Christian Literature & Book Reviews

The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God
By St. John Maximovitch

The place of Mary in the Church is certainly among the most contentious issues along the Protestant/Catholic divide. Thus it is useful to see how the issue is handled by those Churches in the East who have no part in the contentions of the Reformation era. This little booklet written by an Orthodox saint of the 20th century sets in clear and sometimes blunt language the differences between the Eastern and Western approaches to the question of Mary's role in the continuing life of the Church.

Maximoviotch begins by covering the history of opposition to Mary's veneration among heretics and non-Christians in the patristic era and the condemnation of their errrors by the Church. Given the most attention are the two issues that most directly involved the Church's veneration of Mary: the Netorian heresy and the Iconclast controversy. In each, the Church sided with those who continued the tradition of Mary's veneration against new opponents of the practice.

Maximovitch counters both extremes with the Orthodox ideal of the great holiness of Mary and the proper respect and honor given her by the Church that venerates her without seeking to deify her. In this context the Orthodox veneration is an acknowledgement of the role of Mary in the Church that is reflective of the honors she has already receieved from God.

The book closes with the Akathist to the Theotolos - the greatest of all devotional prayers to Mary in the Orthodox Church. This allows us to close this work by seeing the Orthodox veneration in its clearest form and removed from the sometimes arid confines of theological discussion. Orthdooxy, perhaps more than any other form of Christianity is one that has to be seen in practice through the prayers, devotions, and liturgies to fully understand. Although the words of prayers are ceraintly not the same as seeing them prayed (which in turn is not the same as praying them), it allows us to get a glimpse of what Maximovitch has been describing in the previous chapters. Alhough it is unlikely that this book will change many minds, it does give a powerful witness to the honor that has always been given to the Theotokos by the Church.

The Christian Tradition (A History of the Development of Doctrine), Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600 - 1700)
By Jaroslav Pelikan

This is the second of five volumes of the late Jaroslav Pelikan's classic series on the historical development of Christian doctrine. Combining the highest degree of historical scholarship with the pedagogical skill of a great teacher, Pelikan's work still stands as the standard source when approaching the question of doctrinal origins.

In this volume, Pelikan turns to the development of theology in the Christian East in the medieval period. There is some special interest in his work on this volume since he would eventually join Eastern Orthodoxy and one might speculate that his research led him in that direction. Yet it is can be difficult to measure since his work is noted for its impartiality in judging the strengths and weaknesses of differing Christian traditions and his approach in this series is to give an account of the developing theological positions in interaction with each other and not to make an assessment of their value from a modern viewpoint.

Interest in the Christian Churches of the East among Western Christians has risen greatly in the last few years. For those who wish to go beyond a superficial understanding of mere dates and figures in the history of these ancient churches to see how the riches of the Eastern theology developed, this book is absolutely essential.

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