theological interests are "wide and broad-minded", but narrowed with the publication of ''Romiosini'' in 1975, which postulates an absolute divide between the [[Eastern Churches]] and the [[Western Church]]:{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=145}} "[h]ereafter, the West is wholly demonized and proclaimed responsible for all the misfortunes of the Orthodox, both theological and historical/national."{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=145}}

Romanides contributed many speculations, some controversial, into the cultural and religious differences between [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern]] and [[Western Christianity]]. According to Romanides, these divergences have impacted the ways in which Christianity has developed and been lived out in the Christian cultures of East and West. According to Romanides, these divergences were due to the influences of the Franks, who were culturally very different from the Romans.{{sfn|Louth|2015|p=229}}{{refn|group=note|"The Filioque controversy was not a conflict between the Patriarchates of Old Rome and New Rome, but between the Franks and all Romans in the East and in the West."<ref name="Romanides_03">{{cite book |last=Rōmanidēs |first=Iōannēs S. |title=Franks, Romans, Feudalism, and Doctrine: The Filioque |chapter-url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.franks_romans_feudalism_and_doctrine.03.htm|date=1981 |publisher=Holy Cross Orthodox Press |isbn=978-0-916586-54-6 |chapter=Empirical Theology versus Speculative Theology, Part 3}}</ref>}}

His theological works emphasize the empirical (experiential){{refn|group=note|Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos: "The vision of the uncreated light, which offers knowledge of God to man, is sensory and supra-sensory. The bodily eyes are reshaped, so they see the uncreated light, 'this mysterious light, inaccessible, immaterial, uncreated, deifying, eternal', this 'radiance of the Divine Nature, this glory of the divinity, this beauty of the heavenly kingdom' (3,1,22;CWS p.80). Palamas asks: 'Do you see that light is inaccessible to senses which are not transformed by the Spirit?' (2,3,22). St. Maximus, whose teaching is cited by St. Gregory, says that the Apostles saw the uncreated Light 'by a transformation of the activity of their senses, produced in them by the Spirit' (2.3.22)."{{sfn|Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos|2005}}}} basis of theology called ''[[theoria]]'' or vision of God, (as opposed to a rational or reasoned understanding of theory) as the essence of [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|Orthodox theology]], setting it "apart from all other religions and traditions", especially the Frankish-dominated western Church which distorted this true spiritual path.{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|pp=147–148}} Studying extensively the works of 14th-century Byzantine theologian St. [[Gregory Palamas]], he stated religion to be identical with sickness, and the so-called [[Jesus prayer]]{{refn|group=note|"Romanidian theology"{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=145}} prefers {{langx|el|νοερά προσευχή|translit=noera prosefchi|lit=noetic prayer}}: {{langx|el|"χρησιμοποιούμεν τους όρους 'νοερά ενέργεια' και 'νοερά προσευχή{{' "}}|lit=we use the terms "noetic faculty" and "noetic prayer"|label=none}}.<ref name="romanides1982">{{cite web |url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.e.21.insous_xristos_i_zoi_tou_kosmou.01.htm |script-title=el:Ο Ιησούς Χριστός-η ζωή του κόσμου |trans-title=Jesus Christ-The Life of the World |last=Ρωμανίδης |first=Ιωάννης Σ. |author-link=John S. Romanides |translator-last=Κοντοστεργίου |translator-first=Δεσποίνης Δ. |publisher=The Romans: Ancient, Medieval and Modern |language=el |date=5–9 February 1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813060113/http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.e.21.insous_xristos_i_zoi_tou_kosmou.01.htm |archive-date=13 August 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}} ''Original:'' {{cite web |url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.19.en.jesus_christ_the_life_of_the_world.01.htm |title=Jesus Christ-The Life of the World |last=Romanides |first=John S. |author-link=John S. Romanides |publisher=The Romans: Ancient, Medieval and Modern |date=5–9 February 1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208205029/http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.19.en.jesus_christ_the_life_of_the_world.01.htm |archive-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref>{{refn|group=subnote|"To be travelling uphill to glorification on the vehicle of noetic prayer is the process of cure, and to reach glorification is the taste of the beginning of health and perfection. At the same time this glorification is the revelation of all truth by the Holy Spirit."<ref name="romanides1982" />}}}} of [[hesychasm]] to be both the cure of this sickness and the core of Christian tradition:{{refn|group=note|"While the brain is the center of human adaptation to the environment, the noetic faculty in the heart is the primary organ for communion with God. The fall of man or the state of inherited sin is: a.) the failure of the noetic faculty to function properly, or to function at all; b.) its confusion with the functions of the brain and the body in general; and c.) its resulting enslavement to the environment.

Each individual experiences the fall of his own noetic faculty. One can see why the Augustinian understanding of the fall of man as an inherited guilt for the sin of Adam and Eve is not, and cannot, be accepted by the Orthodox tradition.

There are two known memory systems built into living beings, 1.) cell memory which determines the function and development of the individual in relation to itself, and 2.) brain cell memory which determines the function of the individual in relation to its environment. In addition to this, the patristic tradition is aware of the existence in human beings of a now normally non-functioning or sub-functioning memory in the heart, which when put into action via noetic prayer, includes unceasing memory of God, and therefore, the normalization of all other relations.

When the noetic faculty is not functioning properly, man is enslaved to fear an anxiety and his relations to others are essentially utilitarian. Thus, the root cause of all abnormal relations between God and man and among me is that fallen man, i.e., man with a malfunctioning noetic faculty, uses God, his fellow man, and nature for his own understanding of security and happiness. Man outside of glorification imagines the existence of god or gods which are psychological projections of his need for security and happiness.

That all men have this noetic faculty in the heart also means that all are in direct relation to God at various levels, depending on how much the individual personality resists enslavement to his physical and social surroundings and allows himself to be directed by God. Every individual is sustained by the uncreated glory of God and is the dwelling place of this uncreated glory of God and is the dwelling place of this uncreated creative and sustaining light, which is called the rule, power, grace, etc. of God. Human reaction to this direct relation or communion with God can range from the hardening of the heart (i.e., the snuffing out of the spark of grace) to the experience of glorification attained to by the prophets, apostles, and saints.

This means that all men are equal in possession of the noetic faculty, but not in quality or degree of function.

It is important to not the clear distinction between spirituality, which is rooted primarily in the heart's noetic faculty, and intellectuality, which is rooted in the brain. Thus:

1.) A person with little intellectual attainments can raise to the highest level of noetic perfection.

2..) On the other hand, a man of the highest intellectual attainments can fall to the lowest level of noetic imperfection.

3.) One may also reach both the highest intellectual attainments and noetic perfection.

Or 4.) One may be of meager intellectual accomplishment with the hardening of the heart.

The role of Christianity was originally more like that of the medical profession, especially that of today's psychologists and psychiatrists.

Man has a malfunctioning or non-functioning noetic faculty in the heart, and it is the task especially of the clergy to apply the cure of unceasing memory of God, otherwise called unceasing prayer or illumination.

Proper preparation for vision of God takes place in two stages: purification, and illumination of the noetic faculty."<ref name="Romanides_02" />}}

{{Cquote|quote=The leadership of the Roman Empire had come to realize that religion is a sickness whose cure was the heart and core of the Christian tradition they had been persecuting. [...] This very cure of fantasies is the core of the Orthodox tradition. These fantasies arise from a short circuit between the nervous system centered in the brain and the blood system centered in the heart. The cure of this short circuit is noetic prayer (noera proseuche) which functions in tandem with rational or intellectual prayer of the brain which frees one from fantasies which the devil uses to enslave his victims.

Note: We are still searching the Fathers for the term 'Jesus prayer'. We would very much appreciate it if someone could come up with a patristic quote in Greek.<ref name="romanides">{{cite web |url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.00.en.some_underlying_positions_of_this_website.htm |title=Some underlying positions of this website reflecting the studies herein included |last=Romanides |first=John S. |author-link=John S. Romanides |publisher=The Romans: Ancient, Medieval and Modern |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119154828/http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.00.en.some_underlying_positions_of_this_website.htm |archive-date=19 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=11 March 2019}}</ref>}}

His research on dogmatic theology led him to the conclusion of a close link between doctrinal differences and historical developments. Thus, in his later years, he concentrated on historical research, mostly of the Middle Ages but also of the 18th and 19th centuries.

===Augustine of Hippo===
Romanides sees [[St Augustine of Hippo|St Augustine]] as the great antagonist of Orthodox thought. Romanides claims that, although he was a saint, Augustine did not have theoria. Many of his theological conclusions, Romanides says, appear not to come from experiencing God and writing about his experiences of God; rather, they appear to be the result of philosophical or logical speculation and conjecture.{{refn|group=note|"A basic characteristic of the Frankish scholastic method, mislead by Augustinian Platonism and Thomistic Aristotelianism, had been its naive confidence in the objective existence of things rationally speculated about. By following Augustine, the Franks substituted the patristic concern for spiritual observation, (which they had found firmly established in Gaul when they first conquered the area) with a fascination for metaphysics. They did not suspect that such speculations had foundations neither in created nor in spiritual reality. ''No one would today accept as true what is not empirically observable'', or at least verifiable by inference, from an attested effect. So it is with patristic theology. Dialectical speculation about God and the Incarnation as such are rejected. Only those things which can be tested by the experience of the grace of God in the heart are to be accepted. 'Be not carried about by divers and strange teachings. For it is good that the heart be confirmed by grace', a passage from Hebrews 13.9, quoted by the Fathers to this effect."<ref name="Romanides_02" /> ''[Emphasis added.]''}} Hence, Augustine is still revered as a saint, but, according to Romanides, does not qualify as a theologian in the [[Eastern Orthodox]] church.<ref>"While pointing this out, this writer has never raised the question about the sainthood of Augustine. He himself believed himself to be fully Orthodox and repeatedly asked to be corrected" [http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.18.en.augustine_unknowingly_rejects_the_doctrine.00.htm]</ref>

====Original sin versus ancestral sin====
Romanides rejects the Roman Catholic teachings on [[Original Sin]].<ref name="stmary">{{cite web |author=Antony Hughes |url=http://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/articles/ancestral_versus_original_sin |title=Ancestral Versus Original Sin: An Overview with Implications for Psychotherapy |publisher=St. Mary Orthodox Church |location=Cambridge, MA |access-date=16 March 2016}}</ref><ref>The Ancestral sin by John S. Romanides (Author), George S. Gabriel (Translator) Publisher: Zephyr Pub (2002) {{ISBN|978-0-9707303-1-2}}</ref> Orthodox theologians trace this position to having its roots in the works of Saint Augustine. [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]], [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodoxy]], and the [[Church of the East|Assyrian Church of the East]], which together make up [[Eastern Christianity]], contemplate that the introduction of ancestral sin into the human race affected the subsequent environment for humanity, but never accepted Augustine of Hippo's notions of original sin and hereditary guilt.<ref name="stmary"/> It holds that original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904224955/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM |date=September 4, 2012 }}</ref>

====Rejection of St. Augustine====
Eastern Orthodox theologians John Romanides and George Papademetriou say that some of Augustine's teachings were actually condemned as those of Barlaam the Calabrian at the Hesychast or [[Fifth Council of Constantinople|Fifth Council of Constantinople 1351]].<ref>This claim is made by Romanides in the title of his ''[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.18.en.augustine_unknowingly_rejects_the_doctrine.01.htm Augustine's Teachings Which Were Condemned as Those of Barlaam the Calabrian by the Ninth Ecumenical Council of 1351]'',</ref><ref>Augustine himself had not been personally attacked by the Hesychasts of the fourteenth century but Augustinian theology was condemned in the person of Barlaam, who caused the controversy. This resulted in the ultimate condemnation of western Augustinianism as presented to the East by the Calabrian monk, Barlaam, in the Councils of the fourteenth century. Saint Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition by Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetriou {{cite web |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 |title=Saint Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |access-date=2010-09-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105045903/http://goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 |archive-date=2010-11-05 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goarch.org/-/saint-augustine-greek-orthodox-tradition|title=Saint Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition|website=www.goarch.org|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-19}}</ref> It is the vision or revelation of God (theoria) that gives one [[gnosis#In the writings of the Greek Fathers|knowledge of God]].{{refn|group=note|"The Latins' weakness to comprehend and failure to express the dogma of the Trinity shows the non-existence of empirical theology. The three disciples of Christ (Peter, James and John) beheld the glory of Christ on Mount Tabor; they heard at once the voice of the Father: 'this is my beloved Son' and saw the coming of the Holy Spirit in a cloud — for, the cloud is the presence of the Holy Spirit, as St. Gregory Palamas says —. Thus the disciples of Christ acquired the knowledge of the Triune God in theoria (vision) and by revelation. It was revealed to them that God is one essence in three hypostases. This is what St. Symeon the New Theologian teaches. In his poems he proclaims over and over that while beholding the uncreated Light, the deified man acquires the Revelation of God the Trinity. Being in 'theoria' (vision of God), the Saints do not confuse the hypostatic attributes. The fact that the Latin tradition came to the point of confusing these hypostatic attributes and teach that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son also, shows the non-existence of empirical theology for them. Latin tradition speaks also of created grace, a fact which suggests that there is no experience of the grace of God. For, when man obtains the experience of God, then he comes to understand well that this grace is uncreated. Without this experience there can be no genuine 'therapeutic tradition'."<ref name="pelagia01">{{cite web |url=http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b15.en.orthodox_spirituality.01.htm |title=Orthodox spirituality |last=Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos |author-link=Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos |publisher=Εκδόσεις Ιεράς Μονής Γενεθλίου της Θεοτόκου (Πελαγίας) ([[Greek language|Greek]] for 'Publications of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ([[Pelagia]]))' [ [[:el:Μονή Πελαγίας Βοιωτίας|el]] ] |location=[[Akraifnio]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007032450/http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b15.en.orthodox_spirituality.01.htm |archive-date=7 October 2010 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 March 2019}}</ref>}} ''Theoria'', ''contemplatio'' in Latin, as indicated by [[John Cassian]],<ref>"Videtis ergo principalem bonum in theoria sola, id est, in contemplatione divina Dominum posuisse" (Ioannis Cassiani Collationes I, VIII, 2)</ref> meaning vision of God, is closely connected with ''theosis'' (divinization).{{refn|group=note|"''Theoria:'' Theoria is the vision of the glory of God. Theoria is identified with the vision of the uncreated Light, the uncreated energy of God, with the union of man with God, with man's ''theosis'' (see note below). Thus, theoria, vision and theosis are closely connected. Theoria has various degrees. There is illumination, vision of God, and constant vision (for hours, days, weeks, even months). Noetic prayer is the first stage of theoria. Theoretical man is one who is at this stage. In Patristic theology, the theoretical man is characterised as the shepherd of the sheep."<ref name="pelagia01" />}}

John Romanides reports that Augustinian theology is generally ignored in the Eastern Orthodox church.{{refn|group=note|"The province of Gaul was the battleground between the followers of Augustine and of Saint John Cassian, when the Franks were taking over the province and transforming it into their Francia. Through his monastic movement and his writings in this field and on Christology, Saint John Cassian had a strong influence on the Church in Old Rome also. In his person, as in other persons such as Ambrose, Jerome, Rufinus, Leo the Great, and Gregory the Great, we have an identity in doctrine, theology, and spirituality between the East and West Roman Christians. Within this framework, Augustine in the West Roman area was subjected to general Roman theology. In the East Roman area, Augustine was simply ignored."<ref name="Romanides_03" />}} Romanides claims that the Roman Catholic Church, starting with Augustine, has removed the mystical experience (revelation) of God (theoria) from Christianity and replaced it with the conceptualization of revelation through the philosophical speculation of metaphysics.<ref>Revelation for Palamas is directly experienced in the divine energies and is opposed to the conceptualization of revelation. The Augustinian view of revelation by created symbols and illumined vision is rejected. For Augustine, the vision of God is an intellectual experience. This is not acceptable to Palamas. The Palamite emphasis was that creatures, including humans and angles, cannot know or comprehend God's essence Romanides, Franks, Romans, Feudalism, p.67</ref><ref>Revelation for Palamas is directly experienced in the divine energies and is opposed to the conceptualization of revelation. The Augustinian view of revelation by created symbols and illumined vision is rejected. For Augustine, the vision of God is an intellectual experience. This is not acceptable to Palamas. The Palamite emphasis was that creatures, including humans and angles, cannot know or comprehend God's essence Romanides, Franks, Romans, Feudalism, p.67 {{cite web |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 |title=Saint Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |access-date=2010-09-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105045903/http://goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 |archive-date=2010-11-05 }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|"18. Indeed, some centuries earlier, just after the Norman conquest, the second Lombard Archbishop of Canterbury Anselm (1093-1109) was not happy with Augustine's use of procession in his De Trinitate XV, 47, i.e. that the Holy Spirit proceeds principaliter from the Father or from the Father per Filium. (See Anselm's own De fide Trinitate chapters 15, 16 and 24). This West Roman Orthodox Filioque, which upset Anselm so much, could not be added to the creed of 381 where "procession" there means hypostatic individuality and not the communion of divine essence as in Augustine's Filioque just quoted. Augustine is indeed Orthodox by intention by his willingness to be corrected. The real problem is that he does not theologize from the vantage point of personal theosis or glorification, but as one who speculates philosophically on the Bible with no real basis in the Patristic tradition. Furthermore, his whole theological method is based on happiness as the destiny of man instead of biblical glorification. His resulting method of [[analogia entis]] and [[analogia fidei]] is not accepted by any Orthodox Father of the Church. In any case no Orthodox can accept positions of Augustine on which the Father's of Ecumenical Councils are in agreement 'against' him. This website is not concerned with whether Augustine is a saint or a Father of the Church. There is no doubt that he was Orthodox by intention and asked for correction. However, he can not be used in such a way that his opinions may be put on an equal footing with the Fathers of Ecumenical Councils."<ref name="romanides" />}} Romanides does not consider the metaphysics of Augustine to be Orthodox but Pagan mysticism.{{refn|group=note|"11. In sharp contrast to this Augustinian tradition is that of the Old and the New Testament as understood by the Fathers of the Roman Ecumenical Councils. The 'spirit' of man in the Old and New Testaments is that which is sick and which in the patristic tradition became also known as 'the noetic energy' or 'faculty'. By this adjustment in terminology this tradition of cure became more intelligible to the Hellenic mind. Now a further adjustment may be made by calling this sick human 'spirit' or 'noetic faculty' a 'neurobiological faculty or energy' grounded in the heart, but which has been short circuited by its attachment to the nervous system centered in the brain thus creating fantasies about things which either do not exist or else do exist but not as one imagines. This very cure of fantasies is the core of the Orthodox tradition. These fantasies arise from a short circuit between the nervous system centered in the brain and the blood system centered in the heart. The cure of this short circuit is noetic prayer (noera proseuche) which functions in tandem with rational or intellectual prayer of the brain which frees one from fantasies which the devil uses to enslave his victims.
''Note: We are still searching the Fathers for the term 'Jesus prayer'. We would very much appreciate it if someone could come up with a patristic quote in Greek.''
12. In sharp contrast to this tradition is that of Augustinian Platonism which searches for mystical experiences within supposed transcendental realities by liberating the mind from the confines of the body and material reality for imaginary flights into a so-called metaphysical dimension of so-called divine ideas which do not exist.
14. Orthodox Fathers of the Church are those who practice the specific Old and New Testament cure of this sickness of religion. Those who do not practice this cure, but on the contrary have introduced such practices as pagan mysticism, are not Fathers within this tradition. Orthodox Theology is not 'mystical', but 'secret' (mystike). The reason for this name 'Secret' is that the glory of God in the experience of glorification (theosis) has no similarity whatsoever with anything created. On the contrary the Augustinians imagine that they are being united with uncreated original ideas of God of which creatures are supposedly copies and which simply do not exist."<ref name="romanides" /> ''[Emphasis added.]''}} Romanides states that Augustine's Platonic mysticism was condemned by the Eastern Orthodox within the church condemnation of [[Barlaam of Calabria]] at the Hesychast councils in Constantinople.{{refn|group=note|"9. The Ninth Ecumenical Council of 1341 condemned the Platonic mysticism of Barlaam the Calabrian who had come from the West as a convert to Orthodoxy. Of course the rejection of Platonic type of mysticism was traditional practice for the Fathers. But what the Fathers of this Council were completely shocked at was Barlaam's claim that God reveals His will by bringing into existence creatures to be seen and heard and which He passes back into non existence after His revelation has been received. One of these supposed creatures was the Angel of The Lord Himself Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. For the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils this Angel is the uncreated Logos Himself. This unbelievable nonsense of Barlaam turned out to be that of Augustine himself. (see e.g. his De Tinitate, Books A and B) and of the whole Franco-Latin tradition till today."<ref name="romanides" />}}

====Criticism====
The [[Greek Old Calendarists|Greek Old Calendarist]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.12.en.orthodox_heterodox_dialogues.01.htm |title=Orthodox-heterodox dialogues and the World Council of Churches |last=Romanides |first=John S. |author-link=John S. Romanides |publisher=The Romans: Ancient, Medieval and Modern |date=23 May 1980 |type=Lecture at [[St. Vladimir's Seminary]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327003445/http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.12.en.orthodox_heterodox_dialogues.01.htm |archive-date=27 March 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=12 March 2019 |quote=Fifth Column Augustinians posing as Traditional Old Calendar Orthodox: [...] Posing as very super-conservative traditional Orthodox, Cyprian of Fili and Chrysostomos of Aetna have been quite busy trying to promote and defend Augustine's heresies among the Orthodox as one can readily see in their publications. What is of interest is the fact that both Latins and Protestants consider Augustine as the founding father of both the Latin and Protestant theologies. Therefore, what is said in this introduction about the cure of the sickness of religion applies equally to both Cyprian of Fili and Chrysostomos of Aetna and their attempt at penetrating traditional Orthodox countries with the sickness of religion.}}</ref> [[Archimandrite]] [later Archbishop] Chrysostomos González of [[Etna, CA]], criticized Romanides' criticism of Augustine:{{refn|group=note|[[Book review]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://josephpatterson.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/the-place-of-blessed-augustine-in-the-orthodox-church/ |title=The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church |last=Chrysostomos of Etna |date=28 June 2007 |publisher=[[WordPress]] |type=[[Book review]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820175605/http://josephpatterson.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/the-place-of-blessed-augustine-in-the-orthodox-church/ |archive-date=20 August 2010 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 March 2019}} ''[Cf. {{cite web |url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/bless_aug.aspx |title=Blessed Augustine of Hippo: His Place in the Orthodox Church: A Corrective Compilation |date=28 June 2007 |publisher=Orthodox Christian Information Center |via=Orthodox Tradition |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119161407/http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/bless_aug.aspx |archive-date=19 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=12 March 2019}}]''</ref> of Rose, 1997.<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books|5kIQAQAAIAAJ|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church |last=Rose |first=Seraphim |author-link=Seraphim Rose |date=1997 |publisher=Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood |isbn=978-0-938635-12-3}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|In certain ultra-conservative Orthodox circles in the United States, there has developed an unfortunate bitter and harsh attitude toward one of the great Fathers of the Church, the blessed (Saint) Augustine of Hippo (354–430 A.D.). These circles, while clearly outside the mainstream of Orthodox thought and careful scholarship, have often been so vociferous and forceful in their statements that their views have touched and even affected more moderate and stable Orthodox believers and thinkers. Not a few writers and spiritual aspirants have been disturbed by this trend.}}

===Heaven and Hell===
[[File:StJohnClimacus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Icon of monks falling into the mouth of a dragon representing hell]]
[[File:Depiction of Hell.jpg|thumb|right|Icon of hell]]
{{See also|Hell in Christian beliefs|Hell in Eastern Orthodox theology|Hell in Catholic theology}}

According to Romanides, the theological concept of [[hell]], or eternal damnation is expressed differently within Eastern and Western Christianity.<ref name="Romanides_02">{{cite book |last=Rōmanidēs |first=Iōannēs S. |title=Franks, Romans, Feudalism, and Doctrine: Empirical Theology versus Speculative Theology |chapter-url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.franks_romans_feudalism_and_doctrine.02.htm|date=1981 |publisher=Holy Cross Orthodox Press |isbn=978-0-916586-54-6 |chapter=Empirical Theology versus Speculative Theology, Part 2}}</ref> According to [[John S. Romanides]], "the Frankish [i.e. Western] understanding of heaven and hell" is "foreign to the Orthodox tradition".{{refn|group=note|Romanides: "Having reached this point, we will turn our attention to those aspects of differences between Roman and Frankish theologies which have had a strong impact on the development of difference is the doctrine of the Church. The basic difference may be listed under diagnosis of spiritual ills and their therapy.

Glorification is the ''vision of God'' in which the equality of all men and the absolute value of each man is experienced. God loves all men equally and indiscriminately, regardless of even their moral statues. God loves with the same love, both the saint and the devil. To teach otherwise, as Augustine and the Franks did, would be adequate proof that they did not have the slightest idea of what glorification was.

God multiplies and divides himself in His uncreated energies undividedly among divided things, so that He is both present by act and absent by nature to each individual creature and everywhere present and absent at the same time. This is the fundamental mystery of the presence of God to His creatures and shows that universals do not exist in God and are, therefore, not part of the state of illumination as in the Augustinian tradition.

''God himself is both heaven and hell'', reward and punishment. All men have been created to see God unceasingly in His uncreated glory. Whether God will be for each man heaven or hell, reward or punishment, depends on man's response to God's love and on man's transformation from the state of selfish and self-centered love, to Godlike love which does not seek its own ends.

One can see how the Frankish understanding of heaven and hell, poetically described by Dante, John Milton, and James Joyce, are so foreign to the Orthodox tradition. This is another of the reasons why the so-called humanism of some East Romans (those who united with the Frankish papacy) was a serious regression and not an advance in culture.

Since all men will see God, no religion can claim for itself the power to send people either to heaven or to hell. This means that true spiritual fathers prepare their spiritual charges so that vision of God's glory will be heaven, and not hell, reward and not punishment. The primary purpose of Orthodox Christianity then, is to prepare its members for an experience which every human being will sooner or later have."<ref name="Romanides_02" /> ''[Emphasis added.]''}}

According to Romanides, the Orthodox Church teaches that both Heaven and Hell are being in God's presence,<ref name="Romanides_02"/><ref name="Isaac_OCA">(St. Isaac of Syria, Mystic Treatises) The Orthodox Church of America website [http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=208] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704063634/http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=208 |date=2007-07-04 }}</ref> which is being with God and seeing God, and that there is no such place as where God is not, nor is Hell taught in the East as separation from God.<ref name="Isaac_OCA"/> One expression of the Eastern teaching is that hell and heaven are being in God's presence, as this presence is punishment and paradise depending on the person's spiritual state in that presence.<ref name="Romanides_02"/>{{refn|group=note|name=malfunctioning|"Man has a malfunctioning or non-functioning noetic faculty in the heart, and it is the task especially of the clergy to apply the cure of unceasing memory of God, otherwise called unceasing prayer or illumination."<ref name="Romanides_02" /> "Those who have selfless love and are friends of God see God 'in light - divine darkness', while the selfish and impure see God the judge as 'fire - darkness'."<ref name="pelagia07">{{cite web |url=http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b24.en.life_after_death.07.htm |title=Life after death |last=Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos |author-link=Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos |publisher=Εκδόσεις Ιεράς Μονής Γενεθλίου της Θεοτόκου (Πελαγίας) ([[Greek language|Greek]] for 'Publications of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ([[Pelagia]]))' [ [[:el:Μονή Πελαγίας Βοιωτίας|el]] ] |location=[[Akraifnio]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201132350/http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b24.en.life_after_death.07.htm |archive-date=1 February 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 March 2019}}</ref>}} For one who [[Misotheism|hates God]], to be in the presence of God eternally would be the gravest suffering.<ref name="Romanides_02"/>{{refn|group=note|name=malfunctioning}} Aristotle Papanikolaou <ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/theology/faculty/aristotle_papanikola_26156.asp |title = Fordham online information {{pipe}} Academics {{pipe}} Academic Departments {{pipe}} Theology}}</ref> and Elizabeth H. Prodromou <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bu.edu/ir/faculty/alphabetical/prodromou/ |title=Elizabeth H. Prodromou » International Relations » Boston University |access-date=2010-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202043637/http://www.bu.edu/ir/faculty/alphabetical/prodromou/ |archive-date=2011-02-02 }}</ref> wrote in their book ''Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars'' that for the Orthodox the theological symbols of heaven and hell are not crudely understood as spatial destinations but rather refer to the experience of God's presence according to two different modes.<ref>Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars page 195 By Aristotle Papanikolaou, Elizabeth H. Prodromou [https://books.google.com/books?id=oqIjyCKOAAUC&q=hell&pg=PA193]</ref>

The saved and the damned will both experience God's light, the [[Tabor light]]. However, the saved will experience this light as Heaven, while the damned will experience it as Hell.{{refn|group=note|name=malfunctioning}}{{refn|group=note|"Paradise and Hell exist not in the form of a threat and a punishment on the part of God but in the form of an illness and a cure. Those who are cured and those who are purified experience the illuminating energy of divine grace, while the uncured and ill experience the caustic energy of God. [...] Those who have selfless love and are friends of God see God in light - divine light, while the selfish and impure see God the judge as fire - darkness."<ref name="pelagia07" />}}{{refn|group=note|"God himself is both heaven and hell, reward and punishment. All men have been created to see God unceasingly in His uncreated glory. Whether God will be for each man heaven or hell, reward or punishment, depends on man's response to God's love and on man's transformation from the state of selfish and self-centered love, to Godlike love which does not seek its own ends. [...] Proper preparation for vision of God takes place in two stages: purification, and illumination of the noetic faculty. Without this, it is impossible for man's selfish love to be transformed into selfless love. This transformation takes place during the higher level of the stage of illumination called theoria, literally meaning vision-in this case vision by means of unceasing and uninterrupted memory of God. Those who remain selfish and self-centered with a hardened heart, closed to God's love, will not see the glory of God in this life. However, they will see God's glory eventually, but as an eternal and consuming fire and outer darkness."<ref name="Romanides_02" />}}<ref>Regarding specific conditions of after-life existence and eschatology, Orthodox thinkers are generally reticent; yet two basic shared teachings can be singled out. First, they widely hold that immediately following a human being's physical death, his or her surviving spiritual dimension experiences a foretaste of either heaven or hell. (Those theological symbols, heaven and hell, are not crudely understood as spatial destinations but rather refer to the experience of God's presence according to two different modes.) Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars page 195 By Aristotle Papanikolaou, Elizabeth H. Prodromou [https://books.google.com/books?id=oqIjyCKOAAUC&q=hell&pg=PA193]</ref>{{refn|group=note|"God himself is both heaven and hell, reward and punishment. All men have been created to see God unceasingly in His uncreated glory. Whether God will be for each man heaven or hell, reward or punishment, depends on man's response to God's love and on man's transformation from the state of selfish and self-centered love, to Godlike love which does not seek its own ends."<ref name="Romanides_02" />}} Theories explicitly identifying Hell with an experience of the divine light may go back as far as [[Theophanes the Branded|Theophanes of Nicea]]. According to Iōannēs Polemēs, Theophanes believed that, for sinners, "the divine light will be perceived as the punishing fire of hell".<ref>Iōannēs Polemēs, ''Theophanes of Nicaea:'' His Life and Works'', vol. 20 (Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), p. 99''</ref>

Other Eastern Orthodox theologians describe hell as separation from God.<ref>[[Archimandrite Sophrony]] (Sakharov) speaks of "the hell of separation from God" ([https://books.google.com/books?id=JERJcdSKDbsC&dq=%22The+dead+suffering+in+the+hell+of+separation+from+God%22&pg=PA32 Archimandrite Sophrony, ''The Monk of Mount Athos: Staretz Silouan, 1866-1938'' (St Vladimir's Seminary Press 2001] {{ISBN|0-913836-15-X}}), p. 32).</ref><ref>"The circumstances that rise before us, the problems we encounter, the relationships we form, the choices we make, all ultimately concern our eternal union with or separation from God" ({{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203729/http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/secular/thank3.htm Life Transfigured: A Journal of Orthodox Nuns, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1991, pp.8-9, produced by The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pa.).]}}</ref><ref>"Hell is nothing else but separation of man from God, his autonomy excluding him from the place where God is present" ([https://books.google.com/books?id=-6yosWlACnYC&dq=Evdokimov+hell+separation&pg=PA32 In the World, of the Church: A Paul Evdokimov Reader (St Vladimir's Seminary Press 2001] {{ISBN|0-88141-215-5}}), p. 32).</ref><ref>"Hell is a spiritual state of separation from God and inability to experience the love of God, while being conscious of the ultimate deprivation of it as punishment" ([http://stgeorgekeene.org/father-teds-august-2010-message/ Father Theodore Stylianopoulos).]{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>"Hell is none other than the state of separation from God, a condition into which humanity was plunged for having preferred the creature to the Creator. It is the human creature, therefore, and not God, who engenders hell. Created free for the sake of love, man possesses the incredible power to reject this love, to say 'no' to God. By refusing communion with God, he becomes a predator, condemning himself to a spiritual death (hell) more dreadful than the physical death that derives from it" ([https://books.google.com/books?id=YppZakl7uygC&dq=Michel+Quenot+hell+separation&pg=PA85 Michel Quenot, The Resurrection and the Icon (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 1997] {{ISBN|0-88141-149-3}}), p. 85).</ref> Archimandrite [[Sophrony (Sakharov)]] speaks of "the hell of separation from God".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JERJcdSKDbsC&pg=PA32 Archimandrite Sophrony, ''The Monk of Mount Athos: Staretz Silouan, 1866-1938''] (St Vladimir's Seminary Press 2001 {{ISBN|0-913836-15-X}}), p. 32.</ref> "The circumstances that rise before us, the problems we encounter, the relationships we form, the choices we make, all ultimately concern our eternal union with or separation from God."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/secular/thank3.htm |title=Life Transfigured: A Journal of Orthodox Nuns, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1991, pp.8-9, produced by The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pa. |access-date=2017-06-19 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203729/http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/secular/thank3.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref> "Hell is nothing else but separation of man from God, his autonomy excluding him from the place where God is present."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-6yosWlACnYC&pg=PA32 ''In the World, of the Church: A Paul Evdokimov Reader''] (St Vladimir's Seminary Press 2001 {{ISBN|0-88141-215-5}}), p. 32</ref> "Hell is a spiritual state of separation from God and inability to experience the love of God, while being conscious of the ultimate deprivation of it as punishment."<ref>[http://stgeorgekeene.org/father-teds-august-2010-message/ Father Theodore Stylianopoulos]{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> "Hell is none other than the state of separation from God, a condition into which humanity was plunged for having preferred the creature to the Creator. It is the human creature, therefore, and not God, who engenders hell. Created free for the sake of love, man possesses the incredible power to reject this love, to say 'no' to God. By refusing communion with God, he becomes a predator, condemning himself to a spiritual death (hell) more dreadful than the physical death that derives from it."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YppZakl7uygC&pg=PA85 Michel Quenot, ''The Resurrection and the Icon''] (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 1997 {{ISBN|0-88141-149-3}}), p. 85).</ref>

According to Iōannēs Polemēs, the important Orthodox theologian [[Gregory Palamas]] did not believe that sinners would experience the divine light: "Unlike Theophanes, Palamas did not believe that sinners could have an experience of the divine light [...] Nowhere in his works does Palamas seem to adopt Theophanes' view that the light of Tabor is identical with the fire of hell."<ref>Iōannēs Polemēs,''Theophanes of Nicaea:'' His Life and Works'', vol. 20 (Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), p. 100''</ref>

===Theosis===
{{See also|Essence-Energies distinction}}

The practice of ascetic prayer called [[hesychasm]] in the Eastern Orthodox Church is centered on the enlightenment, deification (''theosis'') of man.{{refn|group=note|"Hesychasm, then, which is centered on the enlightenment or deification (θέωσις, or ''theosis'', in Greek) of man, perfectly encapsulates the soteriological principles and full scope of the spiritual life of the Eastern Church. As Bishop Auxentios of Photiki writes: "[W]e must understand the Hesychastic notions of 'theosis' and the vision of Uncreated Light, the vision of God, in the context of human salvation. Thus, according to St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite (†1809): 'Know that if your mind is not deified by the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for you to be saved.' Before looking in detail at what it was that St. Gregory Palamas' opponents found objectionable in his Hesychastic theology and practices, let us briefly examine the history of the Hesychastic Controversy proper."<ref>Archbishop Chrysostomos, ''[http://faculty.washington.edu/ewebb/R327/Hesychastic_Controversy.pdf Orthodox and Roman Catholic Relations from the Fourth Crusade to the Hesychastic Controversy]'' ([[Etna, CA]]: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2001), pp. 199‒232.</ref>}} Theosis has also been referred to as "glorification",{{refn|group=note|"14. Orthodox Fathers of the Church are those who practice the specific Old and New Testament cure of this sickness of religion. Those who do not practice this cure, but on the contrary have introduced such practices as pagan mysticism, are not Fathers within this tradition. Orthodox Theology is not 'mystical', but 'secret' (mystike). The reason for this name 'Secret' is that the glory of God in the experience of glorification (theosis) has no similarity whatsoever with anything created. On the contrary the Augustinians imagine that they are being united with uncreated original ideas of God of which creatures are supposedly copies and which simply do not exist."<ref name="romanides" />}} "union with God", "becoming god by Grace", "[[self-realization (disambiguation)|self-realization]]", "the acquisition of the Holy Spirit", "experience of the uncreated light" ([[Tabor light]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/union_with_god_kallistos_katafytiotis_angelikoudis.html |title=On Union With God and Life of Theoria by Kallistos Katafygiotis (Kallistos Angelikoudis) greekorthodoxchrch.org |publisher=Greekorthodoxchurch.org |access-date=September 4, 2013}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|name=tabor|"The three disciples of Christ (Peter, James and John) beheld the glory of Christ on Mount Tabor [...]. ''Theosis-Divinisation:'' It is the participation in the uncreated grace of God. Theosis is identified and connected with the theoria (vision) of the uncreated Light (see note above). It is called theosis in grace because it is attained through the energy of the divine grace. It is a co-operation of God with man, since God is He Who operates and man is he who co-operates."<ref name="pelagia01" />}}

''[[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|Theosis]]'' (Greek for "making divine",<ref>[http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.27:3:174.lsj Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon]</ref> "deification",<ref>[http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/theosis_purpose.html Archimandrite George, Mount Athos, ''Theosis – Deification as the Purpose of Man's Life'' (extract)]</ref><ref>[http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/union_with_god_kallistos_katafytiotis_angelikoudis.html Translator of Kallistos Katafygiotis, ''On Union with God and Life of Theoria'']</ref> "to become gods by Grace",<ref>[http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/union_with_god_kallistos_katafytiotis_angelikoudis.html Archimandrite George, Mount Athos, ''Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life'', Glossary]</ref> and for "divinization", "reconciliation, union with God"<ref>Fellow Workers With God: Orthodox Thinking on Theosis (Foundations) by Normal Russell pg</ref> and "glorification")<ref>[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis-english.pdf Theosis as the Purpose of Mankind's existence by Archimandrite George]</ref>{{refn|group=note|"2. The leadership of the Roman Empire had come to realize that religion is a sickness whose cure was the heart and core of the Christian tradition they had been persecuting. These astute Roman leaders changed their policy having realized that this cure should be accepted by as many Roman citizens as possible. Led by Constantine the Great, Roman leaders adopted this cure in exactly the same way that today's governments adopt modern medicine in order to protect their citizens from quack doctors. But in this case what was probably as important as the cure was the possibility of enriching society with citizens who were replacing the morbid quest for happiness with the selfless love of glorification (theosis) dedicated to the common good."<ref name="romanides" />}} is expressed as "Being, union with God" and having a relationship or [[synergy]] between God and man.{{refn|group=note|name=tabor}} God is Heaven, God ''is'' the Kingdom of Heaven, the uncreated is that which is infinite and unending, glory to glory. Since this synergy or union is without fusion it is based on free will and not the irresistibly of the divine (i.e. the [[monophysite]]). Since God is transcendent (incomprehensible in [[ousia]], essence or being), the West has overemphasized its point through logical arguments that God cannot be experienced in this life.<ref>At the heart of Barlaam's teaching is the idea that God cannot truly be perceived by man; that God the Transcendent can never be wholly known by man, who is created and finite. {{cite web |url=http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/62-gregory-palamas-knowledge-prayer-and-vision |title=Monachos.net - Gregory Palamas: Knowledge, Prayer and Vision |access-date=2009-07-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119191939/http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/62-gregory-palamas-knowledge-prayer-and-vision |archive-date=2009-11-19 }}</ref>

According to Romanides, following [[Vladimir Lossky]]<ref>The mystical theology of the Eastern Church By Vladimir Lossky pgs 237-238 [https://books.google.com/books?id=dxqvWwPSCSwC&q=losing+sight+of+its+final+goal]</ref> in his interpretation of St. [[Gregory Palamas]], the teaching that God is transcendent (incomprehensible in [[ousia]], essence or being), has led in the West to the (mis)understanding that God cannot be experienced in this life.{{refn|group=note|www.monachos.net: "At the heart of Barlaam's teaching is the idea that God cannot truly be perceived by man; that God the Transcendent can never be wholly known by man, who is created and finite."<ref>monachos.net, [http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/62-gregory-palamas-knowledge-prayer-and-vision ''Gregory Palma''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119191939/http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/62-gregory-palamas-knowledge-prayer-and-vision |date=2009-11-19 }}</ref>}} Romanides states that Western theology is more dependent upon logic and reason, culminating in scholasticism used to validate truth and the existence of God, than upon establishing a relationship with God ([[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|theosis]] and theoria).{{refn|group=note|"And, indeed, the Franks believed that the prophets and apostles did not see God himself, with possibly the exception of Moses and Paul. What the prophets and apostles allegedly did see and hear were phantasmic symbols of God, whose purpose was to pass on concepts about God to human reason. Whereas these symbols passed into and out of existence, the human nature of Christ is a permanent reality and the best conveyor of concepts about God."<ref name="Romanides_02" />}}{{refn|group=note|Romanides ideas have been very influential in the contemporary Greek Orthodox Churches, and are supported by men like [[Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos]],<ref name="pelagia01" /><ref name="pelagia07" /> [[Thomas Hopko]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stnicholaspdx.org/2007/12/01/26.mysticism-women-and-the-christian-orient/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728061824/http://www.stnicholaspdx.org/2007/12/01/26.mysticism-women-and-the-christian-orient/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 28, 2011 |title=St. Nicholas Orthodox Church » Mysticism, Women and the Christian Orient |publisher=Stnicholaspdx.org |access-date=September 4, 2013 }}</ref> Professor [[George D. Metallinos]]{{refn|group=subnote|We have a culture that creates saints, holy people. Our people's ideal is not to create wisemen. Nor was this the ideal of ancient Hellenic culture and civilization. Hellenic anthropocentric (human-centered) Humanism is transformed into Theanthropism (God-humanism) and its ideal is now the creation of Saints, Holy people who have reached the state of theosis (deification).<ref>[http://www.romanity.org/mir/me04en.htm The struggle between Hellenism and Frankism by George D. Metallinos]</ref>}} [[Nikolaos Loudovikos]], [[Dumitru Stăniloae]], [[Stanley S. Harakas]] and Archimandrite George, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of St. Gregorios of [[Mount Athos]].<ref>{{Cite web| title=Theosis - The true purpose of human life | url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis-english.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229114632/http://www.orthodoxinfo.com:80/general/theosis-english.pdf | archive-date=2009-12-29}}</ref>}}

==Influence==
According to Kalaitzidis, Romanides had a strong influence on contemporary Greek Orthodoxy, to such an extent that some speak about "pre- and post-Romanidian theology".{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=145}} Kalaitzidis further notes that Romanides' post-1975 theology has "furnished a convenient and comforting conspiratorial explanation for the historical woes of Orthodoxy and Romiosyne", but is "devoid of the slightest traces of self-criticism, since blame is always placed upon others".{{sfn|Kalaitzidis|2013|p=148}} James L. Kelley's recent article has argued that Kalaitzidis's concern that Orthodox theologians engage in "self-criticism" is a ploy to engineer a "development of Orthodox doctrine" so that, once the Orthodox place some of the blame on themselves for "divisions of Christian groups", they will adjust the teachings of Orthodoxy to suit the ecumenist agenda (see James L. Kelley, ''"Romeosyne" According to John Romanides and Christos Yannaras: A Response to Pantelis Kalaitzidis'' [Norman, OK: Romanity Pres, 2016]).

==Works==
===Articles===
Several of his articles can be found at the [http://www.romanity.org website] dedicated to him. Among his books are:

===Books===
*''Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology of the Orthodox Catholic Church'' (in Greek; Thessaloniki: Pournaras, 1973).
*''Romiosini, Romania, Roumeli'' (in Greek; Thessaloniki: Pournaras, 1975).
* {{Cite book|last=Romanides|first=John S.|author-link=John Romanides|title=Franks, Romans, Feudalism, and Doctrine: An Interplay Between Theology and Society|year=1981|location=Brookline, MA|publisher=Holy Cross Orthodox Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AK-_MAAACAAJ|isbn=9780916586546}}
*#[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.franks_romans_feudalism_and_doctrine.01.htm An Interplay Between Theology and Society].
*#[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.franks_romans_feudalism_and_doctrine.02.htm Empirical Theology versus Speculative Theology].
*#[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.franks_romans_feudalism_and_doctrine.03.htm The Filioque].
* {{Cite book|last=Romanides|first=John S.|author-link=John Romanides|title=The Ancestral Sin|year=2002|location=Ridgewood, New Jersey|publisher=Zephyr Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TttVAAAAYAAJ|isbn=9780970730312}}
* {{Cite book|last=Romanides|first=John S.|author-link=John Romanides|title=An Outline of Orthodox Patristic Dogmatics|year=2004|location=Rollinsford, New Hampshire|publisher=Orthodox Research Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U50KAAAACAAJ|isbn=9780974561844}}
* {{Cite book|last=Romanides|first=John S.|author-link=John Romanides|title=Patristic Theology|year=2008|location=Thessaloniki|publisher=Uncut Mountain Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXgcQAACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Romanides|first=John S.|author-link=John Romanides|title=The Life in Christ|year=2009|location=Dewdney|publisher=Synaxis Press|url=https://www.academia.edu/9993570}}

==See also==
* [[Vladimir Lossky]]
* [[Michael Pomazansky]]
* [[George Metallinos]]
* [[George Dragas]]
* [[Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=subnote|30em}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|group=note|35em}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last =Kalaitzidis | first =Pantelis | year =2013 | chapter =The Image of the West in Contemporary Greek Theology | editor-last1 =Demacopoulos | editor-first1 =George E. | editor-last2 =Papanikolaou | editor-first2 =Aristotle | title =Orthodox Constructions of the West | publisher =Oxford University Press}}
* {{Citation | last =Louth | first =Andrew | year =2015 | title =Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present | publisher =InterVarsity Press}}
* {{Citation | last =Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos | year =2005 | title =Orthodox Psychotherapy | chapter =The Knowledge of God according to St. Gregory Palamas | publisher =Birth of Theotokos Monastery, Greece | isbn =978-960-7070-27-2}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Kelley, James L. ''A Realism of Glory: Lectures On Christology in the Works of Protopresbyter John Romanides'' (Rollinsford, NH: Orthodox Research Institute, 2009).
*Kelley, James L. "Protopresbyter John Romanides's Teaching on Creation." ''International Journal of Orthodox Theology'' 7.1 (2016): 42–61.
*Sopko, Andrew J. *''Prophet of Roman Orthodoxy: The Theology of John Romanides'' (Dewdney, B.C.: Synaxis Press, 2003).
*Kelley, James L. ''"Romeosyne" According to Protopresbyter John Romanides and Christos Yannaras: A Response to Pantelis Kalaitzidis'' (Norman, OK: Romanity Press, 2016).
*Kelley, James L. "Yoga and Eastern Orthodoxy: Fr. John Romanides and the New Age." 160–170 in ''Orthodoxy, History, and Esotericism: New Studies'' (Dewdney, B.C.: Synaxis Press, 2016).
*Payne, D. P. (2006), [https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/baylor-ir/bitstream/handle/2104/4847/daniel_payne_phd.pdf ''The Revival of Political Hesychasm in Greek Orthodox Thought'']{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [[PhD dissertation]].
*Sopko, Andrew J. (2003), ''Prophet of Roman Orthodoxy: The Theology of John Romanides'', Synaxis Press.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}

'''Works'''
* [http://www.romanity.org/cont.htm#roman Works of Romanides online]

'''Ideas'''
* Nicolas Prevelakis, [http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/4889#noteref_n.12 ''Theologies as Alternative Histories: John Romanides and Chrestos Yannaras''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803064841/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/4889#noteref_n.12 |date=2019-08-03 }}

'''Criticism'''
* romanity.org, [http://www.romanity.org/mir/me02en.htm ''Fabrications about professor John S. Romanides by Capuchino priest Yannis Spiteris. Response by Prof. George Metallinos of The University of Athens'']
* [http://ishmaelite.blogspot.nl/2010/06/romanides-sympathetic-but-critical.html ''Romanides: A Sympathetic but Critical Reading '']
* Vladimir Moss, [http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/articles/619/against-romanides/ ''Against Romanides'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanides, John}}
[[Category:Cappadocian Greeks]]
[[Category:Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Greek Eastern Orthodox priests]]
[[Category:American Christian theologians]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:American Eastern Orthodox priests]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox priests in the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century Eastern Orthodox priests]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox theologians]]
[[Category:Writers from Piraeus]]
[[Category:Greek theologians]]
[[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki]]
[[Category:20th-century American clergy]]

Tracey Wigginton

2025-05-05T05:47:32Z

121.218.132.94:

{{Short description|Australian murderer}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Tracey Perm Wigginton
| image_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1965|08}}
| birth_place = [[Australia]]
| other_names = Lesbian Vampire Killer
| death_date =
| death_place =
| charge = Murder
| conviction = [[Murder]]
| conviction_penalty = [[Life imprisonment]]
| conviction_status = Paroled
| occupation =
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
}}
'''Tracey Avril Wigginton''' (born 4 August 1965), known as the "'''Lesbian Vampire Killer'''", is an Australian [[murder]]er who achieved notoriety for killing Edward Baldock in 1989, supposedly to drink his blood.<ref name="Sutton-2021" /> This was described as "one of the most brutal and bizarre crimes Australia has ever seen."<ref name="Murder and blood drinking">{{Cite news|url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/the-dark-secrets-of-queenslands-lesbian-vampire-killer/news-story/f06485d6f4bedf7aff10c6d0cc0493de|work=[[The Courier Mail]]|date=11 November 2015|title=The Dark Secrets of Queensland's Lesbian Vampire Killer|accessdate=6 February 2017}}</ref> Wigginton was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991, and was paroled in 2012.<ref name="Sutton-2021" />

==Early life==
Wigginton grew up in the northern Australian coastal city of [[Rockhampton]]. She was adopted at the age of three by her wealthy maternal grandparents, George and Avril Wigginton, after her mother could no longer care for her following a divorce.<ref name="Sutton-2021" /> Wigginton claims that her grandparents were controlling, and had physically and sexually abused her.<ref name="Sutton-2021" /><ref name="wwwstitchercom">{{Cite web|url=https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=50369504|title=Felon - S2E4 - Tracey Wigginton from Felon True Crime|website=www.stitcher.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-26}}</ref>

In 1981, Wigginton's grandparents died and left 15 year-old Wigginton $75,000 ($310,640 in 2022 dollars).<ref name="Sutton-2021" /> Wigginton briefly moved back in with her mother, who was not accepting of her lesbianism, and then moved in with a family friend who described her as "a loving girl, gifted artist and devout Catholic."<ref name="Sutton-2021" />

Following a miscarriage, Wigginton stopped attending [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]], and started communicating with a white witch in Adelaide. Following a move to [[Brisbane]], Wigginton began to immerse herself in the [[occult]]: keeping [[black magic]] items on her person, and using blood from animals to draw occult symbols.<ref name="Sutton-2021" />

== Murder ==
Wigginton, who allegedly killed and drank the blood of animals, had been planning for some time to escalate to murdering a man so that she could "feed" on him.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.news.com.au/national/vampire-killer-felt-nothing-during-murder/news-story/24bcf70975cbc3b9848b51f1becd7414|title = Vampire killer 'felt nothing' during murder|last = Brown|first = Anna-Louise|publisher = News Corp Australia|date = 30 April 2005|website = news.com.au|accessdate = 3 April 2018|archive-date = 3 April 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180403112539/http://www.news.com.au/national/vampire-killer-felt-nothing-during-murder/news-story/24bcf70975cbc3b9848b51f1becd7414|url-status = live}}</ref> On the night of the murder, Wigginton (then aged 24), Lisa Ptaschinski (aged 24), Kim Jervis (aged 23) and Tracy Waugh (aged 23) had been out drinking and then drove around in Wigginton's Holden Commodore in search of a victim. At the time, Wigginton stood 183cm (6 feet) tall and weighed 95kg (209 pounds).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Edward Baldock (47), a council worker and father of four, was waiting for a taxi after drinking heavily and playing darts with friends.<ref name="wwwstitchercom" /> Jervis persuaded him to get into their car and they drove him to a park on the banks of the [[Brisbane River]].{{Clarify|reason=Who persuaded Baldock to get into the car? Two conflicting statements are shown here; was it Jervis or Wigginton?|date=January 2023}} It is disputed whether Wigginton got Baldock in the car by offering him a lift or by pretending to be a [[sex worker]].<ref name="Sutton-2021">{{Cite news|last=Sutton|first=Candace|date=2021-08-10|title=Lesbian vampire killer drank victim's blood|work=news.com.au|url=https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/lesbian-vampire-killer-who-drank-victims-blood/news-story/09102844937bc5d7f8ae57a6ecaa7d23|access-date=2021-11-19|archive-date=19 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119220659/https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/lesbian-vampire-killer-who-drank-victims-blood/news-story/09102844937bc5d7f8ae57a6ecaa7d23|url-status=live}}</ref> There, he undressed while Wigginton returned to the car to retrieve a knife.<ref name="wwwstitchercom" /> She then stabbed him 27 times, nearly severing his head before drinking his blood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79526145.html|title="'Lesbian vampire killer' in minimum security prison" - AAP General News|publisher=}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

When police arrived at the scene, they located Wigginton's bank card in one of Baldock's shoes among his neatly folded pile of clothes.<ref name="wwwstitchercom" /> The four women were then quickly arrested. A few days after the murder, Wigginton told police that she ‘felt nothing’ while stabbing Baldock and that she sat down to smoke a cigarette while she watched him die.<ref name="Murder and blood drinking"/>

==Trial==
Wigginton was the only one of the four co-accused who pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. Therefore, there was no trial for her and few details were disclosed to the court as to why this incident occurred by Wigginton; Ptaschinski, Jervis, and Waugh stated that Wigginton had claimed to have [[vampirism|vampiric]] tendencies. They said that the reason for the murder was to enable the drinking of the man's blood.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/evil-act-of-a-satanic-lesbian-vampire-killer/news-story/e01edd5cffb6b7d2b5cd72e77aa10e37?sv=c98a63052379a456e7cf4c18bd027244&nk=f52178165aa738f1802d833d0fb32f0b-1486291767|title=Evil act of the lesbian vampire killer|work=[[Herald Sun]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref> During the trial, Wigginton said to the media "‘It's hard to be famous, isn't it? A legend in my own mind’."<ref name="Sutton-2021" />

In 1991, a jury convicted Wigginton of murder and she was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] by the [[Supreme Court of Queensland]] with a minimum of 13 years. Ptaschinski was also convicted of murder, and Jervis of manslaughter. Waugh was acquitted.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Los Angeles Times|date=1991-02-15|title=A Vampire, a Lesbian Lover and a Tale of Murder|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-15-mn-1391-story.html|access-date=2021-11-19|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=19 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119220659/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-15-mn-1391-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
In 2006, Wigginton assaulted a fellow inmate and a prison guard.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-loses-bid-to-get-out-of-jail/story-e6frf7l6-1225837321735|title="'Vampire killer' Tracey Wigginton loses bid to get out of jail"|work=[[Herald Sun]]|archive-date=14 June 2011|access-date=25 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614155348/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-loses-bid-to-get-out-of-jail/story-e6frf7l6-1225837321735|url-status=live}}</ref>

The case still commands strong media interest and public reaction. In April 2008, it was reported that Wigginton was being released.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23535057-3102,00.html|title=Brisbane's 'Vampire Killer' to be freed from jail|work=Courier Mail|access-date=13 April 2008|archive-date=14 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414221409/http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23535057-3102,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, it was actually Ptaschinski who was being released under the resettlement leave program, given a maximum of 12 hours leave every two months for six months.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/vampire-killer-release-not-approved-20080414-25wt.html|title=Vampire killer release 'not approved'|date=14 April 2008|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|archive-date=7 May 2018|access-date=7 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507153706/https://www.smh.com.au/national/vampire-killer-release-not-approved-20080414-25wt.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Wigginton made four unsuccessful parole applications until 2011 when the parole board granted her application.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lesbian-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-wins-parole-expected-to-be-free-in-weeks/story-e6freoof-1226227439248|title=Lesbian Vampire killer Tracey Wigginton wins parole, expected to be free in weeks|work=Courier Mail}}</ref> Wigginton was released from prison on 11 January 2012 despite lying to the parole board.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/paroled-killer-will-get-away-with-lies/news-story/d7f1890bf3cb800c110a63d9afae6573|title='Lesbian vampire killer' will get away with lies|work=Courier Mail}}</ref>

In 2021, interest in Wigginton was revived when it was revealed that she was posting images on Facebook of vampires, witches, and a pile of skull and bones.<ref name="Sutton-2021" /> Following this, the officers who investigated the case said that Wigginton's parole should be revoked.<ref>{{Cite news|title='I'm back f---ers': Satanist Vampire Killer's disturbing new messages|url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-news-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-facebook-posts/09282693-2a38-4a28-b774-e4e13ce75528|access-date=2021-11-19|website=www.9news.com.au|date=12 February 2019|archive-date=19 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119220708/https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-news-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-facebook-posts/09282693-2a38-4a28-b774-e4e13ce75528|url-status=live}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigginton, Tracey}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian female murderers]]
[[Category:Australian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Australian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Australian lesbians]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Queensland]]
[[Category:People from Rockhampton]]
[[Category:People paroled from life sentence]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Queensland]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Queensland]]
[[Category:Vampirism (crime)]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian criminals]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:21st-century Australian LGBTQ people]]