Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism: Will They Continue Their Sibling Rivalry or Make Common Cause in Combatting Secularization?

Mark R. Elliott

Editor’s note: The present article is a revised version of a presentation delivered on 6 September 2017 at the fifth meeting of the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. 

An Unusual Invitation 

In October 2016 while in Russia, I was invited to speak at Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary by a longtime friend, Father Georgi Edelstein, a parish priest and professor at the seminary. Because of schedule conflicts, I was unable to accept this unexpected invitation. However, I did suggest that I might be able to speak at the seminary on a future trip to Russia.

Several developments made it possible for a group of Asbury Theological Seminary and Asbury University faculty and graduates from Kentucky to do just that in May 2017.

1) Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary Rector Georgi Andrianov invited up to ten Asbury faculty to participate in an international biblical studies conference in commemoration of the 270th anniversary of the seminary’s founding.

2) Grant funding, along with more modest contributions from Asbury Theological Seminary and Wilmore Free Methodist Church, made the trip possible.

3) Finally, George Steiner, president of Orphan’s Tree, a ministry to at-risk youth who have aged out of Russian orphanages, volunteered his staff to handle logistics in Russia. 

As it turned out, half of 18 conference speakers were Evangelicals. With all that is currently negative in Russia’s relations with the West and in light of the frequently strained relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and both Western and indigenous Evangelicals, the invitation for such a sizeable contingent of Evangelical faculty to speak in a Russian Orthodox conference struck me as highly unusual, if not unprecedented. 

Origins of the Invitation 

Several circumstances appear to have played a role in prompting Rector Andrianov’s invitation. First, I have enjoyed several decades of friendship and collaboration with Fr. Georgi Edelstein of the Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary faculty. He accepted my invitation to speak at a conference I organized at Wheaton College while I was on the faculty there; Father Georgi provided me with sage advice on numerous occasions as Riverchase United Methodist Church (Birmingham, AL) sponsored nearby Sudislavl Orphanage; I led two short-term mission teams from Clemson United Methodist Church and Southern Wesleyan University to work with orphans and to assist in the restoration of two of Fr. Georgi’s three Orthodox churches; and I have published articles by and about Fr. Georgi in the East-West Church and Ministry Report, which I serve as editor. Through these many years of working together I was able to establish a strong relationship of trust with Fr. Georgi. 

Second, Metropolitan Ferapont, appointed to the Kostroma Diocese five years ago, is supportive of positive working relationships with Evangelicals. As the Metropolitan explained, the study of the Bible provides common ground for all confessions, and he wanted conference participants to learn from each other. Finally, I have served as editor of the East-West Church and Ministry Report for 25 years. It may be that the many articles published in the EWC&M Report aimed at balanced coverage of Orthodox Church life and improved relations between Orthodox and Evangelicals helped prepare the way for the invitation Asbury faculty received. In any case, I consider the opportunity afforded Asbury faculty and graduates to speak at the Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary conference to be one of the most unusual and significant invitations that has come my way in my 43 years of travel and ministry in Russia.

Evangelical Speakers at an Orthodox Conference 

The International Biblical Studies Conference in Commemoration of the 270th Anniversary of Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary, 30-31 May 2017, included seven speakers from Russia, one each from Kazakhstan and Lebanon, and nine from the United States. The eight Asbury speakers provided the majority of the international contribution in their nine presentations, including addresses dealing with Old and New Testament studies; the Ascension; comparisons of Wesleyan and Orthodox understandings of sanctification/theosis/obozhenie; and biblical bases for social ministries including Christian hospitality, counseling for alcoholics, and local parish charity. 

The hospitality extended to Western participants by Metropolitan Ferapont, Rector Andrianov, and Orthodox conference attendees could not have been more cordial. Not only the accommodations and meals, but the genuine interest that Asbury presentations generated, made it clear that Asbury’s contributions to the conference were genuinely welcomed and were considered substantive. This could not have been clearer, for example, following Dr. Anthony Headley’s address on counseling with alcoholics and their families and Professor Sarah Bellew’s address on local parish charity. Their enumeration of best practices in working with alcoholics and in developing congregational compassionate ministry elicited questions from the audience that were anything but pro forma.

Father Georgi Edelstein 

Father Georgi Edelstein, not to be confused with Rector Georgi Andrianov, was the catalyst for the invitation for Asbury faculty to participate in the Kostroma Orthodox Theological Seminary Conference. He is a respected figure within the pro-democracy element of Russian intelligentsia who is known and revered far beyond his rural parishes. In the Soviet era, in order to be ordained an Orthodox priest, Father Georgi managed to overcome the disabilities (as far as the KGB was concerned) of being ethnically Jewish and having an earned doctorate. In the early 1990s, he survived the disapproval of Orthodox hierarchs following his publication in Moscow newspapers of articles charging collusion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the KGB. In addition, he is the author of a courageously candid memoir, Zapiski sel’skogo svyashchennika [Notes of a Village Priest]. 1

 Father Georgi Edelstein’s international standing (likely enhanced by his son Yuli’s position as speaker of the Israeli Knesset) may have strengthened the hand of Metropolitan Ferapont and Rector Andrianov in inviting such expansive Evangelical participation in the Kostroma Orthodox conference. Whether or not this is the explanation for the Asbury invitation, in whole or in part, the hope is that it will serve as a foundation for future collaboration. To that end Rector Andrianov has invited Dr. Headley to return to give additional lectures on counseling alcoholics. 

Past Orthodox-Protestant Interaction

It should prove helpful to place Evangelical collaboration with Orthodox in Kostroma in its historical context. What follows is primarily a call for further research on the myriad aspects of the Orthodox-Protestant interface from the 16th century to the present.

1. In fending off Catholic threats, Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril Lukaris (1572-1638) authored a Confession of Faith that was Calvinist in essence, and as a result, was widely condemned in a series of Orthodox councils, culminating in its definitive repudiation at the Council of Jerusalem in 1672.
2. Of all the descendants of the Protestant Reformation, Anglicans have been the most welldisposed toward Orthodoxy. The common ground of the two traditions has included resistance to papal claims to head the universal church and a shared devotion to the theological grounding provided by early Church Fathers.3 Since the 1920s, Great Britain’s Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius has been one expression of this Anglican-Orthodox interface. However, Anglican ordination of women and homosexuals has brought to an end Russian Orthodox willingness to dialogue with the Church of England. 
3. It would be helpful to have a comprehensive study of Orthodox dialogues with various Protestant churches: with Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and others.4
4. Since 1976, the Chicago-based Fellowship of St. James and its Touchstone journal have sought to bring together Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics “on the basis of shared belief in the fundamental doctrines of the faith as revealed in Holy Scripture and summarized in the ancient creeds of the Church.”5 
5. Beginning in the 1990s a number of informal Orthodox-Protestant theological discussions may be noted, including those organized by Keston College’s Jane Ellis held at Moscow’s Library of Foreign Literature, Bradley Nassif’s six U.S. conferences of his Society for the Study of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (1990-99),6 Sergei Koryakin’s gatherings of Orthodox and Evangelical theologians in Moscow,7 and Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative meetings.8 
6. In the post-World War II era, even though the predominately Protestant World Council of Churches (WCC) is theologically more distant from Orthodoxy than Evangelicalism, the WCC has provided substantial funding for various Orthodox publications and Orthodox participation in ecumenical gatherings.9 
7. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the accompanying economic turmoil, mainline Protestant denominations, including the U.S. Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), donated millions of dollars of relief aid through the Russian Orthodox Church.10 In addition, American Episcopalians set up the Moscow Patriarchate website in the early 1990s. 
8. Mention should also be made of OrthodoxProtestant collaborative academic projects including Keston Institute’s Encyclopedia of Religion and related books and articles;11 Thomas Oden’s 29-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; 12 American grant funding which has underwritten Moscow Patriarchate biblical studies conferences and publications; and the Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya [Orthodox Encyclopedia] project, based in Moscow, which at present is roughly half-way through the alphabet. It does not involve Protestant participation, but its surprisingly extensive coverage of Protestant history and theology is noteworthy.13 
9. Findings from 51 respondents to a 2002-03 survey included five East European, Russian, and Ukrainian Protestant seminary faculties utilizing some Orthodox professors and two Russian Orthodox seminaries employing some Protestant faculty.14 Whether the level of East European and Russian Orthodox-Protestant seminary cooperation has increased or decreased in the subsequent 15 years would be worth exploring. 
10. Historically, the most substantive OrthodoxProtestant collaboration may have been the nuanced and generous YMCA support for Russian Orthodox émigré theological publishing, and the founding of St. Sergius Institute in Paris, a subject ably documented by Matthew L. Miller in his study, The American YMCA and Russian Culture.15 
11. Arguably, the most significant ongoing Orthodox-Protestant collaboration occurs in East European Bible societies. The Russian Bible Society, for example, includes Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, charismatic, and Adventist staff and board members.16 
12. Orthodox have been wary of Western mission activity in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but some cases of consequential cooperation do exist, including Gospel Light’s support for the development of Russian Orthodox Sunday school curricula, Prison Fellowship’s cordial working relationship with Orthodox in Russia and Ukraine, and World Vision’s adaptation of the British Alpha Course for catechism in the Romanian Orthodox Church.17 Campus Crusade’s “Mission Volga” attempted to enlist Russian Orthodox cooperation for viewings of its Jesus film. However, showings instead appear to have galvanized Orthodox opposition to Evangelical missions in the former Soviet Union, along with the even more ambitious and controversial CoMission, a collaborative outreach of dozens of Western Evangelical ministries.18 Two Evangelical ministries that employ Orthodox believers in post-Soviet settings are Orphan’s Tree, whose predominately Orthodox staff work with vulnerable youth who have aged out of Russian orphanages, and Navigators which utilizes Western Orthodox team members in its outreach in Serbia.19
13. n Ukraine, the past few years have witnessed unprecedented levels of cooperation among two of the three Orthodox jurisdictions, Evangelicals, and Eastern-Rite Catholics, driven in large measure by 2013-14 Maidan protests and Ukrainian churches’ jointly held fears of Russian threats to their country’s territorial integrity.20 
14. Two intriguing and highly unusual examples of interface between Orthodox and Protestants have occurred in Romania and Georgia. Romania’s Lord’s Army, dating from the 1920s, is Orthodox, but with such Romanian Evangelical accoutrements as personal Bible study and an emphasis upon sobriety.21 More recently, in just as surprising a reversal, Oxford Ph.D. Malkhaz Songulashvili has led a faction of Georgian Evangelical Christians-Baptists to adopt liturgical worship, iconography, prayers to Mary and saints, and priestly vestments.22 
15. Finally, the writings and example of Father Alexander Men, noted for his spirit of charity across confessional lines, have served as a bridge between some Russian Orthodox and Evangelicals. Martyred in 1990 by assailants still at large, he managed to inspire cooperation among Christians of diverse traditions. As an example, David Benson, head of the Western Protestant mission, Russia for Christ, secreted Alexander Men manuscripts out of the Soviet Union which were then published by Zhizn s Bogom [Life with God], a Belgian Catholic publishing house.23

A Recommendation for Improved Relations 

In 2003 I published a set of eight recommendations for Evangelical missions ministering in an Orthodox context.24 One of those suggestions urged Protestants to extend expressions of goodwill toward individual Orthodox priests and parishes at the local level. One example in the 1990s witnessed Father Georgi Edelstein renovate his Church of the Resurrection near Kostroma with help from Norwegian Lutherans, Canadian Baptists, and an Irish Catholic priest. Father Georgi, in turn, gave valuable advice and counsel to an American Methodist congregation sponsoring an orphanage near his parish. I will close with his advice for helping orphans, which should hold true for Christian outreach in general, whatever the confession: “The material help we give the children will be in vain if we do not also share with them Christ.”25 ♦

Notes: 

1. Zapiski sel’skogo svyashchennika [Notes of a Village Priest]; Father Georgi Edelstein, “Thoughts on the Current Situation in the Moscow Patriarchate: Hypocrisy, Servility, or Complete Indifference to the Fate of Religion?” East-West Church and Ministry Report 10 (Fall 2002): 9, 11-12; Father Georgi Edelstein, “On Orphans, Spiritual Restoration, Repentance, and Religious Legislation,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 10 (Fall 2002), 13- 15; Andrei Danilov, “Pentecostal and Orthodox in Common Cause,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 16 (Summer 2008), 16, 14. 
2. Mark R. Elliott, “Methodism in an Orthodox Context: History, Theology, and (Sadly) Politics,” The Asbury Journal, forthcoming; George A. Hadjiantoniou, Protestant Patriarch: The Life of Cyril Lukaris (1572-1638), Patriarch of Constantinople (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1961). Portions of this section on historical context are drawn from Mark R. Elliott, “East European Missions, Perestroika, and Orthodox-Evangelical Tensions,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 33 (Winter 1996), 14-16; and Mark R. Elliott, “Orthodox-Protestant Relations in the Post-Soviet Era,” Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 23 (No.5, 2003), 1-21; http:// digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol23/iss5/2 . 
3.  Elliott, “Methodism.” 
4.  John Meyendorff and Robert Tobias, Salvation in Christ: A Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press, 1992); E. C. Miller, Toward a Fuller Vision: Orthodoxy and the Anglican Experience (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Barlow Co., 1984); S. T. Kimbrough, Jr., ed., Orthodox and Wesleyan Spirituality (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002); S. T. Kimbrough, Jr., ed., Orthodox and Wesleyan Scriptural Understanding and Practice (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005); S. T. Kimbrough, Jr., ed., Orthodox and Wesleyan Ecclesiology (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007). 
5. www.stjamesfellowship.org. 
6.  Bradley Nassif, “Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism: The Status of an Emerging Dialogue,” Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology 1 (Spring 2000), 21-55. 
7. Sergey Koryakin, “Orthodox-Evangelical Conversations in Moscow: An Orthodox Perspective,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 25 (Winter 2017), 13; Johan Maurer, “Orthodox-Evangelical Conversations in Moscow: A Protestant Perspective,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 25 (Winter 2017), 13-14.
8. Tim Grass, “The Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 22 (Winter 2014), 1-2; Mark R. Elliott, “Observations from the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative, Duress, Albania, 2-6 September 2013,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 22 (Winter 2014), 2; http://www.LOImission. Org.
9. Hans Hebly, The Russians and the World Council of Churches (Belfast: Christian Journals, 1978); William C. Fletcher, Religion and Soviet Foreign Policy, 1945-1970 (London: Oxford University Press, 1973); Michael Bourdeaux, Eugen Voss, and Hans Hebly, Religious Liberty in the Soviet Union: WCC and USSR (Keston, England: Keston College, Centre for the Study of Religion and Communism, 1976); and Elliott, “East European Missions,” 15. 
10.  Elliott, “Methodism.” 
11. Sergei B. Filatov, ed., Religiya i obshchestvo: Ocherki religioznoi zhizni sovremennoi Rossii [Religion and Society: Essays on the Religious Life of Contemporary Russia] (Moscow, St. Petersburg: Letnii Sad, 2002). Michael Bourdeaux and Sergei B. Filatov, Atlas sovremennoi religioznoi zhizni Rossii (Moscow: Letnii Sad, 2005-2009; Sergei B. Filatov, Religiozno-obshchestvennaya zhizn’ rossiiskikh regionov (Moscow: Letnii Sad, 2014- ). 
12. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001- 2006. 
13. Moscow: Tserkovno-nauchnyi tsentr, 1997― . 
14. Elliott, “Orthodox-Protestant Relations,” 1; Clifford Dueck to author, 6 December 2002; Nik Nedelchev to author, 10 December 2002; John Creech to author, 
15.  December 2002; Janice Strength to author, 9 December 2002; Karmen Friesen to author, 12 December 2002. 15 The American YMCA and Russian Culture; The Preservation and Expansion of Orthodox Christianity, 1900-1940 (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013).
16.  www.biblia.ru; Mark Elliott and Sharyl Corrado, “The Protestant Missionary Presence in the Former Soviet Union,” Religion, State, and Society 25 (No. 4, 1997), 345. 
17.  Elliott and Corrado, “Protestant Missionary,” 345; Elliott, “Orthodox-Protestant Relations,” 2-4; Max Rondoni to author, 25 October-1 November 2002; W. D. Wysong to author, 1 December 2002; Danut Manastireanu, “The Way: Adapting the Alpha Course for Orthodox Catechism,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 23 (Spring 2015), 8-9. 
18.  R. Vito Nicastro, Jr., “Mission Volga: A Case Study in the Tensions between Evangelizing and Proselytizing,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 31 (Summer 1994); Perry L. Glanzer. The Quest for Russia’s Soul: Evangelicals and Moral Education in Post-Communist Russia (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2002); Zoya Bardina, “Success of Festivity with ‘Jesus’ Film,” Good News 2002, News Agency of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, 16 December 2001; Bruce Wilkinson et al., The CoMission:; The Amazing Story of Eighty Ministry Groups Working Together to Take the Message of Christ’s Love to the Russian People (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004); G. E. to author, 10 December 2002; E. T. to author, 17 December 2002; K. D. to author, 15 December 2002; U.L. to author, 17 December 2002; S. T. to author, 16 December 2002. 
19. www.orphanstree.org; “Training Program in Serbia,” www.navigatorsworldwide.org. 
20.  Mark R. Elliott, “The Impact of the Ukrainian Crisis on Religious Life in Ukraine and Russia,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 22 (Summer 2014), 6-16. 
21.  Danut Manastireanu, “A Comparison of the Georgian Baptist Church and the Lord’s Army in Romania,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 24 (Summer 2016), 6-8; David P. Bohn to author, 27 November 2002; Tom Keppler, “A Summary of Trifa’s What Is the Army of the Lord?” East-West Church and Ministry Report 2 (Summer 1994), 8. 
22.  Malkhaz Songulashvili, “A Merging of Protestant and Orthodox Theology and Practice: Evangelical Christian Baptists of Georgia,” EastWest Church and Ministry Report 24 (Summer 2016), 1-4; 24 (Fall 2016), 11-14; 25 (Winter 2017), 5-8. Numerous critiques of Songulashvili’s church appeared in the East-West Church and Ministry Report: James J. Stamoolis, Danut Manastireanu, Paul Crego, and David Bundy in 24 (Summer 2016); Valery Alikin in 24 (Fall 2016); and Sergei Filatov, Steven Benham, and Anonymous in 25 (Winter 2017). 
23. Mark R. Elliott, “Reflections on the Life of Father Alexander Men,” Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 37 (No. 1, 2017), 8-19; Janet Wehrle, “Father Aleksandr Men: In Dialogue With Society,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 7 (Summer 1999), 1-3; Yakov Krotov, “Fr. Aleksandr Men: Orthodox Priest and Christian Apologist,” East-West Church & Ministry Report 7 (Summer 1999), 16; David Benson to author, 12 August 2003; Greg Nichols to author, 9 December 2002. 
24.  Elliott, “Orthodox-Protestant Relations,” 15-18. Other guidelines include Lawrence A. Uzzell, “Guidelines for American Missionaries in Russia,” and Anita Deyneka, “Guidelines for Foreign Missionaries in the Former Soviet Union” in Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia: The New War for Souls, ed. by John Witte, Jr., and Michael Bourdeaux (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999), 323-30 and 331-40; Edward E. Roslof, “Guidelines for Western Assistance to Russian Orthodox: A Mainline Protestant Perspective,” East-West Church and Ministry Report 4 (Winter 1996), 6-7; and Connie Robbins and Rodney Hammer, “Giving Guidelines for Russian Short-Term Missions,” EastWest Church and Ministry Report 11 (Spring 2003), 16. 25 Father Georgi Edelstein to author, June 2002.

Mark R. Elliott is editor of the East-West Church and Ministry Report.  .