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The Master Builder: Demetrios Koutroubis and the Renewal of Theology in Modern Greece
198 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2024
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December 8, 2024
There are many positive things to say about this book. First, I found Koutroubis’ approach to theology intriguing, especially his expression of the Orthodox Church as joy for the world. I was also intrigued to learn of his discussions of various Paraklitiki and Dogmatikons with friends. I actually want to start practicing that.
Secondarily, it was encouraging and impressive to notice a constant refrain across various personal testimonies about how humble Koutroubis remained throughout life. My impression of his humility heightened early in the book when learning of his journal entry about the impossibility of being, as Marcus describes, a “free-floating Christian” (p. 44). There it struck me of how greatly refreshing it is to find Christians wrestling with ecumenism in light of diverse personal experience and divine providence. Furthermore, to conclude as he did that if one is to know Christianity in any real sense, that same person must choose one of Christianity’s three main traditions, was an interesting discovery. (I wasn’t expecting a theme of this kind in a Greek Orthodox publication!) To see both “Catholicism” and “Protestantism” (presumably Anglican or some similarly pious form of “confessional” Protestantism) in that list, I imagined to be more than a mere frivolous or passing detail. In my mind, it’s as though Koutroubis understood Christ and his Spirit have been at work within both of those traditions, even though those were not the two where he found ecclesial fullness. That, as I see it, is a beautiful testimony to the special nourishment Koutroubis received within the Orthodox faith, which undoubtedly sustained him for the remainder of his life.
Third, Koutroubis’s further suggestion about knowing both protestant and catholic traditions in order to know Orthodox ones seemed also to point in a similar direction as my previous point about weaving together ecumenism with a humble life. I, myself, am very different from Koutroubis, frequently needing to learn how to be humble instead of just being humble (as it says of him somewhere in the book). Nevertheless, I sympathize with Koutroubis on this account, because I personally find it difficult to appreciate the fullness of the Orthodox faith without an intimate understanding of and appreciation for Protestant and Catholic traditions. I also sympathize with Koutroubis’s concerns about certain “overweening claims” and monopolistic tendencies of the Roman Church (p. 96). Such claims have been a (if not the) superlatively ironic barrier across history between true ecclesiastical unity. Koutroubis’ life makes me want to pray more fervently for ecumenical healing, and for the holy spirit of Koutroubis to permeate Protestant and Catholic spiritual traditions.
Fourth, and finally, Koutroubis’s unwavering hope for overcoming historical divisions and schisms was also very encouraging. In particular, I appreciated Marcus’s closing description of him as one who articulated “Orthodoxy not as a matter of forms but of life, holding together mystical experience and intellectual reflection, and recognizing the Church as God’s answer to all human suffering and struggle” (p. 65). That portrait, along with the description of the Church living in the world on p. 110, is, as I see it, exactly what makes the Orthodox Church essential in life.
I hope that this work of Marcus’s finds widespread reception, and gives life to many others, even as it has mine. May these efforts bring Koutroubis’ “almost unnoticed” mission and life (p. 79) into the English-speaking world to help Christians remember that we are frequently and unknowingly entertained by angels.
Secondarily, it was encouraging and impressive to notice a constant refrain across various personal testimonies about how humble Koutroubis remained throughout life. My impression of his humility heightened early in the book when learning of his journal entry about the impossibility of being, as Marcus describes, a “free-floating Christian” (p. 44). There it struck me of how greatly refreshing it is to find Christians wrestling with ecumenism in light of diverse personal experience and divine providence. Furthermore, to conclude as he did that if one is to know Christianity in any real sense, that same person must choose one of Christianity’s three main traditions, was an interesting discovery. (I wasn’t expecting a theme of this kind in a Greek Orthodox publication!) To see both “Catholicism” and “Protestantism” (presumably Anglican or some similarly pious form of “confessional” Protestantism) in that list, I imagined to be more than a mere frivolous or passing detail. In my mind, it’s as though Koutroubis understood Christ and his Spirit have been at work within both of those traditions, even though those were not the two where he found ecclesial fullness. That, as I see it, is a beautiful testimony to the special nourishment Koutroubis received within the Orthodox faith, which undoubtedly sustained him for the remainder of his life.
Third, Koutroubis’s further suggestion about knowing both protestant and catholic traditions in order to know Orthodox ones seemed also to point in a similar direction as my previous point about weaving together ecumenism with a humble life. I, myself, am very different from Koutroubis, frequently needing to learn how to be humble instead of just being humble (as it says of him somewhere in the book). Nevertheless, I sympathize with Koutroubis on this account, because I personally find it difficult to appreciate the fullness of the Orthodox faith without an intimate understanding of and appreciation for Protestant and Catholic traditions. I also sympathize with Koutroubis’s concerns about certain “overweening claims” and monopolistic tendencies of the Roman Church (p. 96). Such claims have been a (if not the) superlatively ironic barrier across history between true ecclesiastical unity. Koutroubis’ life makes me want to pray more fervently for ecumenical healing, and for the holy spirit of Koutroubis to permeate Protestant and Catholic spiritual traditions.
Fourth, and finally, Koutroubis’s unwavering hope for overcoming historical divisions and schisms was also very encouraging. In particular, I appreciated Marcus’s closing description of him as one who articulated “Orthodoxy not as a matter of forms but of life, holding together mystical experience and intellectual reflection, and recognizing the Church as God’s answer to all human suffering and struggle” (p. 65). That portrait, along with the description of the Church living in the world on p. 110, is, as I see it, exactly what makes the Orthodox Church essential in life.
I hope that this work of Marcus’s finds widespread reception, and gives life to many others, even as it has mine. May these efforts bring Koutroubis’ “almost unnoticed” mission and life (p. 79) into the English-speaking world to help Christians remember that we are frequently and unknowingly entertained by angels.
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