Monks on the Move

Brother Luke

If There Is Life I Want to Live It. Nikolaos, Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki. Montreal: Alexander Press, 2015. 120 pages. Series: Orthodoxy in Dialogue with the Modern World, Volume 11.

           

It is sometimes easy to imagine that people in the “Old Country,” in this case Greece, are somehow born into their national religion. To speak of Greece is to imagine not only the Parthenon and ancient times, but also Mount Athos, and all the beautiful Orthodox churches and chapels scattered all over the mainland and the Greek Islands. One might assume that Orthodoxy is somehow in the peoples’ blood; an unquestioned reality that all accept. But this is the 21st century, and many people in Greece, as in all of Europe, are imbued with the secular spirit and see the church as an antique, a cultural relic, but hardly something that offers anything of value to help people negotiate the unstable reality of this century. And yet they often see something missing in their lives and want to find a deeper meaning to life.

            Into this environment steps an Orthodox bishop with a personal story that attracts the attention of even the most skeptical. Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) has degrees in physics, astrophysics, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering and applied mathematics, theological studies, and theology. He earned a PhD in Theology from the University of Thessaloniki on Orthodox Christian Ethics and Bioethics. He has worked as a researcher and scientific partner in hospitals and as a scientific advisor in Space Medical Technology in the United States. He returned to Greece in 1989 and was tonsured a monk on Mount Athos. Now he is a bishop. He founded the first hospice in Greece under church auspices and has authored many theological and scientific articles. The present book is the product of many conversations with a variety of people who have crossed his path. He has assembled some of these dialogues here to answer a series of 100 questions about faith and the search for God. His approach is to connect the stories of others to his own journey of faith. He is not trying to convince anyone or increase the followers of the Orthodox faith. As he says in the introduction:

I welcomed them with my whole heart, and my only concern was to embrace their whole being, to share the pain of their search for faith, to recognize the uniqueness of their inner world, to together lift the burden of our human nature. … I never let myself think that I had arrived and they were only just setting out. I always felt that I was with them, a fellow traveller on the wonderful path of the search for God. (p. 5)

To give you a taste of the dialogue, here is part of the exchange concerning the bishop’s choice to become a religious rather than remain engaged directly in scientific research. Did he make the right choice?

If science and research are delight, a life of complete dedication to the Church is enchantment and ecstasy, it is life. … If God exists – and of course He does – then what is greater? Communion with his person, or the study of his works?” … if science is based on the discovery of the truth of the created world, and healthy and true religion is based on the revelation of the truths of God, then wherein lies the problem? Problems emerge when science is dominated by arrogance, and religious thought by narrowness. (p. 13) 

Metropolitan Nikolaos argues that we all believe in gods, little gods that we make into big gods. We often accept what we hear others say without questioning. We may assume that what we hear is true because we believe the source to be reputable. However, we have not done the scientific research ourselves, so we have faith in what others have done. So, he asks, is it possibly time to change our gods? (p. 43)

The conversations also raise questions about the integrity of the Church and its leaders, and even its believers. Metropolitan Nikolaos meets this head-on, asking his interlocutors what they want to see in the Church. Here is one response:

I would like the Church to give me hope, not to constantly be critical and judge… I would like it to contribute to progress and development, to embrace the suffering, those dealt injustice, and young people. I would like it to be more modern and rejuvenative, and not full of words and excuses – nor for it to speak only of God, but to speak of man also. (p. 48)

Bishop Nikolaos agrees but questions the remark about not speaking of God too much. He says:

But that is the Church. In speaking of God it speaks of man. … The Church puts forward the person of God and the road to Him. It cannot happen without boldness, freedom, integrity and constant renewal. There is no message more bold, rejuvenative, pure and free than the word and way of life of the Church. … [and] in the lives of some of her true and faithful members, of her saints. … Hypocrisy, and riches, ossification, fanaticism and narrowness of heart – of course these are not the Church. They are the non-Church. … As for the bad image presented by the clergy, … if you suffered from a lung complaint and your doctor smoked, would you condemn pulmonology and refuse treatment? (pp. 48-9)

His call is not to turn away from the church but to come to understand what it is in essence and to see it as the true path to the freedom to which God is calling us. Although some of the Church’s teachings about Christ’s resurrection and the Holy Spirit are hard for some of his questioners to accept, even so, they are attracted to Christ’s “wonderful teachings.” So, starting from that place, Metropolitan Nikolaos suggests: “Why not first live out his teachings and then see if one is led to faith.” (p. 54) His is a refreshing voice in the sometimes-heavy world of Orthodox theology. I think many will find his approach worth reading and pondering.

            This book is part of the series Orthodoxy in Dialogue with the Modern World, published by Alexander Press of Montreal. Metropolitan Nikolaos has two other books in that series: Investing in the Kingdom of God (Vol. 5) and When God Is Not There (Vol. 8).