Today we often use the word ‘paradox’ to mean ‘a self-contradiction.’ In our Webster’s Dictionary, however, the primary meaning for paradox is ‘a statement that “seems” contradictory, unbelievable or absurd, but that may actually be true in fact.’ That is how Orthodoxy uses the term. Such paradoxical understanding of the truth, however, does not find much favor in a culture that hungers for quick and easy answers. When people ask us questions such as, “Is Orthodoxy liberal or conservative?’ they want to hear that Orthodoxy is either one or the other. But the Orthodox answer to the question is a paradoxical ‘No’. Or, ‘Do you Orthodox believe in preaching, or in sacraments?’ Here the Orthodox answer is ‘Yes.’ Or ‘Do you believe that after you have received God’s forgiveness everything is ‘okay,’ or must you still be deeply repentant for past sins?’ Orthodoxy’s paradoxical answer is ‘Yes.’
“Paradoxical Christianity,” DOXA, Pentecost 2013 (Summer Issue), The Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael, Canones, NM, p. 1.
Filed under: discernment, Eastern Orthodox, Jesus Christ Tagged: culture, DOXA, Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael, orthodoxy, paradox
