Orthodox Church, The

The Orthodox Church. By Thomas E. Fitzgerald. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995, 240 pp., n.p.

Thomas Fitzgerald has produced an interesting volume covering the history of the Orthodox Church in America. Orthodoxy has recently gained significant attention in western circles as the walls of the Soviet empire have collapsed and many western missionaries have poured into eastern Europe. In addition, many evangelicals, most notably former Campus Crusader Peter Gilquist and Franky Schaeffer, son of the late Francis Schaeffer, have moved to the Orthodox camp. Part of the appeal of Orthodoxy is its desire to remain faithful to its apostolic roots. For most in the West, however, Orthodoxy is culturally foreign with its elaborate liturgies and its emphasis upon images and icons.

The author begins his work with a brief history of Orthodoxy from the early ecumenical councils to the rise of Islam and the events leading up to the Great Schism with Rome such as the western insertion of the filioque into the Nicene Creed. He details the break from the Roman Church over the East's contention that the Pope should hold primacy of honor rather than universal jurisdiction. Since the split between East and West in the year 1054, both churches have journeyed down quite different paths. One of the major reasons for the lack of dialogue between the two traditions lies in the history of domination of the Orthodox by the Ottomans, Muslims and Communists. A second reason would obviously be theological differences and Fitzgerald provides a brief overview of the distinct aspects of Orthodox thought. However, this volume focuses on the history of Orthodoxy in America rather than on a detailed account of Orthodox beliefs.

Most of us in North American fail to realize that Orthodoxy has a unique and rich tradition in America. The story of Orthodoxy in America began with the Alaskan mission on Kodiak Island in 1794. Russian missionaries began to convert the natives in Alaska using the island as a base. by the time the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, the Orthodox had firmly established the faith. Fitzgerald notes that by time of the October 1917 revolution in Russia, there were over one hundred thousand Orthodox in Alaska.

The author points out that it was immigrants from eastern and southeastern Europe who established the first Orthodox parishes in the U.S. from 1891-1920, for example, over four hundred thousand Orthodox came from Greece alone and it was the Greeks who established the first Orthodox parish in the U.S. in 1864. By 1921, there were one hundred thirty-eight Greek parishes in this country. One of the major difficulties of these early churches was the lack of a resident bishop or a formal diocesan structure. The churches were governed by a board of trustees.

By 1933, however, there was a multiplicity of jurisdictions among the Orthodox churches in America, divided along nationalistic lines. Most Orthodox did not see themselves as an organic unity but as separate churches. In addition, the majority of early Orthodox immigrants lived within a closed sub-culture in which marriage outside of the ethnic group was looked upon with disdain.

In spite of these ethnic divisions, the Orthodox in America faced a series of new challenges in the post-World War II era. The issue of modernization included the need for updating the liturgy and increased dialogue with other parts of Christendom in the West. By 1960, the various Orthodox groups formed an organization for promoting more cooperation called the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA). Fitzgerald outlines how SCOBA became the basis not only for dialogue among the Orthodox but also for real ecumenical activity with other Christian bodies.

Dialogue was the order of the day with various Protestant bodies and, after Vatican II, with the Roman Catholic Church. The meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1964 led to the formal lifting of the anathemas between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics that had remained in force since 1054.

The author provides a helpful biographical dictionary of the key players of Orthodoxy in the U.S. including such notables as Georges Florosky and John Meyendorff. He also includes a chronology of key events, a listing of all the autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox churches in the world, a bibliographic essay and index. These additions make this work exceedingly useful for further research.

Martin I. Klauber

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Barat College, Lake Forest, IL

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