I can’t remember why I decided to read this book. That’s odd because I ordered it only recently. Basically in the late 16th century the Lutheran Church of Germany had some religious discussion with the Greek Orthodox Church of Constantinople. While I was reading it I realized that this would have been important to my ancestors. My dad is a Lutheran and my mom is a Uniate. While Uniates aren’t Orthodox, my mom’s Uniate group came into existence in 1596 at the Union of Brest. They were Orthodox but became Byzantine Catholic with this agreement. In other words, this is the theological duel of my ancestry! How exciting! I’m descended from peasants on both sides so this probably went right over their heads.
I also noticed that the last letter was in 1581. In these letters the Patriarch Jeremiah II would reference Pammakaristos Monastery which was the Patriarchal See at the time. It was the last of the great churches of Constantinople within the walls that hadn’t been defiled by being turned into a mosque. Sadly, a few years after this dialogue the demonic Turks would take this church and make it a mosque. According to Thomas Madden in his book Istanbul, there were only three churches remaining inside the walls of Constantinople at the end of the 16th century. Very depressing.
There were many topics discussed. Obviously they agreed on several things, so those weren’t discussed. They discussed the Filioque, Free Will, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, Monasticism, Icons, and several other topics. The topic that took up the most of the dialogue was the Filioque. I was actually impressed with both sides in this dialogue. The Lutherans gave some pretty good arguments for it while there were good responses from the Orthodox. The standard Orthodox text against the Filioque had been The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit by Photios in the late 9th century. I think that the Orthodox side had really advanced their arguments since that time. They seemed to drop the “Filioque leads to polytheism” argument which I never really thought was any good. Again, I was really impressed with both sides.
While I was cheering for the Lutherans on the Filioque, I was cheering for the Orthodox on pretty much every other topic. Reading the Lutheran arguments made Lutheranism look highly rational and modern. It was a modern religion for a modern man. They seemed to have little regard for authority or Christian antiquity while occasionally paying lip service to it. I have to hand this victory to Constantinople.
Should you buy the book? Only if you’re a big history geek like me. I did enjoy it but I can’t say that everyone else will. Also, with the quarantine and lockdown it’s probably better to focus on Scripture and spiritual writings. If you do want to read Ausburg and Constantinople, it’s best to wait for the zombie apocalypse to be over.
I hope that all of my readers are staying safe and healthy. God bless!
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