One of the big challenges of the Orthodox Church in the twenty-first century is not only church law divisions or political problems, but also the very subtle problem of “externalizing the Faith” in some new converts. This is like a modern form of the old heresy “phyletism,” where the Church is confused with ethnic or political identity. Now it is not only about nations, but also about worldly ideologies, which are very far from the mind of the Holy Fathers.
Many people in the West and also in Asia who come to the Orthodox Church today often do so from a crisis of the post-Christian culture of Roman Catholicism and Protestant groups. In that world, freedom is confused with excess, tradition is replaced by consumerism, and God is pushed outside public life. In this crisis, the Orthodox Church seems like a fortress of purity, “not yet corrupted.” The beauty of the liturgy, the icons, and the depth of the Holy Fathers make new converts feel they have found a civilization that resists the fall of Western Christianity.
This is true in some ways; the Orthodox Church really does carry the healing power of Jesus Christ and stands against the moral distortions of the modern age. But the danger starts when this faith is reduced to only a political symbol by some believers.
Today, we can often see some new converts think that becoming Orthodox means joining an extreme counter-culture movement. They wear “Orthodoxy” like an armor against “the free and corrupt world”, turning the Cross into a weapon in the culture war. Instead of seeing the Church as the mystery of communion, they make it an outside identity—a sign to tell between “us” and “them”.
This is exactly that “externalizing of Faith”, when religion is no longer an inner change in the Holy Spirit but becomes a costume to cover a political self. People may use liturgical words, holy symbols, but in reality, the soul does not enter the way of cleansing (κάθαρσις), enlightenment (φωτισμός), and union with God (θέωσις).
The sad thing here is not that “the Church is not extreme enough for them,” but that their Christian view has moved away from the center of Faith—where the Risen Christ is. When the Truth of the Orthodox Church becomes only a tool to show identity, people will forget that the only purpose of this Church for more than 2000 years is salvation and eternal life in Christ.
So what is the consequence of this? It is very clear to see: Instead of becoming “leaven in the dough” (Mt 13:33), they build the Church like a fortress, isolated and separated from the world—not to sanctify the world but to satisfy their own sense of safety. This is the true decline, because the center of the Eucharistic mystery is replaced by ideology, humility is replaced by political pride, and the mystery of the Cross is deformed into a slogan of opposition.
The Orthodox tradition has long affirmed that the Church is not bound by national borders, nor owned by any power. The Council of Constantinople in 1872 officially condemned phyletism as a heresy, because it turned the Church into an instrument of ethnicity. Today, the new form of phyletism is no longer simply “church nationalism” but an ideology of the Church, which covers pure Faith with a garment of politics.
We must understand that Orthodoxy does not belong to Russia, Greece, Serbia, or any nation, nor does it belong to the camp of “anti-West” or “extreme conservatism”. Orthodoxy belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven, the perfect kingdom where all nations are gathered into the one Body of Christ. St. Paul the Apostle has made it clear: In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free”(Gal 3:28).
The world is not the absolute enemy of Faith but the field where the seed of the Kingdom of Heaven is sown. To sanctify the world does not mean to turn it into a “political kingdom of God” according to human ideology but to let the light of the Resurrection enter every corner of life: family, labor, art, culture. When a person lives in the Eucharist, with humility and love in every small action—from meals, words, to daily work—then the world is changed from the inside. The Orthodox Church does not build a closed fortress to fight but calls people to become leaven, salt, and light, so that the world may be purified and brought back to the Creator.
The phenomenon of the “externalization of Faith” in new converts is a strong warning for the Church today. It reminds us that the Church does not exist to be a tool for any political agenda, whether conservative or progressive. The Church exists to witness to the Risen Christ, the One who gives eternal life.
“In the end, we win!” But not by military power, by ideology, or by political fortresses but we shall win because Christ has won—He defeated death by death and opened the door of Eternal Life. Every kingdom, every empire, every ideology will turn into dust; only the Risen Body of Christ will stay forever. When the Church stays faithful to the Cross and the Eucharist, when each believer lives the life of deification (θέωσις), then the final victory is already sealed. This is not a victory for one nation or one country, but the victory of Love over hate, of Light over darkness, and of Eternal Life over death.
Orthodoxy is not a cultural fortress but the Kingdom of Heaven sown into the world. Only when we live the Faith as an inner journey and not as a “garment” will the Church truly become the light for the world.
O Risen Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in the light of Your Eucharist, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and of all the Saints, so that in the midst of all chaos and hatred, we do not forget that only Your Love is the final victory, Amen!
