Valson Thampu

I am not a member of the Orthodox Church; but I am a votary of orthodox spirituality. Especially of the Russian Orthodox tradition. Who can fail to be thrilled by the spiritual well-spring that nurtured Dostoevsky and Tolstoy? The Orthodox spiritual tradition is an invaluable heritage, worthy to be cherished by all. The Orthodox Church in Kerala will do itself a serious disservice, if it deems that this spiritual treasure is its private property. I say this, because it is obvious that this monopolist streak is at the root of the unedifying brawl between the members of the same spiritual family, though they now wear altered denominational costumes. The Orthodox and the Jacobite are divided by a common spiritual tradition. Ironically, that is the main reason why the spite between them cannot be assuaged.
The other reason for this unsavoury state of affairs too needs to be reckoned. The Orthodox-Jacobite stand-off is the most furious, unrelenting denominational war Kerala has seen in living memory. It ripples with visceral hate. The two brands of hate feed on each other; each faction trying its almighty best to outdo the other. I happened to be sitting with a bishop of one of these factions when the news about the Supreme Court verdict became known. I could not believe the change that overtook him. He gnashed –literally, not figuratively- his teeth, and a glint of malevolence flashed from his eyes. For a moment, I felt I was sitting with someone I had never known before. That experience has haunted me ever since.
To me, the supreme irony of this impasse is that it is rooted in a terrifying misunderstanding of orthodoxy. Undoubtedly, the genesis of this brawl as well as the reason why it cannot be settled ‘in spirit and in truth’ (as Jesus would have said, see St. John 4:24) lies in a regrettable misunderstanding of the Orthodox tradition. The basic question that emerges from this scenario is: How do the two factions understand orthodoxy? After all, this battle pertains to a church, though now split in two. So, it is a church war. Both sides belong to the Orthodox tradition. So, their ‘church fight’ must pertain to what Orthodox spirituality is?
Well, that happens to be not the case. But, a perverted spirit of orthodoxy has taken possession of both sides. Ironically, the territorial dispute between them – a local variation of the Sino-Indian stand-off – is interminable and intractable because of their obstinate orthodox mind-set. To put it bluntly: the quarrel could have been settled, if the wranglers were not so orthodox and inflexible. As a dispassionate observer I get the feeling that all that is left of the Orthodox tradition, for the warring factions, is what in the biblical language may be called ‘the tyranny of the letter’ which – according to St Paul – oppresses and kills. There was a time when the spirit had ascendancy over the letter in Orthodox Spirituality. Now, it seems, the spirit is cast out. The letter reigns supreme.
That was why the Jacobite Church took the matter to court, in the first place. The court is a kingdom of the letter. It has nothing to do with the spirit. Matters will be decided there only on the basis of how the letter is placed or displaced. That is why ‘arguing counsels’ are so expensive. Not even God can afford a reasonably effective lawyer these days. Litigation is oppressive and self-alienating. It alienates you from the flexibility and resilience of the spirit. The dispute should NOT have been taken to court. The Jacobite Church did a terrible thing in going to court with it. But, for doing so, it cannot be wholly blamed. There is no competent adjudicatory mechanism in our community. It is high time we set up an inter-denominational tribunal – say, The Churches’ Commission for Justice in India (or, CCJI) – comprising individuals of assured objectivity and passion for justice, to address such matters.
Yes, the Orthodox Church has won the legal battle. The Supreme Court has decided in its favour. So what? Does it prevent the Orthodox Church from exercising its spiritual freedom to practise the justice of God – or, righteousness – that transcends the justice of man? Shouldn’t the spirit triumph over the letter, if we are Christians? Didn’t’t Jesus say, ‘Truly, truly I say to you; unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of God?” What, for God’s sake, is the meaning of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Is it not that the spirit must triumph over the letter? Is not the Crucifixion a perpetual warning about the limitations and aberrations of man’s justice? Is the Resurrection not God’s way of transcending the justice of man? Has believing in the Resurrection become a liability for the Orthodox Church?
The Jacobite Church, on its part, is failing to respond spiritually to their predicament, reminiscent strongly of the Crucifixion. To them, Crucifixion is nothing but being besieged and kicked in the teeth. It is as if Jesus did not say, “It is finished!” God’s plans are fulfilled, ironically, through suffering; even suffering unto death, such as the Jacobite Church is currently undergoing.
This disconcerting public brawl between the two factions of the Orthodox tradition is an outworking of a demonic understanding of orthodoxy. I can’t help recommending G.K. Chesterton’s delightful book titled Orthodoxy to them. It is scandalous to all Christians, if the two sides to this public dog-fight continue to act out Matthew Arnold’s vision in Dover Beach:
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
–Dover Beach (emphasis added)