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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 281.9
EAN num: 9780385518130
ISBN number: 0385518137
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: March 18, 2008
Publishing house: Doubleday
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 216579
Studio: Doubleday
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As Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I is the symbol of unity for the self-governing national and ethnic Orthodox Christian churches throughout the world. He is well known for his commitment to protecting the environment, and for opening communications with other Christians (especially the Roman Catholic Church) as well as with Muslims and other religious groups.
Written with personal warmth and great erudition, ENCOUNTERING THE MYSTERY illuminates the rich culture and soul of Orthodox Christianity. Bartholomew I traces the roots of Orthodox Christianity to its founding 2000 years ago, explores its spirituality and doctrine, and explains its liturgy and art. More especially, in a unique and unprecedented way, he relates Orthodox Christianity to contemporary issues, such as freedom and human rights, social justice and globalization, as well as nationalism and war.
With a recent rebirth of Orthodox Christian churches (particularly in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe), there has been great interest in understanding this important branch of Christianity with its close ties to the traditions of the early Church. As USA TODAY recently reported, Orthodox Christian churches throughout the country are drawing converts attracted by the beauty of its liturgy and inspired by its enduring theology and teachings. But for the general seeker, whatever their background, ENCOUNTERING THE MYSTERY is a rich spiritual source that draws upon the wisdom of millennia.
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Rated by buyers 
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Encountering the Mystery by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is a significant disappointment for Orthodox Christians and people of goodwill throughout the world. Using poor writing and repetitive phrasing, His All Holiness paints a portrait of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that is far removed from reality and hardly the prophetic witness the world needs. Full of ambiguity and thin on substance the contradictions in this book with reality could not be greater. One cannot help but wonder if "do as I say but not as I do" should be the theme of this book.
Consider the following:
* We are asked to embrace the environmentalism of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and shun consumerism yet His All Holiness uses a yacht to cruise the Bosphorus. He chastises the West but at the same time his ministry is funded in large part by Greek Orthodox Christians in the USA.
* We are asked to embrace the defense of human rights yet we see The Ecumenical Patriarch ignore suffering and human rights abuses in Cuba while he praised the ruthless dictator Fidel Castro as an environmentalist.
* We are asked to embrace the human person as an icon of God's love yet His All Holiness neglects to address any serious moral issues facing the human person. Issues as such abortion, human trafficking and the threat to human life from new technologies are not addressed at all. Traditionally Orthodox Countries have increasingly high rates of abortion and human trafficking yet the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians does not address these important moral issues in detail.
* We are asked to embrace religious tolerance yet His All Holiness will not offer his public protection and witness when Christians are killed in Turkey because of their work. His All Holiness also offers no counsel on dealing with radical Islam. Given the moment of history we now find ourselves in, the lack of discusion on this matter is a grave injustice to the many Christians who live in the Islamic World.
* We are asked to embrace the Ecumenical Patriarch as a witness to Orthodox Christians in America. Yet despite speaking perfect English when he comes to America His All Holiness for the most part speaks only Greek and uses such divisive words as omogenia. Why does His All Holiness fear and work against Orthodox Unity and Autocephaly in America?
It is often said that His All Holiness is a prisoner of political circumstances of the totalitarian authorities in Istanbul. Yet such circumstances have in the past not impeded the witness of modern day prophets such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Martin Luther King, and Pope John Paul II. No, it looks more and more like the Ecumenical Patriachate is more and more a prisoner of its own ambition to be accepted by the political and social elites of the European Union and secular political world. This quest for acceptance at the expense of the prophetic witness of Orthodox Christianity is the real tragedy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the 21st Century.
Despite praises in Time Magazine, Orthodox Christians do not need A Green Patriarch or an Orthodox Patriarch who wins the Nobel Peace Prize. It needs the prophetic witness of the successor of St. Andrew the Apostle -a witness that truly rows upstream against the world.
Rated by buyers 
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My very first two fears was that this was either some narrow esoteric treatise in theology-speak; or it was going to be some sort of simplistic catechism which are legion. It was neither. Patriarch Bartholomew gets down to the spiritual essence of what the Church is about. The title contains the clue: mystery. Very often people want to understand God in concrete terms they can categorize and (unfortunately) manipulate. Throughout history God has been revealed to various persons in a multitude of ways. Much, but not all, has been summarized in the Bible which is the written record of those faith experiences. However, God is so transcendent and beyond anything that we conceive that in humility we have to realize that we haven't even scratched the surface in understanding God. Much of theological work has been to make God understandable in human terms. Some of that is very helpful, some is not. Ultimately, the Patriarch is trying to lead us to the idea that God is not a concept to be understood rationally, but a being with whom we are called into a personal relationship. A theologian is not someone who studies about God, but is a person who encounters God in a prayerful relationship. God cannot be encapsulated fully in creeds. God must be experienced and Bartholomew provides the reader with the perspective of a two thousand year old tradition. A perspective that regretfully many people of Western Christian traditions in America have not been exposed.
Rated by buyers 
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For many Christians in the west, both Protestant and Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Christianity remains largely unknown, overlooked and even ignored. Orthodox believers constitute a family of fifteen self-governing and "autocephalous" churches that are united in liturgy and doctrine but administratively independent. By some estimates they number 300 million adherents. Whereas Rome fell in the late fifth century, Byzantine Christianity flourished for a millennium, from the time when Constantine established "New Rome" in what is yesterday Istanbul until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. In the United States, since the late 1980s, a steady trickle of mainly Protestant evangelicals have converted to Orthodox.
It's hard to imagine a better guide to the Orthodox than Bartholomew I (b. 1940). In 1991 he was elected as the Archbishop of Constantinople and the Ecumenical Patriarch who serves as the spiritual leader over the entire Orthodox communion. In Orthodox parlance he has no juridical authority but he enjoys a primacy of honor as the "first among equals." His personal background and sustained efforts over the last twenty years have earned him a reputation as an outspoken advocate of reconciliation among world religions, ecumenicity among Christians, and care for the environment. He's a Turkish citizen of Greek heritage, situated at the geographic, cultural, political and religious crossroads of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and he's fluent in eight languages.
Bartholomew begins with a general introduction to Orthodox history, theology, and worship. He explains the aesthetic elements of Orthodoxy as seen in its architecture, icons and liturgy. He describes the influential role of monastic spirituality and the sacraments. I've always appreciated the Orthodox emphasis on "apophatic" theology, the notion that the transcendent God is beyond human definition and comprehension, yet truly immanent: "God as unknowable and yet as profoundly known; God as invisible and yet as personally accessible; God as distant and yet as intensely present. The infinite God thus becomes truly intimate in relating to the world" (186). In the last half of the book Bartholomew turns to matters of ecology, human rights, social justice, war and peace, and dialogue. Throughout his book he shares personal anecdotes about his childhood, seminary days, visiting the famous monastery at Athos, and his numerous ecumenical and environmental undertakings. This is a good book by a great man, but for an introduction to Orthodoxy there's still none better than The Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos (Timothy) Ware of Oxford, very first published in 1963 and now available in any number of revised editions.
Rated by buyers -
Patriarch Bartholomew has remained a bit of a mystery, even to the Orthodox faithful. His brilliant writing not only illuminates the Orthodox faith but also reveals the heart and mind of their present spiritual father. This book can easily be read by the layperson, and is an indication that in spite of the Orthodox clinging to their ancient faith and praxis, the faith still addresses well the challenges of our post-modern world.
Rated by buyers -
The content of this book was not very Orthodox.
On the one hand, the Ecumenical Patriarch gave a survey of the Orthodox church and parts of the faith. He gave a fairly good overview of Orthodoxy's icons, architecture, monasticism and celibacy. However, he failed to adequately discuss the Orthodox understanding of Jesus Christ and His life, death and resurrection. He also failed to adequately discuss the sacramental life of the Orthodox Church. The sacraments (the mysteries) got only three pages, and the Eucharist got only one paragraph. Theosis (the key to Orthodox spirituality -- i.e., how to become holy) was mentioned, but its three basic steps (keeping the commandments, cultivating the beatitudes, and selfless love for God and neighbor) were glossed over. That was 1/3 of the book.
On the other hand, the remaining 2/3 of the book were mostly secular responses to current problems around the world. The exception was the patriarch's chapter on ecology: he did a fairly good job with that. Otherwise, there was hardly any mention of following Christ, growing in the grace of the Holy Spirit, participating in the liturgical life of the Church, and theosis. He did mention that a total transformation of attitude is needed in humanity yesterday in order to address our most serious global problems. Yet, he failed to explain the proven ways which the Orthodox Church offers in order to produce just such a change in mind and heart (metanoia). In short, the Ecumenical Patriarch failed to demonstrate how Orthodox Christian living can and must make the world a better place. And that is truly a bizarre thing to have to say.
Instead, and more bizarre, I had to keep asking myself "What is the point and who is the audience" as I read this book. I concluded that the Ecumenical Patriarch was trying to show that the Orthodox Church in general (and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in particular) was an ancient institution that is nevertheless socially and ecologically (?) relevant today. I suspect it was an appeal to secular humanists, by portraying Orthodoxy in essentially a secular light, in order to gain support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate against the pressures of the Turkish government.
I bought and read this book because I am a member of the Orthodox Church, because it was written by the Ecumenical Patriarch, because it has a forward by Kallistos Ware, and because it was touted by the Orthodox publisher and bookseller, Light-n-Life.
But, I was so very disappointed by it. I had to force myself to finish it. It was made worse by the writing style, which was replete with bromides and repetitions.
Finally, if you want good introductions to Orthodoxy, see "The Orthodox Church" by Timothy Ware and "The Orthodox Way" by Kallistos Ware.
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