Pantocrator

I once lived for nearly two months with a family in an Eastern Orthodox country. What struck me about their faith was how little scope there was for reflection and intellectual dilettantism.

The room I slept in, like every other room, had an Icon in it.

When you got blessed by a monk, you got blessed by a monk, and that was it. It was their initiative, and if they sought you out, you just passively accepted.

In the period immediately after Easter, you don't say hello, or "cheers" when you lift a glass. You say: "Christ is alive". The reply to that is "In truth, he is alive". Again, you'd better not even begin to think about saying anything else.

I read an article recently about an orthodox legend in which angels are sent to all the churches of the world to determine which one is closer to the truth. They pick an Eastern Orthodox church, because it is closest to what heaven is like. Christ is not an earthly figure, but the undisputed pantocrator king of the world. And that's it, no discussion. A flimsy little moth of a human being can have doubts of course, but they're still living under his dominion regardless. It doesn't change a thing: they're still subjects. Subjects with all sorts of stuff in their head, but subjects nonetheless. It was a very new sensibility.

The above is a Russian painting by Ilya Repin. Again, click for a bigger picture.