The Shepherd, March 2009
2. The Metaphysical Conception of Religion
ORTHODOXY is first and foremost concerned with this life, here. The Fathers stress that “there is no repentance after death.” Modern Greek theologians, however, following their teacher, Adamantios Koraës, have a metaphysical understanding of the subject and have copied the methodology of the Roman Catholics and the Protestants in the matter of religion.
At the time when these people left to study theology in Europe and Russia, and also in America after the war, the great conflict had already begun years before between the empiricists, on the one hand, who are the heirs to the Enlightenment, of the French Revolution of 1789, and the metaphysicians, on the other hand.
The basic difference between empiricists and metaphysicians is that the essence of the empirical approach is observation, while that of metaphysics is philosophical speculation.
At that time, all religious people were followers of metaphysics—and have been so even until recently—, whereas all empiricists were agnostics, and some of them atheists. Why? Because the essence of the empirical approach is not even philosophy. Certainly, it is presented as empirical philosophy, as the philosophy of empiricists. They prevailed over the metaphysicians in America & accomplished a great deed for Orthodoxy. They were, however, devastating for Modern Greek theology.
Nowadays, in Greece, all Marxists are empiricists, without being
aware of it, of course. This is because Greek Marxist ideologists do not know what the family tree of Marxism is, as do their counterparts in Europe and America; for, here, they have merely learned their lessons mechanically, by rote, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I believe that it is a great tragedy—not an Aeschylean one, but a shameful one—that there are no powerful intellectual Marxists in Greece. Of course, this is fortunate for the police and right-wingers, as well as for Modern Greek theologians, but it is unfortunate for the search for truth. For Marxism started out on empirical bases and ended up where it has ended up.
The foundation of Marxism and the foundation of Patristic Theology, from a scientific point of view, are the same; thus, between the two of them, the Marxists and the Patristic theologians could have come to an understanding.
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MARXISM, however, clashed with religion.... Yes, but with what religion? Not with Revelation, but rather with the religion that is equated with metaphysics. And one of these metaphysicians who equated the lot of Hellenism with metaphysics was Adamantios Koraës.
The essential difference between empiricists and metaphysicians
is that the primary hallmark of the metaphysician is his propensity to equate reality with something that seems to him to be logically certain. Of course, a man can have logical certainty about something by logical reasoning. But since this is not subject to empirical verification and empirical confirmation, how can he be certain about what he is thinking and logically concluding? Because it is a simple thought? But how can one equate his thought with certainty? The metaphysician does such a thing, whereas the empiricist accepts and classifies in groups only whatever comes under his notice by empirical observation.
Within these frameworks, Calvinists have some difficulty, along with the Papists. Lutherans, however, live in another world altogether, as far as these matters are concerned.
Now, as for the atheist, why does he not believe? Because he does not have the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of inward faith. As for those who say that they believe, are they really believers? Not all; for example, the Calvinists, who often say that they believe because they are predestined [to believe].
In this way, however, they tread an anti-scientific path; that is, one that is not supported by any empirical reality. Nor do they have any metaphysical support for what they believe. They are, of course, aware of this, because they are intellectuals and know how things are, but they continue to act in this way.
This is why it has been observed that both Calvinists and Lutherans take refuge in existentialism. The same thing occurs with American Protestants, who also add emotionalism to the foregoing. American Protestants are very emotional both in their worship and in their behavior.
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