We know that in modern biology, a living organism is a complex system of information requiring cooperation of all its parts. Disease, be it physical or mental, disrupts this unity. The body, being dynamic, naturally works with diverse influences that may appear to be contrary. In mental life we often have contrary desires or thoughts. When this happens we may even have a personal crisis. If one works through it well, one will come up with a different way of thinking or behaving, many times for the better. If the crisis cannot be resolved in a creative and healthy way, a person may end up broken, sometimes for life.
Using this metaphor, one can see the Church in the same way. God created people with different skills and talents (1 Corinthians 12:4). We know from the Gospel that we are to use our talents and not hide them out of fear (Matthew 25). Our Lord says that at least we should invest them (ibid. v.27). In practice, this means that the Church inherently will have some division. When conflict is from Heaven, so to speak, we see contrary views leading to a greater unity and understanding. An example of this is the debate over circumcision and all it implied in the early Church. SS Peter and Paul represented the two sides. The conflict led to unity and to the practice of a conciliar Church.(Acts 15).
Conflicts born of the Devil are ones when pride, the greatest sin, takes hold like a cancer and infects the Church. Division is the result. Examples of this are too numerous to count. Look into the phone book and see how many Christian denominations there are. There are actually many more than are listed. The diversity of churches is a sign of historical fights that lead to division upon division. The Arian controversy led to two different types of Christianity and divided a Christian empire. Division of this sort comes in two major forms, heresy and schism.
St Basil tell us that heresy (from the Greek verb to choose) is a conflict that can not be resolved, e.g. the Orthodox view that the Son is not created and the Arian that He is. Heresy leads to permanent division.
Schism on the other hand is a break in church discipline that can theoretically be reconciled, i.e. the division over the calendar. A council could resolve the issue (Cf. St Basil, Letter to Amphilochius).
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A year ago our Russian Orthodox Church Abroad reunited
with the Moscow Patriarchate. As is well known, some were
unable to accept this and left the Church Abroad. Some
went gone off to other canonical churches. Others left to
create yet another jurisdiction. They called us and
continue to call us schismatics, heretics or any other
list of insults. From a historical and psychological
viewpoint, this is business as usual. I wish to outline
some of the spiritual and psychological aspects of the
schismatic mind set. Using a disease model I will treat
the schismatic mind set like a disease, with an etiology,
symptoms and prognosis.
In my work with people I often find that the purpose of a
psychological disturbance comes down ultimately to be a
way of perpetuating a belief, feeling or behavior that a
person has become attached to. The goal of repeating
certain behaviors is to perpetuate the behaviors and their
corresponding feelings. People do this to identify
themselves with certain beliefs, feeling and behaviors and
use them to fend off unwanted beliefs and feelings. The
ultimate goal of the schismatic is to be a schismatic. He
will deny this because of his need to see himself as pure,
or at least striving for purity. This mindset seeks
exclusive, elite movements to provide a sense of security
and as a means to assuage any feelings of guilt and shame.
This mindset is common in all religions and in many
secular movements, especially political ones. Communism
and fascism are examples of political cults that function
in many ways like religion. Thus a Christian and a
Communist can share the same propensity for ideological
purity.
The etiology, i.e. cause, of this disorder is usually a
profound sense of shame and a need to have some
verification that is tangible that they are good or at
least saved. Christianity has a long history of people
seeking a more profound commitment to God than what the
common person appears to have. When based upon shame, the
person tends to separate himself and seek others with the
same mindset.
Fr Ronald Knox, in his book "Enthusiasm," has
pointed out some tendencies that define the mindset. Many
schismatics seek to live a less worldly life than their
neighbors. They take seriously St Paul’s dictum
“come out from among them and be ye separate”
(2 Corinthians 6:17). They also seek to be more attentive
to the power of the Holy Spirit and look for spiritual
experiences or verification of holiness. They separate
themselves from their coreligionists, whom they see as
lazy, deluded or less spiritual than they.
In the early Church, many fervent people sought martyrdom.
Later many became monastics. Many others, seeking a
greater purity of faith, left the Church to join groups
they perceived as more authentic. True to human nature,
the Christians who belonged to the ‘established
Church” began to antagonize these people with cheap
jokes, ridicule or repression. Usually the provocation is
mutual. The schismatic takes a victim stance and sees
himself as persecuted and will begin to speak of
martyrdom.
Once one becomes a “victim” in one’s
mind, he will begin to justify his behaviors. The
schismatic will begin to talk about new wine in old wine
skins, etc. Schismatics will look for slights and
provocation to justify separation. They see others as
false Christians. Sometimes they push societal rules and
the “established church” takes legal action.
This means that many of the established churchmen join
forces with secular forces against the schismatics. To the
schismatic this is proof that the established church is
corrupt or in league with the Devil.
Christian schismatics many times justify their behavior as
a return to the dynamics of the early Church, a time that
was dynamic and exciting. They will want to keep up a
sense of excitement that comes with a new movement.
Excitement can give one an inflated sense of self
importance and power. For many, it is an experience of
being fully alive. But as the movement begins to grow
there comes a time when it must organize or die. The
organization many times is experienced as establishing an
organized church. Several things can happen at this time.
The follower may feel that the institutionalization of the
movement is a sign of treason. The schismatic may want to
separate from the movement to start again something new
and exciting. Another dynamic is that the schismatic may
see the movement filled with traitors. Schismatics begin
to feed off each other. There will be heresy hunts and
accusations aplenty. Many people will be expelled, shunned
and at times in history, even killed. Look at the Russian
Revolution: Lenin and Stalin committed many atrocities
against fellow communists. (As said earlier, this
phenomenon is not restricted to religious people.) The
Protestant reformers persecuted fellow Protestants, even
though an aspect of Protestant theology is that each
person has the right to their own interpretation of the
Scriptures. Above all, the schismatic want to belong to an
elite organization that is pure, untainted and offers
quick and simple solutions to the ambiguities of life and
faith.
The aforementioned Fr Knox calls this mindset:
ultrasupernaturalism. This is a belief that one is to
expect definite and concrete signs of God’s grace.
This view is evidenced by three characteristics:
1. Extreme standards of perfection. The saints are not
seen as spiritual athletes, an exception, but are the norm
of the Christian life by which everyone is judged. This is
held especially against those who belong outside the
group. Despite protestations that he is just a sinner and
does not judge, the schismatic will judge everyone by
these standards. This is born out of a narcissistic need
to be seen as perfect. The narcissist wants either to be
admired or will bask in the glow of another. In the
Orthodox Church, many will tend to put on the cloak of
false humility and then brag about their starets
or bishop. They will speak of a long line of saints in
their spiritual ancestry. This is done to bolster their
own pride and to justify their actions. The purpose is
ultimately to make themselves feel righteous and others
feel shame.
2. Rigidity concerning rules, especially regarding
repentance. This follows from the first. Many schismatic
will believe that those who oppose must repent of their
errors. The standards of repentance are so rigid that it
would be nearly impossible to achieve. Many believe that
the bishops of the Russian Church were collaborators,
ecumenists or outright communists. They demand repentance.
The fact that many have repented is irrelevant because
they did not do a good enough job to satisfy the
schismatic. The schismatic lacks empathy and understanding
about the ambiguities of life. The Church to them is not
about bringing sinners to repentance but rather it is an
ideologically pure organization that demands perfection.
If they accepted the faults of others then they could not
justify leaving. This sets up criterion number
three:
3. Exclusivity. The schismatic will have no halfway
Christians. Christianity is only for the pure. This purity
is more in ideological correctness or a rigid adherence to
canons. Those in the group who do not live up to the
letter are made to feel shame and guilt. This can be done
in a variety of ways. I recommend that people read
Margaret Singer’s Cults in Our Midst to
gain a greater understanding of the techniques used. These
groups tend to be authoritarian, exclusive and develop a
double set of ethics. The latter is called
antinomianism.
The exclusivity has already been mentioned. These groups
tend to be centered around a charismatic leader, who is
seen as very spiritual. Sometimes the leader holds great
power over everyone. Other times the leader is a distant
figure head symbolizing the movement. In the latter case
everyone in the group has greater responsibility in
maintaining the purity of belief. More often than not
there will be a small number of people who use the leader
and they themselves are the true authorities. Either way,
the average follower is under scrutiny to keep up the
appearances of perfection.
All this gives the schismatic a sense that he belongs to a
different and superior society. The rules of the group are
more important than that of the greater society. This
gives the schismatics a sense of superiority and
entitlement. Worldly society has no real authority over
them and sinful people have no real rights. They may obey
civil laws begrudgingly to avoid prison. Many begin to
talk about belonging spiritually to theocracies and ideal
governments that do not exist. The realpolitik of
political life is scorned. Some will even begin to develop
their own communities.
The schismatic, suffering from a sense of superiority,
entitlement and exclusion, begins to see his group as an
island haven in a sea of sin and hostility. The
overwhelming sense of hostility will lead to the group
developing paranoia. These groups become suspicious of
others. People in the group begin to doubt the loyalty and
fidelity of others. They speak little of their internal
conflicts. The group image of perfection is upheld at all
costs. When this occurs, the Christian schismatic become
apocalyptic.
People begin to talk more about the Devil and the
Antichrist ruling the world. This way of thinking only
increases the schismatic’s justification for his
behavior. There becomes an increasing belief that the end
is near. Talk in the community will be about how God will
only save the faithful remnant. Now an interesting
phenomenon occurs. The superior people, especially the
leaders, begin to fall into antinomian behaviors.
Antinomianism means against or opposed to the law.
Through out history exclusive apocalyptic movements end up
justifying immoral behaviors for themselves. The most
common sins involve money and sex. It is not uncommon for
the leader or leaders to exploit members for money and
sex. Notice the number of money and sex scandals that are
involved in these groups. Of course, these scandals happen
everywhere but the schismatic will justify the behavior or
claim persecution. They will make themselves out to be
martyrs.
St John of Damascus, in his Font of Knowledge,
identifies a number of heretical and schismatic groups of
his time. They vast majority of these groups ended with
the rise of Islam. Most groups either die out or become
institutions, e.g. the Mormons. These groups end up having
their own schismatics. Thus the perpetual cycle of people
needing a perfect organization in an imperfect world
continues. These people are vulnerable for the
ever-present criminal or psychopath to exploit them.
Living by faith takes courage. Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the assurance of things unseen. (Hebrews
11:1.) It is difficult to trust in what is unseen. We see
through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12), as St Paul
says. Many hope that by will-power they can at least
lighten the tint.
Church of All Saints of Russia
Denver, Colorado